Basic-level Mandarin speaker here, but well-versed in Pinyin. There are actually kind of 2 "sh" sounds and 2 "ch" sounds in Mandarin. "Sh" is a "heavy" sound,

Basic-level Mandarin speaker here, but well-versed in Pinyin. There are actually kind of 2 "sh" sounds and 2 "ch" sounds in Mandarin. "Sh" is a "heavy" sound, as in "shot", where your mouth makes an O shape, whereas "X" is a much "lighter" sound that AI don't believe has a comparison in English. Similarly, "Ch" is a "heavy" sound, and "q" is much lighter sound.