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Today my article is devoted to letters and sounds which cause pronunciation difficulties for most foreigners. To pronounce the sounds of letters Ж [zh] and Ш [sh] correctly, it is necessary to do following exercises:
You need to sit in front of the mirror and start pronouncing the Russian syllable "СА" [SA] looking at yourself. Look at your tongue – during pronunciation it should be situated behind teeth. After several attempts, you should move your tongue deep into your mouth closer to alveolus (teethridge) – a hollow in a jaw where is a tooth root situated – and continue pronouncing the sound "СА". When you move your tongue very close to teethridge, you can hear that the sound "СА" is transforming into the sound "ША" – it is exactly what we need.
To pronounce the sound "Ж" [zh], you need to do the same things which are described above but at first, pronounce the sound "ЗА" [za] – when you move your tongue to teethridge, you will get the sound "Ж" [zh].
To memorize the pronunciation, of course, you need a constant practice with a native speaker, in this case – with Russian-speaking ones. In order to practice, I write some words with the sounds Ж and Ш:
| Жена [zhehna] - wife | Шрам [shram] - scar |
| Жидкость [zhidkast'] - liquid | Шар [shar] - ball |
| Жёлтый [zhyolty] - yellow | Шарф [sharf] - scarf |
| Ждать [zhdat'] - to Wait | Шарлотка [sharlotka] - charlotte |
| Жевать [zhivat'] - to Chew | Шнурок [shnurok] - lace |
| Жулик [zhulik] - crook | Шерсть [shehrst'] - wool |
| Жук [zhuk] - beetle | Шум [shum] - noise |
| Жнец [zhnets] - reaper | Шкурка [shkurka] - pelt, skin, fell |
