Which Kind Of Br. Accent Shall I Follow?

R.G.Hi ~~!

I'm a foreign English learner, and I think it is time for me to improve my spoken English.

I perfer British accent to American, and have always trying to speak so.

But which kind of Br. accent shall I follow? Many may tell me "of course, the RP" Then again, what is RP?

Is it the accent used by BBC news reporters?

BTW, someone told me Oxford accent is the most respected accent in English-speaking countries. Is that truth?

Where can I learn it? Is it very different from RP?

Thank you so much!

RP stands for Received Pronunciation

This is what RP really means :

A pronunciation of British English, originally based on the speech of the upper class of southeastern England and characteristic of the English spoken at the public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Until recently it was the standard form of English used in British broadcasting (BBC mainly!)

For more info, go to this site http://www.yaelf.com/rp.shtml Mike ))

Thank you, Mike!

I have really learnt a lot from your post and the site recommended.

BTW, Mike, I suppose it is not proper (or at least not common) to use RP in everyday talking, is it?

Hmmm let's just say RP is a formal way/accent of spoken English

So, you decide

I see, thank you

There are so many Br. accents and dialects! Learners generally pick up the one spoken by their teacher. RP is the type of speech used by the queen. If you want something "middle of the road" the most commonly used is probably "Estuary English" as spoken by people like Tony Blair.

Listening to BBC world service will give you a very good idea of an appropriate accent.

Curiously, Tony Blair comes from the North east of England - the same as I! Listen to me:

http://www.the-cool-book-shop.co.uk/sound1/english.htm

I've always been partial to Tim Curry's accent, though I don't know that I've ever heard any other Englishman sound quite the way he does, so he may be some kind of exception.

Abbie1948There are so many Br. accents and dialects! Learners generally pick up the one spoken by their teacher. RP is the type of speech used by the queen. If you want something "middle of the road" the most commonly used is probably "Estuary English" as spoken by people like Tony Blair.

Listening to BBC world service will give you a very good idea of an appropriate accent.

Hi abbie1948

What do you mean when you say "There are so many Br. accents and dialects".?
Does it mean that there are as many dialects in England as it is in my country?

You know, I love travelling, and I happened to listen to several people speaking with their own accents, for istance, Irish one, Scottish one, and people from Newcastle where a dear friend of mine lives, and I have noticed that, during my vacation over those places, I had been able to get closer to their accents whenever I spoke with them.

Maybe it is just a matter of a "influence" that I got from the conversations I used to have with those people, but I was so happy at the end of my holiday to come back to my country, and made the accents I learnt to be heard from my teacher who comes from Canada. And just guess.....

I have never gotten her accent since the first day I started having conversation with her.

Ciao