Trying to speak in a British accent is not really easy. Along with the accent are mannerisms that go along with the British themselves. There are hundreds of different accents within Britain, so categorizing it as a 'British' accent is rather incorrect; wherever you go you will find an unbelievable variety of different pronunciations. The following directions describe 'Queen's English', rarely ever used in modern day Britain, but the foreigners stereotypical view of how the British talk.
Step 1
Understand that all British accents (barring those from the West Country, Liverpool and parts of Scotland) lack a rhotic r; i.e. don't roll your "r"s and that not all British Accents are the same; a Scottish accent varies greatly from an English accent, but are both British.
Step 2
Know that some British accents may be that the 'T's are not pronounced and that the u in stupid and duty is pronounced with the y sound, not oo as in an American accent; thus it is pronounced stewpid, not stoopid, etc. The standard English accent, the a (for example in father) is pronounced aah, not like a like apple.
Step 3
Pronounce that T as T, and not an American D. (Duty is pronounced Dyuty or condensed slightly to Jooty; not doody).
Step 4
Pronounce the suffix -ing with the g, so it sounds like -ing rather than -een. But sometimes it is shortened to in as in lookin.
- Applying the two steps above, the words human being are pronounced h-yuman being rather than yooman been.
Step 5
Sometimes 'T's aren't pronounced at all, especially in words with two 'T's grouped together (this is known as the glottal stop, and is common in American English pronunciation).
Step 6
Sometimes the 'H' is not pronounced, in some accents.
Step 7
Realise that some words require the ee sound to be pronounced as ee, such as in the word been. In an American accent, this is often pronounced bin. In an English Accent, this may be pronounced been, a homophone of bean; or just as "bin", depending on where you go.
Step 8
Stop using all of your American slang and replace it with British slang. Understand British Terms.
Tips
- As with any accent, listening to and imitating a native speaker is the most important and fastest way to learn. Remember that when you were young you learned a language by listening and then repeating the words while imitating the accent.
- Take a trip to Great Britain and really listen to how they speak.
- As a child, your ability for the ear to process different frequencies of sound is greater, enabling you to distinguish and reproduce the sounds of the languages that surround you. To effectively learn a new accent, you must expand the ability of your ear by listening over and over to examples of the accent.
- If you're visiting England, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire are brilliant places to pick up this kind of accent.
- Try to get a British phone-buddy!
- It is easier to learn accents by listening to people. A formal british accent can be heard on BBC news. You need to pronounce everything clearly and articulate every word properly, making sure there are spaces between your words.
- As you expand the ability of the ear, speaking becomes an automatism. When the ear can 'hear' a sound, the mouth has a better chance of producing it.
- There are a wide range of British accents. For every day use or for business, try learning a "received pronunciation" (RP) accent such as that commonly used by BBC newscasters.
- Think about your audience. If you wish to genuinely fool people into thinking you're British, you want to think about regions, and work much harder than if you want to get a general picture across for a school play.
- Try imagining a plum in your mouth. While pronouncing your vowels, try to keep your tongue as low in the mouth as possible while keeping the roof high. Talk as normal as possible (not foolishly). The placement of the tongue, combined with the extra resonance, should make a good start to "faking" a British accent.
- As well as accent, watch out for slang words, such as 'lads' or 'blokes' for boys/men, 'birds' or 'lasses'(in the north of England and in Scotland) for women. 'Loo' for the toilet, but 'bathroom' for a room you clean yourself in.
- Also, don't talk nasally, thus don't use your adenoids to speak.
- Remember: The accents of Julie Andrews or Emma Watson (Hermione from 'Harry Potter') are quite different from those of Jamie Oliver and Simon Cowell (Sussex) or Billy Connolly (Scottish).
- Many places have different mannerisms and word usages. Look up a British dictionary online for more British terms.
- Another way to practice an English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish accent would be to watch and follow a specific news spokesman on any British news channel and repeat their speech (half an hour a day would probably take 2 weeks to become an expert).
- You may have heard a Cockney accent (east end of London). This accent is increasingly more unusual in the 21st century but if you were try to imitate one, notice that they almost sing words and they almost replace vowels and remove letters, e.g. the a in "change", would be an "i" sound. Films based on books by Dickens as well as ones such as "My Fair Lady" may have examples of this accent.
- With some very strong regional accents, there is a tendency to replace 'th' with a 'ff' - "through" may sound like "froo".
- Try repeating people who have British accents.
Warnings
- Don't narrow your mouth too much when you say words like 'shark' or 'chance'. The resulting sound may make you sound like a South African. Don't think that you'll get it right quickly either, it is likely that any true British person will know that you're faking it straight away, but it might pass for a real accent to non-'Brits'.
Things You'll Need
- CD player, some tapes related to the British accent
- you can also refer to BBC learning English
- record the British accent and open windows media player and play it on slow. That will help you learn the British accent more quickly.
