‘Chef’ is pronounced like ‘shelf’, and what’s more?

In my last English class, while talking about Hilda Baci’s success as the longest cooking marathon holder, I told my students that ‘chef’ is pronounced almost exactly as ‘shelf’, except that the ‘l’ in ‘shelf’ is not pronounced. Try it. Yes, that is it. Don’t pronounce ‘chef’ like you would pronounce the ‘ch’ in ‘chop’!

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‘Chef’ is a word that many Nigerians often mispronounce. Now you’ve got the correct pronunciation, but there’s more.

So, why is ‘chef’ pronounced this way?

Having observed for a long time that the French language does not have the sound (t͡ʃ) as in ‘church’, I have found the best way for learners of English to get the logic why some ch-words in English are pronounced as /ʃ/ (as in shop).

To get the correct pronunciation of /ʃ/, just imagine yourself telling someone to shut up their mouth by placing your index finger on your lips and say ‘shiiiii’. Does it work? Yes? I knew it would! /ʃ/ is also the sound you get when you open a chilled bottle of Malt/Coke/Pepsi or any carbonated drink.

In another vein, to get the correct pronunciation of /t͡ʃ/, imagine yourself playing with a dog or a baby and you shouting some meaningless ‘cha-cha-cha cha-cha-cha’. You gerrit? Lol. I am not sure you have done something like that before. I really have done that before.

For reiteration, the French language DOES not have /t͡ʃ/ in her ch-words. Rather, the ch-words are pronounced /ʃ/.

The logic, therefore, is that any ch-word in English that has a French origin will NEVER give you /t͡ʃ/, but rather /ʃ/. It is then quite useful to know as many ch-words as possible in French.

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For the sake of easy reference, I have provided a list of them below.

Examples of such French words that sound also like ‘chef’ in English are: chalet, champagne, chauffeur, chef, brochure, machine, parachute, chute, cache, chagrin, chamade, chandelier, chapeau, chaperone, charade, charlatan, chauvinism, chemise, Chicago, Chevron, chivalry, creche, niche, nonchalance, sachet, penchant, avalanche, and recherche.

In all the words written above, the ‘ch’ in them sounds as the ‘shiii’ in shoe /ʃuː/.

Go over those words again and again and again today till you’re sure you have perfected the correct pronunciation. And don’t forget to share this post with your friends.