cover of episode #1 How to Get a British Accent

#1 How to Get a British Accent

2019/4/24
logo of podcast The Level Up English Podcast

The Level Up English Podcast

Frequently requested episodes will be transcribed first

Shownotes Transcript

What you can do to get a British accent.**Show notes page - **https://levelupenglish.school/podcast1)**Become a Level Up Member** - https://levelupenglish.school)

Transcript - https://levelupenglish.school/transcripts) (Members Only)

 How to Learn British Pronunciation

Introduction

  • There are countless British accents in England, let alone in the whole world.
  • Don’t worry too much about accents. Everyone has one (even native speakers) and it should be a badge of pride to show where you come from.
  • However: Reasons to want a British accent:
  • To be more respected at work
  • To stop being treated like an outsider
  • To impress your friends!

British accents have a few things in common which we’ll look at later

General Advice

  • Get the foundations right when you start so you don’t cement your mistakes, but change will come over time.
  • Watch lots of British TV shows, movies, and of course podcasts
  • Talk with native speakers and try to mimic their pronunciation
  • Getting a teacher would be even better because they can correct your mistakes
  • It takes a long time, and many people don’t begin to develop their accent fully until they reach an advanced level, don’t give up!

Specific Advice

  • Shadowing - repeat words from phrases you hear. Pay attention to vowel sounds.
  • Watch your mouth in a mirror 
  • Pay attention to your tongue position
  • L - tongue touches top teeth
  • R - tongue moves back in mouth, not touching

Learn stress

I recommend https://forvo.com/) for pronunciation and https://www.merriam-webster.com/) for a dictionary.

  • PreSENT / PREsent
  • SUSpect / susPECT
  • Record yourself and listen back

Specific Sounds

  • T sound - Very strong

  • Butter, Better

  • R sound - Not so strong

  • Car, Park, Hair, Hard, Ear

American vs British

  • AdvertIZEment (USA) / AdverTISSment (UK)
  • The ILE sound is different. MoBLE (USA) / MoBILE (UK)
  • Words ending in "ation". Organisation

I recommend this poem called The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité)

This poem shows the irregularities in English pronunciation. Try it for fun! It's very difficult though.

Recap: Having an imperfect accent isn’t the end of the world. We each have our own and should be proud of it. However, there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve, so I hope this helped.

Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons)**Join Level Up English** - https://courses.levelupenglish.school)By becoming a member, you can access all podcast transcripts, listen to the private podcast and join live lessons and courses on the website.