Saturday June 6th, 2009
English Pronunciation Podcast 39-
How to Pronounce the Consonant /tʃ/ : This podcast teaches you how to pronounce /tʃ/ as in the words "check " or "touch" correctly with an American accent.

In this week's podcast, we're going to learn how to pronounce the consonant /tʃ/ as in the words "check " and "touch."

This consonant is very common in English and learning to pronounce it correctly is an important step in speaking English with a clear American accent.

Depending on what your first language is, you may find it difficult to pronounce this sound. More specifically, if your first language is Spanish, French, Korean, Arabic or German , you may find it especially difficult to pronounce this sound.

The focus of this week's podcast is:

• Learning how to pronounce the consonant /tʃ/ accurately, like a native speaker.
• Practicing this sound in some key words and common American expressions and idioms.

So let's begin by learning how to pronounce the sound /tʃ/.

How to Pronounce /tʃ/:

Tongue:Press the tip and the blade of your tongue against the gum ridge (bump on the roof of your mouth. Press firmly. (The sides of the tongue should be touching the side teeth.)
Stop the air flow completely until the pressure builds up and then release quickly.

lips: Protruded slightly. (Forward, pushed outward)

Exercise: Practicing /tʃ/ in two steps:

Step1) Press your tongue tip and blade firmly aginst your gum ridge. Exhale but block the air flow completly with your tongue. Feel the air pressure build.

Step 2) Release quickly and vocalize while doing so.

Press.... release
press ...release

In podcast #32 , we learned about "stop consonants" and "continuant consonants". /tʃ/ is a "stop" because the air flows is stopped by our tongue .
However, some experts consider /tʃ/a combination of a stop and continuant because after we release our tongue, there is a split second when the air is flowing between our tongue tip and gum ridge.

In podcast #30, we learned about "voiced" and "voiceless" consonants. /tʒ/ is a voiced consonant because our vocal folds vibrate when we say it.

In fact, by this point, you've probably noticed that /tʃ/ is the same tongue position and movement as /dʒ/ . /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are a voiceless and voiced pair.
The only difference between them is that when we say /dʒ/ as in the words "jeep", we use our vocal cords (vocal folds). In future podcasts, we'll practice saying and hearing the the difference between these two sounds as in the words "jeep" and "cheap."

Avoid this mistake:

Tip : Make sure that your tongue tip is on the ridge. A common mistake students make is to press their tongue too far forward near the teeth. It often sounds like this ...
The American /tʃ/ is further back. Press further back to get that full and warm sound Americans make.

Exercise: Listen and repeat: /tʃ/

/tʃ/ ... /tʃ/ ...

Exercise : /tʃ/ combined with some key vowels of English which we've covered in previous podcasts. Please listen and repeat. Pay careful attention to form.

/tʃi/ ... /tʃI/ ... /tʃɛ/ ... /tʃeI/ ... /tʃæ/ ... /tʃə/ ... /tʃa / ... /tʃoʊ/ ... /tʃɔ/

You may find that some of these combinations are more difficult than others.

Exercise: Listen and repeat the following words containing /tʃ/.
Pay careful attention to your form- make sure that your tongue presses against the ridge firmly and stops the air completely before releasing.

cheese ... chip ... check ... .chain ... chalk ... choose .... feature ...nature... attachment ... search ...touch

Exercise : Listen and repeat the following American expressions and idioms containing /tʃ/:

It's a touch and go situation. (uncertain, risky)

That red suit looks cheesy. (cheap looking and in bad taste)

That's another notch in your belt . (accomplishment, achievement )

The Right Training Tools for Better Pronunciation:

The best way to learn a new a sound is to practice it slowly.
In fact, the secret to speaking English clearly and quickly is practicing slowly and accurately. Learning to speak English with a standard American accent is a gradual process, but if you work at it regularly and practice as often as you can, you're going to improve!

It's important to have right training tools in order to improve your accent.

That's why I recommend that you check it out my English Pronunciation Course in mp3 format- Best Accent Training mp3s!

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Any questions, comments or suggestions ? Contact us at:  contact@englishpronunciationpod.com

Thank you and see you next time!

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