Do English teachers in England speak RP? Should they?

<<"Was meinen Sie?" is corect. <=

Hmm, 'Was meinen Sie' would be 'what do you mean' (polite form) >>

In fact, 'meinen' DOES mean 'think' too, so 'was meinen Sie?' or 'was meinst Du?' is perfectly correct. (There's also the related word 'Meinung', opinion.) 'Denken' would mean more the physically process of thinking, not opinion, so 'was denken Sie?' means more 'what are you thinking about?'
'Meinen' also means 'mean', eg 'was meint dieses Wort?' - 'what does this word mean?'

I am an English teacher in England and I speak with my own Midwestern American accent. Only one of the English teachers at my school speaks with an RP accent and that's only because she went to boarding school. I don't think accent matters in spoken English, although careless or sloppy pronunciation should be corrected. However, I do insist on "Standard English" in my classroom; sentences like, "I ain't done owt," or, "I didn't say nothing," are not allowed.

You'll not find too many English teachers in the North of England speaking with an RP accent, thank God. They speak in a normal way, like us Boltonians do.

We're not toffs. We're from Bolton, not Chelsea.

Sorry not to read the entire thread but I'm just answering the questions posed in the title.

"Do English teachers in England speak RP?"

I don't know for sure but I'd hardly think so.

"Should they?"

Definately not. No dialect is better than any other. English teachers, as any other teacher, should speak however they speak.

I think you've pretty much got the point, Jim! In total agreement with you.

(And thank you, Guest57 ;)

>>I am an English teacher in England and I speak with my own Midwestern American accent. Only one of the English teachers at my school speaks with an RP accent and that's only because she went to boarding school. I don't think accent matters in spoken English, although careless or sloppy pronunciation should be corrected. However, I do insist on "Standard English" in my classroom; sentences like, "I ain't done owt," or, "I didn't say nothing," are not allowed.<<

It's interesting that you specifically identify these two forms, as they are particularly stigmatized forms, for whatever reason, even though at the same time they are really not that divergent, all things considered. I'd wonder what your opinion is of things like "I ono" or more extremely "aono" (meaning "I don't know"), which are not really actively stigmatized at all, yet which are probably further from what you call "Standard English" than things like "I didn't say nothing". I note that you go and identify examples which are practically always cited as examples of "incorrect" or "sloppy" speech, in cases where there really is no historical basis for saying such, yet at the same time you do not identify cases such as "aono", where the entire phrase "I don't know" has been reduced two quite small syllables with a single long consonant in them together, which is *extremely* common at least here in southeastern/southern Wisconsin (I myself use it very frequently). Considering your opinion of what examples you have used, how would you react if someone used, say, "aono" in your class then?

Note that I used the spelling "aono" ("aonno" would be closer, though) above, because while the pronunciation is close to what some might write as "ownno", that would indicate a slightly different diphthong from that in "aonno", the former having [a:U] where the latter has [a:o].

Well, I think I would consider "aono" for "I don't know" to be "sloppy" English, or at least an example of poor enunciation. Certainly I have used it myself in actual conversation, but I think in an educational context it would be frowned upon. Much like slouching, putting your feet on the desk, and spitting on the floor -- they may be acceptable behaviors at home, but here you will sit up straight, keep your feet off the furniture, your bodily fluids to yourself, and your speech clear and intelligible!

Oh my... I didn't know that international school students in some places are that posh...

Here in HK, we're just a sloppy bunch!! Haha.

The above refers to Guest57, of course.

But yes... we international-schoolies in Hong Kong are just the opposite of posh!

As for our teachers, they come from all over the globe, and so do we, the students. We're a hodgepodge of accents and dialects. My own accent is a great mess!

Throughout my entire message, the point I was trying to make is that I am NOT posh but that RP is the only English "accent" that I am fluent in, being that I have barely been exposed to any other British accents. RP is an accent I associate with culture and education, not necessarily with riches and "poshness". To me, RP is an accent which shows educated refinement and NOT necessarily a snobbish, ostentatious display of wealth. I am sorry that you (and many other people) feel differently. It seems to me that there is a lot of ignorance and bias against RP and RP speakers out there. I guess it's sort of a "sour grapes" kind of attitude. In any case, I'll say it one more time: To me, RP is just generic, non-regional British English. I don't care what it is to you. Period.

<<To me, RP is just generic, non-regional British English. I don't care what it is to you. Period. >>

Well, it isn't, whether you think it is or not!!

<<educated refinement>>

you sound like Jane Austen!

Nobody knows for sure exactly how Jane Austen "sounded".....it would be really interesting to find out what sort of accent she had....obviously one appropriate to her social class at the time.....comfortable Southern English middle class status more or less.

William Shakespeare was said to have spoken with a very rustic Warwickshire accent, again one of the period. He would no doubt sound quite odd to us nowadays.

In the 16th century Stratford upon Avon was a very small country town in the depths of the Warwickshire countryside, surrounded by the thickly wooded Forest of Arden. The vast majority of people lived their entire lives in the same area and rarely travelled more than a mile or two away from their home villages.

At least Jane Austen managed to travel reasonably extensively because she was able to owing to her social status and background, but there again, entirely in the South of England between Hampshire (her home area) across to the spa city of Bath (the Roman baths of Aqua Sulis). Some of her books were set in Bath.

<<Nobody knows for sure exactly how Jane Austen "sounded".....>>

well, you 'write' like JA then!
There's just something about a phrase like 'educated refinement' which sounds horribly old-fashioned and snobbish.
Damian, did you see that TV programme a while back with Ray Winstone as Henry VIII? A lot of people complained about his accent, but how would anybody know what Henry VIII sounded like? Maybe he talked exactly like Ray Winstone!

The thing about Henry VIII is that he would have spoken a transitional form between Late Middle English and later Early Modern English (such as that of Shakespeare), and thus his English would likely be not very understandable at all to English-speakers today. Remember that even in the time of Shakespeare, the final post-Great Vowel Shift "long" vowels had not settled down, and the diphthongs that are in /aI/ and /aU/ in more classical Modern English had not yet become such. Hence, we should be able to expect that in Henry VIII's speech, he would have had only a very weak Great Vowel Shift compared to that which is fully reflected in Modern English.