The particular accents used in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are each different and with practice you can speak in a genuine-sounding accent. Along with accents there are also styles that you need to take into account to make an impact on those accents. The following instructions will describe Queen's English or "Received Pronunciation" (RP) which was used in Southern England and Wales, and is rarely used in modern England today, but the stereotypical view of foreigners on the way of speaking English people. The study of RP is broadly concerned with pronunciation, while the study of standard language is also about such things as correct grammar, vocabulary and more formal style.
Step
Part 1 of 6: The letter R
Step 1. Start with R
Understand that most British accent speakers don't roll their R (except those from Scotland, Northumbria, Northern Ireland and parts of Lancashire), but not all British accents are the same. For example, a Scottish accent is very different from an English accent. After the vowel, don't say R, but lengthen the vowel and maybe add an "uh" (Here is "heeuh"). In a word like "hurry," don't mix R with a vowel. Say "huh-ree".
- For American English, words ending in "rl" or "rel" can be pronounced using one or two syllables, fully interchangeable. This does not apply to British English. "-rl" words like "girl", "hurl", etc., are pronounced as one syllable without pronouncing R, while "squirrel" is "squih-rul", and "referral" is "re-fer-rul".
- Some words are easier to pronounce with a British accent. For example, mirror, which sounds like "mih-ra". Don't pronounce "mirror" like "mere"; British people almost never do it. When pronouncing a word that ends in W, it is often pronounced with an "r" at the end. For example, the word "saw" can be pronounced as "saw-r", if used in a sentence it becomes "I sawr it!"
Part 2 of 6: The letter U
Step 1. Say U in stupid and in duty with an ew or "you" sound
Avoid the oo as an American accent; therefore it is usually pronounced stewpid or more commonly schewpid, not stoopid, etc. duty will be pronounced dewty or more often jooty. For standard English accents, A (for example, in father) is pronounced at the back of the mouth with the throat open-it sounds like "arh." This is what happens to almost all British accents, but is exaggerated in RP. In Southern England and RP, words like "bath", "path", "glass", "grass" also use this vowel (barth, parth, glarss, grarss, etc.). However, in the rest of the UK "bath", "path", etc. sounds like "ah".
Part 3 of 6: Heavy Consonants
Step 1. Say words with heavy consonants
Pronounce the T in "duty" as a T: not like the American D, doody, because duty is pronounced dewty or the softer jooty. Pronounce the -ing ending with a strong G. This will sound like -ing instead of -een. But sometimes shortened to in as in lookin.
The word human being is pronounced hewman being or yooman been in certain areas, although it can also be pronounced hewman bee-in
Part 4 of 6: The letter T
Step 1. Sometimes, discard T
In certain accents, including the cockney accent, the T is not pronounced in the word, while Americans use a D to replace it. Nonetheless, there are usually short pauses or "hiccups" instead. Therefore "battle" can be pronounced ba-ill but it is quite rare to find someone who pronounces "Ba-ill", catching the air behind the tongue at the end of the first syllable before expelling it at the pronunciation of the second syllable. This is known as a glottal stop. Americans use glottal pauses for words like "mittens" and "mountain." It's just that the British use it more often.
People with English Estuary, RP, Scottish, Irish and Welsh accents find it lazy and rude to omit the T, and this feature is absent, but in almost all accents it is OK to do this in the middle of a word in casual contexts and is almost universal to put a glottal pause at the end of the word
Part 5 of 6: Pronunciation
Step 1. Notice that some words are pronounced as they are written
The word "herb" must be pronounced with an H sound. The word "been" is pronounced "bean", not "bin" or "ben". For RP, "Again" and "renaissance" are pronounced like "a gain" and "run nay sänce", with "ai" as "pain", not "said." Words ending in "body" are pronounced as written, like "any body," not "any buddy." But use the short British O sound.
Step 2. Notice that H is not always pronounced
The "H" is pronounced in the word "herb," as opposed to American English erb. However, in most British accents, the H at the beginning of the word is often omitted, as is in most Northern and Cockney accents.
Step 3. Say "bean," not "bin" for been
For American accents, this is often pronounced bin. In an English accent, been is a common pronunciation, but "bin" is often heard in casual conversation when the word is not stressed specifically.
Step 4. Note that two or more vowels together will trigger an extra syllable
For example, the word "road" is usually pronounced rohd, but in Wales and by some in Northern Ireland it may be pronounced ro.ord. Some speakers may even say "reh-uud."
Part 6 of 6: Listening and Imitating
Step 1. Listen to the language "music"
All accents and dialects have their own musicality. Pay attention to the tone and emphasis of British speakers. Sir Johnathan Ive is a good example, listen to his accent at Apple's unveiling. Do sentences generally end on a higher, equal or lower note? How many pitch variations are there throughout similar sentences? There is a large variation in tonality between regions. British speaking, especially RP, usually varies more or less in sentences than American English, and the general trend is to drop slightly towards the end of the phrase. Nonetheless, Liverpool and northeast England are noteworthy exceptions!
For example, instead of saying, "is he going to the STORE?" Say, "is he GOING to the store?" Lower the tone of the question, not raise it (raising is more common in American and Australian English)
Step 2. Have the British say a familiar verse:
"How now brown cow" and "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain" and pay close attention. Round mouth vowels in words like "about" in London, are usually flattened in Northern Ireland.
Step 3. Immerse yourself in British culture; this means surrounding yourself with individuals who speak, live, walk and speak British English
This is certainly the most convincing way to learn a British accent quickly. Soon you will naturally be able to speak with variations like the above. Anything with British speakers can be useful - try listening to the BBC (which provides free radio and television news broadcasts on the web) songs with British singers, or films with British characters.
Tips
- As with accents, watch out for slang words like lads or blokes for boys and men, birds or lasses (in northern England and Scotland) for women. Loo is for the toilet, but the bathroom is for the room where you clean yourself.
- As with any accent, listening to and imitating native speakers is the best and fastest way to learn. Remember that when you were a child, you learned a language by listening and repeating words while imitating the accent.
- It's easier to learn accents by listening to people. Formal British speech can be heard through the BBC news which can be heard often. Formal British conversation is calmer and more careful and articulate than American, but as is the case with news anchors everywhere, this effect is intentionally exaggerated for TV and radio broadcasts.
- When you say "at all" say it like "a tall" but with a British accent.
- RP is not called Queen English for no reason, hear for yourself how Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II speaks. It was rewarding to hear him at the Openings of the State Parliament when he always gave long speeches, a great time to observe the way he spoke.
- Don't learn more than one accent at a time. Because Estuarine English sounds so different from a "Geordie" accent, it's easy to get confused.
*There are hundreds of different accents in Great Britain so classifying all of them as British is imprecise; wherever you go, you'll find an incredible variety of pronunciations.
- Be creative. Have fun with this accent. Learn new knowledge then explore. British accent test on your friends! They will tell if you are good or not!
- Many places have different styles and use of words. Read the online British dictionary for more British terms. Keep in mind that despite the obvious distinctions between tap/faucet, pavement/sidewalk, the locals will find you a great source of entertainment and worst of all, patronize you if you try to adopt the local words and their style yourself.
- If you're visiting England, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are some of the last bastions of traditional RP and "Queen's English" accents. However, a growing number of students there now speak with accents from around the UK and the world, and the natives of the city and surrounding area speak with their own (often very different) local accents. They may be offended if you think they are speaking with a "stereotypical British accent"; Don't fall into the common trap of thinking of an Oxfordshire or Cambridgeshire accent as the same as an RP accent.
- Say anything clearly and articulate each word precisely, making sure there is some space between your words.
- Perfect your British accent using the standard lecture used in schools around the world 'Learn the British accent- FAST !' which is even now available online.
- Take a trip to Great Britain and listen carefully to the way they speak.
- As a child, the ear's ability to process different frequencies is greater, allowing you to distinguish and reproduce the sounds of the language around you. To learn a new accent effectively, you must broaden your ear by listening to examples of accents over and over again.
- Once you've learned the technique and listened to British speakers, try reading passages while reading them in dialect. This is fun and can be a good exercise.
- If you want to hear a more up-to-date version of the accent, watch a few episodes of the TV series ' Easters' and ' Only Fools and Horses'. People still talk this way, particularly working class society in east London and parts of Essex and Kent, though, more so in the elderly.
- Remember: The accent of Julie Andrews or Emma Watson (Hermione in Harry Potter), who speaks RP, is slightly different from Jamie Oliver and Simon Cowell (Estuary English-which is probably the most widespread common accent in southern England, roughly between Cockney and RP) or Billy Connolly (Glasgow).
- Always use British English words if there is a difference with American English. British people tend to be more protective of differences. In particular, use "rubbish" and "tap", not "trash" and "faucet". Also, saying "schedule" with "sh_", not "sk_" is fine (but not necessarily), but you should learn to pronounce "specialty" with 5 syllables instead of three because it is pronounced differently in English (spe-ci-al -i-ty).
- As you expand your listening skills, speaking becomes automatic. When the ear can "hear" sound, the mouth has a better chance of producing it.
- Another way to practice an English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish accent is to watch and follow the news anchors on any English news channel and repeat what they say. Watching half an hour a day will improve speech patterns in just a few weeks.
- If you have English acquaintances, ask them to say the phrases for you, so you can listen and try to learn.
- Think about your audience. If you're going to trick people into thinking you're British, you'll need to think about territory, and work harder than if you wanted to get a cursory overview for a school play.
- You've probably heard the Cockney accent (eastern end of London). These accents are becoming more and more unusual in the 21st century, but if you want to emulate them, note that they almost sing the word and they almost replace vowels and get rid of letters, for example the a in "change" will make the sound "i." Films based on Dickens' books and such as "My Fair Lady" may have examples of this accent.
- There are many British accents such as London, Cornwall, "Queen's English", Yorkshire, Birmingham and South Bromwich, and Lancashire.
- Sometimes you can omit the last word. For example, if you wanted to say "the door won't shut" you would say "the door won't shu-" it would look like you had finished the sentence.
- Don't be too British. This will be annoying to some people who know your true origins.
Warning
- Don't be overconfident that you speak a good British accent. It is very rare to find imitations that sound genuine to the ears of the natives.
- Don't think you'll learn it quickly. Chances are a real English person will notice right away that you're faking it, but it might seem like a real accent to a non-English person.
