A Guide To British Accent Lessons

By Rosella Campbell


People learn accents for a number of different reasons. For example some people who work in call centres adopt another accent in order to be more clearly understood. For actors this is often a crucial part of their job. A popular one to learn is the British accent and if you want to develop this it helps to find the right place that offers British accent lessons.

Before looking for classes it is important to be aware of the kind of voice you are trying to learn. Traditionally when people think of Britain they tend to think of England. However it is worth remembering that the United Kingdom also includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The important thing to emphasise is how to define Britain and the voices within the countries that make up the United Kingdom. It is easy to forget that this also includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well. Each of these countries has very distinct voices.

Equally within England itself there are a diverse range of accents. As with America there are often strong differences between the North and South of the country. Furthermore there are differences within the North and South as well. For example the way someone speaks in Liverpool will be different from how someone speaks in Manchester.

What people often think of as the way people speak in Britain is a kind of speech known as received pronunciation. If this is the kind of voice you are going for there are various rules to follow. One of the most basic is to avoid making a rolling R sound when pronouncing the letter R.

One of the most basic lessons a class should teach you is to avoid rolling the R. This tends to apply to most parts of England and a lot of other areas of the United Kingdom. The exceptions to this are some Northern accents, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Another aspect is pronouncing the U sound in words such as stupid or duty.

There are various places that can help with vocal training and coaching. The chances are you can find them in your local area. A quick search using your normal search engine should bring up numerous results and let you compare different tutors and their lesson plans. Ideally it is also worth checking to see if they lived in Britain for any length of time as well as their teaching qualifications and experience.

However if there are no tutors or classes available in your local area you can find them online. It is also worth looking up videos uploaded on video upload sites by people from various regional locations in Britain. This should help give you an idea of the diverse range of accents. You should also check online for reviews and feedback on classes and videos to help find the most effective ones to suit your needs.




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