Hi again and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy and this is our 151 episode.

Free transcripts for this episode, as well as links to the lessons related to this

episode, can be found at www.prenuncian.com slash podcast. Just click Episode 151.

Some sound combinations are more difficult to master than others.

Two difficult combinations are the J sound plus D sound and the CH sound plus T sound. We use these combinations when adding the ED ending to words

whose final sound is the J sound or C.H sound.

For instance, the past tense of to change is changed,

and the past tense of to watch is watched.

Before talking about combining sounds, let's talk about how to pronounce just the J sound and

C.H sound. The J sound and C.H sound are both africates. Africates are created by stopping the air

and then releasing the air with friction. In English, the J sound and C.H. sound are the only

africates we have. Both of these specific sounds are created by briefly pressing the front of the tongue

near the tip against the bony ridge behind the top front teeth.

That is where the air is stopped.

When the air is released, the tongue only moves a little, forcing air out through a small opening.

That is the friction part of the sound.

Both the stop and the friction are needed to fully create an africate.

The difference between the sounds is that the J sound is voiced, meaning that the vocal cords vibrate during the sound and the C.H. sound is

unvoiced, meaning that the vocal cords do not vibrate during the sound.

Listen to the J sound and then the CH sound.

J.

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