Hello there!
This is the "Sounds American" channel.
In this video, we're going to talk about the American consonant sound /tʃ/,
as in the word "chair."
You can also hear this sound in words like
"child" - "coach" - "nature" or "catch."
We'll be using special phonetic symbols - /tʃ/ - for this sound.
If you watched our previous videos,
you may find these symbols quite familiar.
That's right, the /tʃ/ actually consists of two consonants:
the stop sound /t/ and the fricative sound /ʃ/.
You may wonder,
why watch a video about two sounds we've already discussed on our Sounds American channel?
That's a good question.
Here's why.
This video isn't simply about the /t/ and /ʃ/,
but about how they merge into an entirely different consonant sound.
The /tʃ/ is one of two consonant sounds in American English that are made this way.
They're called "affricates".
So, what is an affricate sound?
The affricates are made by first stopping the airstream
and then releasing it through a narrow passage in your mouth with an audible friction.
Many non-native English speakers don't think they have difficulties pronouncing the /tʃ/ sound.
The problem, however, is that English spelling can be very tricky.
And tricky spelling often leads to mispronunciations.
Let's do a quick test.
Can you point out the words that are pronounced with the /tʃ/ sound?
Take your time.
OK, let's check how you did.
Do we have your attention yet?
The point is,
when it comes to the /tʃ/ sound,
both pronunciation and spelling are important.
We'll cover spelling at the very end of this video.
And now let's find out how to make the /tʃ/ sound correctly.
As we said a minute ago,
to make the /tʃ/ sound,
you need to merge the stop /t/ with the fricative /ʃ/ into one sound.
First, slightly open your mouth and push out your lips.
Now, focus on your tongue.
Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth.
Just as you do to make the /t/ sound.
This way you stop the air.
Now, to release the air,
arch your tongue so it's near the roof of your mouth.
The same way as you do when you make the /ʃ/ sound.
Make sure that you don't touch the roof of your mouth
and there's a small gap for the air stream.
When you release the air through this gap, it'll flow with lots of noise:
/tʃ/
Does that sound like a lot?
Don't worry, let's watch it again in slow motion.
Remember, the /tʃ/ is an affricate sound,
so it's important to completely stop the air and then immediately release it with friction.
Now, let's try and merge the /t/ and the /ʃ/ sounds together:
Here are a few typical mistakes that people make when pronouncing this sound.
The most common problem is that many non-native English speakers confuse the /tʃ/ and the /ʃ/ sounds.
This happens when people don't stop the air before making the /ʃ/ sound.
Be careful as this may lead to misunderstandings.
Compare:
As always, keep in mind the Vowel Length rule!
The /tʃ/ is a voiceless consonant,
so vowel sounds before the /tʃ/ are typically shorter than they are before voiced consonants.
Compare:
We talked about the Vowel Length rule in detail in one of our previous videos.
Don't forget to check the link in the Description below!
OK, now, let's put all this knowledge into practice.
This is the best part of the entire lesson, right?
This is how it works.
You'll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation.
Like this:
You'll have a few seconds to pronounce the word.
♪
Try to go through as many words as possible.
We'll start with the /tʃ/ represented by the combination of letters 'ch' or 'tch'.
Let's begin.
Let's stop here for a second and take a short break.
Next, we'll practice words where this sound is represented by the letter 't'.
It's still the same /tʃ/ sound, just a different spelling.
Let's continue.
Let's pause here for a second to catch our breath.
Next, we suggest you practice words
in which the letters 'ch' are actually NOT pronounced as the /tʃ/ sound.
So, if you pronounce them as /tʃ/, it's a mispronunciation.
And that's exactly what we're trying to fix with our exercises.
Congratulations!
You're done!
Congratulations!
At the beginning of this video,
we promised to help with the spelling for the /tʃ/ sound.
Let's take a look.
Most often, the /tʃ/ sound is represented by the combination of letters 'ch',
as in "check," or "speech."
This may come as a surprise, but the /tʃ/ is also often written with the letter 't',
as in "suggestion" or "future."
Sometimes, this sound is represented by the letters 'tch',
as in "catch" or "kitchen."
And with one 'c' like in the word "ancient"
or two letters 'c', like in the word "cappuccino."
The last example is nice, isn't it?
We like it a lot when you leave us your comments and questions!
For example, this one.
One of our users asked us about the dictionary that we use to transcribe the words in our videos.
It's a great question!
This way the transcription matches what you hear as accurately as possible.
So, in a way, we're our own dictionary. :)
We do consult other sources for sanity checks, though.
We like the Cambridge Online dictionary best.
American English, of course.
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