How to : How to Speak in a British Accent – Best review

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

R’s

1
Start with the Rs. Understand that in most British accents, speakers don’t roll their Rs (except for those from Scotland, Northumbria, Northern Ireland, and parts of the West Country and Lancashire), but not all British accents are the same. For example, a Scottish accent varies greatly from an English accent. After a vowel, don’t pronounce the R, but draw out the vowel and maybe add an “uh” (Here is “heeuh”). In words like “hurry”, don’t blend the R with the vowel. Say “huh-ree”.^{[2]

X

Research source

In American English, words ending with “rl” or “rel” can be pronounced using either one or two syllables, completely interchangeably. This is not the case in British English. “-rl” words like “girl”, “hurl”, etc., are pronounced as one syllable with silent R, while “squirrel” is “squih-rul”, and “referral” is “re-fer-rul”.
Some words are easier to say in a British accent. For example, mirror, which sounds like “mih-ra”. Do not say “mirror” like a “mere”; British people almost never do that.
Some awkward pauses in sentences are also removed by the addition of “r” before a vowel. For example, “I saw it” becomes “I saw-rit”, to avoid the pause between the words ‘saw’ and ‘it’. Another example is “Bacteria are small”, pronounced “Bacteria-rar-small”.}

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

U’s

1

Pronounce U in stupid and in duty with the ew or “you” sound. Avoid the oo as in pronounced ; thus it is pronounced stewpid or commonly schewpid, not stoopid, etc. duty would be pronounced dewty or more often jooty. In the standard English accent, the A (for example, in father) is pronounced at the back of the mouth with an open throat—it sounds like “arh”. This is the case in pretty much all British accents, but it’s exaggerated in RP. In southern England and in RP, words such as “bath”, “path”, “glass”, “grass” also use this vowel (barth, parth, glarss, grarss, etc.). However, in other parts of Britain “bath”, “path”, etc. sound like “ah”.

Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Heavy consonants

1
Enunciate on heavy consonant words.^{[3]

X

Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.

Pronounce that T in “duty” as T: not as the D as doody so that duty is pronounced dewty or a softer jooty. Pronounce the suffix -ing with a strong G. This way it sounds like -ing rather than -een. But sometimes it is shortened to in as in lookin.^{[4]

X

Research source}

The words human being are pronounced hewman being or yooman been in certain areas, though it could be pronounced hewman bee-in.}

Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

T’s

1
Sometimes drop the Ts. With some accents, including cockney accents, Ts aren’t pronounced in words where Americans use D to replace it. However, there is usually a short pause or “hiccup” in its place. So “battle” might be pronounced ba-ill but it would be a rare occasion to find someone saying “Ba-ill” catching the air behind the back of the tongue at the end of the first syllable before expelling it on pronunciation of the second syllable. This is known as the glottal stop. use glottal stops, too, for words like “mittens” and “mountain”. It’s just that British use them more often.^{[5]

X

Research source

People with Estuary English, RP, Scottish, Irish and Welsh accents do consider it lazy and rude to drop the Ts, and this feature doesn’t exist, but in almost all accents it’s accepted to do it in the middle of words in casual contexts and almost universal to put a glottal stop at the end of a word.}

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Pronunciation

1

Observe that some words are pronounced as written. The word “herb” should be pronounced with an H sound. The word “been” is pronounced “bean”, rather than “bin” or “ben”. For RP, “Again” and “renaissance” are pronounced like “a gain” and “run nay seance”, with the “ai” as in “pain”, not “said.” The words ending in “body” are pronounced as written, like “any body”, not “any buddy.” But use a British short O sound.
2

Observe that H is not always pronounced. The “H” is pronounced in the word “herb,” in contrast erb. However, in many British accents, the H at the beginning of a word is often omitted, such as in many Northern accents and the Cockney accent.
3

Say “bean,” not “bin” for the word been. In an American accent, this is often pronounced been. In an English accent, been is a common pronunciation, but “bin” is more often heard in casual speech where the word isn’t particularly stressed.
4

Notice that two or more vowels together may prompt an extra syllable. For example, the word “road” would usually be pronounced rohd, but in Wales and with some people in Northern Ireland it might be pronounced ro.ord. Some speakers may even say “reh-uud.”

Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

Listening and copying

1
Listen to the “music” of the language. All accents and dialects have their own musicality.^{[6]

X

Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.

Pay attention to the tones and emphasis of British speakers. Sir Johnathan Ive is a good example, listen to his accent at Apple revealings. Do sentences generally end on a higher note, the same, or lower? How much variation is there in tone throughout a typical sentence? There is a huge variation between regions with tonality. British speech, especially RP, usually varies much less within a sentence than American English, and the general tendency is to go down slightly towards the end of a phrase. However, Liverpool and north-east England are notable exceptions!^{[7]

X

Research source}

For example, instead of saying, “is he going to the STORE?” Say, “is he GOING to the store?” Have the question descending in tone as opposed to ascending in tone (going up in tone is more common in American or Australian English).}
2

Get a British person to say well known sentences: “How now brown cow” and “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain” and pay close attention. Rounded mouth vowels in words such as “about” in London, are usually flattened in Northern Ireland.
3

Immerse yourself in the British culture; this means surround yourself with individuals that speak, live, walk and talk British English. It’s the surest way to learn a British accent quickly. Soon, you’ll find yourself naturally able to speak with the variations above. Anything with a British speaker will work—try listening to the BBC (which provides free radio and television newscasts on the web), songs with British singers, or movies with British characters.

Tips

Pronounce everything clearly and articulate every word properly, making sure there are spaces between your words.^{[8]

X

Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.}

⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
3

Not Helpful
0
As well as the accent, watch out for British slang words, such as “lads” or “blokes” for boys and men, “birds” or “lasses” (the latter particularly popular in the north of England and in Scotland) for women. The word “loo” means toilet, but “bathroom” is a room in which you would have a bath.

⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
1

Not Helpful
1
As with any accent, listening to and imitating a native speaker is the best and fastest way to learn. Remember that when you were little you learned a language by listening and then repeating the words while imitating the accent.
- A formal British accent can be heard on BBC news. Formal British speech is more deliberate and articulated than American, but as with newsreaders everywhere, this effect is deliberately exaggerated for television and radio broadcast.
- You can also watch British YouTubers. There are a lot to choose from: AmazingPhil, danisnotonfire, Zoella, The Sidemen, DanTDM, and many more.
⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
2

Not Helpful
0

Show More Tips

Warnings

Don’t forget that some people might be offended by you imitating their accent. Even if you don’t mean to be rude, they could still take it the wrong way and think you’re mocking them.

⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
60

Not Helpful
3
Don’t be overconfident that you do a good British accent. It is rare to find an imitation that sounds genuine to the native ear.

⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
44

Not Helpful
3
Don’t think that you’ll get it right quickly. 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.

⧼thumbs_response⧽

Helpful
45

Not Helpful
4

Things You’ll Need

Television
DVD player

You Might Also Like

Formally Address British Royalty and Aristocracy in Person

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

Steps

R’s

U’s

Heavy consonants

T’s

Pronunciation

Listening and copying

Tips

Warnings

Things You’ll Need

You Might Also Like