Heidi
How to develop an British accent?

Hi, I'm Helen. Do you ever want to sound more native? I do. To be specific, maybe RP. I'm watching two TV series these days, Skins and Lark Rise to Candleford to improve my spoken English. I think imitation surely works. But quite slow. Any suggestion? Thanks!

26 juil. 2015 06:25
Commentaires · 7
2

Hi Helen, there is no need to try for RP accent- most people don't speak that way. I think it is fine to imitate TV shows, but if you try different characters in different shows, you will not be consistent.It is best to just have a neutral accent (I mean not Scottish, Manchester etc ) so that you will be clear and everyone will understand you.But don't worry too much about accent, just aim to pronounce correctly and clearly. That's my advice.

26 juillet 2015
1

Hi Peachy. Yeah..feedback is important. To be honest, trying a teacher here will be my last way. It's a bit expensive for me to do so.

 

Ruthi, glad to see you again! Most people don't speak RP! Huh. But it's still necessary for me to learn intonation, liaison, reduction and something like that. Right? Thanks for you advice! Pronouncing correctly and clearly is enough.Thanks!

 

Hi Andrew. I'm going to try changing the way I pronounce. But imitating by hearing only won't help. Some say you need to know where your tongue lay. Anyway, I suppose that's tedious but helpful.

26 juillet 2015
1

The first step is knowing how the British accent sounds, in all its quirks and nuances. Once you understand how it sounds, you need to understand how you sound yourself. What are the differences? Take it step by step. Work on changing the way you pronounce different letters one by one, until each becomes natural to you. I've found this is the best way to develop an accent, personally(albeit for French), so see how it works for you :)

26 juillet 2015
In my opinion it is good to aim for clear speech using your own voice. I love Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li and heaps of Chinese actresses because of their accents. I also like actors and actresses from other countries for the same reason. If you listen to many British people or any nationality then you will discover that no one sounds exactly like anyone else, we are all unique in that way, and those people that imitate other people, why would you want to live in the shadow of Elvis or some other famous person. You are unique and special and I believe that developing yourself would be time well spent as opposed to pretending to be someone else. Just my opinion.
14 mars 2018

Yeah. Using resources well helps.

26 juillet 2015
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