English spells these sounds with two letters; Russian uses one. Ж is the zh in 'measure', Ц is the ts in 'cats', Ч is ch as in 'cheese', Ш is sh, and Щ is a longer, softer sh - say 'fresh sheep' quickly and listen to the middle.
Examples
- журнал
- magazine - ж is zh: zhur-NAL
- пицца
- pizza - ц is ts: PEE-tsa
- борщ
- borscht - it ends in щ, a long soft sh: borshch
The mistake to avoid
Ш and Щ differ only by a small tail: ш is a plain sh, щ a softer, longer one.
Where this fits in
The Russian alphabet, Russian A1: Read Cyrillic letter by letter and sound out your first Russian words - many of them you already know.