5 Ways To Sound More BRITISH (Not American) | Pronunciation

121,486 views ・ 2018-03-06

Eat Sleep Dream English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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This is probably a video I should have made ages ago because you guys have been asking
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for it for so so long. So today, we're going to look at five ways to sound more British.
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Hey guys welcome, if you haven't met me before my name is Tom and I teach fresh modern British
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English so you guys can take your English to the next level and achieve your life goals
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whatever they are. Now today we're looking at five ways to sound more British. So I've
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picked out five features of British English that differentiate it from American English.
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Now of course there are many variations of British English, there are lots of different
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accents. So I'm going to teach you with my accent which is a London accent, it's a southern
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English accent but I will be referencing other accents in Britain. So I'm going to be contrasting
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all these features of British English with American English examples so that you can
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see the difference. Alright so if you are ready, let's get in to number one. Alright
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our feature is the vowel sound /a/. In my accent I would say /a/ but in American English
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they would say /a/. Now let's take the word banana, as you can hear I'm saying the second
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vowel there /a/ banana. In American English that's banana. So they are using the /a/ sound
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Now there is a split in British English as well. So in Britain a lot of the accents further
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north in England and Scotland are going to have the /a/ sound whereas in the south, in
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London and those kind of areas around London, it's going to be the /a/ sound. Ok, so I'm
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going to choose a few words and I'm going to say it in a southern British English accent
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and then I'm going to do it in an American accent to give you that contrast. So banana.
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Bath. Laugh. Example. The Sahara. Don't get me wrong guys my American accent isn't perfect
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alright! I know that it's not quite right. I'm giving you an approximation of what it
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sounds like, ok? So yeah forgive me America for my slightly poor pronunciation. But yeah
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if we take a word like 'bath' for example. In southern England yeah you are going to
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hear bath but in northern England it'll be bath. So again you are getting that /a/ sound.
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So there is a split in Britain as well as different countries so yeah so if you are
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looking at British English you have to be aware of which accent you want to learn and
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therefore which sound you are going to use in that vowel. Are you going to use the /a/
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or the /a/? It's up to you, whichever one you want.
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Now number two, we're still on the vowel sounds but we've swapped the vowel sounds round.
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So in British English I'm saying /a/ and in American English I'm saying /a/. So let's
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take the word pasta. In British English we're going to say pasta with the /a/ sound there.
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But in American English that /a/ is actually an /a/ so it's pasta. Now we find this pattern
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with all anglicised versions of foreign words or loan words. So pasta is obviously an Italian
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word. It's been brought over to British English, we're going to say pasta but in American English
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pasta. Take the famous painter Picasso. It's a foreign name, ok. Brought into British English
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we're saying Picasso but in American English Picasso. So it's the /a/ sound there. Lasagna,
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ok another Italian word. Lasagna in British English but in American English lasagna. Now
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there is one sound that really defines what British English is about and that's the /t/.
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Now let's take the name Harry Potter. Everybody knows Harry Potter, right? Now the /t/ there
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Potter. I'm saying it with the clear /t/. We also have the glottal T in British English.
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That's where we glide over the /t/ sound. It disappears. So instead of saying Harry
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Potter, it's Harry Potter. Ok, so yeah it's called a glottal T. It's a feature in quite
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a few accents in British English. So it's either Potter or Potter. In American English
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they use the flap T which again glides over that sound. It sounds like a /d/. So instead
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of saying Harry Potter, it's Harry Potter. Ok, I know that wasn't perfect America but
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hey come on, I'm trying here. Now Potter, it's a glide, it's a soft glide over that
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/t/ sound. So we have had three sounds there. Potter. Same applies to the word water. Water
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pronouncing the t, with the glottal T it's water. And in American English water. Again
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that flap T gliding over that sound. Daughter. With the glottal T daughter and with the American
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English daughter. Butter. Hmmm are you starting to get it now? Are you starting to feel those
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different sounds?
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Aright! Next one.
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Feature number four is the schwa sound. This is the most common sound in British English.
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The eh sound. I've done a video all about the schwa , if you want to go check it out
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I'll link it right up there. So we fin the schwa sound commonly when the word ends in
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/r/ so for example better. The eh there, better. With that glottal T better but I'll use it
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with the /t/ so better. Now in American English what they do is they really pronounce that
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/r/ so it's not better, it's better and you've got that /r/ the /r/ sound at the end. So
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in British English we say better, in American English better. Take the word bigger. In British
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English bigger, in American English bigger. Alright so those are four really interesting
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pronunciation features of British English. Now one that people often forget about is
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word stress. Now word stress is a real feature of British English and contrasting it with
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other types of English particularly with American English. So if we take the word Adult. In
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British English we are stressing it on the first syllable Adult but in American English
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they are shifting that stress to the second syllable, adult. So it's adult in British
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English, adult in American English. There are a few examples of this. If you look at
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the noun for address, like the residential address. In British English it's address,
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so the second syllable is getting the stress but in American English address it's going
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on the first syllable. There are lots of different examples. One that i want to look at particularly
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is French words that have come into English. So take for example buffet. In British English
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buffet, we are pronouncing it as we want buffet. The stress goes on the first syllable buffet.
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But in American English they are keeping the same stress as the original French word so
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it's buffet. Stress on the last syllable. The same with gourmet. Gourmet in British
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English the stress is on the first syllable, in American English it's going on the last
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syllable gourmet. Massage. So you can see the pattern here. So if you want
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to sound more British in your pronunciation think about the word stress. Think about how
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you are stressing each word, that will indicate what type of English you are speaking. Alright
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that's five features of British English contrasted with American English. Now if you have enjoyed
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that video please give it a big thumbs up and let me know if you would like another
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video because there are so many other features of British English. I could talk about it
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all day. So if you would like another one, let me know in the comments below. I could
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do a part two, I'd be happy to so let me know. If you do want to dive a little bit deeper
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into the different pronunciation of words and particularly word stress, then I have
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done a video all about that. So check it, I'll just link it right above. If you have
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enjoyed this video I'm sure you'll enjoy that one as well.
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Eat Sleep Dreamers check it out, I've just got my very own Eat Sleep Dream t-shirt. How
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cool is that? It was designed by a very good friend of mine and superb British artist called
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Rob Lee. I'm super excited, it fits perfectly. I'm loving it, I'm absolutely loving it. I'll
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put a link in the description below so you can go and check him out. His work is amazing.
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Anyway he designed it for me and I got it printed. It's really comfy. So cool! Anyway
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guys, thank you so much for hanging out with me. This is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying
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goodbye.
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