Learning British Accent
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Re: Learning British Accentlol thanks, anything else I'd need?(Original post by Blackshadow)
Say 'is it?' after every sentence and you'll be fine. -
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Re: Learning British Accent(Original post by ANIGAV)
practice*, better word?
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Re: Learning Brisith AccentWhat accent do you have currently?(Original post by ANIGAV)
Sorry if this is in the wrong section.
How would I be able to speak with a british accent, anyone can give recommendations?
I guess the first thing to learn is that there's no such thing as a British accent. There are so many dialects in Britain and everyone says things differently. Everything from northern accents like Yorkshire, Mancunian, to Midlands accents such as East Midlands, West Midlands, to Southern accents such as Cockney, Estuary English, West Country, and much more. And then you have the mixes, mine's a mixture of Kentish, Cockney and Leicester, it's an odd mix but it comes from growing up in Leicester with a Southern family.
Some say you can't learn an accent, but I suspect that you can. I've changed small aspects of mine in the past for experimental purposes (accents are kind of a hobby of mine) so I assume you could change a whole one but it'd be a lot of work.
But I guess the accent you're thinking of is RP, Received Pronunciation. Which is the kind of posh British that we're all stereotyped with.
I recommend you trawl through the Wikipedia page on Received Pronunciation, and then some of the accents of South East England, London particularly. -
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Re: Learning British AccentI am originally from Iraq but I speak german most of the time.(Original post by Ra Ra Ra)
Where are you from, OP? -
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Re: Learning Brisith AccentYou're right, I am looking at the RP accent, any other exercises one could do?(Original post by Jarred)
What accent do you have currently?
I guess the first thing to learn is that there's no such thing as a British accent. There are so many dialects in Britain and everyone says things differently. Everything from northern accents like Yorkshire, Mancunian, to Midlands accents such as East Midlands, West Midlands, to Southern accents such as Cockney, Estuary English, West Country, and much more. And then you have the mixes, mine's a mixture of Kentish, Cockney and Leicester, it's an odd mix but it comes from growing up in Leicester with a Southern family.
Some say you can't learn an accent, but I suspect that you can. I've changed small aspects of mine in the past for experimental purposes (accents are kind of a hobby of mine) so I assume you could change a whole one but it'd be a lot of work.
But I guess the accent you're thinking of is RP, Received Pronunciation. Which is the kind of posh British that we're all stereotyped with.
I recommend you trawl through the Wikipedia page on Received Pronunciation, and then some of the accents of South East England, London particularly.
I have an arabic and german accent. -
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Re: Learning British AccentThe accent you want to try if you're learning English would be the "BBC accent" - the general, non specific accent.
There are so so so many dialects in Britain, and no one wants to learn English in a Scouse accent! -
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Re: Learning British AccentWatch a lot of the news, the presenters talk with accents which are easy to understand and pick up. Maybe something like ITN or Channel 4 News rather than BBC news which is a bit posher. An Iraqi with a posh accent would be very strange indeed. . .
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Re: Learning British AccentBooooo!(Original post by NapoleonDynamite)
The accent you want to try if you're learning English would be the "BBC accent" - the general, non specific accent.
There are so so so many dialects in Britain, and no one wants to learn English in a Scouse accent!
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Re: Learning British AccentWhasshat, Mish Muneh-penneh?(Original post by MagicNMedicine)
Watch James Bond movies with Roger Moore and copy his accent, the way he speaks and his mannerisms.
Yeah, there is no "British" accent. Depending where you go, you'll get vastly different accents. Most of the cities have their own distinctive accent which is separate from the rest. -
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Re: Learning British AccentI'm not too sure about Arabic accents, but I do know German accents have a problem with the W/V difference. In German, the W is pronounced like V and the V like F (sort of). Problem is, some German speakers think this means it's the other way around in English, and think that V's in English are pronounced like W's, so instead of "very" you say "wery". I find also that, when I speak German, I pronounce R's at the back of my mouth, whereas in English they're more pronounced in the middle of the mouth. (That's probably a weird way to explain it but it's something I've noticed)
That said, like many before me have told you, there is a plethora of British accents, and often stereotypes associated with them. Since you're planning RP, I would say that BBC News, especially, might be useful, although I've noticed a few regional accents at times. Often programmes filmed in the 60's and 70's will have RP or similar as the main accent. Try watching Doctor Who, focussing on the first 3 Doctors. (In fact, just watch DW. It's a pretty good programme.)
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