IPA phoneme /tʃ/

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /tʃ/ corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "check", and the final one in "catch".

Strict IPA emphasises the fact that /tʃ/ is one phoneme: "teacher" is /ˈtiːt͡ʃər/ and "hotshot" is /ˈhɒtʃɒt/. The alternative is to use the syllable separator: /ˈtiː.tʃər/ and /ˈhɒt.ʃɒt/.

/tʃ/ is an unvoiced consonant; its voiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /dʒ/.

/tʃ/ is an affricate; its fricative counterpart is IPA phoneme /ʃ/.

Common words

 * Initial pronunciation of /tʃ/
 * As "ch": chain - chair - challenge - champion - chance - change - channel - chapter - charge - chart - chat - cheap - cheat - check - cheese - chess - chief - child - China - choice - choose - church


 * Final pronunciation of /tʃ/
 * As "ch": approach - beach - branch - church - coach - each - launch - lunch - much - reach - research - rich - search - speech - such - teach - touch - which
 * As "tch": attach - batch - catch - match - sketch - stretch - switch - watch


 * Pronunciation of /tʃ/ in "mid"-position
 * As "ch": achieve - exchange - purchase - Richard - teacher
 * As "tch": butcher - kitchen
 * As "tu": adventure - culture - feature - fortunate - furniture - future - picture - natural - situation
 * As "ti": suggestion - question

Uncommon words

 * As "tch": ditch - hitch - itch - pitch - slitch - switch - twitch - unhitch
 * righteous /ˈraɪtʃəs/
 * wretched /ˈrtʃɪd/


 * Spelling anomaly
 * Czech /tʃk/

Homophones

 * check - cheque - Czech; which - witch

/t/+/ʃ/
/t/ and /ʃ/ can be two separate phonemes. For example, the pronunciation of "nutshell" is /ˈnʌt.ʃel/ and "nature" is pronounced /ˈneɪ.t͡ʃər/.

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish
In Spanish the letters "ll" and "y" sound similar to /dʒ/, /ʒ/ or /j/. The sound of these letters is never in final position. For this reason many students will "hear" /tʃ/ in words like orange or judge.