How to pronounce The /ʃ/ as in SHIP /ʃ/ in American English

The SH in ship is a continuous flow of air. The CH in chip starts with a hard stop. For /ʃ/, your tongue never actually touches the roof of your mouth, it just hovers close enough to create friction as you blow air through flared lips. For CH, the tip of your tongue taps the roof of your mouth first, blocking the air, then releases it in a sharp burst. A quick test: try to hold the sound. If you can stretch it out, it's an SH. If it cuts off, it's a CH.

English spelling is unpredictable, and the /ʃ/ sound shows up in a lot of unexpected letter combinations. You'll hear it in the TI of nation, the CI of special, the CE of ocean, and the SU of sugar. In casual American speech, you'll also hear it when an S meets a Y, causing a blend, like when miss you morphs into mish-you.

You're probably keeping your lips too flat and your tongue too far forward. The regular /s/ in sip uses a relaxed mouth with the tongue tip right behind the front teeth. To shift into the /ʃ/ of ship, flare your lips outward and pull the middle of your tongue a little further back. Many languages don't ask for that kind of lip flare on their consonants, so it can feel theatrical at first. That's normal. Lean into it.