Spelling of X, H, Z, S, Sh, Ch

The letters x and h are often confused, because both are noisy sounds made by air rubbing through. X is a deep back-of-tongue consonant: it is made with the very back of the tongue and sounds harder. H is made in the throat and is said softly, so in fast speech it may be hardly heard. In spelling these supports help: in a closed syllable after the vowel e, h is written (mehr, ehson, mehribon); in a closed syllable after i, x is written (ixtisos, ixtiyor); in words that came through Russian, x is usually written (mexanik, xokkey, texnologiya).