[Sethomas]

Preechr, the only real variety I've heard with "ich" comes from American students of German (like myself). From Vienna to Berlin all I heard was literally just "ish", but I'm willing to concede that maybe my ear isn't trained for it and I am of impression that the Hamburg area retains the Saxon "ikh" much more. The first time I heard a lecture in German, it was the Archbishop of Hamburg and he definitely used harder ch's than what I was used to, but back then my German skills were even more limited than they are now.