German "ch" trouble

Brandon   Thursday, May 13, 2004, 15:37 GMT
Hey guys,
I'm in the process of learning German, but I am having some diffuculty with the "ch" sound.

When the "ch" is preceeded by "e", "i", "ä", "ö" or "ü" I pronounce it like the "h" in the English name Hugh.

However, how is the "ch" pronounced when preceeded by "a", "o", or "u"?

Also, how would one pronounce the "ch" in words like "Brötchen" and "Hähnchen", which are not directly preceeded by any vowel? I assume that one would pronounce the "ch" in these words like the "h" in Hugh as well?
Pentatonic   Thursday, May 13, 2004, 17:10 GMT
When preceded by a, o, u, and the dipthong au it is the hard ach sound for which there is no equivalent sound in English. I think the Scottish loch pronunciation is pretty close.

H as in Hugh is good for ich and ig, especially if you stretch out the beginning h. If you whisper yes and stretch out the y sound you also get it.