erinja:The ĥ is pronounced like the ch in "Bach". But if you can't make that sound (think "kkhhh"), the letter ĥ is actually not that common, and steadily falling out of use in most words, so it's not the end of the world if you can't pronounce it very well.

The ĥ sound is, I think, the only sound in Esperanto which does not appear in English. While the "ts" combination, for example, doesn't appear in English at the beginning of words, it does appear in the middle (as in, as was previously mentioned, words like "pizza" or "Catskills").

As Erinja said, "ĥ" is like the "ch" in "Bach", or "loch" (like in "The Loch Ness Monster"), although many - if not most - Americans will pronounce it like a "k" (which is incorrect). But "k" is a hard sound, whereas "ĥ is softer and "hissier" - as if you were gently clearing your throat.

I took German for a lot of years, and so the sound isn't unfamiliar to me. But some of my classmates did have trouble pronouncing it because it's not a sound you have to learn to pronounce English. Luckily for the native English speakers, though, and as Erinja mentioned, it's slowly going away. I've been writing my blog in Esperanto for nearly a year now, and I've NEVER actually used it in a word there. Not because I've been avoiding it, but simply because there really aren't that many words that contain it.

RiotNrrd: I've been writing my blog in Esperanto for nearly a year now, and I've NEVER actually used it in a word there. Not because I've been avoiding it, but simply because there really aren't that many words that contain it.

Not unless you spend a lot of time talking about chaotic choirs (ĥaosaj ĥoroj).

I think "ĥoro" is the main word where you can't leave off the ĥ. Almost everything else I can think of, you can use a k instead of an ĥ without infringing on another word (arĥitekturo -> arkitekturo, ĥaoso -> kaoso, arĥeologo -> arkeologo, etc)

But with "ĥoro" (choir), the words "horo" (hour) and "koro" (heart) already exist. You can get around this by saying "koruso", which means the same thing.

erinja:
But with "ĥoro" (choir), the words "horo" (hour) and "koro" (heart) already exist. You can get around this by saying "koruso", which means the same thing.

Don't forget "kantistaro"!