The Scottish accent is fun but hard to imitate properly. But, with practice and confidence, you can start imitating your favorite Scottish accent!
Step
Method 1 of 3: Understanding Pronunciation
Step 1. Understand the differences in Scottish dialects
Like American, Canadian, and British accents, Scottish accents vary by region. If you want to speak with a Scottish accent, you've most likely thought of the kind of Scottish accent you hear in movies and television. These accents are generally from the Lowland and Midland areas.
- A "common" Scottish accent is difficult to define because of the variety of types. However, you can learn to speak in a common accent that people outside of Scotland may recognize as a Scottish accent.
- Most of the Scottish accents you may hear come from the Lowland and Midland areas. This is the area where the more densely populated cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Galloway are located. However, even the accents in this more densely populated region will be different. Galloway, in the southwest, sounds a little closer to Irish because of its proximity to Northern Ireland. In addition, there are differences in the Glasgow and Edinburgh accents, but not the differences between the New York and Boston accents.
Step 2. Prepare for oral posture
Oral posture, or vocal tract posture, is how you position your jaw, lips, tongue, teeth, and even your vocal cords to speak a certain way. There are some basic techniques you can use to position the articulator (lips, teeth, tongue, hard and soft palate, etc.) to pronounce a Scottish accent.
- Pull the tip of the tongue deep in the mouth. As you speak, pull your tongue back toward your throat. Doing this will help you create the harsher, hoarse voice often associated with Scottish accents.
- When speaking, concentrate the movement or action on your lips and jaw. Move your lips forward and open your mouth as if you want your lips to encircle each sound and word. Because the tongue is pulled back, you may be tempted to close or squeeze your lips together. To prevent this, focus on loosening and loosening your jaw.
Step 3. Pronounce similar words the same way, combine syllables into words, and remove the "g" ending
Unlike American English which pronounces the word "pull" slightly differently from the word "pool", in a Scottish accent, both words sound like "pool".
- When pronouncing a Scottish accent, think of the "u" sound as "oo".
- If there are two short words in a row, pronounce the second word as the first. "Did not" often becomes "didnae" or "dinnae." However, avoid speaking too fast.
- Remove the 'g' sound from words that end in 'g.' For example, say "evenin'" instead of "evening." "Sewing" becomes "sewin'".
Step 4. Replace the "o" sound with "ae"
The "ae" sound, officially known as the Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel, is an "ah" sound with a greater emphasis on the letter "a" and less on the letter "h". You hear this sound when you pronounce words like "have" and "that" in Standard American English. Try making the "ah" sound in a word like "not" to make it "nae." Words that end in an "oo" sound are also often pronounced as "ae".
- "To" is pronounced like "tae". "Do" becomes "dae". Also, "no" has a slight "aw" sound at the end, so it sounds like "naw" or "nae".
- Another example of changing the way you pronounce a word is in the sentence "I am going to the shops over there." In a Scottish accent, it's pronounced "Am gan tae the shoaps oor air."
Method 2 of 3: Playing with Vowels and Consonants
Step 1. Play with glottal stop consonants
Sound-gap consonants are made when you close the airflow in your throat in the middle of a word to pronounce the letter "t." Think of this as the absence of sound.
- For example, if you wanted to say "glottal stop" with a Scottish accent, you would say "glo'al stop".
- A gap-pitched consonant is not used for every "t" sound in a Scottish accent. If there is a "t" at the beginning of a word, you should still pronounce it. For example, "that" would sound like "tha". And at the end of the word, you will narrow your throat to stop the flow of air.
Step 2. Learn to sound the letter "r"
Just sound the letter "r" once. Do this especially after the letter "d", "t", or "g".
- Words like "draw," "trip," and "grand" all have a distinct "r" sound.
- Words like "where" can have a slight "r" sound, but here you need to stick the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth after the "r" sound. This action creates a "de" sound. So the word "where" becomes like "wherde". This is also referred to as tapping the letter "r".
Step 3. Follow Aitken's law
Aitken's law is a rule of vowel length that characterizes the formation of the different vowels of the Scottish language. Before learning how to pronounce each specific vowel, you can generalize the pronunciation of vowels to help you get a feel for speaking in a Scottish accent.
- Generally, vowels followed by consonants are short.
- Short vowels appear in words like "bead," which is pronounced "bid." In a Scottish accent, the word "mood" rhymes with "good" as long as you don't extend the "oo" sound in "mood."
- Long vowels occur when a word ends in another vowel. For example, you would pronounce a word like "key" as "kee". The same principle applies to words like "done". Here, the word will sound more like the word "dome" but with the letter "n".
- Vowels are key in a true Scottish accent. As a general rule, vowel sounds are not that difficult in a Scottish accent. Vowels can be long or short, but you pronounce them with an open mouth. Remember to keep the jaw loose and not clenched.
Method 3 of 3: Using colloquial terms
Step 1. Learn slang
If you want to pretend to be Scottish, you have to learn to speak like them. Familiarize yourself with Scottish slang. Part of using slang is following the rules for vowels and consonants. Certain words are also pronounced differently. "Yes" often becomes "yae".
- Instead of saying "go away," you can say "oan yer bike pal." Note: no bicycle required. However, it's a colloquial term you might hear in the Midland or Lowland area.
- While you might say "I don't know" or even "I dunno" in a normal voice, in a Scottish accent, it sounds quite different. To say "I don't know" in a Scottish accent, you need to say "I dinnae ken" or simply "I dinnae". The word "ken" is generally only spoken in the Midland dialect.
- "Instead of saying "hello," you can greet someone with "awright huh?"
- Often, instead of saying "yes" or asking "yeah?", you're better off saying "eh?"
Step 2. Shorten and change specific words
It's hard to memorize colloquial terms, but many Scottish terms actually change American, Canadian, and English words by taking advantage of the vowel and consonant rules.
For example, instead of saying "everybody," you could say "aab'dy". Here, you condense a word of five syllables into just two syllables. "I am not" becomes "am no'". Here, "am" has the same purpose as "I'm"
Step 3. Listen to people speaking in a Scottish accent
The best way to develop a Scottish accent is to listen to it. Get to know more Scottish people you might know, watch a Scottish movie, or even visit the country.
- Television series like Doctor Who often have Scottish actors speaking in his natural accent. Karen Gillan, David Tennant and Peter Capaldi are all Scottish. Hear how these actors speak compared to other British actors in the series
- James McAvoy and Gerard Butler are two other Scottish actors you can listen to. Watching interviews of these actors is a good way to hear their accents.
- Both the film and the book "Trainspotting" are another good way to get used to a Scottish accent. The book is phonetic so that when you read it aloud, you are forced to speak with an accent.
- Both Dead Man's Chest and At World's End from the Pirates of the Caribbean series feature Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, who speaks with a heavy Scottish regional accent.
Tips
- Other slang terms include "dead bored" or "pure fuming."
- Pronounce or sound the letter "r".
- Watch movies like Disney's Trainspotting or Brave to familiarize yourself with this accent. By listening to Scottish actors speak in their original accents, you'll get an idea of how the sentences are put together, as well as the overall sound.
