pronouncekit

SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /ʒ/: the zh sound in vision

Voice /ʃ/ to make /ʒ/, the sound in vision and measure. Keep it continuous and do not replace it with /dʒ/, /z/ or pinyin zh and r.

/ʒ/
American English
/ʒ/ · fricative · postalveolar · voiced
British English
/ʒ/ · fricative · postalveolar · voiced
Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

Measure your pleasure in leisure.

Mouth & tongue

Enable JavaScript to view the 3D panda. Pronunciation steps remain available below.

Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy.

What your mouth is doing

The mouth is set as for /ʃ/: the tongue blade sits behind the ridge, and the lips round slightly. The vocal folds vibrate while air flows continuously, with no closure.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

This is one of the rarest English consonants and usually appears in the middle of words. Few words begin with it, so most practice happens after a vowel. Spellings include si, s before ure, and sometimes ge.

Mandarin has no /ʒ/: pinyin r has weaker friction and zh begins with a closure. In Rioplatense Spanish, ll and y can sound close to /ʒ/; elsewhere, voice a long /ʃ/.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Hold a long /ʃ/ with your hand on your throat.
  2. Add voicing without changing your mouth, until you feel the buzz.
  3. Say measure, vision and usual slowly, then at a natural speed.

What to watch for

  • A tongue closure turns /ʒ/ into /dʒ/. Keep air moving from the start of the sound.
  • If it sounds like /z/, your tongue is too far forward. Pull it back and round the lips.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Compare Confucian and confusion for /ʃ/ versus /ʒ/. Then compare pleasure with ledger: pleasure keeps air flowing, while ledger has a closure before its friction.

Compare these sounds

Keep practicing

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance. The references below describe the sounds; the comparisons with other languages are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common American and British patterns, not every accent, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist. The mouth model is a simplified teaching aid, not a validated simulation.

Published 3 November 2026