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British Accent tip!

British Accent tip!

Hi guys,

I am a Thai, but I've been studying British English a lots. There is some tips on the accent that I found on an website. And I hope this tip can help you understand how to speak whit a British accent as I do.

OK - first thing is 'r'. Don't pronounce 'r' unless its at the beginning of a word or between vowels. So 'bird', 'word', 'part' etc have no 'r' sound.

Secondly - short 'o' in words like 'box', 'top' etc is different. You have to cut it short and round your lips.

Thirdly - words with '-ance' don't have the short 'a' of 'bat', 'cat' 'grand' etc. Imagine they were spelled '-ahnce'. So - 'chahnce' and 'dahnce'. This also applies to some two-syllable words with '-and-' and '-ans-' such as 'commahnd' and 'trahnsport'.

Finally - a lot of younger Londoners now pronounce the 'oo' of 'book' and 'look' to rhyme with 'kook' or 'spook'.

Follow that and you're well on the way to sounding 'British' (actually south-eastern English, to be more precise).

Enjoy.