The highly variable "sj" sound varies between and on the Finnish mainland, often close to "sh" in English "shoe". In the Åland Islands, its realization is similar to the velar (and often labialized) pronunciations of nearby parts of Sweden. The historic "k" sound before front vowels and the "tj" sound, in modern Central Swedish a fricative , is an affricate or in all Finland Swedish dialects, close to "ch" in English "chin", except for some Åland Swedish, in which it is a simple fricative.