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Hindi · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "ऊँचा" in Hindi?
OONG-chaa without the g — a long nasalized oo, then an unaspirated ch and a long aa.
ooṁchaa
Nasality has to be sustained across the whole first vowel rather than appearing only at its end, which is where English speakers put it. That sustained nasal quality also makes the opening feel slightly weightier than the second syllable.
Listen: ऊँचा
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Hear it in a sentence
यह पहाड़ बहुत ऊँचा है।
Yeh pahaaṛ bahut ooṁchaa hai.
This mountain is very high.
Listen: यह पहाड़ बहुत ऊँचा है।
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"Yeh pahaaṛ bahut ooṁchaa hai" uses pahaaṛ, which ends in ड़ — a retroflex flap in final position, one of the harder places to produce it. Then ooṁchaa opens with a nasalized vowel, so the sentence covers two very different Hindi-specific features in a row.
Where English speakers slip
The commonest version is "oonch-aa" with a real velar nasal consonant before the ch. Hindi wants no closure at all — just a nasalized vowel that runs straight into the affricate. Adding aspiration to the च is the second slip, and it would turn it into छ.