Sound Gym
red shirt · Richard
Richard begins with /rɪtʃ/ — rhymes with “rich” — not the French-influenced “ree-shard”.
Common mispronunciation
Richard = /ˈrɪtʃ.ərd/— starts with “RICH” /rɪtʃ/
✗ “ree-shard” /riːʃɑːrd/ — this is a French-influenced reading of the spelling
✓ “RICH-erd” /ˈrɪtʃ.ərd/ — the /tʃ/ is an affricate, not a /ʃ/ fricative
noun phrase — a shirt that is red in colour — useful for practising the /rɛd/ sound vs the /rɪtʃ/ sound that starts 'Richard'
mouth shape
short /ɛ/ in 'red' — mouth mid-open — then /ʃ/ fricative starts 'shirt' — two separate words, two separate sounds: /r/ + /ɛ/ + /d/ + space + /ʃ/ + /ɜː/ + /rt/
red shirt
/rɛd ʃɜːrt/
vowel length
proper noun — a common English name — Richard = /rɪtʃ.ərd/ — rhymes with 'rich' + '-ard' — often mispronounced as 'ree-shard' by French and Arabic speakers
mouth shape
short /ɪ/ + affricate /tʃ/ — starts with 'rich' /rɪtʃ/ — NOT 'ree' /riː/ — the CH is the /tʃ/ affricate (like 'chair', 'church') — never /ʃ/ alone
Richard
/ˈrɪtʃ.ərd/
vowel length
The affricate /tʃ/ vs the fricative /ʃ/ — feel the difference
/tʃ/ affricate — in Richard
Brief stop, then hiss
Tongue touches the roof, briefly stops air, then releases into a hiss. The same /tʃ/ as in chair, church, catch.
Rich = /rɪtʃ/ · watch · match
/ʃ/ fricative — NOT in Richard
Smooth hiss only — no stop
Continuous air flow — like “shhhh”. This is what happens when speakers read “RI-CH-ARD” as “ree-shard”.
shirt · shoe · wish · cash
Why does this happen?
In French, the letters ch are pronounced /ʃ/ (as in Charlemagne, château). Speakers who learned English through French phonetics read Richard as ree-shard. The same pattern appears in Arabic, where a ﺵsh-sound is the default for “sh” spellings. In English, ch is almost always /tʃ/ — the affricate — not /ʃ/. Richard = RICH-erd.
Pronunciation tip
Say “rich” first — that’s /rɪtʃ/. Now add “-erd”: rich-erd. That’s Richard. The first syllable rhymes with the adjective rich (wealthy). The vowel is short /ɪ/, not long /iː/as in “ree”.
Example sentences
correct:“Richard called to say he’ll be late.” — /ˈrɪtʃ.ərd/
correct:“Have you met Richard? He works in finance.”
red shirt:“He wore a red shirt to the interview.” — /rɛd ʃɜːrt/
English names with /tʃ/ — same pattern
Charles
/tʃɑːrlz/
/tʃ/ not /ʃ/
Charlotte
/ˈtʃɑː.lət/
/tʃ/ not /ʃ/
Chelsea
/ˈtʃɛl.si/
/tʃ/ not /ʃ/
Chester
/ˈtʃɛs.tər/
/tʃ/ not /ʃ/
Churchill
/ˈtʃɜː.tʃɪl/
two /tʃ/ sounds!
Cheshire
/ˈtʃɛʃ.ər/
/tʃ/ + /ʃ/
Hear it in a sentence
“He wore a red shirt to the protest so his friends could spot him easily.”
“Richard arrived twenty minutes late and apologised to everyone at the table.”
Hear it in the wild
Real speech from native speakers — the most reliable way to check a pronunciation, since automated audio can vary by device and browser.
red shirt
Hear native speakers say “red shirt” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
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Richard
Hear native speakers say “Richard” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
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How teachers explain this
Approved tips from the community, sorted by helpfulness
Word families
rich family (related to Richard) ▸
shirt family ▸
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