This website was created to help people improve their American English pronunciation. At the core is a series of videos explaining in detail how each sound is created, as well as a blog.
If you want more information on the photos in this video, which have parts of the mouth drawn in, see this video on the parts of the mouth.
How to make this sound:
Video Text:
The ch and jj consonant sounds. These are affricate sounds, which means that they are made both by a stop, and by passing air through a constricted area. The stop happens, ch, when the front part of the tongue raises and presses against the roof of the mouth, not allowing air to pass through. The tongue is then pulled down, but the teeth remain together, or almost together, which is then the constricted space that the air passes through to make the sound. These two sounds are paired together because they both take this mouth position. The ch sound is unvoiced, which means you only release air through your mouth, whereas the jj sound is voiced, because you're actually making sound with your vocal cords. Notice also that the lips take, ch, a very rounded and out position. So the corners of the mouth come in, ch, and the top and bottom part of the lips really come away from the face, showing a lot of the teeth. Ch, jj.
Here is the sound on the right, compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice how the lips in this sound come away from the face. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised in this consonant sound. Notice how high the tongue reaches. It presses against the roof of the mouth before pulling away to release the air. The ch/jj sounds. Sample words: char, jar, chump, jump. Sample sentence: I was on the edge of my seat watching each match of the major tournament. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how this sound is made.
I, with the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong [
], lips circle into the W, was. On the edge, now here we have the jj consonant sound. Watch the lips as the teeth come together. Of my seat. Lips pull wide for the 'ee' as in 'she' [
]. Watching, lips make the W. Ch, here is the ch sound. Watch the lips. Each, lips pull wide for the 'ee' as in 'she' and again, the ch. Match, again it ends in the ch consonant sound. Of the major, with the jj consonant sound, jj. Tournament. Lips together for the M, tongue up for the N position, and the T.
And now from an angle. I, with the 'ai' as in 'buy' diphthong. Was on the edge, watch the jj sound. Jj. Of my seat, corners of the mouth pulled wide for the 'ee' as in 'she'. Watching, lips make the W. Watch-, here's the ch sound. Watching. Each, corners pull wide for the 'ee' as in 'she', and now form the ch. Match, again ends in ch. Of the major, watch for the jj - there we are - major, tournament. Lips together for the M, tongue up to make the N, and the teeth together for the T.
International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [
], [
]
As you can see, the IPA uses two symbols to represent each one of these sounds. For more information, and to see these sounds' occurrences in other languages, see Wikipedias pages (voiced, unvoiced).
Miss the old sound video? See it here.