How to speak with an English Accent

By pianistic

Rate: (8 Ratings)

Girls swoon over accents. It's said that an accent adds ten IQ points... The next time you are going out, instead of putting on a new tie or growing a beard, or dying your hair, try an English Accent. Hey, even Britney is doing it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

  • Attitude
Step1
Begin substituting the UK pronunciations for words like privacy, orientated, etc. Most importantly, don't try too hard or you'll end up sounding like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Step2
We say I pudapadabudder and Brits say 'I put a pat of butter' It helps if you know a little bit (or a lidderbid) about phonetics, since you'll be better able to appreciate which part of your mouth those sounds are coming from, and where you need to put them, especially the vowels.
Step3
Say things like "Haven't got" (without using the H) instead of "don't have". Phrases like "That's quite it." "Brilliant", "Daft", "Mate" and "Super". Say, "All right?" instead of "How are you" when greeting people. "Ring me up" instead of "Call me." Hey, I bet you are sounding British right now reading this.
Step4
The most used swear word in England is "bloody" which is an exclamation of surprise i.e. "bloody hell". Something may be "bloody marvelous" or "bloody awful", "you're bloody mad", "not bloody likely" and can also be used in the middle of other words to emphasize them. E.g. "Abso-bloody-lutely"! Which is what we do with our most used American swear word. An alternative to the word bloody is "bleeding hell" or "not bleeding likely" for example, which doesn't sound as pompous as "bloody".
Step5
Watch British movies, like 1969's Oliver, their accents or so prevalent they even sing with an accent. Then try and copy what they say until you get the hang of it.
Step6
Subscribe to satellite radio and listen to BBC. At first it won't make any sense, but eventually you'll start to get it.

Tips & Warnings

  • Don't combine accents from different counties. Find one, and stick to it. Example, If you mix a Liverpool accent, with a Sussex accent, you will just end up sounding like a "bloody idiot".
  • Don't try pulling this off in England, you will sound like Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Even if you pull off some kind of accent, you will still look and act like an American doing funny voices.

Comments

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Jonathanw

Jonathanw said

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on 5/24/2008 I lost a penny... I am sad.

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on 4/2/2008 This is a brilliant bit of writing chap! Thank you for sharing.

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Article By: pianistic

pianistic

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