I've been learning English for a while, but I still can't pronounce usual well. The phonetic symbol is [ˈjuʒuəl], but [j] and [ʒ] are my troubles.
What is the pronunciation of [j] and [ʒ]?
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Sign up to join this communityI've been learning English for a while, but I still can't pronounce usual well. The phonetic symbol is [ˈjuʒuəl], but [j] and [ʒ] are my troubles.
What is the pronunciation of [j] and [ʒ]?
As iBug wrote, [j], called by linguists the palatal approximant, is pronounced like the consonant y in words like you, yours, young. You can read more about the sound and hear a short audio clip of its pronunciation here: Palatal approximant
[ʒ], called the voiced postalveolar frictive, sounds like the s in pleasure, or vision. You can hear it pronounced here: Voiced postalveolar frictive
The nice thing about the site I've linked is that it includes examples of the sound used in many different languages. Hopefully, you can find an example of these sounds in language you're more familiar with.