English Accents: Do English people speak more like David Beckham than presenters on BBC News.?

Question

What kind of regional accent does Hugh Laurie have when he's speaking with an English accent like on Blackadder?

If I were to teach English in France would it be better to speak the Received Pronunciation accent or in an American accent or to alternate between both? I'm from America with English roots and I've listened to BBC World Service on the radio since when I was very little and can do a fairly good impression of them.

Yes Mishy, I'm not being serious.

APPELLANT53, I will probably just speak the way I normally do. I just wanted to make an an interesting question.

Answer 1

You have the same dilemma I did when I was a substitute teach in a hispanic neighborhood school, where English immersion was taught. I am a Spaniard and speak Castillian the way people do in Spain. However, for the kids to understand me, I had to modify some of the words and (accents, because one of the fundamental differences with the Spanish language between Spain and the rest of Spanish speaking America, is that Spain pronounces words CE or CI as "Thay" or "Thee" -- Th as in "Think", though -- while in Spanish speaking America people pronounce the words as "Say" or "See") . It took some doing but such a modification was easier for the kids to understand.

I guess it is the same. In Europe, you might want to teach the "Queen's English", while anywhere else you teach American English.

Answer 2

Lately, I've been speaking with an accent, mispronouncing words, or pronouncing them differently than before. I don't know why now. Most people I've met (actually, about 99.99 percent of them) don't realize that I wasn't born in America and that English isn't my first language. *However*, I've been told that it sounded like I had a Spanish accent (and sometimes I can hear it) and sometimes I sound like I'm from the South (I guess I am, since I've spent most of my life in the South). I've also had a few people say they loved my accent. Ah...what was that about? I don't have an accent. (That's what I think whenever they say that to me.) But I love accents, too! Men with accents are especially dreamy. :D Arabesque: That site *is* hilarious! I like it when he's explaining the "glottal stop".

Answer 3

All countries have regional accents and indeed there are variations even within cities, for example compare and contrast the scouse accent of Ringo Starr from Dingle, John Lennon from Mendlove Ave, Steven Gerrard from Huyton and Ken Dodd from Knotty Ash. The answer is to be grammatically correct, be natural and do not try to put any "spin" into your accent for other languages, we are talking here about education, not a Mike Yarwood tribute act.

Answer 4

I learned how to speak french and now I have an english accent. It's easier for me now to just speak in an english accent instead of an American accent. I too have English roots.

Answer 5

England has many many different accents. English culture and language evolved before mass communication and before it was common to travel a lot so that each small area has its own accent and usage patterns. Add to that a significant difference between the way the different classes use language and you have a large variety of accents and idioms.

Answer 6

You only have to drive for half an hour in england and you will get a completly different accent. Personaly i prefer accents from the north, i dont like southern accents like becham.

Answer 7

Is this question a joke?!! David Beckham is from Essex. Probably one of the worst accents around.

Answer 8

Just speak in your own accent....