A while ago, I started this thread on non-English people sounding English.
Since then I have come up with a few things which I think can help. Perhaps someone could tell me if these are correct.
Do not pronounce the “t” in the middle of words e.g. British becomes “Bri-ish”.
Words ending in -a have an r sound after them e.g. “In East Anglia today” becomes “In East Angliar today”.
Do not pronounce the letter “h” e.g. Birmingham is Birming’am.
Or the sentence “It’s in his hair” is “It’s in 'is 'air”.
I’m not sure on this one - sometimes English people pronounce the letter r as a w sound. I wonder if this is common.
Words ending -w sometimes have an -er sound e.g. Instead of “I saw it” it would be “I sawer it”. Also “drawing” becomes “drawering”.
T at the end of words is not pronounced.
I was also wondering if Englsih people still say “Aint’cha” meaning “Aren’t you”?
If someone does speak in the way I outlined above, would this make them sound like they come from a particular part of England?
Unfortunately not everyone in Britain speaks with the same accent, the best way to learn an accent to is listen and repeat . . lots and lots. Make sure you’re listening to the same accent each time though, if you haven’t been you will end up with a bizarre mish mash of an accent.
As a non-native English speaker I have certain advantages (as well as disadvanatages) in discussing the English language.
The main dissadvantage being that I (never even having lived in an English-speaking country) don’t get much exposure to current vernacular. The main advantage however is that I notice details that might escape a native.
One example that I have come to notice is almost hinted at by one of your questions:
**
This comes close to the intrusive R, a feature in many English dialects, and especially so in Received Pronunciation (which used to be defined as ‘upper class boarding school english’).
The intrusive R is an r sound that gets inserted between two words, where the first ends in a vowel and the second starts with one.For example, try to say ‘the idea of it’. Many BE speakers would say ‘the idea-r-of it’. Many of them probably without realising.
As an example of how easy it is to be blind to what you see every day, let me mention that I know several English people, who were not aware of doing this, until I pointed it out to them.
Let me also point out that I don’t think you should try to squeeze in as many ‘r’ sounds as possible - it will only sound silly.
One more thing:
** Dropping your aitches might sound posh in American English, but in BE it used to be a sign of lower class working accents, and definitely not posh.
When it comes to your other ideas, I think amanset summed it up pretty well.
It’s all regionally specific. What you have is something like London/Estuary English (BTW, Gartog I agree, but you’re muddling Britain up with England).
No, we don’t pronounce the R sound unless the next syllable begins with a vowel. This also applies to an R within a word.
Thus:
America likes => America likes
America is => Americar is (this is known as the “intrusive R”)
Carroway => Carroway
Cart => Caht
The intrusive R is actually incorrect. I don’t use it, but I went to speech classes when at college, and had it removed.
I thought I would use the term Britain, rather than anything else as this is what the OP used, and I didn’t want to start another countries of the UK/Britain debate . . . . although another one’s probably due
It sounds as if your perceptions of English accent are heavily influenced by what’s called .Estuary English, a regional accent that originated on the east side of London. Conspicuously dropping h and t and saying “aint’cha” will mark you out as either lower social class or making a trendy attempt to affect a lower social class accent.
4) I’m not sure on this one - sometimes English people pronounce the letter r as a w sound. I wonder if this is common
No. Are you thinking of the TV presenter, Jonathan Woss?
“I saw it” it would be “I sawer it”. Also “drawing” becomes “drawering”.
…
Maybe in some bizarre regional accents. Coming from sunny Warwickshire (where Shakespeare comes from) I have never, ever heard this.
I’ve heard it: Birmingham and Portsmouth. It’s another “city-based lower social class” pronunciation.
The accent the OP describes seems to fit with that of a resident of London (at least my experience of it in SE London schools), but wouldn’t really apply outside of the capital.
The missing “t” is a personal bugbear of mine - and it is not just in the middle of words - “what” is often pronounced “wha-”, as in “Know wha- I mean, like?” (Naa wo ah meen, larke?)
From the OP it certainly does seem that you’re going for the lower class London accent. Is that deliberate or would you prefer a more neutral Home Counties accent?
The R = W thing only really happens rarely (unless the speaker has some sort of impediment), although the most common greeting in London/Estuary English would probably be “Alwight mate”
In fact if this is the accent to which you are aspiring, you may find that tagging “mate” onto the end of every sentence will make you sound more like a native.
Oh, and about tea and coffee. If an englishman is at home or at someone’s house, the most common drink for him to have is tea, but at work, or out at a cafe then it’s coffee. So, if you’re entertaining at home, learn to make a decent cuppa.
Dunmurry, you’re from Northern Ireland, right? So, like me, you receive English television and radio on a daily basis. How on earth would you not be aware what an English accent sounds like?
I know you don’t usually re-visit the threads you start but maybe you could make an exception. Sorry for the tone but, like jjimm, I’ve probably had too much coffee.
As to the ‘W’ thing, it’s less of a “replace all arrr’s with doubleyuu’s” than it is a different pronunciation of ‘W’.
at least to my ears, Americans pronounce a harder R, with the teeth higher up on the lower lip, right at the shoreline where the inside lip meets lip proper. Some Britishers, however, have the teeth much lower, well into the inside lip. almost like a sneer.
now, to the latter speaker, an “R” is definitely being pronounced,m very different from a ‘W’. but to the american ear, used to a different-sounding ‘R’, it sounds like a ‘W’.
unless you are Peter Cook, and are in the Princess Bride.
There is more to having one of the British accents than just changing vowels and consonants. It is also important where the sound is focused (more forward in the mouth than American, and more nasal in some British accents).
I had a friend from England who was disgusted at the way we (in North America) didn’t pronounce words the way they’re spelled. On the other hand I when she said “source” and “sauce” it sounded exactly the same to me – a fact she was unaware of. I’m not sure what part of England she was from.
