How do Britons pronounce 'r' ?

Question

One of my teachers came from the UK and he has a different way to pronounce the 'r' sound... somewhat between 'l' and the Spanish trill sound (e.g. tomolow, loll in, lemember, clime etc.)... then I watched tons of UK movies and discovered other Britons do the same, though when I look up a British English dictionary the Received Pronunciation/BBC pronunciation of 'r' is exactly the same as the American one.

Can anyone tell me how to pronounce the British 'r' or even better gimme the IPA letter?

By the way what British accent(s) do most of the Britons speak? Is it Brummie or Tony Blair's accent or Cockney or the NW accent or what? And how do they actually pronounce place names the British way (like Lancashire, Doncaster, Leicestershire etc.)? Are there any good books on British English our there?

P.S. Which has more advantage in the future? American or British English? It seems East Asia (including China) prefers AmE but India and most European countries still stick to BrE.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The further north the more of a trill you'll tend to hear. That'd be the Scottish and Irish influences.

In general the R sound is dropped or replaced with a sort of "ah" sound similar but not the same as a Bostonian or New York accent (think Frasier). It'll also depend on the word and the sounds that precede and follow the R.

There are so many different accents in the UK that it'd be hard to say any one is most used. It's one of the things that makes English dialects so interesting. That and the wealth of influences from other languages.

Words like Leicestershire are fun. Lestersheer (more American) or, even Lestahsheer but with a much less strong R sound than in American English and the EE sound at the end is a short, clipped E, something between a long E sound and a short I.

In terms of grammar and different words (lift vs. elevator, for example) there really isn't a significant advantage in either. Spelling is the same. Whether you write color or colour people will still know what you mean. The slangs tend to be much different but even the differences in dialects in English aren't as drastic as many other languages.

Advantages may be had in the accent but then you'd have to learn to speak, say, German with a British accent as opposed to an American one for it to make a difference. That's nearly impossible without years of experience in linguistics as well as a good ear for accents.

Answer 2

Most common way of saying the r in BBC is the same as American, nowadays.

some regional pronunciations retain the flapped r between two vowels, the sound is roughly the same as the American English flapped t.

Thus the Brits may pronounce the word berry, the same way as the Americans would say the name Betty.

Answer 3

Im from the north east of Scotland and i say R like ARE. The Irish say it like ERR. A Northerner says it like AAH. A southerner says it like RRR.

Thats a **** explination but i am typing after all you know?

Also what do you mean do Brittons talk like Tony Blair or Cockneys? We're a diverse country made up of hundreds of differing regional dialects you ****! WE ALL TALK DIFFERENTLY!!! A Scot wont say "Alwight me ol' china!" jus' like a Londoner wont say "Fit like th' day min!"

Answer 4

ah