Two more questions - "ch" and "j" in Ame

This forum has been so unbelievably helpful to me that I want to ask one more question.

In American English, when making the sounds "ch" ("chin") and "j" ("job"), do you place the tongue on the alveolar ridge, behind the upper teeth?

Because I pronounce these sounds with my tongue never touching the ridge, the tongue is kind of in the middle I guess. For example, in the word "manager", does the tongue return to the alveolar ridge to make the "g" sound (I know it's there for the "n" sound), or no?

Thanks!

For "ch" and "j" (that is, the affricate sounds /tʃ/ and /dʒ/), I think the starting point for the tongue is slightly further back (perhaps by a millimeter or two) than for a regular /t/ or /d/, but it's still in the alveolar region.

Just out of curiosity, what's your native language? That might influence how you pronounce these sounds.

Hmm... at least here in southeastern Wisconsin [tʃ] and [d̥ʒ̥] are practically identical in POA to their fricative counterparts [ʃ] [ʒ], that is, they are postalveolar. The distance between them and [t] and [d] POA-wise is definitely much longer than that you have, Lazar; I would estimate offhand that it is more like between 5 and 10 mm on average.

So does this mean that when I pronounce the following words -

"manager", "roach", "stage"

my tongue for these respective sounds goes farther back than the alveolar ridge, *and* actually touches the beginning of the palate?

anyone?

I wanted to ask a few more questions, hopefully native American-born speakers can clarify:

1) How can I easily distinguish the formation of "ch" from the formation of "t"? Both of these occur on the alveolar ridge, as I understand, behind the upper front teeth. Is "ch" farther back than "t"?

2) Suppose you pronounce the word "DJ". In this word, there's a "j"-sound, which is an alveolar-ridge sound, according to you. So, how can you pronounce the word "DJ", when you have to quickly tap the alveolar ridge in succession twice? That's almost impossible. When I pronounce this word, I put the tongue on the alveolar ridge for the "D", but then my tongue goes lower in my mouth, toward the bottom, to make the "j" sound. Is that wrong?