Our next pronunciation lesson is about words ending in '-ture'. The aim of these lessons is to help you achieve clear pronunciation for global communication: that is why we don’t deal with different regional varieties.
How to pronounce the -ture ending
Section One: Spotting the problem
Creature, culture and temperature are words that have their equivalents in Spanish spelt almost the same way. Learners tend to pronounce these words with a mixture of Spanish and English. So, we then hear things like /kreatʊr/, /kʊltʃʊr/ and /temperatjʊr/ instead of /kri:tʃə/, /kʌltʃə/ and /temprətʃə/.
Section Two: Correcting the problem
First, let's learn a key sound: /tʃə/. It's made up of /tʃ/ and /ə/. The first sound is similar to the way 'ch' is pronounced in Spanish words like chico or cuchara, but in English it’s formed a little further back in the mouth. This makes a thicker /tʃ/ sound.
Compare 'ch' with /tʃ/. With the 'c'h we could associate a smaller cymbal on a drum kit, like 'ch-ch-ch', while with the /tʃ/ a bigger shaker: /tʃ/-/tʃ/-/tʃ/.
Now, to get the complete /tʃə/ ending for our target words, we need one more little sound, a neutral /ə/. Make sure you don't say an /e/ or an /ʌ/, but rather an indefinite /ə/.
Now, if we merge our practice sounds into one, we get /tʃə/.
Section Three: Practice
Now we can practise the /tʃə/ sound in words. Observe that the /tʃə/ is never in the stressed syllable. Also be careful to say the right number of syllables the way you hear them. For example literature has three, not four syllables: /lɪ-trə-tʃə/.
literature, picture, acupuncture, culture, future, feature, adventure, manufacture, nature, sculpture, lecture, signature, fracture, capture, scripture, texture, creature, mixture, tablature, structure, temperature, furniture |
There are certain words that are pronounced slightly differently: these end in /tʃʊə/ instead of /tʃə/. Listen: caricature, mature, overture, immature.
Section Four: Memorize
If you can, try to learn some of these examples by heart, but make sure that you pronounce the target words the way we have learnt them in this lesson.
Classical literature is my favourite.
Can I take a picture?
I took a course in culture and history.
I prefer drinks at room temperature.
What a boring lecture!
I love hiking and nature.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing practice. |
I hope it's a lot clearer now. Keep practicing with: