Search results for 'tag:Pronunciation tag:Scottish accents' matching tags 'Pronunciation' and 'Scottish accents'

Re: British Pronunciation vs American Prononciation

Peter85 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:42:13 GMT

I like both of them but I'd like to be more specific:

American: It isn't as nice as British accent but I think is clearer than British accent (at least for spanish native speakers,like me) as It has a stronger pronunciation of the R,a very common letter in Spanish language.The only american accent that I don't like is the one from deep america? I mean Alabama etc...

British:Of course I think the best british accent is the one from the famous triangle London-Oxford-Cambridge,although,obviously, not everyone living in that area has a good british accent.Like Nona said It depends on the background and education of each person.In the other hand,we find Midlands,Northern (england) and Scottish accent.The one spoken in Midlands is not bad (except Brummie accent from Birmigham,It's funny,though).Some accents from Northern england(Geordie,liverpool,Yorkshire) as well as Scottish are a bit difficult to understand,specially if you're not accustomed to them.

We shouldn't forget other accents like Australian,South-African,Irish,specially Irish accent as I think It's rather clear.

Cheers.

Re: accents

SillyMe — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:10:54 GMT

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi,
SillyMe wrote:
I just don't understand why you people are obsessed that much with your accents.

Who is obsessed? Most learners are not obsessed. Actually, they usually don't care much about pronunciation and neglect spolen English.
I am "obsessed" because I like English. I like accents. Why shouldn't I care about spoken English? Why shouldn't I notice the way people speak?

SillyMe wrote:
For me there is only one thing seems important that is to be understood.

Yes, if you're only interested in communicating a concept, a fact or something. Those who really like English like it as a whole, pronunciation included. You mention "to be understood", what about "to understand"? Learning about pronunciation has really helped me understand natives better. That's the main reason why I started to focus a little more on pronunciation. It's not a question of being afraid of having a foreign accent, it's obvious that we all have one.

Hi,
If studying accents is your hobby I can understand that. Everyone has hobbies.
Mostly I meant people who posted messages like "I want a Scottish accent". Don't they understand that it is nearly impossible for an adult to learn to speak with the perfect accent? It might be possible for a child, but not for an adult. Another category is people with a good pronunciation who want to soften their accent in order to pass as a native. What is that for? Only for the sake of language or for something else...? Of course, I agree that if your sound "v" sounds like "b" you should work on your pronunciation. But if my "r" is a bit different from what natives usually use, why should I care then? I will be understood by a vast majority of people anyway.
I have never spoken to a native, may be they allways point out your pronunciation mistakes and make you feel inconvenient... I don't know. Why should I care how they speak if all my surrounding uses different patterns of speech? Now people from all over the world speak English and it doesn't mean that I have to learn a Polish or Spanish accent to understand them better. Of course it will help, but why should I do that?

British, American, Scottish accent or using super-fantastic-high-tech...

Jackson6612 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:50:37 GMT

English Audio: Speech and Pronunciation
British, American, Scottish accent or using super-fantastic-high-tech software, we'll help you with pronunciation!

What kind of software are you talking about? Sorry to say, I've never seen anyone using any software to help in pronunciation. Members use words to help in pronunciation. And that's very kind of them. Just let me know about the software. Thank you.

Re: Learn various accents/dialects

nona the brit — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:08:28 GMT

accent: a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and especially of the natives or residents of a region

dialect: a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language

Dialects need a greater variation from the 'standard' or other varieties, whereas accent is more about pronounciation.

You should find this wiki article on British English accents and dialects useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English

I'd disagree that RP is the standard English accent - only about 2% of us speak it. And certainly the other dialects did not develop from RP - they developed over hundreds if not thousands of years for a variety of reasons. For example, there is still a language difference between the areas that were ruled by the Vikings and the rest of the country. The history of English as spoken in England is a very interesting one due to the constant influence of other languages.

I don't know how many different English accents there are. Some areas have their own accent and even some cities/towns have their own accent. 'Lots' would be my best answer, although many of them can be loosely grouped together. I know someone who reckons you can tell which side of her village-street people were born on, as the accents are slightly different! She could be pulling my leg though...

Scottish (two t's) - again there isn't a single Scottish accent. Someone from Glasgow sounds different to someone from Edinburgh, for example, but there are some overall similarities. All I know is that they often do not pronounce the letter "h", so here becomes 'ere - I haven't noticed my Scottish friends doing this?,

and my becomes 'me', *** sounds like fock, up like op and so on. That's pretty much all I know. Also, is there any place online where I can listen to this accent? I don't care what I listen to, may it be a podcast, or an audio book, I really don't care, I just want to grasp the accent. To be honest, what you are saying here sounds more like an Irish accent to me than Scottish?

Also, with British accents you have to factor in class as well as geography. That makes a difference to how people speak. My Scottish friends are two sisters with quite different accents, even though they grew up together. One went to a local private school and has a posher accent than the one who went to the local state school.

Re: How to find the false coin? <--What? Is that a question?

Kooyeen — Sun, 20 May 2007 16:47:10 GMT

Thank you

Well, for example, what I continuously see are sentences like these:

I'd like to learn English in this forum. My pronunciation is not good, so how to improve it?
He doesn't want his troops to get out of Iraq. Then, how to avoid another three thousand deaths?
I have a question. How to pronounce "plectroclinth" with a Scottish accent?

That stuff. I think it's kind of Engrish, isn't it? Thanks again

Which pronunciation to model your speech on

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:15:05 GMT

Hello everyone,

Many people in this forum seem to be interested in discussing differences between British and American accents, as well as which accent they prefer learning. Some people have gone as far as to express their desire to learn very specific accents, e.g. some people wanted to acquire a Scottish accent while others wanted to learn Cockney. I'd like to ask all of you who choose to imitate speakers of a particular accent: why is this? Why do you want to learn Cockney, for instance? Is it because you feel comfortable speaking Cockney? Is it because people understand you better owing to your Cockney or near-Cockney accent? Some of you have highlighted that almost all non-native speakers have an accent typical for their country/first language. While this is largely true, I also think it should be mentioned that anyone learning English needs to imitate native speakers and to learn to pronounce English sounds so as to be understood. Imagine a person with Chinese or Polish as their mother tongue speaking English with his or her native phonemes. I personally doubt native speakers would understand what he or she says (unless they knew Chinese or Polish), and I think most of you'll agree. So, in conclusion, learners of English clearly need to imitate native speakers. The question is: whose pronunciation should you try to imitate? Queen Elizabeth II's? Tony Blair's? George Bush's? Or somebody else's? I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Re: Received Pronunciation & Mid Atlantic English

LeicesterLad — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:48:42 GMT

This is an interesting one LanguageLover. The success of American actors trying a British accent ranges from the impressive to the truly awful! I could name several in the latter category - Including Dick Van ***'s legendary attempt at Cockney in "Meery Porpins" (Mary Poppins) and Mel Gibson was a bit dodgy with his Scottish accent in Braveheart. When Mel does an English accent he is more succesful - I think this is partly because of his Australian upbrining (Mel is pretty much "bilingual" in US/Australian English), and Australians seem to find an English accent easier to master because its not so different from their own. The worst "Americans doing British" usually appear in American sitcoms, where a US actor is used to play a Brit. Because they're often "one episode" characters, it seems they don't bother with accent coaches! So often, the actors attempt some kind of upper class, or "royal" accent (that less than 0.01% of Brits actually use), and yet miss the most obvious differences! (eg. the pronunciation of the "r" in words like "motor").

In the more succesful category, I would include Gwyneth Paltrow, as you suggest, in "Emma", "Shakespeare in Love", but especially "Sliding Doors", where she played a modern London girl. She sounded very natural to my ears. Another success was Renee Zellweger in the Bridget Jones movies - a bit of a departure from her Texan drawl! But even these are "safe" accents from the south-east/London area of the UK. What I would LOVE to hear, is a US/Canadian actor do a more extreme regional British accent, like Scouse (Liverpool) or Geordie (Newcastle upon Tyne), now that would be interesing! Does any one know any examples of N Am actors attempting these accents?

* help!!!*

Crazy_chick — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 15:44:59 GMT

Heya everyone!!! i was just wondering if any of you could do me a huuuuuuugeeee favour....

alrighty so it will probably sound a bit wierd - what im asking you to do....but please could you hear me out...

okay..so for my English Language coursework (its for my A Levels...) i have chosen to study the accents of the British Isles....what i have to do is get a group of people speaking with different regional accents to read a news story and get them on tape to do and investigation...

i was wondering (and hoping with all my might!) that some of you who may have an accent could help me...i was thinking that if i send you a short transcript of a news story (by email or sumthing) you could record urself reading it (perhaps on ur phone or through a mic on your computer), send me it in an email and then i could use it for my study...

your help would be GREATLY appreciated as im in desperate need cuz i don't presonally kno very many regionaly accented people...

Im mainly lookin for...
*Newcastle accents
*London accents
*Recieved Pronunciation (RP) accents
*Birmingham accents
*Scottish accents
*Welsh accents
*Irish accents
*Yorkshire accents

If you'd be willing to help...please please pleeeeeeeeeasssseee could you let me kno...if you have any questions...just go ahead and ask away at backstreetgurl@hotmail.com

thank you soooooooo much for taking your time to read this....i really appreciate it