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Sounding naturally British

I'm learning tbe RP accent and while I have gotten used to pronouncing words like the Southern RP speaker, I still feel like I need more improvement.
How can i imitate a native speakers RP accent smoothly?

Any tips?

Reply 1

Original post by Anonymous
I'm learning tbe RP accent and while I have gotten used to pronouncing words like the Southern RP speaker, I still feel like I need more improvement.
How can i imitate a native speakers RP accent smoothly?
Any tips?

You'll find upon arriving here that unis depend massively on international money. What that means for you is, depending on the uni, home students might very well be the minority. No need to imitate native speaker speech (besides hardly anyone uses true received pronunciation these days).

Make sure your accent isn't so strong that you can't be understood. We have a lot of immigrants in the UK, as well as Scots, Geordies, and Scousers. We're very used to weird accents, so chances are you're good

Reply 2

Original post by Filthy Communist
You'll find upon arriving here that unis depend massively on international money. What that means for you is, depending on the uni, home students might very well be the minority. No need to imitate native speaker speech (besides hardly anyone uses true received pronunciation these days).
Make sure your accent isn't so strong that you can't be understood. We have a lot of immigrants in the UK, as well as Scots, Geordies, and Scousers. We're very used to weird accents, so chances are you're good

I know but I really love the accent. It's so posh and sophisticated.
That's why I'm learning

Reply 3

Original post by Filthy Communist
You'll find upon arriving here that unis depend massively on international money. What that means for you is, depending on the uni, home students might very well be the minority. No need to imitate native speaker speech (besides hardly anyone uses true received pronunciation these days).
Make sure your accent isn't so strong that you can't be understood. We have a lot of immigrants in the UK, as well as Scots, Geordies, and Scousers. We're very used to weird accents, so chances are you're good

I know but I really love the accent. It's so posh and sophisticated.
That's why I'm learning
Different strokes for different folks but I think most people in the UK would say it sounds a bit silly and forced.

Reply 5

If you want to learn itthen move in those social circles and very soon you'll discover that it's not what you though it was at all. Be your genuine self, that's good enough

Reply 6

Original post by Admit-One
Different strokes for different folks but I think most people in the UK would say it sounds a bit silly and forced.

What accent do you have? London?
Original post by Anonymous
What accent do you have? London?


Midlands. I don't think most people would place it unless they asked me to say "twenty" or "window" :smile:

Reply 8

Original post by Admit-One
Midlands. I don't think most people would place it unless they asked me to say "twenty" or "window" :smile:

So how do you pronounce water? Wotah or wota? Is it different from RP?
Original post by Anonymous
So how do you pronounce water? Wotah or wota? Is it different from RP?


"War-ah" or "Wart-uh" would be the nearest to how most midlanders pronounce it.

Yes, midlands accents are different to RP, but not as strong as other regional accents, (to my ear at least).

Reply 10

Original post by Admit-One
"War-ah" or "Wart-uh" would be the nearest to how most midlanders pronounce it.
Yes, midlands accents are different to RP, but not as strong as other regional accents, (to my ear at least).

Wow that's very different!!

Reply 11

Original post by Anonymous
Wow that's very different!!


It's a silly video but there's a couple of examples here:

https://youtu.be/MU5L9rIOaqw?si=eEBPiC3kEaBFpUeS

If you look on youtube for 'UK midlands accent' you'll find examples of east and west midlands accents.

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