/dʒ/

The /dʒ/: a /d/ opening into /ʒ/

The /dʒ/ is the voiced affricate: it starts with a closure like a /d/ and releases into /ʒ/. It's the voiced partner of /tʃ/. Spanish has no such sound, which is why the English j is so hard for us.

How it's made

• 👄 Mouth: lips slightly rounded.
• 👅 Tongue: closes against the alveolar ridge and releases toward the palate.
• 🔊 Voice: voiced from the very first instant — the vibration starts with the closure.

You hear it in: jump · juice · jungle · bridge · age

⚠️ The typical Spanish-speaker mistake: pronouncing it as the Spanish y, or as the j in jamón. Jungle starts with neither yungle nor hungle.

By the end you'll be able to: make the closure voiced, and keep jump apart from chump and from young.