If you want a high band in the IELTS Speaking test, you need good pronunciation. But you don’t need to change your accent. Just pronounce words correctly and make sure the examiner can understand you. The problem for many learners is that English spelling is ‘non-phonetic’, which means that many words aren’t spelled the way they sound. In this post I’m going to present 5 more words which are often pronounced incorrectly by IELTS candidates.
1. women
the o in women has a different sound than the o in the singular form, woman. In women, the o is pronounced i as in the word ‘win’. The e in women is also pronounced like an i.
2. culture
Questions about your ‘culture’ are very common in the speaking test. However, you should pronounce the word ‘culture’ correctly. The first u is pronounced like the u in but, and the last syllable -ture is pronounced ‘cher’.
Here are some other words ending in -ture which are commonly used in the IELTS Speaking test:
picture, adventure, future, nature
picture, adventure, future, nature
3. usually
The first u in usually is pronounced like the word ‘you’. The s is pronounced like si in television.
4. tough
The word ‘tough’ is a less commmon synonym of the word ‘difficult’. Using less common synonyms in a natural way can help you get Band 7-9. However, make sure to pronounce them correctly. The -ough in tough is pronounced like uff in the word ‘stuff‘.
5. recipe
If you have to describe a recipe in the speaking test, make sure you pronounce the word ‘recipe’ correctly. The -cipe is pronounced -sə-pee.
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