Why does the British accent sound so good?
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Why does the British accent sound so good?I've also listened to American, Australian, New Zealand and Indian accents (in English, of course) but none of them sounds better than the British accent (on BBC, for instance). What is the secret?
Last edited by thomaskurian89; 23-05-2012 at 17:29. -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?My accent (Birmingham UK) was once voted the second worst in the world, behind I think, Hamburg in Germany. I dont know if you realise how many different accents we have here in the uk. Incidently I hate the New York accent, but am fine with most American accents.
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?A southern, or educated, British accent sounds "so good" because it's quintessentially British. The different, sometimes very affected, pronounciation of certain words and sounds, the roundness of vowels. The sort of accent that most Americans are accustomed to hearing is very often taught rather than being the natural accent, except inside quite posh circles, so it's had any "imperfections" removed.
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?What?(Original post by aljolson)
My accent (Birmingham UK) was once voted the second worst in the world, behind I think, Hamburg in Germany. I dont know if you realise how many different accents we have here in the uk. Incidently I hate the New York accent, but am fine with most American accents.
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?Thousands.... Not sure about that. There's a lot though OP! Clarify!(Original post by Manitude)
Which British accent? There's hundreds, if not thousands, of them. -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?Oiii OIIIIII!!(Original post by Jabberwox)
You're probably thinking of RP accents
which sound very posh and very British you don't often hear people speak in them anymore though...
Try having an Essex accent -.- -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?(Original post by Manitude)
Which British accent? There's hundreds, if not thousands, of them.Probably referring to 'Received Pronunciation' / 'BBC English' - that's the one I consider to be the most 'British'(Original post by Over The Rainbow X)
It depends on the accent. There's loads of 'British' accents.
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?The village down the road from me (no more than a thousand people) has it's own accent, and the larger village where I went to school also had it's own accent. Pretty much every town in Lancashire has it's own accent too. I suspect that this is fairly common in Britain. And remember that Britain is more than just England - Scotland has it's fair share of different accents. As does Wales and Northern Ireland, though I personally can only detect of couple of distinct NI accents and wouldn't be able to say where that person is from exactly.(Original post by Steezy)
Thousands.... Not sure about that. There's a lot though OP! Clarify!
I've heard that London alone has very localised accents too.
So I don't think thousands is too difficult to believe.Last edited by Manitude; 23-05-2012 at 17:26. -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?(Original post by Jabberwox)
You're probably thinking of RP accents which sound very posh and very British you don't often hear people speak in them anymore though...
Try having an Essex accent -.-
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?Well... there are quite a few different ones. I have an Essex/Mancunia combined accent. You'd probably hate it. Why is it that people can only identify 3? Posh, Cockney, and Mancunian (Daphne from Frasier)?!
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?Yes I agree with you!(Original post by thegodofgod)
Probably referring to 'Received Pronunciation' / 'BBC English' - that's the one I consider to be the most 'British'
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?No offense, but I'm not surprised... the Birmingham accent is one of the most irritating to listen to I think - sorry.(Original post by aljolson)
My accent (Birmingham UK) was once voted the second worst in the world, behind I think, Hamburg in Germany. I dont know if you realise how many different accents we have here in the uk. Incidently I hate the New York accent, but am fine with most American accents.
I assume by "British" accent, you mean a fairly well refined southern/posh accent... to be honest I dunno why it might be so popular/good to listen to, but I imagine it's because it sounds...high class maybe?/classy? - And that has connotations with wealth, possibly power, and success... that's my quick thought on it anyway...
I must admit also... I think it would be nice if I could speak in that accent... except I'm from Manchester... so yeah, I dont, and I think it would be pretty snobby of me to "train myself" as it were, to talk with a different accent. My auntie did that... and she's pretty full of herself... -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?It's the most stereotypical, certainly, but very few people actually speak like that. I know a few people from Tunbridge Wells (which is supposed to be the heartland of RP, apparently) and none of them actually speak in RP.(Original post by thegodofgod)
Probably referring to 'Received Pronunciation' / 'BBC English' - that's the one I consider to be the most 'British'
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?The accent on BBC, for instance.(Original post by Steezy)
Thousands.... Not sure about that. There's a lot though OP! Clarify! -
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Re: Why does the British accent sound so good?Which kind of English accent? there are sooo many of them. And the BBC newsreader isn't an accent at all. They purposely talk like that as it isn't really an accent, therefore everyone in britain can understand it easily.
So accents do sound nice but others like essex/ East London just sound chavy . . . my friend from the South coast says I have a bit of an essex accent though
Last edited by Clare~Bear; 23-05-2012 at 18:47.
which sound very posh and very British 
