Speak English Like in Bridgerton | Learn the Accent

Hello everyone and welcome to this video where  I'm going to teach you how to speak like in

Bridgerton! I'm even dressed for the occasion.  Look at this! This is called commitment. No,

I actually have this outfit 'cause I went to  a Bridgerton themed party. It was awesome,

but anyway, this is how to speak like in

Bridgerton. Now, the first thing you need to know  is what kind of accent they use in the series and

that is British RP (Received Pronunciation)  which is the accent mainly used by the British

upper class society and so it's an accent that  is used by a very small percentage of the British

population. Less than 8% of British people, I  believe, actually talk like this, because this

is a very clean, neutral way of speaking. RP is  the kind of pronunciation that they teach you in

schools and the pronunciation that you will find  on dictionaries. Now is this accent in Bridgerton

historically accurate? You guessed it, no, it's  not. People in 19th century England did not sound

like this. Their accent was different, this is  a modern rendition of a proper way of talking,

it's a modern RP, because obviously we hear  this accent and immediately we associate it

with the upper class, royalty and period dramas.  So, now that we've said that, without further ado,

let's break this accent down and let's see how  to emulate it! Disclaimer: I am not British.

I'm not even an English native speaker, but  I do have a linguistic degree in English,

so this is just what I've learned over the years.  I'm speaking with a standard American accent right

now and the main difference that you can hear  is that while American English is produced

like back in the mouth, British English is very  forward. So, try to imagine the sound traveling

from the back of your mouth forward to your lips  and to your teeth. Start moving your lips more

and enunciate everything better. Could you hear  that? That already makes a huge difference. So,

try to imagine the sound moving forward  to your lips and to your teeth. But then

of course now we need to talk about specific  sounds that you need to make in order to sound

British. The most important thing that you need to  do is to drop your R's. What does that mean? So,

in American English, I take American English as an  example because it's the one I speak and it's the

one that I feel like a lot of you are used to  hear in the media 'cause it's very common, so,

in American English you always pronounce the R.  So you say "teacher, burn, word, for". The R is

very present. But in British RP that R is dropped,  you don't pronounce it. So, it's not "teacher",

it's "teacher", "burn", "word" , "for". So you  don't pronounce the R and you elongate, you make

the preceding vowel longer. So, "for". So, it's  not "Lord Bridgerton" it's "Lord Bridgerton"

Speaking of consonants, in British RP  you always pronounce the letter T. Again,

in American English it's very common  to hear things like "better, letter,

little" where the T sound kind  of becomes a D sound. So "beder"

and not "better". "Lidle" and not "little". In  British RP that does not happen. So, a T is a T,

therefore it's "better". See how I don't pronounce  the R at the end? "Better, letter, little".

Now let's talk about vowel sounds. Again,  in American English vowel sounds tend to

be very open, very broad. In British RP  they are more closed, more narrow. Again,

bring them forward. So, the "ou"  sound becomes "əu". Can you hear

the difference? "ou" "əu".  So, it's not "go" it's "go".

"only" "only", "old" "old", "so" "so",  "don't" "don't". "I don't want to go.""

I don't want to go" "I don't want  to go" "I don't want to go, mama"

Another vowel sound that you need to  pay attention to is the O vowel that,

again, in America is very broad, it's very  open, so they say stuff like "ball, law,

thought". In British RP that A sound becomes an  O sound, it's very narrow, it's very closed. So,

it's not "ball", it's "ball". It's not "thought",  it's "thought". It's not "law", it's "law".

"I thought you wanted to go to the ball" See? That makes a huge difference!

Now let's move on to the A sound. There are some  words in American English, well, actually, in many

varieties of English that are pronounced with an  "æ" sound like "past, last, fast, path, bath".

In British RP that "æ" sound, which, again, is  very broad, it's very open, becomes more closed,

becomes an "ah" sound. So, it's not "past",  it's not "last". It's "past, last, fast, bath,

path". "Dear Francesca has returned from Bath".  And also it's not "can't" like in American English

it's "can't" "I can't" "I can't do this" that  is immediately British "We can't do this Colin.

Somebody will see us!" "I can't believe she would  show her face here again" So, open those A's.

Another peculiar thing that happens in Bridgerton  sometimes is the way they pronounce the R. Now,

I know I've already talked about the R but  I'm not talking about the R that is dropped,

I'm talking about another kind of R. You only  drop the R if it's preceded by a vowel and if

it's followed by a consonant or if it's the last  letter of the word, but if that's not the case,

so if the R is between two vowels or between  two consonants you cannot drop it, you have to

pronounce it. So in the word "Bridgerton" you  cannot say "Bigerton", you can drop the second

R "BridgeRton" but you cannot drop the first  one, you cannot say "Bigeton" so you have to

pronounce the first R, right? Well, in that  case, sometimes, especially Lady Whistledown

rolls the R. What does that mean? Instead of  saying "Bridgerton", she says "Bridgerton".

She rolls the R like we do in Italian or like  it happens in Spanish. If you don't know how to

produce that sound all you need to do is make  your tongue vibrate against your upper teeth.

it's actually very easy once you get the hang  of it. So, sometimes during the series Lady

Whistledown who is dubbed by the incomparable  Julie Andrews rolls her R's and says "Bridgerton"

or "Penelope Featherington" "In the household  of the widowed Vicountess Bridgerton". Now,

this is not a must. You don't have to do this  and I actually wouldn't recommend it because this

sounds very dated. It's more of a peculiarity that  you can use here and there to sound more fancy,

I guess. Now, of course there are so many things  that make up an accent, it would be impossible to

talk about them all in one video. Nonetheless,  I think that in this video we covered the most

important sounds and I gave you some pretty solid  tips on how to master this accent, but before we

go another tip that I want to give you is that if  you want to learn an accent, whatever accent it

may be, try to imitate what you hear. So, when you  watch Bridgerton, when you watch the series, pause

and try to emulate what you heard. This technique  is called shadowing, 'cause just like a shadow you

try to stay behind what you hear and it's actually  a very, very efficient way of learning an accent.

All right, guys! I hope you enjoyed this video. I  cannot wait for part 2 of Bridgerton season 3 to

come out, obviously" I love the series, that's why  I made this video. So, share it with your friends,

like it, subscribe to my channel and if you have  any questions feel free to ask them in the comment

section, I'll try to answer to as many of you as  possible! Thank you so much for watching. Bye!