How to Get a British Accent - Lesson One - "The Glottal T and the True T"

Hey guys! Welcome to our new series!

This one, we're looking at how to get a British accent.

I say British accent, but really I mean London.

Why London? Because, one, it's my accent,

and, two, because,

well, let's just say...

Harry Potter wasn't from Manchester,

and he wouldn't be as cool if he was from Manchester.

So, there is a method to these lessons :

You must follow the correct sequence of lessons,

to properly understand,

and use the British accent correctly.

You're ready? Let's go!

Today, we're looking at the Glottal T and the True T.

What are they?

Well, I'm sure that you've heard the way that British people pronounce

"Water".

There is a T in the middle,

but,

usually,

not always, but usually, British people don't pronounce the T.

We pronounce it like it's stuck in the throat.

Like this :

Wa'er (water with the glottal T)

Wa'er

This, it's sometimes represented by an apostrophy.

It sounds like the middle of Uh-Oh..

It's stuck in the throat, it's called glottal.

Obviously, not just in water,

in other words :

Bottle

can become

Bo'le (bottle with the glottal T)

So, the T is

there when you spell it

but when you say it,

it comes a little like bo'le.

Button could be

bu'on (button with the Glottal T).

Other words, like great

could become grea' (great with the glottal T).

And it's very common to hear this,

and it's most common with words which end in T

For example :

But (bu'), It (i'),

That (tha'), Not (no')

and all contractions of not :

For example : Can't (can')

Couldn't (couldn')

Don't (don')

wouldn't (wouldn')

shouldn't (shouldn')

musn't (musn')

A common question is : does this sound informal or stupid?

Well,

it can if you use it too much.

We don't use the glottal T or the true T every single time.

What sounds more natural is when you have a mix of the two

For example, in a sentence like :

"A little bit"

you could pronounce both Ts

but it sounds more natural

to use a mix.

Like for example :

"A li'le bit" (little with the glottal T)

or "A li'le bi' "(little and bit with glottal Ts)

could be both glottal Ts

could be one glottal T and a true T.

It's up to you and it sounds more natural to mix things up.

But, again, you don't want to use this in every single T in the sentence, because, yes that does sound stupid.

There are some words which you should never use the glottal T, because it always sounds stupid, just because it does.

For example, like "mountain"

we never pronounce it moun'ain (mountain with the glottal T)

it sounds horrible.

same with "hotel"

no, we never say ho'el (hotel with the glottal T)

never, it's.. it sounds horrible!

So,

there is your lesson on the glottal T and the true T.

Remember : use it as a mix

not always glottal T, not always true T.

Have a mix of them together in the sentence.

That's how you sound more natural.

Ok, I'll see you in the next class!

Non-automatic English subtitles by Julie Descaves

"In this word, where is the stress?"

"Well, it's in "-lice"

"The stress is here"