Nunzioaccent coach
consonant · the sound library

“zh” as in vision

Written /ʒ/ in the phonetic alphabet — but you will never need that in the app.

One of the 40 sounds Nunzio listens for. When you read a sentence aloud, the app scores every single sound in it on your phone — this page is what he knows about this one: what tends to come out in its place, and what to do about it.

What tends to come out instead

“zh” slipping into “z” (as in zoo)

Pull your tongue back from the teeth, push your lips slightly forward, and keep the voicing.

“Your buzz is front-row when it should be mid-theater! Slide the tongue back, round the lips, zhh like a French film!”Nunzio, when he hears it

“zh” slipping into “j” (as in jump)

Do not start with a stop; keep the tongue close to the ridge without touching and let the voiced friction flow smoothly.

“No explosion this time, bello! The tongue never touches — it hovers close and the buzz flows like warm honey.”Nunzio, when he hears it

Where it lives in real words

measure decision

In the app, this sound is put under pressure in Everyday English — whole sentences built so it cannot hide.

Compared head to head

The classic mix-ups involving this sound, one page per pair: vision vs jump, vision vs zoo.

It also likes to turn up uninvited

People often say “zh” when a word actually wants “j” as in jump — each of those pages shows the way back.

Reading about a sound is one thing. Hearing which ones you miss is another.

Nunzio records you reading a sentence, scores every sound in it on your phone — nothing is uploaded — and tells you the one thing worth fixing. Nunzio — Accent Coach is coming to the App Store and Google Play.