Hello it’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Today we are looking at the BBC accent and RP and wondering how they are different. I’ll also show you how to read like a classic BBC newsreader.
Plus, at the end of the video I’ll show you what might be the high point of the BBC accent. Here’s a clue - still not sure? Watch till the end. BBC and RP So, The BBC, also called the Beeb, goes way back to the 1920s. Now, the director general of the Beeb wanted to find an accent that, firstly, wouldn’t be laughed at (yes that’s true) and that it would be understandable by the majority of the population. Anyway, the boffins at the Beeb decided that RP or Received Pronunciation would be the perfect accent for their broadcasters. There was even an advisory committee set up to create a slightly modified RP that would be specific to the BBC, so that they could decide the pronunciation of specific words, especially non-English words. Hence the term BBC English. So, pre-war you could also say that by today’s standards the accent is a version of RP called Conservative or Traditional RP, an accent that is so unique that it is spoken by about 2-3% of the British population. I’ve already made a video on that so just click on the link in the description or right here to go to how to speak posh & RP - Conservative RP. But here’s the thing - the BBC created a handbook of pronunciation. So I thought, what a better way than to look at some of these BBC words and then try and read them as a BBC newsreader. Let’s look at these words that the BBC highlighted because of their pronunciation (bear in my that this is from 1929): Feature 1 - Let’s get stressed! The BBC have written specific instructions on syllable stress for certain words. Nowadays, when you look up words in online dictionaries, it may give you two different syllable stress patterns for some words in British English. Maybe this is the influence of the BBC! I’ll give you an example. Let’s look up the word garage: You see there are two different ways of saying it in British English. Garage and Garaz. So here is a list of BBC words with instructions on syllable stress: Controversy has the stress on the first syllable. Dispute - second syllable stress on both noun and verb. Finance - stress is on the second syllable. Formidable - stress on first syllable (we say it on the second syllable these days) Gondola - stress on first syllable Garage this changed from garaz to garage and then back to garaz) (both are accepted nowadays) Kilometre Has the stress on the first syllable so we don’t say kilOmetre we say Kilometre and that’s the same as nowadays. So a newsreader could read the headline: DisPUTE erupts over the FORmidable CONtroversy surrounding the FInances of a gaRAGE in Dover. Feature 2 pronounce your h’s So, some words have been specifically highlighted with an instruction to sound the ‘h’ in words like ‘hotel’ and ‘humour’. So, don’t read them like ‘umour or ‘otel. Sounds too Cockney, that! So you could read the headline: In Venice, gondola crashes into hotel, making the gondolier lose sense of humour. Feature 3 - hard or soft ‘g’ The guide recommends that gynecology is with a hard ‘g' like ‘go’ on the first ‘g’, and hydrogen is with a soft ‘g’ like gentle. Feature 4 - Focus on vowel sounds Haunt - is said with the vowel sound of paw. Gouge is sounded like ‘how’ and not ‘who’. Hovel is pronounced like ‘novel’ not ‘shovel’. So a BBC newsreader might read the headline: Workmen find hydrogen bomb in haunted hovel. Now here’s a fact - The first regional (non-RP accent) was used at the BBC in 1941! Part 2 Post WW2 Nowadays, BBC presenters either speak in Contemporary RP or have a regional accent. In fact, pretty much any accent goes now. These days there is something called the BBC pronunciation unit which still monitors pronunciation. For example they have decided that BBC broadcasters say Hyundai. They also have an interesting way of transcribing the words too, so, for example, the word ‘pronunciation’ would be written as pruh-nun-si-AY-shuhn. They have written out this text spelling for all vowel and consonant sounds to make it easier for newsreaders and presenters. Words whose recommended pronunciation has stood the test of time include Auld Lang Syne (‘sign’, not ‘zine’), centenary (‘sentéenări’, not ‘-tenn-’) And finally... The BBC accent reached its high point in a short film called the Spaghetti Harvest. Yes, that’s right - the BBC made a film about spaghetti growing on trees. It was actually made for April Fool’s Day and is now cemented in BBC history. The narrator has a typical BBC English accent so I have left a link in the description for you to watch. Enjoy! Final thoughts So, it seems like RP was chosen by the BBC as the standard language to be used by broadcasters and they adapted it at will to create a unique version of RP we can call BBC English. So there you go, give a thumbs up and like the video or comment on what you find most interesting about BBC English. All I have to do now is say Stay connected and goodbye!
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The name’s Green. Jon Green. Today I’m going to show you how to speak like James Bond. That means Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and of course, Daniel Craig. It’s for your eyes only, so keep watching. Plus, I’ll give you the one phrase that you really have to get exactly right. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Now first let’s establish the single most important rule and fact about James Bond and his accent. James Bond is English and well-educated so aim for an English RP (received pronunciation) accent. What we really call Standard Southern British English nowadays. In fact, when you analyse all the actors who have played Bond, it’s a real mixed bag. Firstly, they are not all English, secondly they all played the role in their style of Bond, so these factors influence their accent. We’ll be looking at the Eon Production Bond films and the actors and their accents. Now, as I never use other people’s videos or films without their permission, simply click on the links in the description to check out the trailers or clips. 1.Sean Connery - So he is actually Scottish from, Edinburgh, but James Bond is English, so for the role he adopted quite a neutral RP English accent, You can hear this in the line from the trailer to You Only Live Twice where he says ‘what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this’. Now there is one famous feature of his accent, where he tends to say ‘sh’ instead of ‘s’, from time to time you might hear 'Miss Moneypenny’. Also, many people have pointed out that Scottish elements to his accent creep in during his later films, but to be honest that still fits in with the plot as Ian Fleming himself rewrote Bond’s heritage to include Scottish after seeing Connery’s performance. 2.George Lazenby - He only portrayed Bond once in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. Now, he was Australian so he too had to adopt an English RP accent which he does pretty well. I’ve put the opening scene from the film in the description and in it you can here him say ‘this never happened to the other fella’ here you could argue that fella is Australian as fellow would be more accurate in RP. 3.Roger Moore - You could say the quintessential English gentleman. He was born in London and he had rather a posh RP accent, which he didn’t have to adapt much for the role of Bond as this was his natural stage accent .He seamlessly fits into the role with his ‘my name’s Bond, James Bond’ as you can see in the trailer to Live and Let Die. His accent is more elegant and refined than his predecessors, and he has a distinct melody to the way he speaks. In the Spy Who Loves Me as he pushes someone to his death after getting the information he wanted he declares ‘ what a helpful chap’. 4.Timothy Dalton - He also was well-spoken, not as posh as Roger Moore, but definitely had a clear RP accent. Although not born in England he clearly has a trained actor’s accent. In the trailer to the Living Daylight’s, when he replies ‘believe me our relationship is strictly professional’. 5.Pierce Brosnan - Pierce Brosnan has a mixed heritage, having American and Irish blood but he also lived in London where he picked up his English accent. He went for a super smooth version of Bond and he does a fair job at the RP accent, although some comments I’ve read say that his Irish accent or twang comes through from time to time. 6.Daniel Craig - So Daniel Craig is the tough no-nonsense Bondl. He’s considered the more down-to-earth Bond and it is definitely reflected in his accent. He has a more contemporary version of RP which is quite neutral ( a bit like mine - now why wasn’t I ever asked to play Bond?!). Plus, Craig was born in England so he is really the second English Bond, so therefore his accent is obviously convincing. Hear how he says ‘Aston Martin’ with a longer vowel sound. The point we really don’t know is what accent did Ian Fleming (the author of Bond) envisage for Bond when he wrote the books? Bond himself had Scottish and Swiss family heritage but he went to Eton,served high up in the military and lived in Kent, So we could assume that his refined RP accent was down to his well-bred family, education and time spent in England. So to summarise. In order to speak like James Bond you need: 1.A version of the English RP accent - with less emphasis on the poshness nowadays. Dropping occasional ts is acceptable these days. 2.Speak direct and to the point - don’t mince your words. 3.Use your humour - a bit of dry wit never goes amiss in a Bond film - although are they more serious these days? Another good question to answer. So what do you think? Who is your favourite Bond and what do you think of their accents? Comment below, I’d love to hear from you. Plus, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel so that see more of my quirky accent videos. Remember there is nothing like this on the internet! All I have to do now is to say this is Commander Green signing off from duty. And remember - stay connected! Hello it’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Today we are looking at Standard Southern British English. It’s an accent tutorial and I’m going to show you what it is, who speaks it and where, I’ll also give you how to speak smoooothly AND I’ll give you a top film tip. So, are you ready? Let’s go!
First some background features What is it? The new standard Standard Southern British English is now the go to expression for calling the standard accent from the South of England. Linguists now agree on the term Standard Southern British English or Southern British English (SBE) as the accent you are likely to hear by actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch (who is from London) and people living in this area. As an extra note - I also speak Standard Southern British English as I was born and raised in the south of England. And by the way, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and click the bell for notification for more videos on accents. Now, what do we mean by Southern British? Now, let’s establish what Southern British is. It is actually the South of England. That is to say, we are really talking about the Home Counties and London. I’ll show you on my map of England here. The home counties include Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Sussex. Plus we can include Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hampshire. These are really the key counties where SBE is spoken. We can include counties like Dorset in the South of England too but the further away from London you go the thicker the accents get. So we can’t go too far! What is not included in SBE? Now, we can’t include dialects in this or any strong accents from the south of England (like Cockney) because they are not standard (even though it’s from London) Also we can’t include the Midlands and the North of England, nor Scotland, Ireland or Wales. So none of this talk alright? (Cockney accent). No, no today we will speak in a standard way. Alright, Let’s move on. SBE Accent Features - How to Speak Smoothly So let’s move on to the tutorial. The main point is to show you how to speak smoothly. So, I’m going to show you how Standard Southern British English is making it easier for you to say sounds. The first one is called Monophthongization (what?) or smoothing. Here’s how we can compare it: Today’s analogy brought to you by Green’s pies. Think of it like you are making the top of a pie. You have the dough and you need to roll the dough as there are a few bumps in the dough. The dough is our voice. But, once you roll it, it becomes nice and smooth. We can apply this to how we speak. We don’t want difficult, bumpy speech - we want Smooth and easy. Why not hit the like button if you like pies! OK let’s get on to smoothing Here are some examples of two ways of saying different sounds: ɑj + ə → ɑː notoriety becomes notoriety ɪj + ə → ɪː dear becomes dear ɛj + ə → ɛː prayer becomes prayer Interestingly, the schwa sound /ə/ disappears in the second version. Now, this is what I believe has happened. Which is easier to say? Prajer or prayer. Of course the second one, So I believe that British English is evolving so that we are making things easier to say, and that has become more important than speaking more carefully. Now have a look at the following words. How do you think we say them? Dear Here Fear Peer Now the fact is that there are really two ways of saying these words. I want to show you the difference and how you can smooth out what you say. So, let’s say these in two ways: The first way Dear Here Fear Peer The second way Dear Here Fear Peer Now, the sound is a lot smoother right? Because it has changed from a diphthong sound (two sounds) to more of a monophthong or single sound. Let’s put it in a sentence and say it both ways. I’ll name them first and second. First My dear, he’s here and I fear that he wants to peer over the fence. Second My dear, he’s here and I fear that he wants to peer over the fence. The second is the more modern way of saying it. It much more common for younger SBE speakers to smooth their vowel sounds. Same rule applies here but different sound. First Way Care Bear Share Pear Second Way Care Bear Share Pear So, you could say: He cares about bears and likes to share his pears. I think these sentences are getting more and more strange! The same rule applies to the third set First Way Pour Unsure Tour Moor Second Way Pour Unsure Tour Moor He was unsure about the tour on the moor as he poured himself another drink. So the word sure has ended up rhyming like shore. Amazing eh? So in all of the phrases the second one is the more modern way of saying the word. Both ways are correct though and it’s your choice which one you choose if you want to speak with this accent. Some people even switch and they can pronounce a word both ways in a conversation, depending on the situation. Ok this is the end of the tutorial part. Now, let’s move on to the top film tip today. It’s an old one but a good one! Top Film Tip Top FilmTip this week is Harry Potter. Now I know the films are not new but the talent of actors and different accents make it a perfect choice to compare different accents. Let’s take the three main characters Harry, Hermione and Ron. They have 3 slightly different accents but you could say that they come under Standard Southern British English. Let’s start with Hermione (Emma Watson), she speaks in a rather posh way, rather like classic RP or received pronunciation. Ron, on the other hand, speaks in a more Estuary English way and Harry, well Harry speaks something in between. The other one to look out for is Severus Snape played by Alan Rickman. He loves saying ‘Harry Potter’ and he also speaks in a Standard Southern British way. So my top tip this week is to watch or rewatch the Harry Potter films to check those accents. Please leave a comment if you want to find out more about the accents in Harry Potter. Final note In this video I wanted to show you how British English is developing as we are moving away from labels like RP. I mean RP is still probably the most desired British accent for people across the world. However, today I wanted to show how we speak now and in the future. Because as they say, the future is now! Stay connected remember and bye, bye…... Would you like to learn how to speak like a British Prime Minister? Would you like to know what the Oxford RP accent is? Then stay right here. I’ll answer these questions and I’ll show you 5 features of this accent, plus who speaks it. Now, I have a quiz question for you very shortly.
Hello it’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Now, onto that quiz question. How many British prime ministers throughout history have studied at the University of Oxford. Is it? a.11 b.28 or c.46. No cheating now and I’ll tell you the answer at the end of the video so keep watching! Alright, firstly, some background to this accent. What is the Oxford English RP accent? So, Oxford is both a town and university right? However, the Oxford accent of the people of Oxford is not the same as the Oxford RP accent spoken at the university on campus. Especially in the early to mid 20th century, the accent spoken at the university was clearly an accent which showed the world you had the best education and you have the accent to prove it. As it was the accent spoken by the middle and upper classes anyway, it seemed fitting to have its own variation of RP called the Oxford RP accent. You could also say that it is ‘affected’ which as the Oxford Dictionary put it is ‘designed to impress’. So, it is rather a label than a distinct accent in itself, as it still comes under the broader term of RP. However, there is a complete set of jargon that the students and staff use at the university of Oxford and I’ll give you an example. If you would like to become Head of the River and compete in a rowing race. You can compete in the ‘eights’ or ‘summer eights’. I’ve put a link to the full glossary of terms used at the Oxford archives for you to browse through as it is quite extensive. So who speaks with the accent? Well, Boris Johnson the Prime Minister and David Cameron, the former PM, are good examples. They both speak with an RP accent and they are both former students of Oxford University. I have links to videos featuring both of them to show you. In a minute we’ll look at some of the characteristics of the accent, but first let’s see where the starting position for RP is. Feature 1 - Oral Posture So every accent has a starting position of where the parts of the mouth should be. This is the oral posture of RP. Let’s start with the jaw. The jaw is moved up and slightly forward and tongue is raised up. However, some sounds will be produced from the back and some from the front. There should be about a 1cm gap in your mouth. Now, let’s look at how to pronounce some vowel sounds which are characteristic of this kind of accent. Feature 2 - Key Vowel Sound 1 - the up vowel For this sound you have to find it at the back of the mouth, as if you are going into song. Uhhhhh! Check out how I say undergraduate, Uxbridge and London in this sentence: “I was an undergraduate at Brunel University in Uxbridge, London, before I went to Oxford.” It’s not true by the way! Feature 3 Key Diphthong sound 1 - the oh sound The first diphthong is created at the front of the mouth and you will just see the lips closing to form a rounded shape. I’ll give you an example. I’ve put an interview with David Cameron in the description below and at 20 seconds, you’ll hear him say: “All that has followed” Feature 4 SSSSS not SHHHHH Let’s look at the word negotiation. The more modern way of saying it is negotiation with a sh sound at the first ti. The more classic RP way is to say negotiation. It takes a lot of practice to get this right if you are not used to it. Check the clip of Boris Johnson saying negotiations, listen to the sound of the ‘oh’ vowel and ‘s’ sound: “We need to see a bit of oomph in the negotiations” Feature 5 Throw in some Ancient Greek or Latin phrases or references. Although this is more connected with the words rather than accents, if I were you I’d brush up on the classics. Take this quote from Cicero that Boris Johnson used: “The health of the people should be the supreme law.” The Latin version is underneath. salus populi suprema lex esto It’s quiz time answer So, at the beginning of the video, I asked you how many Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom went to the University of Oxford. The answer is b.28. Isn’t that incredible. Now that’s it for today. Before I go - do you have any questions for me? Have you ever been to Oxford? Or studied at the University? Let me know in the comments below. And don’t forget to subscribe to the channel for more videos on accents and the perfect place to get a better British accent. You could also give the video a thumbs up if you liked the content. So finally, if you want to be the next British PM then try speaking with an Oxford RP accent. Although it does help if you actually went to Oxford University in the first place, and before that you went to Eton. I’m just saying. That’s all for today and now please rise for the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, which is…………. Hello it's Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent.
Today, we are talking about the accent known as MLE which stands for Multicultural London English. It’s spoken by young, working class people and is taking over Cockney as the accent to have if you are part of this group. In fact, is it the death of Cockney?Hmmm... Now the big thing about MLE is it has influences from different parts of the world, like the Caribbean and the Indian Subcontinent, and the result is a new kind of English which can be heard not only in London, but also other urban areas of the UK. Let me show you how it works by making a pot of tea. I’m putting in 4 mixed tea bags, I’ll let it brew and later we’ll see what it tastes like. So, In today’s tutorial I thought we could talk about dropping, keeping or changing sounds in MLE. We can also make some comparisons to Cockney, as there are both similarities and differences. Plus, at the end of the video, I’ll give you my top TV tip for watching and listening to the MLE accent. So, Are you ready? Let's go! Alright, let’s start with one of the most interesting features of MLE and that is: there is no h-dropping. What does this mean? Well, let’s say that in Cockney there is a lot of h-dropping. Like alright, ‘arry? or, I’m ‘eading back to de ‘ouse you might say in Cockney. In MLE you would say “I’m heading back to da house”. Cockney ‘ouse, MLE house. It’s that simple. So keep your h’s if you want to speak MLE. Next, let’s move onto th-stopping. This is where the two ‘th’ spellings as in the and th can be sounded as a /t/ or a /d/ sound. So thing becomes ting in MLE. Youth becomes yout. That can be dat and this can be dis. You might say in MLE ‘dis one or dat one? Ok, now I think this is a good time to try the tea! Alright, let’s pour it into the cup, no milk this time and straight out of the pot. Mmm, well it’s an interesting blend, with lots of different flavours and influences and it’s quite strong. If I added more tea bags it would be even stronger. So, as you can see this also soums up MLE. An interesting blend of different flavours. Alright, we’ve done th-stopping, now let’s do th-fronting which can also be found in Cockney. Ok, so th-fronting is when a the sound is exchanged for a /v/ sound or a /th/ sound is replaced by a /f/ sound. Let’s take a look at what it sounds like in speech: you could say “which monf was your bruvva born in? By the way brother can be:bruv, bruvva or bra. We can also drop sounds in words like gonna, wanna, and the most famous - innit? Innit is short for isn’t it? But it’s used as a question tag for pretty much anything although it can still mean isn’t it? You could say are you going to take it? Innit? (the meaning there is aren’t you?) Next is L-vocalization. This is also a feature of Cockney and Estuary English. It’s where the /l/ sound at the end of words changes to a /w/ or an /ʊ/ sound. The Channel Tunnel therefore sounds like Channel Tunnel in MLE. And finally, my top TV tip for listening to the MLE accent is: Top Boy! A hard-hitting,, thought-provoking series about young Londoners and it is available on Netflix. I’ve included a clip in the description below. You will hear all the techniques plus loads more in series as the MLE dialogue is bang-on. But a warning - this series is not for kids. Alright? Now check out the rest of my channel for not only accent videos but pronunciation too. I hope to see you there. Now let’s see how quickly we can get 100 likes for this video. Like it now bros and sistas. Yeah! All that’s left is for me to say stay connected and see you later! Or Laterz! Bye! Intro: Voiceover - and that is the end of Citizen Kane. And now the adverts. Oh I wish I could speak more sophisticated English! Then don’t worry - British Native Speaker is here. Watch the video to find out more!
Hello, my name’s Jonathan and well, back in the day the transatlantic or mid-atlantic accent was very popular for us actors. So, today I’m going to show you what the transatlantic accent is, who speaks it, how to speak it and I’ll leave lots of links in this thing called the description. At the end of the video I’ll tell you what happened to the accent too and all I can say is, we need your help on this. Now, remember, right here you can get a better British or American accent coach who just loves making videos on accents especially for you!¹ Firstly, a bit of background to the accent. What is the transatlantic or mid-atlantic accent? Well, it was created for British or American people who wanted to sound more like their folks over the pond. The pond is what we call the Atlantic Ocean. Let’s set the scene - it is the time when silent movies were being replaced by talkies. Actors had to speak now! So, my conclusion is that it was mostly American actors in Hollywood who wanted to sound more sophisticated and understandable by adopting some kind of British accent. If you also think of the films being made in the 1930s, it was upper class families going about their business and they had to sound a bit posh. So, really the accent is a north-eastern American and British RP hybrid at its core, although there are plenty of variations. Who spoke it? Some of the most well-known speakers of this accent were Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor and Katherin Hepburn. Orson Welles’s character in Citizen Kane has one of the best examples of this accent - link to a clip in the trailer below. So, let’s just clarify - you can’t really be born with this accent - you have to learn it! Although Cary Grant is often quoted as having a mid-atlantic accent was born in England but lived in the United States. What do you think about his accent? Transatlantic, or natural? Watch a clip of Cary Grant and Katherin Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby - link in the description. Ok, so let’s get on with how to speak it. GO R-LESS 1.It’s non-rhotic or ‘r-less’. Just like RP but unlike American English replace the ‘r’ sound at the end of words with a schwa sound. Some sources say that you should water as ‘wartah’ but on the clips I have seen, the schwa seems to be used more (as it sounds more natural). So, try a soft schwa sound ‘He gave the water to the porter.’ If you would like to trill or flap the ‘r’ at the beginning or in the middle of words then you could say ‘he gave the water to the ‘real’ porter’. Just like in conservative RP - click above to check my video on that. ROUND YOUR VOWELS 2.Do not mumble - and pronounce vowels clearly and rounded with lips in a circular shape, not closed. A perfect demonstration of an old-fashioned elocution lesson can be seen in Singing in the Rain - Try this - Ta-tay-tee-toe-too. Also in the same clip and very important is the ‘ah’ sound - think of it like you are going to the doctors and he or she says: say ‘ah’. So, you need to master (oh did you hear?) the following words: can’t , dance, last, past and so on. In the clip you will see the back and forth between the diction coach and the student - can’t (can’t), can’t (can’t). In fact, that clip shows many of the techniques I am talking about right now. Now to retain your American accent you can say ‘snob’ and ‘plot’ with the same ‘ah’ sound. In a clip below you can hear the great actor Vincent Price saying ‘last’ at 0:12 seconds - he says ‘last’ not last and ‘plot’ not plot like LOT. Also, his ‘rs’ are more rhotic, where you can clearly hear his American accent. Again this shows the individual variations as not everyone adopts accents in the same way. Other variations I have heard are myine for mine and may for me. Cary Grant says flower for floor but he tends to ham up his dialogue quite often. One last point on vowels - there is no happy tensing so i: is pronounced i at the end of some words ending in y. For example - lady would be pronounced ladi not ladi: as i would say it. By the way click above to check my video on contemporary RP where I talk about happy tensing. Words ending in day can be pronounced Sundi: or Sunday though. Ok let’s move onto the next part. This is called ‘pronounce your ts!’ For this feature we will focus on words with t’ or double ‘t’ in the middle. Think about this sentence ‘ pass the butter please Walter’. So the stress is very much on the first syllable - butter, Walter, writer. In American English it is more common to replace the ‘t’ for a ‘d’ sound - as in budder or Walther. Pronounce the ‘l’ fully too. And the last part is don’t forget a ‘j’ sound after certain words most commonly with Tu or du spelling so for example: It’s Tom’s djuty to control the lighting on Tuesdays. So, there we have it - a guide to speaking with a transatlantic accent. Ok and finally, what happened to the accent. Well, post-war filming was much more experimental than pre-war and the accent simply fell out of favour. But wouldn’t it be great if we could revive it and continue to keep this little gem going. I’m up for it, are you? Comment if you would love to revive this accent. Hit the like button if you enjoyed this video and remember to browse my channel for more videos on accents. A link to a playlist and a video will be appearing soon. So, keep on watching and stay connected! See you by, bye. It was a cool, rainy night and I was just about to lock the British Native Speaker office door when a mysterious envelope arrived at my desk.
Inside was the message ‘find out why the Scottish accent has been voted the most attractive in the UK. And that’s when my investigation began. The case is called ‘Loched and Loaded’. Hello, it’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Now, I think I’ve solved this case and I’m going to show you why the Scottish accent has been voted the UK’s most attractive accent. In fact, the top three were - 1.The Scottish accent 2.The Welsh accent and in third place the Northern Irish accent. Wait a minute - where’s Received Pronunciation? Noooo….. Oh well, you can’t win them all, right? So why does everybody love the Scottish accent? Well, it could be down to this man - yes that’s the actor Sean Connery. He really is on the top spot of famous Scottish voices. In fact, at one point during his life he was voted ‘Greatest Living Scot’. He was born in Edinburgh and it was the way he spoke that made his voice so enticing. His particular accent was as smooth as Scotch whisky. Ok. That’s a good start to our investigation but we really need to hear a sample of the Scottish accent. So, I’ll give you an example for you to hear and then we can analyse some of the features. Let’s hear a sample of an accent from Renfrewshire which is in the west central lowlands of Scotland. And roll tape! "Which way should we go to Loch winnoch? One way is seven miles, the other isn't quite so far but I don't want to take the car on that bad road again." So what are the features of the Scottish accent which make it so pleasing on the ear? Let me give you a few clues. Clue 1 - In the Scottish accent, the sound ‘wh’ is generally pronounced as a ‘hw’. You may have heard in the recording the word ‘which’ being pronounced with a hw sound at the beginning. This makes it confusing for Scots when they hear an English person talking about Whales or Wales? As in Scottish they are pronounced differently. Clue 2 is the pronunciation of ‘ch’ as in Loch Winoch (that’s a mouthful) so the ‘ch’ is pronounced ‘ch’ in both words. The transcript for this word is /lɒx/ where /x/ symbol is a ‘ch’. And by the way, Loch is a Scottish Gaelic /Galik/ word for a lake. Clue 3 - The vowel sounds. Now, the sounds you have heard so far are not hard sounds and that is the same for the vowel sounds.Vowels are soft and smooth. Also, they have a loooong sound. It’s all oos and aaaaas, which is all very pleasant really. Clue 4 - Rhoticity. Another interesting fact is that Scottish is a rhotic accent. There are approximants and taps and trills. In other words /r/ is very much pronounced in different ways. The most distinctive way that the Scots play with the /r/ sound is with the trill, or we could call it the rolling /r/. RRRR, RRR, RRR. So that concludes my investigation and the case is solved as I as I’m pretty confident that these are the main reasons why Scottish has claimed the top spot and now let the ceremony begin to crown the Scottish accent as ‘the United Kingdom’s most attractive accent (as voted by you - the public).’ By the way, have I missed out any features that you think are important? Let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more videos on British accents click here to watch my analysis of all the James Bonds accents including Sean Connery. All I have to do now is say see you later and stay connected! Bye, bye. How You Can Apply the Modern BBC accent to YOUR Speaking
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening - today I’m going to let you into some secrets on what the modern BBC accent is and how you can apply it to your speaking to sound perfectly powerful. Because, let’s face it, the modern BBC accent is one of the most desired accents out there, and today I’ll show you why. Plus, at the end of the video I’ll give you a fantastic top tip on where you can check out some BBC accents. Are you ready? Then let’s go. Hello, It’s Jon your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. So firstly ‘modern’ or ‘classic’ BBC accent - what’s the difference? Well, . The BBC accent has had a long and proud history. We can divide the accent into two categories: what I call the ‘classic’ BBC accent and the ‘modern’ BBC accent. The classic you could say is much more connected with conservative RP (received pronunciation) and it was most popular in the early to mid 20th century right up to the 1970s. If you watch news reports from this time you will get the idea - I’ll show you where a bit later. Or you can watch my video on the classic BBC accent, the link is in the description. The moral is that the classic BBC accent is a bit old-fashioned. Now as RP has evolved over the years, so has the modern BBC accent. The modern BBC accent is much more like mainstream RP (in other words fairly neutral) and this is what I am speaking right now. Not only that but there are now BBC presenters and newsreaders with non-RP or near RP accents. Today though, we will try to be as neutral as possible. So, throughout the video, I’ll be speaking just like this, although I might have to change it a little in order to speak in ‘modern newsreader speak’ shall we say. I want to show you that by taking the principles of the modern BBC accent you can apply them to your accent and improve your speaking in general. Whether you are giving a presentation or maybe even a speech, you are free to use the following tips and tricks. Now I don’t want to get too technical today so here are some dos and don’ts for speaking in a modern BBC accent: Let's start with the dos: Number one is DO speak clearly. This is very important as reporting on the news is all about getting the message across as clearly as possible. This was why RP or received pronunciation was chosen by the BBC many years ago, so that most people could understand the accent as much as possible. So, not too fast and not too slow, and it also means don’t drop key sounds. Bottle and not ‘bo’’le water and not ‘wa’er alright? Clarity is king. Number two is DO check your pronunciation of difficult or problematic words or names of people or places. Now in my other BBC video I did point out that there used to be a pronunciation handbook for newsreaders at the BBC. Well now there is a pronunciation unit at the BBC and they monitor difficult and problematic words and tell the news readers how to say these words. If you are giving a presentation, you need to do your research on things like names of people and places, brand names and other words that could be problematic. Here are some words that have more than one way of saying them: 1.Lieutenant British English /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ or lef-TEN-uhnt US: /luːˈtɛnənt/ loo-TEN-uhnt So here we have ‘lieutenant’ in British English and ‘lieutenant’ in American English. I imagine the BBC go along with the British version but of course both are accepted in English as a whole. 2.Kilometre: UK /ˈkɪl.əˌmiː.tər/ /kɪˈlɒm.ɪ.tər KIL-uh-mee-tuhr or kil-OM-uh-tuhr? So is it kilometre or kilometre? Hmm, tricky one this one. Traditionally, the stress was on the first syllable (like the first one) but it has started becoming more common to say the second version. I would say the first one but as I say, both now are acceptable. In fact I was just watching a documentary where the female British narrator with a modern RP accent said kiLOMetres (the second one)! If you have any words that you want to know the proper British pronunciation of then put them in the comments below. Be sure to hit the like button as well. Alright Tip Number 3 is do use some dramatic effect in your tone of voice but don’t get too emotional when reading the news! Now the don’ts. Number 1 So obviously don’t mumble, or speak unclearly as you are reading the news. Number 2 on a similar note, don’t use these now pretentious features that BBC newsreaders and reporters used to use. I would say the biggest one is don’t roll your r’s with modern BBC English. Keep it simple. OK? Today’s top tip: The brilliant BBC archive is a treasure trove of classic and modern BBC accents. If you join their Facebook page then you will get frequent postings of videos in their archives on all different subjects so it’s a really great way of listening to how the BBC accent has developed from the classic to the modern. And finally, here is a list of current newsreaders and presenters to look out for:Tim Wilcox, Dan Walker, Sophie Raworth, Charlie Stayt and Ros Atkins. They all speak with very pleasant RP or near-RP accents so check them out to watch or listen to them. So, I hope you enjoyed today’s video and remember to check out the links in the description and also I hope it helps you to get a better British accent. I’m Jon signing off and all I have to do now is to say see you later and stay connected. Bye, bye! Hello it’s Jon here, British accents coach here. How are you? Today is my fourth London accent video focussing on the four geographical areas of London - that is the north, south, east and west. So I thought I’d give you a mini tutorial on each accent and show you their biggest influences.
The North London Accent Ok, so let’s start with north London. Now, one of the biggest influences on the north London accent is Essex (which is north east of London). The first feature here is the called th-fronting which is pronouncing “th” as a “v” or “f”. For example, north London can be pronounced “norf London”. Another interesting feature is l-vocalisation where an “l” sound sounds more like a vowel sound. Listen to this lifestyle becomes lifestyw. I’ve actually heard the TV host Denise Van Outen say this and she is from Basildon in Essex. Here’s an example sentence for you to practise: I wouldn’t bovva changing your lifestyle, alright? The East London Accent Let’s move on to east London. Amongst other accents it is the home of Cockney. So let’s look at two features of the Cockney accent. H-dropping or aitch-dropping is not saying the “h” sound. So for example two places in east London that often have their “h” dropped are: Hackney - pronounced ‘ackney and Tower Hamlets - pronounced Tower ‘amlets. Another feature of Cockney is glottalisation. I’ve mentioned the t-glottalisation in previous videos but it can also be used to replace “d” and “k” sounds just like in the name Hyde Park become Hye Park or even ‘ye Park. Let’s put them altogether in one sentence: “Well, yesterday I went to Tower ‘amlets and then i got the Tube over to ‘ye Park. Got it? The South London Accent Next let’s go to south London or as we can say saaf London. In this part of London we can say that Multicultural London English (MLE) plays a big part. Now, the first feature is actually the opposite of a Cockney feature, which is non h-dropping. For example in MLE you might want to say “put this hat and your head, man”, keeping the aitchs intact. Another feature is this long aah sound like in the word together, pronounced togetha or even togeva. Or, The word weather can be pronounced weva. The West London Accent Finally, let’s go to the west London accent which is heavily influenced by the accent of Received Pronunciation (RP) as this is the accent of the middle-classes. So, received pronunciation is what I’m speaking in right now. One of its most distinguishing features is the broad aah sound just like in path, fast and castle. However, if you want to give it a little edge to it to make it more Londoney, then put in some of the features from the previous 3 accents. Let’s hear and example: “I live in a castle in ‘ackney so the weather doesn’t bother me. Btw, it’s not true - I don’t live in a castle in Hackney or ‘ackney. And Finally... So there you go, now please bear in mind that this in not strict. You can find Cockney in west London or received pronunciation in north London because, well, London is a very diverse place. (voiced as Churchill) "Ladies and Gentlemen, the vote you will give on February the 23rd is of profound importance to your future. " Hello. It’s Jon, your pronunciation and accents coach and right here you can get a better British accent. Winston Churchill is often hailed as one of, if not the greatest speaker of all time and today we will dissect his speech and look at his accent, his style and his impediments, which made Churchill, well Churchill. Cigar is optional. Media The media I used for this tutorial are a video and speech. The video is from British Pathe and the audio file is from wikipedia creative commons. The video shows Churchill speaking to the camera and he’s quite relaxed and you can really hear some of the features that I’m going to talk about like February, February. The audio is from his speech called Be Ye Men of Valour which was featured in the film ‘Darkest Hour’ with the brilliant performance of Churchill by Gary Oldman - also a good reference if you want to do an impression of Churchill. His Accent Churchill speaks RP or Received Pronunciation in other words, a Posh/Upper Class accent. It is the kind of Received Pronunciation which is dying out. It’s called conservative RP. However, it was an excellent accent for early TV and radio and I go more into that in my video on the classic BBC accent. Now let’s look at 5 features of the accent that Churchill uses. Features 1.The ‘S’ is…different So the first thing I need to point out is that he had a lisp, he also stuttered but let’s focus on the lisp. This is what we call a speech impediment where you have difficulty pronouncing the sounds connected with s. This is why he often sounds like he is mumbling but he really does pronounce his s sounds somewhere between an s and sh sound. Listen to the clip and the way he pronounces the ‘s’ in ‘speak’ and ‘first’. “I speak to you for the first time as prime minister” 2.‘Y’ like Fit not Feet In older versions of RP such as Conservative RP, people used to pronounce the sound of the letter ‘y’ at the ends of some words with an /i/ sound as in fit, not an /i:/ sound such as in the word feet. Consequently, Churchill said the following: “For the life of our country” Ok, let’s move on 3.‘A’ like Messes not Masses In the next extract, Churchill uses the feature of pronouncing some words with a modern /æ/ sound to sound more like an /e/ sound. I think this is quite clear in the next clip where he says ‘messes’ for ‘masses’: “the large masses are moving forward.” (56secs) 4.Our like Are Churchill’s accent has the feature of making his our sounds sound more like are. Instead of the more modern diphthong or two vowel sounds gliding together, he uses something more like a monophthong sound - so our (2 sounds) becomes are (1 sound). So our becomes are. However, he pronounces the word hour as a diphthong, just like we do today. This can be heard when he says: “In a solemn hour For the life of our country.” 5.‘R’ is for tapping A feature that nowadays is almost obsolete is doing the tapped /r/ sound. I imagine that speakers like Churchill used this technique to sound sophisticated. It’s called the tapped r because you tap the roof of your mouth to actually create the sound. But actually Churchill seemed to use this not really in his speeches but when he was doing interviews or other kinds of speaking. I’ve found him saying a monologue the link in the description and he really goes for this traditional ‘r’ sound. Just listen to how he says February as Febrrruary. It’s really difficult to do. Have a go yourself - Febrrruary. Other Important Features Pitch Churchill’s pitch is mid to low with varying pitch often starting higher and ending lower. His voice is quite crackly, in other words not smooth, with a bit of a creaky voice in there sometimes. It also feels like he talks from the back of the throat and quite slow. Don’t rush. Tone and body language His tone is not only authoritative and serious, but also passionate, so the combination of all of these accent features plus the way he directly looked at the camera, or focussed on the microphone the viewer or listener must really have thought he was talking to them personally. Vocabulary Churchill once said: “Short words are best, and old words are best of all.” What that means is use the simplest words to get the message across: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." We all understand these words, that derive from Old English, to get the message out, but In the field of human conflict actually is a fancy way of saying war - so he contrasted the simple with the more sophisticated. The Mouth Finally, to finish off the whole Churchill effect, you need to extend your bottom lip a little to create a sort of fish mouth effect. Final tip for filming Now, let’s put it altogether in this clip, get your black and white film effect and some crackling, and get a little hiss on the microphone going and Bob’s your uncle! “We shall fight on the beaches but we will never surrender!” |
hi! it's jon.Welcome to my blog of free tutorials explaining different British accents and areas of pronunciation. It's a complement to my video channel with video scripts, lessons and sometimes extra info not included in some videos. Click on the image to go to the video. archiveCategories
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