Best way to Learn British English?
**actually was in a Starbucks in Times Square and got to hear some of the rare UK(meaning I hardly ever hear it here) accent in NY,**
First....Hi Rolls! How are you, my china plate mate?
Second.....maybe the Brit accents are rarer in NYC because most of us head for Florida! Not that I've ever been...either to NYC or Florida....or even crossed the Puddle.
Third.....awesome? Sorry mate!.....you don't hear many, if any, Brits use this word! Well, maybe it will catch on here as well....just maybe...it sounds so American.....most of what you guys do usually ends up the same here a wee while later anyway*. Don't you think that's awfully awesome, mate?
*Anyway.....clear up a point please, mate...don't you usually say "anyways"?
Have a good day, mate.....pip pip! :-)
I don't know that "anyways" is standard American. SOME people say it. The rest of us say "anyway".
Hallo! Damian mate how are you then?
I see the term anyways once and about but not much, maybe people who like to use the word like alot in discussion, but in terms of general use I hear "anyway" alot, but not as often as you might think.
Alright, alright, I am learning well do to this forum, web research, and listening to alot of British films over and over. It has paid off quite handsomely.
A question for you mate, in the North of England, I have noticed that alot of the inhabitants there have a Scottish accent but sound disctintively British accent also, is that due to the Northerners being in such close proximity to Scotland, that would be a logical conclusion.
Regarding my previous posts, many errors are evident, please overlook these.
So, Damian, are we thinking Adam sounds like Sean Bean?
"A question for you mate, in the North of England, I have noticed that alot of the inhabitants there have a Scottish accent but sound disctintively British accent also, is that due to the Northerners being in such close proximity to Scotland, that would be a logical conclusion."
I'm not sure which Northern accents you've heard, but they are quite distinctly different to Scottish accents. Possibly to some ears Geordie (Newcastle) and South East Scottish accents might have some similarities-"Aye" for yes and "toon" for town etc, but they're recognizably different to most Northerners and Scots alike.
Both Scottish accents and Northern accents ARE British accents.....actually probably the TRUE British accents for that matter, as they have been far less affected by centuries of immigration from the continent than London.
Really??? TRUE British accents? Where has this worldwide precieved notion of RP being TRUE British accent come from if this is not true? I had always though Scotland to be its own entity in the way Belgium is not the same as France?
Has RP really been over glamourized?
Good evening from Scotland...I can relax at last..chill out time.
It's 22:40hrs British Summer Time...one month left before we go back an hour to winter time and here in Scotland it will be dark not long after 16:30hrs.
Anyway/anyways URIEL and ROLLS....thanks for the info anyway/anyways...whatever....do our own thing.
First things first..as they come.....the North of England. There are four main road routes out of Scotland into the North of England....the East coast route/ the Central routes at Coldstream and Carter Bar and the West coast route at Gretna Green. I use Carter Bar mainly..it's the loneliest and most spectacular scenically.
The Gretna route takes you into Carlisle where all the locals have the distinctive Cumbrian accent of North West England. The Scottish accents you hear are all people from over the border, probably in Carlisle for the shopping and stuff.
Not far from Carlisle there are two towns of similar size about twelve miles apart.....Longtown in England and Langholm in Scotland. In one all the accents are Scottish, all signs are Scottish in style, banks are Scottish, you see a sherriff's court. In the other all the accents are Cumbrian English, all signs English in style, banks are English and you see a magistrate's court. Scotland and England have different legal systems, among others.
The other four routes lead from Scotland into Geordie speaking areas of England except for the English town of Berwick-upon=-Tweed, just a couple of miles inside England and situated on the north bank of the mouth of the River Tweed. Here most of the accents you hear in the streets are distinctly Scottish although the town is now English territory...in Northumberland. Banks are English, signs are English and it's a magistrate's court...but a lot of the locals still think they're Scottish apparently. One time I stopped off at Berwick I saw these two PCs (coppers) of the Northumbria Police Force (English) and they were chatting to each in strong Scottish accents.
Over the centuries Berwick-upon-Tweed has been transferred back and forth betwen England and Scotland eight times...currently England holds the winning hand.
Berwick is still officially at war with Russia...an ancient declaration of war from way back was never rescinded..or whatever the word is.....anyway the Great Berwick- Russian War is still on apparently. The town is always busy but so peacefully so I reckon nobody takes much notice of the war still going on. I never saw any air raid shelters either.
Anyway/anyways ROLLS...there's your answer, mate.....the border is quite a clear dividing line between accents Scottish and English...except at Berwick where Scottish still prevails on English (for now) territory.
But so many Scots have gone to live and England and vice versa it's all academic really.....even mixed marriages are permitted now.
ADAM is most unlikely to have a Sean Bean accent URIEL.......Adam is a Lancastrian (from Bolton) and Sean a Yorkist (from Sheffield). Sean is mega proud of his Sheffield accent...again different from anywhere else in Yorkshire.
It must be confusing for non English speakers when it comes to pronouncing Sean Bean .... it could be "seen been" or "shorn born".
:-)
No, Scotland is very much a part of Britain- if anything the notion is originally Scottish. The two Kingdoms became initially united under the Scottish King James in 1603. The term Great Britain was as far as I remember coined by the Scots and the words to "Rule Britannia" were written by a Scot. Britain is more or less ruled by Scots- two prime examples being PM Tony Blair, born and educated in Scotland and Chancellor Gordon Brown.
The next Prime Minister of the UK will be a Scot! Gordon Brown.
Did you know that almost half the signatories to the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 were Scotsmen! :-)
One of the largest concert halls in New York City is named after a son of Dunfermline, in the Kingdom of Fife, just across the Firth of Forth from here.....Andrew Carnegie.
NYC has the Carnegie Hall
Dunfermline has the Carnegie Sports Stadium
While we're on the subject -- what exactly IS the UK? One nation made up of 4 countries? One country made up of 4 nations? What exactly is the difference between the UK and Great Britain? You're all British except when you're English, Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish, or you're all British AND you're Eng., Scot., W. and NI? HOW DOES THAT WORK?
(And what the hell's Cornwall?!?!)
Feel free to include a diagram in your answer!
(okay, so no on Sean Bean -- do we have a (well-known) example of Lancastrian?)
OK, here goes....
The British Isles is a geographical term for the British mainland and Ireland. Great Britain was the name given to the Union between England and Wales and Scotland. Originally it was used by King James from 1603, but didn't become official until the act of Union in 1707. The UK came about in 1801 in the act of union with the kingdom of Ireland, tho' after 1922 only N.Ireland remained part of the UK.
So put simply:
Great Britain= mainland Britain
UK= United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Cornwall is a county in the South West of England with a strong celtic past as opposed to Anglo-Saxon, the same is partly true also of Cumbria in the North West.
spot on, RICK.
Cornwall is amazing......it's not like anywhere else in England....recently I've been to both Cornwall and Wales for the first time in both places and there is a definite atmospheric/cultural link between both of them and Scotland.
Only difference between Cornwall and Wales - in Cornwall I was disappointed not to hear a single word of Cornish. In Anglesey (N Wales) a lot of people were speaking Welsh in day to day life.
UK:
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/home/scotland/britain.html
Cornwall:
http://www.cornwalltouristboard.co.uk/pictureGallery.asp
That's why England needs its own Parliament.