British Accent

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My dear freinds,
I do like the british accent and want to speak it, how can I do that?

Tips:

1. Buy only British movies and watch them.
2. Listen to British channels.
3. Listen to audiobooks narrated by British natives.
(a good source is audiobooksforfree.org, would cost you 100 bucks for 600+books, the recording is generally good).
6. Speak along with them. In other words, shadow them. Keep at it daily.
7. Find British native speakers on skype for small conversations.

First of all, there is no such thing as a "British Accent", you need to be more specific. There are 4 countries in the U.K., England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and all of them have their own accents. I suppose you're talking about England, but even England has a number of different accents. You would need to be more precise in your definition so that we could offer you more help. XP

However, what the above poster said is valid for the development of any accent. Listening and shadowing are indeed the best methods for learning accents. =)

That being said, keep in mind that if really want to sound legit, you won't accomplish that overnight. It takes some time, in addition to much practise and motivation, especially if the desired accent is dramatically different from your current one. You will produce sounds in a different way from what you're used to, and that might involve using muscles that you previously didn't use, so that makes it more difficult.

That may sound a tad daunting and disencouraging, but don't be fooled. Anyone can sound exactly like a native if they work hard enough, provided that they have the motivation. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it, because you can. Some minor problems may occur sometimes, but you can always easily overcome them. =D

But most of all...have fun! =) Learning an accent is too fun! I began learning the Scottish accent and I got a lot more out of that than just a mere accent, it was a life changing experience. You might even be in an English film someday, who knows? XD

Best of luck! =D

Thank you my friends for your suggestions.
Call me CX I am going to be more specific and say that I would like to learn the accent that Simon Cowell or Gordon Brown speak. I am a non-native speaker so I have no knowledge about the many accent in U.K.although.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it, because you can.>>> Love that!
I appreciate it:)

Oh, Sarah!!! Could you not think of more desirable examples than either Simon Cowell or Gordon Brown? Alright.....I suppose you are only focussing on their accents, but even they differ a lot as far as those two men are concerned. Cowell is from London, and Brown is from an area very close to me here - you'd have to really think hard on which one you consider to be the most attractive. I could not possibly comment, as my personal opinions on these two blokes would heavily influence anything I would say.

Male accents/voices are not really suitable for woman.
This accent would suit you: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RS7xoAjlnow

For obvious reasons Sarah should emulate the accent of a female, and rather than Mel C I would suggest that of Keira Knightley as being more prefererable. Keira is definitely on the way up in films, and in her latest one - "Atonement" - she was great. The whole story was based on actual fact and sadly she played a character who really died along with over 180 other people in a direct hit by a HE bomb on London's Balham tube station in October 1940 where they were all sheltering during an air raid. I really love watching Keira on both the cinema screen or on TV and I really didn't think she would end up that way.

Keira Knightley comes from Teddington, in West London, and her accent pretty much typifies that of a lot of girls in that part of the country or Southern England generally, for that matter....basic RP with strong hints of Estuary. For some reason, though, she showed some rather peculiar mouth movements in that GMTV clip, apart from those probably resulting from some kind of obvious time lapses in the vid. I've never seen her do that before. Maybe she was trying to seduce Ben Shephard - he comes from Essex (very much South Eastern England) so why on earth she would want to seduce an Essex boy God only knows! :-)

As for Kate Garraway - she comes from Abingdon, near Oxford, again very much part of the standard Southern English English RP area.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OiaYLtgEQoI&feature=related

I always wanted to speak like John Cleese. I guess his is RP, what do you say Damian?

''rather than Mel C I would suggest that of Keira Knightley ''

Keira is an anonymous with a boring accent. Mel C's accent is so sexy and colorful.

Keira is anonymous? Hardly! If you think her accent is boring then that's fine - you could then say the same for millions of others across Southern England. It all depends on how you personally perceive modes of speech and Mel C's accent may well be colourful - so is her vocabulary at times. :-)

The John Cleese accent is definitely English English RP - he comes originally from Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, South West England. ("super mare" actually means "over, placed above the sea" from the Latin - Weston being a seaside town). He was involved with the famous Footlights acting group while at Cambridge university, and so started his show buasiness career, starting off with the Monty Python group of complete nutters! :-)

So you're saying that Weston super Mare accent has no influence on John Cleese's RP?
As for nutters - the best nutters ever, man!;:-D

Thank you Guest and Damian for the links. I couldn't understand that female accents would differ from the male ones!?

Well Damian, I do like Simon's accent ;-) I did watch Keira Knightley. She is lovely. However, I still find Simon has a very attractive accent Lol.

Damian, I need you to be my tutor and teach me the british expressions, idioms, etc.:-) First, I'm going to ask you about any radio station or podcasts from Brighton area or any close area to it. I have gret motivation to speak as a native speaker after I found encourgment from Call me X :-) The reason is that I had no hope to speak exactly like them as I read here!

Regards!

OK, Sarah - I'll let you keep Simon! But do like the way he tells it just as it is, no messing about! :-) I'm glad you like Keira, but I wasn't too much taken with her on that YT vidclip for some reason....but I'll overlook it. I first remember her from Love Actually - she was mega gorgeous in that - all those close ups on her wedding day. Poor old Andrew Lincoln.....aaawwwww.....

I won't ask why Brighton particularly......but I do know it as loads of attractions! Do you know that it has now become very cosmo? It's quite a magnet.

Brighton and Hove are two large towns officially merged into the City of Brighton and Hove, on the coast of Sussex.

Radio and TV stations in the Brighton and Hove area, and Sussex generally (you may have to download certain audio systems - but just follow all the "Listen" links.

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/south.htm

http://www.zettai.net/find/east-sussex/radio-and-television-stations/

www.radio-now.co.uk/south.htm#SUSSEX

http://www.radioreverb.com/index.php?id=listen

www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties

I believe that Capital Gold is a new radio station covering Brighton and Hove - not sure about that, as the area is about 450 miles away from me here. I know you can get Heart FM and Virgin FM there as we do here. Anyway, have a wander round:

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/live.htm

Guid luck! Happy listening.

Thanks Damian. Most of them I didn't know how to listen to them!!
I found a podcast called " United Kingdom Talk" and I really love it :) Can you check it and tell me which part of UK it from?

Ragards...

Sarah:

Under all the actual radio station names listed in those links there is a "Listen Live" tab - click on that after ensuring that your audio system is switched on, and...bingo! Connection to the current live broadcasts.

United Kingdom Talk - last Saturday's podcast (29/03/08) is currently on You Tube. Click on this in the following link.

The guy is Chris Reardon, a guy with a very varied career path so far, mostly in broadcasting and working in clubs and stuff like that. He comes from Wimbledon, in South West London, but now operates from near Maidenhead, in Berkshire (or as he officially calls it in the clip - Royal Berkshire - only because The Queen has her castle there, at nearby Windsor. HM is now whingeing about all the din from aircraft passing overhead from Heathrow Airport, not very far away. Apparently one of the wealthiest women in the whole world may well be eligible for a free Government grant to have all the windows of Windsor Castle double glazed! Seeing that double glazing automatically comes with all new houses anyway I'm surprised Liz hasn't had it all done before now.

Chris Reardon's accent is typical South Eastern English English RP / General Home Counties - (the counties immediately surrounding London - Kent, Surrey, Essex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire - Middlesex long since vanished into Greater London) - with strong hints of Estuary - notice how he drops his "Ts" in many words - eg the word "part" typically comes out as par'.

http://www.chrisreardon.co.uk/web/

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