Thats a North Wales accent which is nothing like a South Wales Valleys accent which is nothing like a South West Wales accent and of course Cardiff, Barry, Penarth and Newport have their own South East Wales fairly distinct similar accents. And then there's the percentage of the population that speak Welsh as their first language rather than English.
More Welsh speakers in N Wales, Snowdonia, Anglesey. Welsh farmers. Liverpool accent has crept along the Irish Sea, N Wales coast. Talacre. Rhyl, Prestatyn, Isle of Man slightly.
@@irenejohnston6802 funny you should say that, I met a guy once abroad. Was fully convinced he was a scouser but he was from North Wales, not far from the border though.
100% I’m in Yorkshire. 1. It’s nothing like that 2. The Yorkshire accent in reality is super strong 3. Connor!!!! It’s NOTHING like Scottish! I’m offended! Lol x
By the way, from what I know, these recordings were part of a project to keep record of traditional regional accents. Of course today things are a bit different. Some areas may sound less strong in the accent, and some areas may sound slightly stronger, or even a little different. Either way it's a very good video at showing what some of the traditional regional accents are/were though
As an old (ish) Yorkshireman I've never heard anybody talk like that! That was definitely a very localised way of talking, and from a long time back... as for sounding more Scottish as you travel North, it's actually got more Norse in it . Having said that, there are some accents which are pretty interesting that I've not heard before. Good one!
My old grandad was Yorkshire and he used to talk in broad old Yorkshire - I found him very hard to understand most of the time !!! He used words like Nowt and Owt and summat and 'misen' and other 'foreign' words I can't remember
Indeed. There must be over a dozen regional Scots accents as well as a whole different language, Scots Gaelic, spoken as a first language by 57,000 people - not bad for a country of just 5.5 million people! Glaswegian is strong and quite distinctive, but you only have to go 30 miles south of Glasgow, and you get the Ayrshire accent - still quite hard sounding, but rather different. Another 30 miles south and you get the softer Dumfries and Galloway accent, different again. And as you say, going east from Glasgow the Edinburgh accent is very distinct, and it changes again through Fife up to Dundee. And again, north of Dundee you get Doric Scots which even has a distinct local vocabulary.
These are all fairly old recordings, of mostly already old people. There's been a great deal of homogenisation of accents in the past few decades, and some new ones have developed too, particularly amongst the young working class. I speak with a standard middle class southern accent, which remains pretty much the same wherever you go. Even a middle/upper class person from, say, Northumberland, will sound more like me than the local working class accent. I currently live in Kent, and local accents change slightly from borough to borough; but none really sound like the example in the video.
Yeah the main ones are: scottish, glaswegian, irish, cumbrian/Northumberland, geordie, yorkshire, Lancashire, scouse, mancunian has melded with the upper midlands, anglia has merged and become less distinct, brummie is going strong, the south east has lost any extremity, and the south west sounds normal but every now and then theyll drop a word into a sentence that makes them sound like a pirate.
I'm from Kent, south east. But let me be the first to tell you that Cornwall, in the west country, is unlike everywhere I have ever been before. One of the 'six Celtic nations' (ireland,scotland,wales,brittany(france),and isle of man)) There was just something special about the landscape, geography, the physical history and culture around you. I was only there a week and it felt special. I dont want to hype it up or anything but just walking through the country and seeing ancient bronze age burial mounds and landmarks is something else.
Being from Lancashire, I think that one is a kind of central or west Lancashire accent. It’s slightly different in east Lancashire. My town, Burnley, has its own accent (I actually think there’s 2, with the other being central to a district in western Burnley called Padiham. It has connotations between the Burnley accent, and the Accrington “Accy” accent which is the next town over). Accents vary, and even the names of things, can vary so widely over a very short distance.
Accents in the UK can literally change within like 20 miles some even less than that, scouse is the liverpool accent, across the otherside of the river mersey in the wirral which is less than a mile directly across from the city centre, the accent is noticeably different. Accents can be considerably depending on where you are, that's why so many people get annoyed by Americans thinking the entire country has the same accent, ie recieved pronunciation, that can be learned however most don't speak it naturally.
That' is very true. Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool are all in the same county of Lancashire but all have very distinctly different sounding accents !
Received Pronunciation or ‘RP’ is a common dialect which is used mainly on TV and radio so that others from other regions can hear more clearly, it is basically just a softening of your regional accent.
These are very mild accents on here and very old recordings, and they are not all the acc6in each county we have many variations in each county. You can live in a tiny village and nearly everyone will speak differently .
Connor, these were only 30 regional distinctions. When I was a child, 60 or so years ago. a person could notice the difference between towns separated by only 5 miles. Hills and rivers had made inter-mixing less common. Coastal ports and fishing areas have been exposed to a wider ange of people. The influx of Irish people, due to the Potato Famine; the persecution of Huguenot weavers and their move to join weavewrs in the north of England. Immigrants from the Commonwealth, - the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent nations - have also changed some of our speech. So like dale ferrier and Steve Moppett - and others - have commented, these distinctions have began fade and accents are not as strong as they were 50 or more years ago. I was born in Lancashire, went to university in Aberdeen, Liverpool and California (thus becoming middel-class and slightly more received pronunciation) and also I have lived in Tyne & Wear, Bristol, Plymouth and Birmingham. My accent is probably a srangely homogenised one. I have lived in Thailand for 20 years and I notice that, even at my age, that some of my vowels and consonants have very slightly changed while here. Travelling, mixing, conversing, regional accents in TV programmes, stand-up comedy have increased the weakening of accents and dialect words. Thus, the attempts to record and archive these older people's voices for preservation and posterity. You are right to be fascinated and as a person who loves history you can discover the influences over the last two millennia.
calling the cornish accent a bit of an outlier made me giggle, as someone from cornwall myself i can attest to the accent definitely being a bit different than the rest of the country, especially from the real farmer folk
I lived in Plymouth for 40 years and my work took me all over the two counties. I have quite a few friends from St Austell area, I don't notice their accent much, well not until we have a had a few beers, then it gets stronger !
The recordings are old. But the northern ones, at least, are pretty accurate. In reality there are more subdivisions than they've allowed for, but accents can change every five miles, so it'd be hard to get them all. What I think is really interesting is that generally, the accents that are more sing-songy (Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Cumbrian, and to a slightly lesser extent the north eastern English ones (Tyneside, Durham, Pitmatic and Northumbrian), are ones that are heavily influenced by the old Brittonic languages - that is the languages spoken by the ancient Britons. They go up and down in tone in different patterns. They also often have similar vowel sounds.
The Welshman sounded exactly like my uncle. Another thing the Welsh are famous for are their magnificent choirs. Especially Welsh coal miners, my uncle was a farmer and his singing voice was beautiful.
Just to clarify, the Welsh accent you hear on this is North Wales, down south we are not as harsh with the vowel sounds. Plus you saying you didn’t want to be offensive and not saying it for a short while, was more offensive than just saying it. The point is, you want to learn, ask questions, the dumbest question there is, not asking one. Love the channel and much respect.
The East Midlands accent doesn’t cover the Lincolnshire accent it’s from Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire, Lawrence Brown (Lost in The Pond) has a Grimsby North East Lincolnshire accent which I picked up on as I’m from Grimsby. Potteries accent is from Stoke Staffordshire.
The reason some sound slightly American or New England, is they are old dialects still very much how people spoke 3-400 years ago. The early settlers had these accents and as they were isolated in Ameica they persisted, although diluted with time.
Received Pronunciation, aka “The Queen’s English” isn’t a real accent, it’s a forced one to speak clearly and coherently so anyone can understand, used in the media and by national news broadcasters so their natural accent doesn’t confuse people about what they’re saying.
The local dialects, accents are the history of the people. Modified by population spread and 70 yrs of immigration. True,. RP. Reflects the education system
You have to remember that the true welsh accent is that of welsh language , speaking English as a foreign accent, the same goes for the scots and Irish their accents are derived from Gaelic, not old English, the English have dialects of old English ,who's root languages are Saxon, Friesian, danish and Norman French along with a few borrowed words, from other source's, English accents have nothing to do with, the Scottish Gaelic, or the Brythonic welsh or the Irish Celtic accent's that come directly from their own languages.
If you like old historical buildings then Liverpool is a great place to set up base. Not only did we have the world's very first commercial wet dock - completed in 1716 (part of which can still be seen) but there is also Speke Hall which began construction in 1530 , St Georges Hall, it is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world and like speke hall it has grade 1 listed status. In fact, Liverpool has the highest number of grade 1 and grade 2 listed buildings outside London. We are also pretty central between the south of Britain and the north, so a trip to scotland is a few hours on the train and north wales is literally an hours drive.
These are also very general dialects. In many areas you can drive 10 miles and get a very different dialect and bread has a different name 🤣 Bury (where I live), Bolton and Manchester form triangle about 10 miles. Each is different to locals but all sound "northern" to southerners. I've lived in Bury 30 years but people here still think I sound like I'm from my home town of Accrington about another 10miles north!
20% of the Welsh speak the Welsh language which is very old Briton. A language from the time the Saxons invaded and everyone moved west. Liverpool used to be in Wales and that's why you get the accent.
Gotta say I enjoyed watching this, really funny watching you trying to imitate some of the accents lol, I’m from Newcastle so I’m a Geordie and I think these variation videos would be better if they were all saying the same sentence ? When English people travel to other regions we have to talk English and clearly to be understood lol enjoyed the video and maybe you could do one on the American regional accents ?
Received Pronunciation, or RP, is a kind of standardish English accent. If an English person were to have elocution lessons it might target sounding something like RP. A few decades ago it was the classic BBC accent, everyone on TV or the radio would talk like that.
I live in Oldham. 6 miles west of central Manchester. Within 5 miles there are over 20 dialects in Saddleworth I sometimes have no idea what is being said. eg "Graydley soapa tay" phonetic Is "a good cup of tea" Yeah, go figure!
Sorry to say these are not accurate, these recordings sound like they come from the 1950's. Nobody talks like that in Sussex, they used to have farmers that spoke like that when I was a kid but that accent died off.
Really basic theories are that the US accent origin is old West Country from the pilgrims, and Australian more London based from convicts and soldiers. Very over generalised and ignoring many other factors, but occasionally you can see the influence, like you said with the Boston accent.
When i visited USA with a fellow Somerset resident we were repeatedly asked to "say that again" and often it was the vocabulary as well as the accent which as the cause of surprise. They couldn't believe we still used words like "thou, yorn, youm" and said it sounded like an ancient language - which course it is - and one that was transported to the USA centuries ago. Ancient words are still used throughout British regions and accents.
Cool reaction video. It's interesting to watch Americans react to our dialects... When you think that you could fit the whole of the UK inside Texas 2.8 times, Americans find how varied our accents are quite astonishing. These clips are old clips of old people, so they don't really represent modern dialects that well. Of course, they are similar, but quite dated. Many Brits have a more 'estuary' accent now. The received English is standard posh (Queens English), where-as 'estuary' is more non specific British. Estuary is probably a bit more upper working class/middle class. Working classes tend to have stronger regional accents, but that isn't always the case. Class is defined in many different ways, and the parameters of whatever class is seem to change over time....but, these are broad generalisations.
There's four (five if you count cockney as an individual accent) different accents just in London - North, South EAST and West London - although in modernity they are beginning to merge as one ... sadly
Hi, Nice reaction. The 1st was received pronunciation or RP, its also known as BBC. It is (should be) most easily understood, it is taught to non English speakers. It is often considered posh. There were some very large groupings given, the idea that Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee can be grouped is weird. It felt like these were quite old recordings.
As someone who is from Devon, I am beyond disgusted that they highlighted Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset as “West Country”. Seriously, WTF. Cornwall, Devon, and most of Somerset is The West Country. Fight me.
Should note that the voice notes are from different generations the cornish one sounds very modern and dulled if you want a more accurate cornish accent you may want to check out the cornish comedian Jethro. RIP
I always think it’s better to hear these accents from modern day people not old recordings. Steven gerrard or Jamie carragher for scouse for example, Peter Kay Lancashire, Stephen merchant for down south west is a well known one. These sorts of celebrities demonstrate the accents better
To be honest Connor it is not really s true representation of accents actoss UK. As manu people will tell you in here even within counties there can be many different accents. For instance Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges come from the same city of Glasgow.
It's odd that you thought Brummie and Potteries sounded quintessentially British, they're both very different from RP. Brummie falls somewhere between a Southern accent and a Northern one, perhaps from the clip that wasn't very clear. If you've ever seen Peaky Blinders, they all have Brummie accents. Potteries is nothing like the kind of stereotypical accent that Americans think we all have, it's a weird mixture of Northern and West Midlands, and I always think it sounds slightly scouse. These might not have been the best clips to get a real sense of the accents.
Not going to lie as a British person these accents are not very accurate as they seem to be taken from really old people who have stronger accents than most people do today
These are old maybe say 40s generation but what you as a American need to know is the British accent changes from village to village say every 10 miles take Yorkshire in this video is more North Yorkshire im from west Yorkshire Oxenhope and we sound totally different very broad and to the point but as I've said it changes every ten miles or so. And if we was to meet a foreign person we would put on what we call a phone voice lol maybe find a more in depth video or newer lived it though
Some linguists think some American dialects are very close to English dialects in those areas where the immigrants left for America. I'm Welsh, you all sound weird. And Welsh accents in the North and South of Wales are as different as Manchester and Kent.
I have no idea what my accent is. Being deaf I cant really tell between minor differences, but I can tell the difference between Scotland and the south of England because they do sound very different. Born and raised in Somerset, I'll assume I have a Somerset accent. But due to my profound deafness and having to be specifically taught how to say many words from my mum, (who was born in Slough near London, but raised by parents on one side Sunderland and on the other St Austell in Cornwall) I may not say some words correctly but near enough to roughly sound correct. In fact I actually hate the way my voice sounds on a video, because it sounds wrong. Now is that just me? Or do other people think their voices sound wrong on videos? I would love for some language expert to contact me and analyse my speech. Where would I fit or am I a totally unique individual?
I think it’s ridiculous that there are so many English accents represented and then when you get to Scotland they just ignore all the different accents. There are so many scottish accents.
That welsh accent is Mid-Wales our accent in North East Wales is totally differant as is the North West Wales accent, this 30 dialects is totally wrong, they change from city to city and region to region. They have 1 accent for Wales but 3 for Northern Ireland
These people all sound elderly traditional people ...the video was made to show old English dialects You would hardly hear any of this in reality. .you will hear tone difference for sure as you travel around but no where near to this extent.... these were 100% original old tyme sounds take it down to 25% and it'll be nearer to regular English spoken everywhere....
As a Welshman, I might be feeling very offended. 🤣 For starters, we only have one representative, and he sounds barely anything like me! He's naming some Welsh village. "The bus goes twice a week to Aber-rysyushsuub (indistinct). Aber means "mouth of..." and is followed by the name of a river. Abertillery, Aberystwyth, Abergavenny etc. All towns where a river meets another body of water. The Brummie accent, talking about watching a drummer, seems like it might be a member of Black Sabbath. Perhaps bass player Geezer Butler.
Well done - you've managed to upset the whole of the west country, especially Bristol, and the Irish by saying they are similar. I speak as a person from Bath - 12 miles from Bristol and I can assure you they are very different. Anyone who thinks that there is only one regional accent in Wales is being completely ignorant
Also, this is a slightly older generation of regional speakers. Within cities themselves there can subtle and distinct dialect and accent changes. Bristol for example, has a definite North/South difference (not just City and Rovers based) (Oh, they're the two Bristol football teams, City is mostly South, Rovers is mostly North). Just as someone from my Hometown of Scarborough, will sound a bit different than someone from Whitby, Middlesbrough or York - yet we're all in the same County (No matter how Middlesbrough denies it)
@@Someloke8895 Most of us from Boro grew up being told we're part of Cleveland, not North Yorkshire. I was born in 93, and still when I fill in postage information and it asks for county I'll put Cleveland over NY. I've honestly got nothing against being a part of NY, it's just not what I was taught as a kid, so is hard to adjust, even 25 years on. Next generation will probably grow up thinking of being in North Yorkshire more than us, though! Just gotta give it time
@@04williamsl It's an interesting take, as I was actually born at Teeside Hospital (dunno what it is today) and my Passport/Birth Cert declare I was born in Stockton - but I've always identified as a Yorkshireman not a Smoggy and find Scarborough to be my hometown - I'd never disagree that to a lot of people I'm a Smoggy by birth, but I have so many (often stereotypical) traits of being a Yorkie and generally growing up in N.Yorks that I have always thought of myself as a Yorkshireman than Teeside. At least we can categorically say we're not Lancastrians!
I'm a Lancashire lass not a Scouser. Didn't hear the word growing up. When was a child only about quarter mile in LPL boundary. (Merseyside, a 1970s political construct)
@@Someloke8895 Hmm, can't say I've heard of Teesside Hospital, there's North Tees in Stockton? Stockton's an interesting one. Part of it I think is classed as North Yorkshire but as you cross the river you're officially in County Durham (North Tees is County Durham). I'd class myself as being both a smoggy and a yorkshirewoman - smoggy just because I'm from Teesside but yorkshirewoman from my tight grip on my purse 🤣. Just class yourself as whatever feels right! So long as it isn't a Lancastrian anyway.
I was disappointed by the Cornish accent. Cornish people say things like 'Oi don't loike she, her upset Oi.' Completely different grammar to English. Same with the Welsh, who say 'There is lovely, look you, isn't it ' etc. Also why didn't they show the difference between Glaswegian and Edinburgh? And I think the Yorkshire accent was from East Yorkshire, not West Yorkshire, where I come from.
@@BarackOLlama4 Yes, we all know mate is used in the UK as well, but it is stereotypically more closely tied to Australian English. It is even more prominent there.
The English have done it again. There is no Welsh accent. Cardiff is nothing like The Vallies. West Wales is nothing like North Wales. Etc etc. North and South Wales even speak different forms of the Welsh language. If you like may I suggest you watch Michael Sean reading Under Milk Wood for the closest you will get to recieved Welsh english.
Once you get through the often poor quality recordings, what a terrible selection of accents! Take Scotland for example, Edinburgh and Glasgow couldn't be more different, and as for Yorkshire, well I was born there, live there now, and have spent over two thirds of my life there (living in different parts) and while I recognised the accent, it is far from representative for a region with notable differences between North, South, West and the East - even between the different Cities! Regardless of where you are in the UK, accents also vary considerably between the city and rural areas, sadly very poorly represented for most areas in the video. One area which was (overly in relation to other regions) well represented was the Liverpool (Scouse) Lancashire/Manchester area. The choices of examples for Liverpool (nowhere near strong enough) and Lancashire (sounded far too close to a Liverpool accent) being particularly poor.
it really isnt that stereotypically BRITISH to me, i think its because you are not used to the different accents so you may find it more difficult to tell between the accents, its the same for me and some parts of the usa and canada sounding very similair, but the stereotype BRITISH that americans mention and take the piss out of is definately what i would say is either a posh west london accent or a cockney accent
when you say the south west sounds quite isrish including cornwall and that sort of area, its because those places have very strong celtic roots (cornwall, wales, ireland and scotland) so the accents may sound more similair to each other than they would sound similar to the english accents
Thats a North Wales accent which is nothing like a South Wales Valleys accent which is nothing like a South West Wales accent and of course Cardiff, Barry, Penarth and Newport have their own South East Wales fairly distinct similar accents. And then there's the percentage of the population that speak Welsh as their first language rather than English.
North Wales has more than one accent as well. Listen to someone from the North West of Wales then compare to a North Easterner..totally different.
More Welsh speakers in N Wales, Snowdonia, Anglesey. Welsh farmers. Liverpool accent has crept along the Irish Sea, N Wales coast. Talacre. Rhyl, Prestatyn, Isle of Man slightly.
@@irenejohnston6802 funny you should say that, I met a guy once abroad. Was fully convinced he was a scouser but he was from North Wales, not far from the border though.
@@irenejohnston6802 True, but the Liverpool accent has been heavily influenced by North Welsh accent in the past.
I am mixed between Welsh/Korean and I am from Barry
That was nothing like a Yorkshire accent from any part of Yorkshire.
100% I’m in Yorkshire. 1. It’s nothing like that 2. The Yorkshire accent in reality is super strong 3. Connor!!!! It’s NOTHING like Scottish! I’m offended! Lol x
By the way, from what I know, these recordings were part of a project to keep record of traditional regional accents. Of course today things are a bit different. Some areas may sound less strong in the accent, and some areas may sound slightly stronger, or even a little different. Either way it's a very good video at showing what some of the traditional regional accents are/were though
As an old (ish) Yorkshireman I've never heard anybody talk like that! That was definitely a very localised way of talking, and from a long time back... as for sounding more Scottish as you travel North, it's actually got more Norse in it . Having said that, there are some accents which are pretty interesting that I've not heard before. Good one!
My old grandad was Yorkshire and he used to talk in broad old Yorkshire - I found him very hard to understand most of the time !!! He used words like Nowt and Owt and summat and 'misen' and other 'foreign' words I can't remember
Scotland has far more subdivisions, especially at the northern and western isles. Even in the Lowlands, Glasgow is nothing like Edinburgh, or Dundee.
Indeed. There must be over a dozen regional Scots accents as well as a whole different language, Scots Gaelic, spoken as a first language by 57,000 people - not bad for a country of just 5.5 million people! Glaswegian is strong and quite distinctive, but you only have to go 30 miles south of Glasgow, and you get the Ayrshire accent - still quite hard sounding, but rather different. Another 30 miles south and you get the softer Dumfries and Galloway accent, different again. And as you say, going east from Glasgow the Edinburgh accent is very distinct, and it changes again through Fife up to Dundee. And again, north of Dundee you get Doric Scots which even has a distinct local vocabulary.
Also remember that Scots is a separate (sister) language to English. They have a common ancestor but Scots is not just English with a Scots accent.
This didn't seem true to me so I googled it and apparently england has 4 times the amount of regional accents that Scotland does
These are all fairly old recordings, of mostly already old people. There's been a great deal of homogenisation of accents in the past few decades, and some new ones have developed too, particularly amongst the young working class. I speak with a standard middle class southern accent, which remains pretty much the same wherever you go. Even a middle/upper class person from, say, Northumberland, will sound more like me than the local working class accent. I currently live in Kent, and local accents change slightly from borough to borough; but none really sound like the example in the video.
The Northumberland accent sounds like a mixture of Tyne and Wear and County Durham to me but much milder than Newcastle.
Yeah the main ones are: scottish, glaswegian, irish, cumbrian/Northumberland, geordie, yorkshire, Lancashire, scouse, mancunian has melded with the upper midlands, anglia has merged and become less distinct, brummie is going strong, the south east has lost any extremity, and the south west sounds normal but every now and then theyll drop a word into a sentence that makes them sound like a pirate.
I'm from Kent, south east. But let me be the first to tell you that Cornwall, in the west country, is unlike everywhere I have ever been before. One of the 'six Celtic nations' (ireland,scotland,wales,brittany(france),and isle of man)) There was just something special about the landscape, geography, the physical history and culture around you. I was only there a week and it felt special. I dont want to hype it up or anything but just walking through the country and seeing ancient bronze age burial mounds and landmarks is something else.
Celtic is a questionable category anyway, there isn't much difference between them and others.
@@starrynight1657 Literally what?
Its because there arent many trees and lots of moorland. Also most of the people in Cornwall are from london
@@namename3130 Literally not true, the latter part, anyway
@@michael_177 its exageration obviously
Being from Lancashire, I think that one is a kind of central or west Lancashire accent. It’s slightly different in east Lancashire. My town, Burnley, has its own accent (I actually think there’s 2, with the other being central to a district in western Burnley called Padiham. It has connotations between the Burnley accent, and the Accrington “Accy” accent which is the next town over). Accents vary, and even the names of things, can vary so widely over a very short distance.
Bolton accents are very unique too
and Blackburn has its own very distinct accent also ...
Sounds on fylde coast than anything
I am from the east mids and if someone spoke to me like that’s I’d think they’re mentally unwell
I am from East Midlands and I don't talk like that, he is a farmer from Lincolnshire.
Accents in the UK can literally change within like 20 miles some even less than that, scouse is the liverpool accent, across the otherside of the river mersey in the wirral which is less than a mile directly across from the city centre, the accent is noticeably different. Accents can be considerably depending on where you are, that's why so many people get annoyed by Americans thinking the entire country has the same accent, ie recieved pronunciation, that can be learned however most don't speak it naturally.
That' is very true. Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool are all in the same county of Lancashire but all have very distinctly different sounding accents !
Received Pronunciation or ‘RP’ is a common dialect which is used mainly on TV and radio so that others from other regions can hear more clearly, it is basically just a softening of your regional accent.
And bear in mind that from Kent to the tip of Cornwall, it is just about 5 hours of driving.
“If you’re doing good, you’ll be bad soon, don’t worry”.
That got a good laugh out of me!
These are very mild accents on here and very old recordings, and they are not all the acc6in each county we have many variations in each county. You can live in a tiny village and nearly everyone will speak differently .
Connor, these were only 30 regional distinctions. When I was a child, 60 or so years ago. a person could notice the difference between towns separated by only 5 miles. Hills and rivers had made inter-mixing less common. Coastal ports and fishing areas have been exposed to a wider ange of people. The influx of Irish people, due to the Potato Famine; the persecution of Huguenot weavers and their move to join weavewrs in the north of England. Immigrants from the Commonwealth, - the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent nations - have also changed some of our speech. So like dale ferrier and Steve Moppett - and others - have commented, these distinctions have began fade and accents are not as strong as they were 50 or more years ago. I was born in Lancashire, went to university in Aberdeen, Liverpool and California (thus becoming middel-class and slightly more received pronunciation) and also I have lived in Tyne & Wear, Bristol, Plymouth and Birmingham. My accent is probably a srangely homogenised one. I have lived in Thailand for 20 years and I notice that, even at my age, that some of my vowels and consonants have very slightly changed while here. Travelling, mixing, conversing, regional accents in TV programmes, stand-up comedy have increased the weakening of accents and dialect words. Thus, the attempts to record and archive these older people's voices for preservation and posterity. You are right to be fascinated and as a person who loves history you can discover the influences over the last two millennia.
calling the cornish accent a bit of an outlier made me giggle, as someone from cornwall myself i can attest to the accent definitely being a bit different than the rest of the country, especially from the real farmer folk
I lived in Plymouth for 40 years and my work took me all over the two counties. I have quite a few friends from St Austell area, I don't notice their accent much, well not until we have a had a few beers, then it gets stronger !
The recordings are old. But the northern ones, at least, are pretty accurate. In reality there are more subdivisions than they've allowed for, but accents can change every five miles, so it'd be hard to get them all.
What I think is really interesting is that generally, the accents that are more sing-songy (Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Cumbrian, and to a slightly lesser extent the north eastern English ones (Tyneside, Durham, Pitmatic and Northumbrian), are ones that are heavily influenced by the old Brittonic languages - that is the languages spoken by the ancient Britons. They go up and down in tone in different patterns. They also often have similar vowel sounds.
Oh and alot of American accents would of come from us when we came over , but of course they would of changed over the years.
The Welshman sounded exactly like my uncle. Another thing the Welsh are famous for are their magnificent choirs. Especially Welsh coal miners, my uncle was a farmer and his singing voice was beautiful.
Like really close you can go to the next town over get a different accent
Just to clarify, the Welsh accent you hear on this is North Wales, down south we are not as harsh with the vowel sounds. Plus you saying you didn’t want to be offensive and not saying it for a short while, was more offensive than just saying it. The point is, you want to learn, ask questions, the dumbest question there is, not asking one. Love the channel and much respect.
(with mouse cursor over yorkshire) 11:11 PogO 😐😐
The East Midlands accent doesn’t cover the Lincolnshire accent it’s from Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire, Lawrence Brown (Lost in The Pond) has a Grimsby North East Lincolnshire accent which I picked up on as I’m from Grimsby. Potteries accent is from Stoke Staffordshire.
I'm from Grimsby is more northern accent Boston is Norfolk sounding 😊
The reason some sound slightly American or New England, is they are old dialects still very much how people spoke 3-400 years ago. The early settlers had these accents and as they were isolated in Ameica they persisted, although diluted with time.
Received Pronunciation, aka “The Queen’s English” isn’t a real accent, it’s a forced one to speak clearly and coherently so anyone can understand, used in the media and by national news broadcasters so their natural accent doesn’t confuse people about what they’re saying.
The local dialects, accents are the history of the people. Modified by population spread and 70 yrs of immigration. True,. RP. Reflects the education system
I live in the East Midlands and the dialects can change within 20 miles if not less
I live on the Norfolk/ Suffolk but in Norfolk. Our accent is very different from the nearest town in Suffolk which is only 3 miles away.
You have to remember that the true welsh accent is that of welsh language , speaking English as a foreign accent, the same goes for the scots and Irish their accents are derived from Gaelic, not old English, the English have dialects of old English ,who's root languages are Saxon, Friesian, danish and Norman French along with a few borrowed words, from other source's, English accents have nothing to do with, the Scottish Gaelic, or the Brythonic welsh or the Irish Celtic accent's that come directly from their own languages.
If you like old historical buildings then Liverpool is a great place to set up base. Not only did we have the world's very first commercial wet dock - completed in 1716 (part of which can still be seen) but there is also Speke Hall which began construction in 1530 , St Georges Hall, it is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world and like speke hall it has grade 1 listed status. In fact, Liverpool has the highest number of grade 1 and grade 2 listed buildings outside London. We are also pretty central between the south of Britain and the north, so a trip to scotland is a few hours on the train and north wales is literally an hours drive.
@4:18 how could they that different that close, think NYC, or Chicago vs the whole rest of Illinois.
These are also very general dialects. In many areas you can drive 10 miles and get a very different dialect and bread has a different name 🤣
Bury (where I live), Bolton and Manchester form triangle about 10 miles. Each is different to locals but all sound "northern" to southerners. I've lived in Bury 30 years but people here still think I sound like I'm from my home town of Accrington about another 10miles north!
20% of the Welsh speak the Welsh language which is very old Briton. A language from the time the Saxons invaded and everyone moved west. Liverpool used to be in Wales and that's why you get the accent.
I'm from in between Manchester and Liverpool and my accent wasn't on this but accents change every town
Gotta say I enjoyed watching this, really funny watching you trying to imitate some of the accents lol, I’m from Newcastle so I’m a Geordie and I think these variation videos would be better if they were all saying the same sentence ? When English people travel to other regions we have to talk English and clearly to be understood lol enjoyed the video and maybe you could do one on the American regional accents ?
My great great uncle is full welsh and im from the west midlands and i could barely understand a word he was saying
Received Pronunciation, or RP, is a kind of standardish English accent. If an English person were to have elocution lessons it might target sounding something like RP. A few decades ago it was the classic BBC accent, everyone on TV or the radio would talk like that.
There's more Scottish accents than on that video, drive 25 miles in the UK and you'll get a different accent.
I live in Oldham. 6 miles west of central Manchester. Within 5 miles there are over 20 dialects in Saddleworth I sometimes have no idea what is being said.
eg "Graydley soapa tay" phonetic
Is "a good cup of tea"
Yeah, go figure!
Sorry to say these are not accurate, these recordings sound like they come from the 1950's. Nobody talks like that in Sussex, they used to have farmers that spoke like that when I was a kid but that accent died off.
Really basic theories are that the US accent origin is old West Country from the pilgrims, and Australian more London based from convicts and soldiers. Very over generalised and ignoring many other factors, but occasionally you can see the influence, like you said with the Boston accent.
When i visited USA with a fellow Somerset resident we were repeatedly asked to "say that again" and often it was the vocabulary as well as the accent which as the cause of surprise. They couldn't believe we still used words like "thou, yorn, youm" and said it sounded like an ancient language - which course it is - and one that was transported to the USA centuries ago. Ancient words are still used throughout British regions and accents.
Received pronunciation is like ratio talk
You should watch some clips from the film 'Kes' for a more general Yorkshire accent.
Cool reaction video. It's interesting to watch Americans react to our dialects... When you think that you could fit the whole of the UK inside Texas 2.8 times, Americans find how varied our accents are quite astonishing. These clips are old clips of old people, so they don't really represent modern dialects that well. Of course, they are similar, but quite dated. Many Brits have a more 'estuary' accent now. The received English is standard posh (Queens English), where-as 'estuary' is more non specific British. Estuary is probably a bit more upper working class/middle class. Working classes tend to have stronger regional accents, but that isn't always the case. Class is defined in many different ways, and the parameters of whatever class is seem to change over time....but, these are broad generalisations.
There’s even more accents than this
There's four (five if you count cockney as an individual accent) different accents just in London - North, South EAST and West London - although in modernity they are beginning to merge as one ... sadly
Hi, Nice reaction.
The 1st was received pronunciation or RP, its also known as BBC. It is (should be) most easily understood, it is taught to non English speakers. It is often considered posh.
There were some very large groupings given, the idea that Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee can be grouped is weird.
It felt like these were quite old recordings.
As someone who is from Devon, I am beyond disgusted that they highlighted Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset as “West Country”.
Seriously, WTF.
Cornwall, Devon, and most of Somerset is The West Country.
Fight me.
Coming from NI, there is greater variation than what is shown here.
Should note that the voice notes are from different generations the cornish one sounds very modern and dulled if you want a more accurate cornish accent you may want to check out the cornish comedian Jethro. RIP
I always think it’s better to hear these accents from modern day people not old recordings. Steven gerrard or Jamie carragher for scouse for example, Peter Kay Lancashire, Stephen merchant for down south west is a well known one. These sorts of celebrities demonstrate the accents better
In my own county lincolnshire changes a lot from Boston to Grimsby 😊
To be honest Connor it is not really s true representation of accents actoss UK. As manu people will tell you in here even within counties there can be many different accents. For instance Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges come from the same city of Glasgow.
Note; the Isle of Man is not part of the UK, though it has close ties with the UK.
It's odd that you thought Brummie and Potteries sounded quintessentially British, they're both very different from RP. Brummie falls somewhere between a Southern accent and a Northern one, perhaps from the clip that wasn't very clear. If you've ever seen Peaky Blinders, they all have Brummie accents. Potteries is nothing like the kind of stereotypical accent that Americans think we all have, it's a weird mixture of Northern and West Midlands, and I always think it sounds slightly scouse. These might not have been the best clips to get a real sense of the accents.
l live in the east midlands and dont sound like that its more Lincolnshire
Not going to lie as a British person these accents are not very accurate as they seem to be taken from really old people who have stronger accents than most people do today
Yeah youngest is like 80 😅🤣
These are old maybe say 40s generation but what you as a American need to know is the British accent changes from village to village say every 10 miles take Yorkshire in this video is more North Yorkshire im from west Yorkshire Oxenhope and we sound totally different very broad and to the point but as I've said it changes every ten miles or so. And if we was to meet a foreign person we would put on what we call a phone voice lol maybe find a more in depth video or newer lived it though
Some linguists think some American dialects are very close to English dialects in those areas where the immigrants left for America. I'm Welsh, you all sound weird.
And Welsh accents in the North and South of Wales are as different as Manchester and Kent.
I have no idea what my accent is. Being deaf I cant really tell between minor differences, but I can tell the difference between Scotland and the south of England because they do sound very different. Born and raised in Somerset, I'll assume I have a Somerset accent. But due to my profound deafness and having to be specifically taught how to say many words from my mum, (who was born in Slough near London, but raised by parents on one side Sunderland and on the other St Austell in Cornwall) I may not say some words correctly but near enough to roughly sound correct. In fact I actually hate the way my voice sounds on a video, because it sounds wrong. Now is that just me? Or do other people think their voices sound wrong on videos? I would love for some language expert to contact me and analyse my speech. Where would I fit or am I a totally unique individual?
Should check out Jethro the comedian for a proper cornish accent
That Norfolk! Soo accurate
I think it’s ridiculous that there are so many English accents represented and then when you get to Scotland they just ignore all the different accents. There are so many scottish accents.
my gran was from South shields and I always thought sometimes, certain things she said in a certain way, she sounded a bit Scottish ...
Missing the Black Country
Yam alright 😉
That welsh accent is Mid-Wales our accent in North East Wales is totally differant as is the North West Wales accent, this 30 dialects is totally wrong, they change from city to city and region to region. They have 1 accent for Wales but 3 for Northern Ireland
What's this, a 1950s public information film, poor yank will be in for a shock if he could get enough paid vacation and came to the UK!
These people all sound elderly traditional people ...the video was made to show old English dialects
You would hardly hear any of this in reality. .you will hear tone difference for sure as you travel around but no where near to this extent.... these were 100% original old tyme sounds take it down to 25% and it'll be nearer to regular English spoken everywhere....
UK CORNWALL.. I like how you guy's say roof..
As a Welshman, I might be feeling very offended. 🤣 For starters, we only have one representative, and he sounds barely anything like me!
He's naming some Welsh village. "The bus goes twice a week to Aber-rysyushsuub (indistinct).
Aber means "mouth of..." and is followed by the name of a river. Abertillery, Aberystwyth, Abergavenny etc. All towns where a river meets another body of water.
The Brummie accent, talking about watching a drummer, seems like it might be a member of Black Sabbath. Perhaps bass player Geezer Butler.
I think it's Noddy Holder from Slade...
@@stewedfishproductions7959 Hmm, you could be right there Mr SWP. Certainly had a familiarity to it 🤔
If you haven’t already but you should react to this woman who does the accents because these sound muffled audio and old people saying them
Well done - you've managed to upset the whole of the west country, especially Bristol, and the Irish by saying they are similar. I speak as a person from Bath - 12 miles from Bristol and I can assure you they are very different. Anyone who thinks that there is only one regional accent in Wales is being completely ignorant
I can neither confirm nor deny the term Bloke being more English or Aussie.....
Also, this is a slightly older generation of regional speakers. Within cities themselves there can subtle and distinct dialect and accent changes. Bristol for example, has a definite North/South difference (not just City and Rovers based) (Oh, they're the two Bristol football teams, City is mostly South, Rovers is mostly North).
Just as someone from my Hometown of Scarborough, will sound a bit different than someone from Whitby, Middlesbrough or York - yet we're all in the same County (No matter how Middlesbrough denies it)
@@Someloke8895 Most of us from Boro grew up being told we're part of Cleveland, not North Yorkshire. I was born in 93, and still when I fill in postage information and it asks for county I'll put Cleveland over NY. I've honestly got nothing against being a part of NY, it's just not what I was taught as a kid, so is hard to adjust, even 25 years on.
Next generation will probably grow up thinking of being in North Yorkshire more than us, though! Just gotta give it time
@@04williamsl It's an interesting take, as I was actually born at Teeside Hospital (dunno what it is today) and my Passport/Birth Cert declare I was born in Stockton - but I've always identified as a Yorkshireman not a Smoggy and find Scarborough to be my hometown - I'd never disagree that to a lot of people I'm a Smoggy by birth, but I have so many (often stereotypical) traits of being a Yorkie and generally growing up in N.Yorks that I have always thought of myself as a Yorkshireman than Teeside.
At least we can categorically say we're not Lancastrians!
I'm a Lancashire lass not a Scouser. Didn't hear the word growing up. When was a child only about quarter mile in LPL boundary. (Merseyside, a 1970s political construct)
@@Someloke8895 Hmm, can't say I've heard of Teesside Hospital, there's North Tees in Stockton?
Stockton's an interesting one. Part of it I think is classed as North Yorkshire but as you cross the river you're officially in County Durham (North Tees is County Durham).
I'd class myself as being both a smoggy and a yorkshirewoman - smoggy just because I'm from Teesside but yorkshirewoman from my tight grip on my purse 🤣.
Just class yourself as whatever feels right! So long as it isn't a Lancastrian anyway.
Love my brummie accent 🙌🏻🙌🏻
I was disappointed by the Cornish accent. Cornish people say things like 'Oi don't loike she, her upset Oi.' Completely different grammar to English. Same with the Welsh, who say 'There is lovely, look you, isn't it ' etc. Also why didn't they show the difference between Glaswegian and Edinburgh? And I think the Yorkshire accent was from East Yorkshire, not West Yorkshire, where I come from.
Good video, I fall into the pitmatic part of this video.
thats not how we sound in south east lol
"mate" for friend is more common in Australia, while "bloke" for man is more common in the UK.
Not at all, mate is very common in the UK alongside bloke
Never called a "mate", bloke.
Anytime I'm talking to someone I personally know, I'll throw mate in somewhere guaranteed.
@@36thulsterdiv72 Learn English. You misunderstood what I said.
@@BarackOLlama4 Yes, we all know mate is used in the UK as well, but it is stereotypically more closely tied to Australian English. It is even more prominent there.
@@1Anime4you I've never heard anyone call a male bloke when being friendly.
Greeting someone, wee always say alright mate.. ie How are you doing mate?
The English have done it again. There is no Welsh accent. Cardiff is nothing like The Vallies. West Wales is nothing like North Wales. Etc etc. North and South Wales even speak different forms of the Welsh language. If you like may I suggest you watch Michael Sean reading Under Milk Wood for the closest you will get to recieved Welsh english.
Not Irish, Gaelic.
Up Hanley park duck
Aup duck fancy a cheesy oatcake?
Please don't try doing the accent it gives flashbacks to Dick Van Dyke.
Yorkshire doesn't sound Scottish. You're insulting us all.
Once you get through the often poor quality recordings, what a terrible selection of accents!
Take Scotland for example, Edinburgh and Glasgow couldn't be more different, and as for Yorkshire, well I was born there, live there now, and have spent over two thirds of my life there (living in different parts) and while I recognised the accent, it is far from representative for a region with notable differences between North, South, West and the East - even between the different Cities!
Regardless of where you are in the UK, accents also vary considerably between the city and rural areas, sadly very poorly represented for most areas in the video.
One area which was (overly in relation to other regions) well represented was the Liverpool (Scouse) Lancashire/Manchester area. The choices of examples for Liverpool (nowhere near strong enough) and Lancashire (sounded far too close to a Liverpool accent) being particularly poor.
Mine not included, doric NE scotland
Thanks for butcher in the English Language literature
it really isnt that stereotypically BRITISH to me, i think its because you are not used to the different accents so you may find it more difficult to tell between the accents, its the same for me and some parts of the usa and canada sounding very similair, but the stereotype BRITISH that americans mention and take the piss out of is definately what i would say is either a posh west london accent or a cockney accent
when you say the south west sounds quite isrish including cornwall and that sort of area, its because those places have very strong celtic roots (cornwall, wales, ireland and scotland) so the accents may sound more similair to each other than they would sound similar to the english accents