Teacher Discussion Forums

fancypants · Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 5 Location: canada

this is just conjecture, but i reckon that the pushing out of the lips is a habit related to "Shhh!" as in "be quiet!" and is unrelated to standard articulation of the "sh" sound in regular speech.

can your student say "zsa zsa" as in gabor? if so, this is just the voiced version of 'sh' - you could try doing something with these 2 phonemes.

mrandmrsjohnqsmith · Joined: 23 Feb 2005 Posts: 48 Location: Japan

The "sh" sound exists in Japanese and your student CAN say it. Listen to Japanese people speak; they use "shi" ALL THE TIME. I bet she says it when you're trying to teach her: "muzukashii!"
"sha," "shu," and "sho" also occur regularly. There's no "she," though. I'm talking in terms of the Japanese system, now, so "shi" sounds like the English "she." When I say there's no "she," I mean as in "shelf."
You might get her to say "shie," and then work on reducing the /i/.
But then she'll say, "shielufhu," and that's another story.

sollettspain · Joined: 30 May 2009 Posts: 8 Location: spain

I have a native Spanish upper internediate. he has some problems with s and sh, although both these exist in his first language.
However, the z sound does not. Any tips for how to explain how to make this sound?

fluffyhamster · Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:

Replied here: http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?p=40950#40950 .

Wink

relaxandspeak · Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 4 Location: United States

From my experience as a Trainer in Accent Reduction
I have found the s to be somewhat higher and pointing towards the avelor ridge and opposed to down behind the lower from teeth.
Try a pen to prop open the mouth and then transition from the pen (in mouth sideways) to a more closed position until the sound "hisses" correctly.

Also try www.relaxandspeak.com for more advice.