Can I Fool Brits With a FAKE British Accent?!
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- Опубликовано: 17 май 2024
- In this video I attempt to learn a British accent ("Modern RP", or "Standard Southern English", to be precise) and speak convincingly with strangers from the UK. Can I pass as British?
Special thanks to Molly Parker (voice and accent coach) who appears in this video: / @mollypvoiceaccentcoach
An extended version of this video showing more of my learning process is available to Patreon members. Support Langfocus on Patreon: / langfocus . Current patrons include these fine people:
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00:00 Introducing the challenge
01:16 Learning process
01:48 Brit #1
03:06 Reflecting
03:28 Brit #2
03:45 Brit #3
04:11 Reflecting
04:41 Brit #4
06:35 Reflecting
06:52 Brit #5
08:50 Reflecting
09:08 Brit #6
09:56 Reflection
10:18 Accent Coach
11:03 Physicality and imagery
12:51 Brits #7
16:17 What I learned from this challenge
18:43 The Question of the Day
The british have an in built accent detector because from birth we are trained to know someones socio-economic status after a single sentence.
But that works even in many other countries, maybe most of them. For example I am Czech and I also always think about where that person is from by their accent, when a person from Moravia is trying to speak in common Czech, it's pretty annoying, or Slovak trying to use Czech colloquial words, it should be illegal. 😀 Or sometimes you focus more on a question if that person is Ukrainian or Russian more than on what that person is actually saying. 😀
Unfortunately it is so true too polite to ask just put you in a box in an underhand way.
U wot?
Not just socio-economic status. Location too.
Growing up in Birmingham, with family around the city and throughout the black country, I used to completely weird people out by telling them where they were from, down to a few streets.
It's not only accents. Just reading your one sentence - and your unaccountable failure to capitalise the 'B' in British - tells me that you almost certainly do your shopping from Iceland, you greasy peasant!
If you're trying to explain to British teenagers what RP is, call it the BBC news accent. They'll immediately know what you mean.
RP is actually that high-pitch clipped accent developed especially for the radio. It was never the natural accent of any group of people (not even the Royal family) but it did develop into the later BBC accent, which became contiguous with a generalised middle-class accent and more recently with Standard Southern British. As for the queen and now the king, that family and aristocrats in their circle have an accent all of their own.
Langfocus guy is a Canadian, and like many North Americans he confuses RP and "BBC"
@@DrWhomI know, but to the average teenager who has never heard of RP, calling it the BBC news accent is the quickest way to make them understand what you mean. Kids on live chat are not going to sit around for your lecture.
@@DrWhom RP wasn't deliberately designed. It developed naturally during the 19th century in south-eastern England:
ruclips.net/video/OMEf9AqI-b0/видео.html
@@MB-st7be I think anyone who's interested in language, or British accents, knows what RP is. If somebody asks, you can explain it with the BBC newsreader idea, although the BBC start allowing... accents!... into their serious programmes a couple of decades ago. So they might not even get that reference.
Good, RP needs to die. It's a horrible accent, sounds ugly, and was created from snobbery anyway.
@@DrWhomI heard that 'Received Pronunciation' was what they taught you to speak when one entered the Public School system. As only very wealthy people can generally afford to goto Public School, the accent is associated with the upper classes but, seriously, noone really speaks it. If they did, they'd get a good kickingm
"Why do you sound so posh?" In the most posh accent 🤣
No but I get what he means because it’s a different kind of posh
Was going to add this comment myself if i didn't find it... hilarious!
My farts are better than Langfocus’ farts 💨
he sounded like a baked private school boy, he sounds high af, and has possibly once heard multicultural london english and thinks he is doing that a bit but still sounds like he goes to eton, but he ain't speaking 'straightforward' like how much has he smoked lol
@@jorgepeterbarton1324 for sure lol bless him
Hey I've moved to the UK for uni and I've got to say -- you've given yourself a much bigger challenge than you might think! When he said you sounded "posh," he meant upper class (possibly an accent instilled by private education -- he was asking you to be throatier to inhabit that). And when the person said he was trying to figure out what part of the UK, that person meant that he wasn't noticing any regionalisations that would add authenticity. I'd pick a specific British accent to learn and have another go!
Bu isn't RP a specific British accent in itself?
Hard to imagine for an American but the average Englishman/Scot probably speaks to someone who speaks "RP" a handful of times a year. It's just not common among the regular people unless you're mingling with aristocrats or wannabe middle class twats.@@FartSquirel
@@FartSquirel It's a very uncommon accent, and more of a learned accent than one associated with a region. When I lived in Germany an English lady that had been living there for 15 years sounded English to the locals in Swabia (a part of South Germany), but sounded Swabian to non-local Germans. Also a few Germans there spoke with such a good American accents (to my ear)! So you'd definitely stand more chance of fooling people if you chose a specific regional accent.
In some parts of Britain, you'd also sound a bit strange if you spoke differently to other people your age. Where I'm from older people tend to have thicker regional accents than the younger generation.
@@lk-music Received pronunciation is the antithesis of a British accent. It was once adopted by much of the uk media ie radio, tv to sound non-regional specific.
@@FartSquirelKind of -- it's taught in grammar schools and often times the result of many people from different regions coming together in a single setting like a university. But it's so sterile as an accent that it cannot be associated with any region. Normally, regional mistakes would slip through the accent. It's definitely a sign of a specific education -- but not a posh private school. I agree with the teens in this video -- his accent sounded less RP and more like an international student who spent a short amount of time at a 'public' school before leaving midway through the acquisition of that accent
You sounded quite staccato, that's why some people thought that you might be German.
I sound like that in my native accent too. The reason for that is probably best left for another time and place.
@@Langfocus I always wondered why you sound a bit "foreign". If there's an actual reason, it would make for an interesting video. Love you Paul!
This is the main thing I noticed too - his speaking sounds very choppy, and not as fluid as someone with the accent natively.
I think it's a feature of his Canadian accent. The likeness to northern Europe is unsurprising, given immigration history of Canada. Northern US states have similar Germanic or Scandinavian features.
That’s exactly what I thought
Put a lot of effort into mastering that RP, just to develop the Dutch accent - priceless
At least they didn’t say French!
Sounded more Afrikaans to me
Dutch? You've never heard Dutch people speaking English??
I think your accent sounded more South African than Dutch, but there is obviously a connection between the two. South African English has the more clipped vowels of RP English.
I think it sounds more like a German person who learned British English than a Dutch person because the shorter vowels and word spacing sound more similar to German than Dutch
One of the biggest issues ive noticed is that you dont quite use words and phrases that a british person would use. You just try to adjust the vowel sounds to what a british speaker would do.
I've noticed that happens a lot when Americans are writing British characters too (and presumably happens the other way around as well). I was watching a show on Netflix the other day that's set in London with English characters but all of the dialogue sounded so off because the phrasing and vocabulary were what an American would use, with the odd "wanker" "bloody" and "mate" thrown in.
I looked up the writers and they were American. Doesn't feel natural even when the accents are fine.
Here are a few more factors to consider, Paul:
1) When one asks people where are we from, it is usually implied we're from somewhere else. Therefore, people will start trying to identify foreign accents. Or else, if the accent is ambiguous enough, they'll try to establish where else in the same country you might be from.
2) You have your own peculiar way of speaking, superimposed on your native Canadian accent. I think you do have a particularly distinct way of speaking, which must be contributing to your sounding foreign. Your way of speaking is such (to my non-native English speaker ears), that even if you asked Canadians where are you from, you seem likely to get same sort of answers (i.e. originally German or Swedish, etc.).
3) The way you speak is kind of terse (or "dry" as we would say in Catalan), plus you were slightly tense due to the effort you were putting in, all of which suggested some foreign ingredient.
4) Who are often perceived, portrayed, or imagined to be terse, and/or have a language that sounds terse? Germans, Fins, Swedes, etc. I guess, which might be why more than one person answered "German".
5) You also have body language to consider. How do you look and how your anatomy might even account for some features in your speech. Your mouth opening, your lips and jawbone are rather wide and flat. If native English speakers already seem to open their mouth very little to speak, you seem to do it even less. It seems as if you learned to speak in this particular way for some reason, to correct or compensate for something as a young boy. Did you have any speech issue as an infant?
Anyway, I wanted to thank you for all your videos, which I enjoy so much. They are very interesting and well done, and you are very talented! Congrats and keep it up!
Oh, this reminds me something else, regarding the guy commenting on your posh accent, and the language coach commenting on some heightened features of it, also regarding your mouth and prosody:
6) Remember the expression about having or keeping a stiff upper lip? You might be coming across as literally keeping it stiff. 😉 ruclips.net/video/cEA7cGtUTm0/видео.html
My thoughts exactly. If he asked me where he's from with how he normally speaks I wouldn't guess Canada because he doesn't really pronounce words in a stereotypically Canadian way. He has very sharp pronunciation which combined with his facial features and way of only moving his lower lip makes me think he may be Scandinavian. Brits typically have longer faces and seem to let their jaw hang open more which creates more movement and opening when speaking.
My farts are better than Langfocus’ farts 💨
Ask "what city do you think i'm from"
Very good, well explained points!
@@newbilong That question already marks the enquirer as not being British. If they were, they'd most likely use 'part of the country' or 'town', not 'city'.
the funny thing is that even if he spoke in his native canadian accent people would probably assume hes from germany or netherland
Yeah, I'm Canadian and was surprised when he said he was too, I assumed he was European at first as well.
Why does he have that accent? Is it a normal Canadian accent?
@@ChristianJiang No, but i wouldnt explicitly call it foreign sounding either. He just sounds like he's forcing some of the sounds out, stiff or robotic. As other commenters pointed out he could be purposely emphasizing his pronunciations to sound as neutral as possible, which, just like the RP examples in this, sounds uncanny to those who natively have that accent.
He doesn't sound Canadian at all, he really does sound more European.
@@technicolourmylesHe has a very staccatto way of speaking and it doesn't sound like the more usual Canadian accent with which I am familiar, maybe he's Quebecois, that would make sense because that accent it totally different from non French speaking Canada.
You actually sound incredibly German- like a very good English speaker who is native to German. Have no idea how you managed that. It’s definitely the the staccato. Seriously uncanny.
I guess since English is a Germanic language it still remains its German roots, even after many centuries of its own development. Interesting
I think German comes from the top of the mouth whereas 'normal' English is more from the bottom. Try doing a German accent and notice where in your mouth you are making the sound.
Yep...he sounds German regardless of what accent he tries to adopt. He sounds like a German who moved to Britain as a teenager and learnt most, but not all, of the accent. He doesn't sound British to British people.
He doesn't even sound North American to me in his normal accent. It's very odd. He speaks a bit choppy and mechanical and it doesn't feel natural
@@didrikmesicek4825 Yeah same. I'm from the midwest US and usually besides a few specific words (progress, eh, about), a lot of Canadians are usually indistinguishable from the midwest US accent but he doesn't sound like that to me. He sounds like english isn't his native language even when speaking in his original accent for some reason which probably translated over to when he was attempting an English one.
As a Brit, it is so funny to see you explain weird speech things that we all do so often XD
My farts are better than Langfocus’ farts 💨
@p-__ that's just disgusting dude 💀
I definitively noticed a huge improvement after your session with the accent coach!
Paul’s regular Canadian accent sounds a bit German to me. All very clipped and precise. This is maybe why Paul’s RP accent sounds German/Dutch/Swedish.
Really? Where are you from?
He absolutely sounds Canadian to me!
When he slipped up with the RP accent, the errors still came across as North American, although difficult to place exactly because they were very short slips.
Paul definitely sounds North American to me. Whether American or Canadian is a subtler distinction.
He sounds like he’s speaking English as a second language.
I really thought he was german
@@pukkavidz his face looks very german
I am from Germany and when I discovered your channel many years I ago thought you were a non-native speaker of English probably Danish or from another Scandinavian country. The way you shorten vowls and the stiff way you pronounce sentences also came through slightly when you were speaking in the RP accent.
Ich hab das genau selbe gedacht😂
I am a native english speaker, and i also thought that!
Canadians clip and shorten everything to death we’re stiff af
Well, he doesn't have a potato in his mouth, so he's definitely not Danish.
Yeah, I'm a native English speaker from the US, and I thought he was not a native speaker when I first found his channel. My husband (a German) still thinks he sounds weird, for the same reasons you listed. He has an unusual cadence to his speech, like you mentioned, and it definitely was still there when he was trying to affect the British accent. I think it probably threw people off.
I think his parents are Dutch or Danish, so I do wonder if that's why he has such an odd cadence.
I’m American and I would love to speak that RP accent on a daily basis. People would think I’d lost my mind, but it sounds so good!
I think the reason people kept saying Germany or Eastern Europe (and at times I heard bits that sounded *almost* South African) is the clip you had. A lot of it was in the way you carried your speech and some of your consonant sounds. I also feel that some people unintentionally overstress RP - you have to fight the urge to sound like a 1950s housewife.
Having said that, you did remarkably well. English accents are much harder to emulate than most would believe.
EDIT: I wrote this about 2/3 the way through the video. After that masterclass, the flow of your speech improved *significantly*. There is the occasional lilt in there, but you clearly gained confidence in it. I would suggest thinking about pitch and inflection a bit more to fine-tune it. Again, you did exceptionally well and this was a cool experiment. Thanks for uploading!
I think the first attempt sounded more South African to me 😂
A lot of people are saying that! 😄
@@Langfocus
Yes, I'm British and if you'd have asked me I May have said South Africa but it sounds like a fake South African accent.
@@LangfocusActually, as a South African who's lived in the UK for 2/3 of their life, your RP accent started bringing out my Saffa accent in my inner monologue haha!
It's definitely the vowels - that's by far the biggest difference between my accent and a native Brit's. And I'm an English Saffa, so I don't even have the Afrikaans accent. The ɑ:, the ɔ:, and especially the ɪ exemplify the key differences between the British and Saffa accents, and I'd say, at least until 10:00, you were rocking the first 2 pretty often.
🤣🤣🤣
I also thought South African-esque, because of the clipped vowels, but there were also some decidedly un-south African sounds too
When you ask people in the context of a quiz, "where do you think I'm from?" People will assume the answer is not what it seems.
That’s definitely something I wasn’t quite sure how to approach.
@@Langfocus You could ask "which part of the UK do you think I'm from?" Even if your speech rhythm did sound German.
@@Kivikesku Or by using more idiosyncratic (?) English, like saying "whereabouts" instead of just "where". It's a subtle difference, but it suggests you're saying "where in the UK" rather than "where in the world" without being obvious or deceptive.
@@avaggdu1 or ask the other person where they're from first, turn it into more of a game than a surprise quiz
@@caramelldansen2204 Yeah, that works; anything that takes their mind away from "which foreign country do you think I'm from?".
That one kid nailed it when he said what city are you from, even RP speakers have regional inflections, if some one is speaking perfect RP they are not a native speaker
From Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire,🇬🇧
You are getting on really well
Keep it up my man
All the very best
Over and out
❤
What accent are you considered to have in Buckinghamshire? You are 30 miles from London. But you dont have an Essex accent. Is your accent interchangeable with London?
Do you say 'yeah' at the end of every sentence? that is something I see a lot of .
@@bunjijumper5345 im from buckinghamshire and i'd just say people speak with a very general standard southern accent, nothing too special sadly- also i think it depends on the person whether or not they say "yeah" at the end of every sentence, not really an accent/dialect thing imo
As an American studying in the UK, i often pull a decent fake rp accent to avoid extra questions when I'm asking where something is 😂
Same here when I, a Dutch speaker from the Netherlands, spend time in Belgium. I don't do it all the time (only in certain situations), but the Dutch accent can be a little jarring to a Belgian in the same way an American accent can be to a Brit. It's just easier and prevents misunderstandings, questions, or even prejudice in some situations.
Just so long as you’re not asking for directions to Worcestershire you might get away with it!
If you keep at it you might just pick up a British accent and stop having to fake it!
it's not fake rp. you're just using rp. roger moore had to learn rp like the rest of us.
either fake it well enough to avoid detection...or do it so bad that people are embarrassed to point it out...and just let you move on 🤣🤣
Hi Paul, Brit here. I think you did a really good job in terms of pronunciation, I would say it was pretty accurate. What gave you away though I would say are two factors:
1) Sentence rhythm, we tend to 'eat' many of the words such that several words get mashed together like "do you know what I mean" becomes "dyunoewatamin" whereas you were clearly pronouncing individual words. Regional accents do this more but even people with neutral accents do this in the UK, so the way you spoke sounded a bit robotic, like someone learning English as a second language.
2) I actually think throwing in some regional pronunciations would have helped you, so a mostly RP accent with some South-East local accent features. This is because very few people in the UK really speaks in a pure RP, most will have some minor traces of a local accent even if they are middle class/posh. For example I'm from the East Midlands and the way I speak is very close to RP but pronounce certain words differently like 'path' as /paθ/ instead of /pɑːθ/
Overall good job and I look forward to seeing you attempt this accent plus other accents in the future
I thought it was good also, but I noticed that in the video, there was no mention of the (mid) central vowel (schwa). Native British speakers (in RP and many regional accents) use a schwa for almost every unstressed syllable.This distinguishes modern RP from the more clipped traditional RP that (to modern ears) sounds rather more like South African English. Thus for example "garage" with an unstressed second syllable can sound more like "garudj" than "garidj".
He gets better I think but I disagree that even his pronunciation is accurate. Like most attempts at UK accents, his vowels are all over the shop IMO (some spot on, some way off). And of course unlike the guy himself, I bet neither of us watching were really expecting people to call BS on his accent - sure, we can be a cynical bunch in the UK but English people especially have basically turned politeness into a combat sport, unless explicitly invited very few are going to enter into the potential social minefield of challenging a stranger about who they present themselves as. Not without being at least 3 pints deep anyway :).
Still a good effort though, he gives it a proper go.
(and no one has a "neutral" accent incidentally. RP uses a specific set of sounds, just like any other accent. Unlike the label's implication, there's no meaningful sense in which it's a "non accent" or "what happens when you take any regional elements out" and though it's _less_ region specific than many UK accents - because its "region" is effectively "posh" :) - it's still pretty closely associated with the south-east of England. As a related aside BTW, I used to live in Nottingham and a few of the Notts natives I worked with would insist they "didn't have an accent", a claim which I, as a _non_ Notts native, found absolutely hilarious :)
jeah. shust shrough een sum raindoem shite.
there are sooo many REALLY strong accents in UK, that most people only recognize the one locally nearby and some generally well known ones (like that gosh darn brummie 😆)
@@anonymes2884 I think the reason it's considered 'neutral' is because although it is like you say associated with the south-east and originates from there, people all over the country speak a kind of RP. In Leicester where I'm from, having a "neutral" vs local accent is often a marker of whether you are from the middle/working class.
I've met many people from the north who also haven't adopted the local accent, in fact only last week I was travelling in India, and met a guy from Newcastle who spoke in a very RP-like accent and only after some time and careful listening could I make out any Geordie accent features. But that's exactly my point, even people from posh backgrounds interact on a daily basis with people who speak with their local accent, and so they speak a version of RP with some traces of regional pronunciation. I imagine in the south, this takes the form of more (for example) cockney/essex/east anglian/west country influences on someone's accent.
@@harriehausenman8623although a lot wouldn't necessarily be able to distinguish a true Brummie accent (eg Ozzy) and a Black Country one (e.g. Adrian Charles)
RP is a "nowhere accent" in the UK to be honest. It is an accent spoken by the upper class. It is a an accent that no-one really speaks it natively (we kind of mix it)
Great attempt, I really enjoyed it!
As an English person, I can hear a massive difference between day 1 or day 2
Exactly, even as an American I could tell the difference, this goes to show that immersion is the way to learn any language.
As a matter of fact, I think that if I move there, the accent will just stick regardless at the end, like it or not 😂
"or"? You mean "and"
yup, day 2 would have me fooled, he sounds like one of these posh quizmasters
This was really cool! As a native Englishman the only things giving you away was overpronouncing the T sounds and the overall flow of speaking was slightly unnatural, however it was honestly an amazing attempt that probably would have fooled me at least for a while!
Yeah this - maybe too much precision and clarity gives impression of conscious effort, even when the sounds are themselves perfect?
@@DanBrickleyalso having a play button behind you and telling them you’re a language youtuber probably puts people on edge once he asks the question
Yeah the "flow" sounded somehow a bit rigid, which is why it came across as a tad German to me too at times. Which makes sense as he's been studying individual words & sounds rather than adopting a language naturally via normal flowing conversation. Bloody impressive though
Was expecting this video to be super click-baity but was actually super interesting and informative
As I'm sure has been pointed out already, your starting point is one in which you speak with impeccable, almost robotic enunciation. That is very helpful for all your videos where you try to explain linguistic concepts to us. But it's likely a big part of what your test subjects were picking up on and describing as less colloquial or too formal.
Yes, this is a good point. I remember wondering if he was a native English speaker when I first watched a video because his prosody is reasonably unusual.
@jockcox thank you, you just gave me my new word of the day! I have never come across or seen the word 'prosody' until now. I like it a lot! 👍😉
My farts are better than Langfocus’ farts 💨
Was a pleasure to chat with you. Nice video! ❤
I notice you also spoke to mainly the younger generations - and amongst them I would suggest that the slangy street pronunciation is more common.
@@Cymraesarall As one of the people in the video stated, it's "chavvier".
@@allendracabal0819 I was trying to be….polite, lol
Ironically the guy who asked you why are you speaking so posh sounds very posh 😂
He doesn't sound posh though...
To me that guy sometimes sounds posh and sometimes sounds working class, weird!
right
Paul didn't sound anywhere near posh. I thought he'd get to that point after mastering the sounds but nope. His intonation didn't change at all, he just slowed down a bit
That guy had a strange accent- it sounded posh at times and kind of farmer at other points
The accent you used from about halfway through the video in the voiceover until the last chapter actually sounded really good. not necessarily accurate or very british, but soothing and enjoyable for lack of a better way of putting it. for example, 12:06 "imagery" was perfection. you do clip ending consonents though. just a bit later at 12:37 the way you said "accent" wasnt even close to how id imagine another british person saying it.
incredible video, keep it up man, it's just like live science
Haha, thanks!
The standard relaxed nearly RP is VERY difficult to fake. English is my first language but I found it easier to 'pick up' and switch off the local accent in the region of Spain where I used to live. When I was in London I was instantly conscious of other English as a first language speakers trying to fake it!
"Fake" is a very loaded term, admittedly. During the video there is an evolution in how I think about adopting an accent. And I think "faking" and accent comes across quite differently from *adopting* an accent with genuine intent.
@@Langfocus Agreed... Faking and genuinely trying to adopting and learning the accents are two different things... By faking we learn nothing.. But the later helps us to master any accent..
@Langfocus I just meant fake as in, it's not my authentic accent. When I'm in Spain, I can lean in or out of the Elx accent, so I understand the distinction you're making. You're not faking. You're learning how to make it.
@@Langfocus also, I made my comment before I watched the video. It was an interesting process.
@@LangfocusIt seems to me that you and Susana perhaps talked past each other because they assumed that you were aware of the normalcy of rampant accentism and classism in the British society. It needs no mention that we the linguists have no distinction except operational between a dialect and a language. Now, this is heart-wrenchingly painful to hear: "I just meant fake as in, it's not my authentic accent." What this means is that the societal pressure literally _forces_ people to _rescind their native language,_ a large part of their core authentic identity, and learn (adopt, fake, whatever) a different one. _Of course_ it feels fake-for it _is_ fake! This is really a terrifying situation. Your healthy self wants to reject this transplant. But if you refuse to cave in and keep yourself whole, you're in for a rough ride. You'll be unfairly judged who you are by your language. You might not get a job that you would otherwise get. You may be laughed at in your face _for speaking your native language, for being who you are!_ This is really a terrifying situation, and barely anyone even speaks out except for a few linguists-this is how deeply ingrained into the society fabric this aberration is. It shouldn't exist in the modern world. People do suffer from it daily, and it takes its toll on mental health. I touch on this in my longer top-level comment, if you wish to read it (although it's focussed more on how choosing SSE was setting you up for a failure of the experiment). We despise racism, at least pretend to scorn at sexism, but are absolutely fine with accentism. It's extremely ugly and plainly wrong. And languages keep dying out.
Your pronunciation was accurate, and the occasional Canadian pronunciation was not obvious. But your enunciation was more precise than that of the average speaker of modern RP with clear gaps between the words, perhaps a very short glottal stop at the start of each word, giving your pronunciation the feel of a German who speaks excellent English.
I kept getting flashbacks to mr Data in star trek. Technically the accent was mostly there but it sounded like a bunch of words in a row rather than someone speaking normally where it flows more.
Yes, it sounded like there was a lot of hard attack in his speech. (Paul might have that in his usual Canadian speech as well.)
Yeah mate was talking too well 💀
I agree mastering the English accent glottal (or should I say glo'al) will go long way. The stronger the glottal the less posh you will sound and more "everyman". But usually only used in the middle or ends of words and the words themselves can be more slurred together. Like for isn't - just say isn' on its own, or isenit for isn't it. If if you really want to sound like a London teenager say innit!
@@jennymulholland4319 That's good advice except for the innit, I reckon. I think that would only make the rest of his speech stand out as something extremely different.
I’ve learnt to love my posh accent, it warms my heart to see people try to speak the way I do. ❤
Oh damn, I tried the same thing with a Scottish, Irish and Australian accent/dialect! Who would have thought that my favorite Lingo-RUclipsr had the same idea!!! :D
I think if you did the same challenge in your native accent and then asked people where you're from they would mostly give the same answers thinking it's a trick, assuming you're a foreigner who has learnt English well
This. He got shocked that a few didn't say British but he "felt off" - yes, but because he's actively asking them this question, making them think. Makes it even worse that he chose RP, a non-specific accent, which makes it very sketchy when he asks them. Compare if he imitated a typical Scottish accent and asked non-Scot Brits, it would be very easy to point out he's Scottish unless somebody's extremely aware of Scottish accents. But then even then, if he asked them where they think he's from, they'll start thinking it's a trick question and that he is not in fact Scottish, and if his Scots accent was far from perfect, the imperfections will be noticed when he asks them where he's from
Yeah he should have asked them first, as if it's like a friendly thing and not a challenge or trick question
Yeah. Just ask them "Where do you think I'm from?" And if you're doing a good British accent, they will guess a region in the UK.
this
Or....
Say "I've been working on a Canadian accent. Do you want to hear it?" Then speak normal.
Now, ask "Did that sound pretty good?" Let them answer that (and focus on it first). They might ask you where you are from originally, then turn that around and have them guess.
That's probably the only way to get a real authentic guess without making them think it's a trick.
Paul, you don’t even sound Canadian. You have always sounded like you are not a native English speaker - I always thought you were Eastern European or something
As a Canadian, I can affirm that Paul sounds distinctly Canadian when speaking in his native accent. 🇨🇦
I find this to be common in parts of Canada where French is spoken. When I went to Montreal I felt like I was in a very foreign country because people around me not only spoke french most if the time, but when they spoke English they sounded to me like English was very icy not their first language, but this wasn't true in Ontario
I'm definitely not French Canadian. I'm an Anglophone Canadian who barely says an unscripted word on his channel and always speaks extremely clearly for an international audience. That's pretty much it.
This video is one of the few times I've said anything unscripted, and it wasn't in my own accent.
@@Langfocus thanks for the reply and clarification. I wouldn't have expected you to reply so late at night
I don't particularly think so. There are many canadian accents, not always one or the other.
Mate you did amazing!
Well done on this challenge!! As a non-native English speaker myself, definitely is not easy to learn a new accent when your used to your one. But you learned quickly and corrected your mistakes... the only thing that gave you away, as other mentioned, was the flow/stress of the sentences. RP or other English accents not only have different pronunciation of certain words but also the whole "rhythm" of a sentence can vary and sometimes, I agree with those in the video, you sounded like German or Scandinavian.
But anyway, well done!!! 😊
Excellent attempt! For a short time attempting to get it right, it's pretty good! Brits definitely are able to pick up different accents very quickly though, as one person already said because of economic status (lol - that's true) but also because British accents vary so much over short distances so our ears are trained to notice differences much more.
There's a few things I noticed:
Firstly, you speak with a hard attack, while British people tend to speak with a soft attack. Even RP. I think this is why some people are saying Germany/Eastern Europe too as that's common there.
Secondly, it sounds like you're producing a lot of sounds from the front of your mouth, sometimes almost nasally (I don't think I'm describing this perfectly lol, but I believe North American accents typically produce more sounds from the front of the mouth/nose while Brits speak from the middle/back of the mouth) so this is another indicator that your accent isn't native. I remember learning once that because Brits speak more from the back of the mouth & Americans speak from the front, this means that typically it's easier for Brits to fake American accents than it is for Americans to fake British accents as it uses more facial muscles.
Next, your vowels are just a touch shorter & not as wide as British & RP accents usually are. For example with the sentence "Go back about a thousand years," your pronunciation sounds like "goh buck abot a thohsund yihs" (I've exagerrated my spelling there because I don't know how to spell it properly phoenetically) whereas in RP it'd be more like "gOw bAck abOWt a thOWsund yIIHs". I suspect this is the Canadian slipping through a tad.
Also, your U's are shorter & don't have that "y" sound just preceding in some words, which certain words in RP are pronounced with due to the Norman French influence. For example, with the words "during" & "neutral" your pronunciations are more like "dooring" and "nootral" whereas in RP they'd be pronounced as "dyuring" (or even "jyuring") and "nyootral". Similarly, with "Tuesday" an RP accent would say "Tyoosday" while a more typical Southern accent would say "chyoostday".
Lastly, there's a lack of glottals in your speech. Your Ts & Ds sound like they're pronounced with your tongue softly touching just behind your top teeth, whereas in British or RP they'd either be pronounced more hard & clearly with the tongue clearly touching behind your top teeth, or with with the tongue not touching at all & producing a glottal stop in place of a T.
These were some of the main things my own ears picked up on! I hope this didn't come off as "lecturey" at all, because I don't mean it to haha! Just identifying the things that I personally noticed & giving my best tips to help you nail it next time round ;)
But anyway, great video! Very fun & educational. Thank you 🙏
Those are the things I noticed, as well.
I'm in the US, and I've picked up on British accents over many years of consuming British media. I started to find I was talking to myself with an SSB accent so I leaned into it. A few years ago, I had a friend in Kent, and we'd chat by video every day. One time, she heard me mumbling to myself when I forgot the camera was rolling, and she was startled because apparently it sounded native. :D
When I was a kid, I was moved from one part of the US to another, and kids would beat me up for my accent, so I learned to change it very quickly. Maybe that makes it easier for me to do this now. I certainly did well at pronunciation in Spanish class as a kid, and now when I travel to Canada or other parts of the US, I slip into the local accent within a day or two.
You could try "faking" some regional UK accent, so that when you ask the "where do you think I'm from" question, people would more naturally think "where in the UK", since the standard RP does not really have a location to it.
This was my thought too - if I hear the RP accent my immediate thought is that the person is covering up another accent. A lot of English people of a certain generation and class learned RP to cover up less desirable regional accents, and most foreign speakers learn RP. It's not something that I think of as genuine in anyone.
Oh true. Hardly anyone has a natural RP accent, apart from the royals. The closest is probably that general southern English accent but even that is toned down from RP
After growing up in London, I can do a Jamaican and Indian accent perfectly. I'm working on my Nigerian and polish
Not your traditional style of video, but I thoroughly enjoyed it :) I also like the personal touches that you've added in
You would love Dr Geoff Lindsay’s series on this very topic
Thanks! I'll look into it.
@@LangfocusI second this recommendation. Dr Geoff Lindsay comes from a linguistics background, so he explains stuff differently from a vocal coach with a background in theater. His videos really go deep into the English phonetics.
I love his channel❤
Lindsey, not Lindsay.
@@deleted01 Dr Geoff Lindsey, not Dr Geoff Lindsay.
You’ve clearly put in so much work. The reason why people were guessing you were German is because of two features (a) your vowel reduction in unstressed syllables syllables is not as extreme as native speakers tend to have; and (b) there is a lot of hard attack at the start of words with an initial vowel. To sound more natural, there should be more liaison and less attack. But really impressive results!!!
This comment is spot on!
I think it also has to do with his appearance, I don’t know how to explain why I think it but there’s something very German about it. Wait upon reflection during the writing of this comment, it’s because I think he looks very similar to Flula Borg
He needs hard attack in the middle of words not at the beginning. He does a lot of it to make himself clearer but we do it in the middle of words because it's how English is now spoken.
@@ardentspy I’m a bit confused by that - are you talking about T-glottalisation?
@@raylewis395 He probably also needs to take more care to avoid rhoticisation but to use r-linking. It's really hard for North Americans to properly deploy linking elements. Paul should practice "law and order". Even RP speakers pronounce it "lorenorduh".
Americans trying to do the RP English accent I feel clip their vowels too hard / quickly. And the 'o' sound ends up a touch 'u' sounding, to my ear. They tend to be more drawn out naturally.
It's a good attempt and I love the video. It took me a few years before I started sounding convincing around my british girlfriend me being from the states. After 10 years I can pull it off like I'm from there but it took a lot of work, it was something I enjoyed and had fun with.
I am a Francophone Canadian who lived in France for a few years in the 70's. I did my best to speak with the best international French accent I knew. At first many correctly identified me as Canadian quite quickly, though quite a few asked me if I was Belgian or Swiss. None doubted that I was a native French speaker, but many just couldn't place me. After a year in France, I had people guessing I was French, but from maybe Vendée or Normandy - I by then sounded to them French, but regional . By that time when I told people I was Canadian, I often got the reaction: `Mais vous n'avez pas l`accent`. (I then had to explain that I was not Québecois but Franco-Ontarian, because they thought Francophone Canadians were all Québecois, but that's another story). Loved this video.
When I lived in Geneva, I had a friend from Montreal (but somewhat more internationalized accent because of ethnic origins), whose French totally flummoxed the local Swiss. But rather than thinking she was from someplace faraway or exotic, they thought she was from Vaud, one canton over. 😂
When I went to France with my Québécoise wife, by contrast, everyone kept switching into English on her!
@@i.d.6282 As a Brit who was living and working in France (Pas de Calais) I was often quizzed by locals saying "you're not from round here are you?". They would sometime ask if I was from Belgium. When I told them I was English they were quite surprised as in Calais they have the day trippers from England who by and large never speak any French. After being there a couple of years I answered the phone at work and was told "You are picking up a Calaisian accent" which I was quite proud off until I found out that a Calaisian accent was similar to a West Country accent in England. Many years later when I was back living in the UK I had to go to Brussels on business. I got a cab from The Eurostar station to my hotel and and was chatting to the cab driver. He then asked me "What is the weather like in Paris?" When I explained I was English and came from London he was quite impressed. He said "I thouught you were French as you speak French very well." That made my day!
To be honest, I always thought you had a scandinavian accent (or other european accents) even when you spoke in your own Canadian way. It's pretty cool actually! I think the way you pronounced certain consonants made me think that
I think he’s Danish. Even his “Canadian” accent is a little off lol. Nothing wrong with that, just noticed.
People like Ria Lina, who went to an American school in Netherlands, can sound American or Canadian when they speak English, even if they've never been to either country. I've never been outside Canada for more than 8 days at a time and was told once that I sound European.
Yes. I Really thought he is Danish. 😅
Same here. I am American, and I have always thought you sounded like English is your first language. I would have guessed you were originally Scandinavian or German. Most Canadians sound American to me, although I have met some French Canadians that sound different. Maybe it has to do with where in Canada.
@@whokidd124567 Noticed it too. His Canadian accent does not really sound Canadian. He sounds like himself. lol
As an RP speaker I think the subtleties that gave you away are really more related to word choice that makes it sound formal. When confirming understanding you would say "right" with a clearly pronounced 't' which I think would feel natural in a work setting but in this setting even a very posh RP would probably just reach for 'oh' or 'ahh'.
But more than that there is a strong confounding bias with asking them where you are from, a native English speaker asking the question would make people assume it isn't the easy answer and guess somewhere else. I think you were doing better than those answers suggested. Fun video 👌
Your observation about people who learn authentic pronunciation is very interesting. Cultural immersion vs. observation and such. I'm an English speaker from America, and I learned Spanish in college, but it wasn't until I spent a semester in Spain that I learned to speak it decently well. I was very fascinated by the country around me and felt deeply connected to it. Spanish speakers know immediately that I'm not Spanish, but once in a classroom in America, one of my students from Colombia heard me speak Spanish and commented that I had an accent. As in, my Spanish was different from the Spanish she was used to, not that it was off or lacking. It felt pretty good to hear that. Best wishes to all the language learners out there.
Nothing wrong with sounding Dutch! 😂
(it wasn't a Dutch accent at all though 😂)
der is nohting rrrrong wid mai eccent, beut venn aii talkkkk laik dis, den dey vill no det ai kom frrrom de nederlands
Verre van!!
I have been told that Canadian vowels are closer to Dutch vowels than any other accent of English. He was deliberately trying to change them to RP, but maybe a fake RP accent with a Canadian accent behind it sounded like a native Dutch speaker? The rhythm is wrong though.
@@toomuchjamI think most English text books used in European schools are based on British pronunciation and vocabulary, but people are exposed to American accents a lot through media, advertising, music etc, so they try to americanise their "school English". There's also the impression that rhotic pronunciation sounds more native and helps gloss over a foreign accent. (It doesn't, but people think that)
There is if you're trying to sound English though 😂
This was a great video, and I think your attempt at an RP accent was a really good one!
One thing that I think makes your accent stand out, even without placing you as a non British speaker, is the lack of elision in your speech. You've got a lot of the sounds correct, but the diction is too formal to sound genuine. It comes across like you're reading from a script rather than talking comfortably. Conversational English in Britain, even amongst the poshest RP speakers, sees a lot of words run together, and sounds change based on the adjacent words.
Looking forward to hearing how far you can take this accent!
When you did the test sentence earlier in the video that was EXCELLENT, but when it comes to speaking with someone you're unable to retain the accent, I think just from being overwhelemd or having to focus too much on the spot. I agree with most that you seem German! I'm even surprised you're Canadian lmao
Yeah, I think you’re right. I was able to produce the sounds much better in individual words and sentences, but sustaining that in an extended and unpredictable conversation is much harder. Speaking a foreigner that you’re at a beginner or lower intermediate level in is similar. Even when you know the sounds, words, and sentence structure, the applied skill of bringing them all together in a real interaction is the real challenge.
@@Langfocus I hope you continue with the experiment and make more videos attempting the accent, it was interesting to me as I’m currently studying TEFL, and your content could help me explain the more intricate differences to foreign students.
The earlier sentence proved that you can absolutely imitate a British accent, I was stunned at how accurate that was. I think just practicing with yourself and listening back will help tons with consistency and flow. As you know the common Brit tends to speak quite fast and skip over letters, especially r. But even the word “letters” is more like “le-ers” over here. I’m a South African who has been here most of my life. Good luck and thanks for the fun content!
So I should've watched the whole vid before commenting lol. Good video bro
There's another thing that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned yet, but for English people specifically (and probably people from other UK countries) we would rarely describe ourselves as being "from the UK", especially when talking to someone else from here. I would say "I'm English" more than "I'm from England", and I'd hardly ever say I was from the UK.
As an English person who's grown up around posh RP speakers, cockneys, and people from all over the country and the rest of the world, your RP attempt definitely sounds like someone from North/Western Europe who has learned to speak British English really well.
But honestly, even your native accent from Canada sounds a bit unfamiliar, although I'm less familiar with the various regional accents around Canada than the US or my home country they UK!
The best way to pick up the accent would be to come and live here for a few years and really listen closely. Thing is nobody's going to correct you because it's incredibly rude and perhaps even bigoted to "correct" an accent unless asked to.
Anyways keep it up Paul, great video as always, been watching your stuff for years at this point :)
Cheers
Informative even for a Brit ;) Hadn't noticed we only pronounce 'R' before a vowel. You have learnt British pronunciation extremely well (I would be rubbish at any Canadian accent). As you say, though, your vowels are clipped. I believe RP draws the vowels out even longer than a 'normal' southern accent.
In terms of "...achieved my first partial success..." at 16:06 mark: 'ie' in 'achieved' can be lengthened dramatically, said with a smile, turning the corners of the mouth up (funny example, lots of people in many countries on mainland Europe struggle with a 'piece' of paper or a 'sheet' of paper...)
'ar' in 'partial' can be more rounded, lowering of the jaw, and longer duration. It's this 'ar' sound that lends RP its distinctive socio-economic status the most, I would say.
Hats off to you for the work and hours you put in. It has truly paid off. May I suggest, to get the last 1%, practice exaggerating the sounds to make them more rounded - even reassuring, and letting them linger a while to make them less clipped and more convincing. One final thought - imagine spreading warm gravy on a soft carpet with a ladle whilst sitting in a leather wingback armchair. Dunno, might work ;)
Please make a part 2 or even turn this into a series. I wanna see you improve your accent and give us an update. I'd really like to see you fool some Brits. Maybe next time you can try a specific regional accent to give it even more authenticity. Alot of English accents turn the Ts into glottal stops and turn TH sounds into F sounds. It might give off a more casual middle class vibe to it...
If I do that then this will very quickly become the “guy who fakes a British accent channel” and people will demand only that. Believe me.
Spanish native here, I speak english and portuguese on a native level, people never believe i'm not american/brazilian.
I'm amazed you never used the word "cadence" in this video, I think it's the most important part of trying to actually achieve a regional accent.
Estou aprendendo português. Eu sou Irlandês
You mentioned this at the beginning but, sorry to say, I think you made it almost impossible by choosing RP. The problem is not many people speak that way in the UK and so British would struggle to place you in a city or region unless it is perfect.
I'd love to see you try a more distinctive regional accent like Geordie or Cockney. These are so recognisable to a Brit that I think they would hear the key sounds and overlook any small faults. Actually, you could try a Devon/Somerset accent because it's rhotic like your native accent. I believe it was actually the "RP/Standard/Posh" accent of it's time! Which is crazy because it's now the UK's "country" accent, far from posh.
I think if he'd chosen a Birmingham accent he'd have done better cos in the midlands our accents are basically a modulated yawn
Brilliantly done in number 7, you sounded spot on quite a lot
Nice video, subscribed. First time I've seen this channel, you've got a really engaging way about you. I actually thought your accent was pretty good on a technical level, but it's just that you have - and I mean this as a compliment, not a criticism - a very unique, clipped way of talking, even in your native Canadian voice. In fact, when you were introducing the video I was trying to place your accent there, and it wasn't until you confirmed you were Canadian that I heard it.
As others have said, the question "Where do you think I'm from?" will automatically get people thinking it's not the UK by the nature of the question. But there's also the physiology. Although the UK is very diverse with lots of different-looking people, you do have more of a Germanic look than someone from England. Could also be mouth placement as well - if I see a commercial from the US that's been dubbed into English I can IMMEDIATELY tell by the mouth movements. I know the US isn't Canada, but that's just a side example. If you check the video, most of the people you speak to have their mouths opening slightly wider than yours. (the US is the reverse - they tend to open their mouths MUCH wider than people from the UK).
Really though, it's a good accent, I think at least 70% of the reason why people didn't believe is your natural staccato way of speaking.
I did learn basic level Polish (very basic level) and one time entered a Polish shop saying "good morning" (in Polish) as I put my items on the counter to pay. The lady serving spoke to me at length in Polish, forcing me to apologise and say I didn't understand her as I didn't know that much Polish - so I must have somehow convinced her that I was a native speaker. Only a one off, though, possibly it was the noise of the shop.
it make so much sense thinking about it that you came across as german/dutch/swedish, because those people tend to learn uk english over american english. so hearing someone who has learned an rp accent would usually mean those groups. very interesting.
Also has something to do with his clipped speech pattern- it really does sound Swedish
I'm just glad the Brits can handle the basic trivia questions. Keep up the good work lads.
I am glad to know that it is not only the Amercians who are the dumb ones.
My farts are better than Langfocus’ farts 💨
This is my first Langfocus vid, so I don't know all the facts, but I'm very surprised to hear that you're a native English speaker. Even your natural speech has some patterns that sound quite unfamiliar. Perhaps this comes from learning so many languages? One thing that's missing from your RP is 'linking R'. It's a feature of some non-rhotic accents - an added R sound between the end of one word and the beginning of the next - it should be there when the word has an r at the end, or even when it ends with just schwa: 'Tuba orchestra' would sound like "Tuba rawkestra".
Keep going, you're clearly improving towards the end of the video
As someone from England you did a pretty good job aiming at the RP accent, however I can't say I've ever ran into many people with an RP accent in real life so maybe not the best accent to aim for.
Yeah, fair point. Our main point of reference would be older royal media. We would never know what it's actually like to hear someone talking like that.
I think that the accent too stereotypical which makes it harder for people to think its a real accent
I'm from western Canada and, when I first found your channel, I thought English was your second language and that you spoke it very well. It surprised me to learn you also are from Canada, and in the west.
I immediately thought he was German or Dutch.
I still think he's a foreigner😂
i think he just speaks in a weird cadence
He is stiff in every dialect he attempts, including his own.
Your accent sounds like an audiobook or something, very precise with every syllable, part of the reason why might be the studio microphone. In some words like "modern" the vowel is still a little off but it's not too noticeable unless you're trying to catch the mistakes. The abrupt stops at the end of words is really common in western Europeans speaking English which is probably why so many people thought you were from Germany. By the end, your accent sounded very similar to an "upper class" guy I know from Kent who spent a few years in the states so has a slight twang. It's certainly different from the "generic" british accent that southerners have adopted, we're a lot lazier with the elocution.
Hey Paul, would you do a Quiche (K'iche') Language overview?
I'm planning a trip to Guatemala, and your overviews have always been SUPER helpful
Much love 🫶
Great video, thanks.
As a non native speaker of Portuguese and living in Portugal for 22 years, I’m always happy when people ask me where in Portugal I come from (not from which country).
Keep the great work. I appreciate it for years.
Fascinating as ever, Paul. My natural dialect is traditional RP, but as a child I slipped in and out of "Sahf London" as the situation required. I learned German as an adult and, surprisingly, I am accent-free - only the sometimes wobbly grammar gives me away. My approach to accent in either English and German is completely different from the deconstructive and analytical approach you take. I just reflect what I hear. If I want to imitate a regional accent in either English or German, I just think of a speaker I know well and imitate their speech. I have no idea how I do this.
Keep up the good work!
John
This is what I do too, I prefer an analytical approach only regards to writing and grammar. Also it's rather useful to watch the face and mouths.
I can do a reasonable enough Oop North impression thanks to watching Christopher Eccleston interviews so much.
But more impressively, I managed to drop my native Standard West American for a Classic Southern Drawl..just to avoid Napoloen Dynamite comparisons. It worked.
My home accent (Medway) borrows a lot from the "Sahf London" type and my friend here up north makes fun of me all the time when I say brown or house or round.
I enjoyed your efforts. I actually think that some Canadian and USA accents are very similar to our English accents naturally, we watch and listen to a lot of your media and so don't differ very much. I learned the alphabet from watching Seasame Street for example! Great effort
I’ve been watching these videos for a while and I always assumed this man was Dutch or Swedish and I’m Canadian myself.
Very interesting video, thanks.
As an RP speaker myself, my impression is that you did do very well, but I could also tell even without seeing the process of what you were doing that it "wasn't quite right". As an aside, your own native accent is interesting, because it doesn't sound like most Canadian accents that I've heard, it must be something regional I'm not too familiar with. You are giving off with your "fake RP" accent, a kind of German-who-has-lived-in-the-UK-a-long-time vibe, in that it's _almost_ perfect, but perhaps a bit too clipped or staccato for RP (in the way that German is quite a staccato language). Whilst RP is also clipped in the end consonants in particular, it also _flows_ and is actually fairly slow, so your river analogy perhaps works on that level.
Your accent coach I think definitely helped you, but one thing I noticed from the clips of the videos that you showed in your prep work before that - and I do appreciate that those were probably just a small sample - is that most or all of the clips you showed were of _female_ RP speakers. Bear in mind is that men and women speak differently in subtle ways, even disregarding the amount of bass that gender difference on average brings. That might be why you didn't quite have that resonance that one of the listeners was looking for. As a man, listening to male RP speakers more will I think help you.
One thing I noticed is that most of your British listeners were (a) very young (teenagers and early 20s) and (b) non-RP speakers themselves. RP is actually getting quite rare in the UK nowadays, especially in younger generations; I'm in my forties and went to a private (public) school, which helped solidify the RP, as that was the standard there. Most "Gen Z" youngsters will not know it's called "RP" (or that RP stands for Received Pronounciation), the Queen to whom it is also attributed passed away over a year ago and even the BBC consciously tends to use more regional accents now for its presenters. You might try calling it "James Bond English" (by which I mean the James Bonds after Sean Connery!) if people are struggling to understand what you mean by RP. It's why they sometimes reach for "posh" when trying to describe how you talk.
We also have to remove some of the unconscious bias that perhaps was introduced by your question: "Based on how I'm speaking, where do you think I'm from?" immediately subconciously introduces the concept to the listener than you might not be what you are portraying yourself to be, then they might subconsciously look for other cues - including how you look. If I had not known you are Canadian, based on your look, I would have said German or Scandinavian - and I don't know perhaps that is in your heritage somewhere. Perhaps you would have scored better if this has been audio interviews rather than video.
He sounds south african
Hey Paul, I have followed you about 10 years and this was one of the most interesting videos you've made. Accents are very interesting thing. My native language is Finnish and our language has many accents or maybe they can be called as dialects. They are very strong that way that a person can live in another part of the country than they are originated, and even after decades it is often hearable where they originate.
I am quite fluent in English but of course I have foreign accent. Sometimes foreign people have told me that I and other Finns sound "slightly American". At school we are taught "plain Oxford English", but in our country tv series, movies etc. are not dubbed but have subtitles and we hear the original speech. And because of that we Finns have heard a lot more American English than British in our lives. Of course that is the case with the internet too. I am sure it has a strong effect.
great video, I think I can make of the amount of effort exerted to do what you did. pronunciation is absolutely stand-alone and complex topic in language learning.
the problem is that our brains aren't the same as they used to be in the childhood, when we could stay in the "learning mode" all the time with a brain absorbing and chiseling into itself literally everything we were doing including an accent. that's why for an adult must pay conscious attention to every single move they make to get it done right.
I’m an Aussie and your English accent was reminding me of Roger Federer speaking English with his Swiss influence.
The thing that speakers of American English just can’t ever get right is phonemic vowel length. Length is so important in English that it really needs to be considered the main differentiator amongst pairs of similar vowels, with timbre being secondary (but also important). You only really make timbre distinctions, with length varying allophonically. So, when you try to say ‘off’ properly, it ends up sounding as if it were ‘orf’.
Edit: I’ve just got to the bit where you introduce Molly, and I literally only understood because her name was on screen. It wouldn’t otherwise have been comprehensible, as what you said would have to be spelt ‘morley’ or something. It sounds like a plausible surname, but has no resemblance to the name Molly. You might as well say Polly.
Basically, it’s like when English speakers try to speak languages with long consonants, but make no distinction between _pero_ and _perro,_ and don’t understand why they’re not understood. It’s a completely different phoneme for natives.
This is so true- when he said his own name it sounded strange because he closed off the au sound and didn’t elongate it enough
@AmyThePuddytat I think you won the "I love language" phrase of the day: "timbre distinctions with length varying allophonically".
lol at assuming all American English speakers don't do vowel length
@@BoxStudioExecutive I can hear they can't because they f it up so consistently. They don't even know what they are doing. They can't hear what they are making long or short.
I wonder if that varies with how much exposure you have to British content. I am American and I watch a lot of British RUclips, and I definitely automatically perceive an elongated vowel spoken by a British person as having an R at the end. I don't know if I could produce it though.
This was a great video. You also have a distinct voice, so I was somewhat surprised that the quality of your voice changed so much when putting on the RP accent. And it was interesting to see how much of an accent is more than just the sounds themselves, but the vowel lengths and how relaxed your mouth is (pause).
You are definitely getting there. I could hear a bit of an accent similar to maybe a posh south african accent in there.i think you would have a better success in a different regional accent rather than rp. Rp is such a specific accent, and although there are a demographic of peopke brought up with that accent (such as posh rich people, some royals etc) there are also a large number of British people that take on that accent after achieving success and maybe moving to an area, or just associating more with people, who use that accent.
Movie and tv stars often come from areas where they will have a regional accent, but some will, in their everyday speaking for interviews etc or even roles, adopt an rp accent. Maybe just for clarity when talking so a larger audience can understand them better. But an rp accent is easier to spot the mistakes with, or when there is something off about it, because everyone in the UK knows an rp accent when they hear it, but they dont necessarily know other regional accents. So, this means a regional accent will be far better for hiding crimes and mistakes, making them less noticeable and more forgiving. Also, it's a lot more fun to learn a regional accent than an rp one.
Aswell as the accents, you need to learn the matching mannerisms that the people with that accent may use, but also the mouth shape when they speak certain words, and also things like eye movements, hand movements etc also the intensity of the words used by certain accents - also you need to learn regional words that may only be used in certain areas, for exampke, take the word "mardy" - meaning to be sulkng and in a bad mood.
Mostly used in the North and some areas towards the Midlands of England, but not in every place there, also it is used within a small area in the south of England, a few towns aound the south of Kent use that word, but not really in the rest of the South of England. So if you were to use this word using an accent not associated with it, it could give the game away, but if you were to use it with the correct accent, it can help to sell the accent you are trying to do. So make an effort to not just get the accent correct but the general dialects vocabulary correct for that accent too.
The biggest and best way you will learn is by exposure. If you spend a lot of tme around a certain accent, you will pick it up. It is after all, how we all learn to speak not only our native language, but to speak it in the accent we do. All through exposure. Tv and movies will get you so far and help, but you would need to be visiting an area with the accent you want on a regular basis, and maybe make friends with a few people from that area people you can keep in contact with, who you can video call and have chats with on a regular basis, and you can ask them ti point out any mistakes that you might be making. Also you can find that even in a small town with inky abiut 70,000 people, there may be more than ine accent within that town, they may be similar to each other, but a nearby town that is closer to the north of that town than the south, may have their own accent that bleeds in to your town, resulting in a variation of your towns accent. You can nirmalky drive 20 miles either side of where you kive in the UK and find a different accent to your iwn in every direction. We kiteralky have hubdreds here. And a lot of them might sound the sane to someone with an untrained ear, but the locals will know. Sometimes the difference is big, sometimes subtle, but if you are trying to get the accent fir an area soot in you need to learn the difference. It can be something as simple as pronouncing a certain word differently, or just using an emphasis on certain part if a word different. All little nuances that you will pick up over time.
I think you will get there. Sorry for droning on. Ive written eniugh to release it in paperback! This was a great video. Good look with your pursuit!
I've never deliberately trained myself to speak a different dialect of English, but I lived in the north of England for many years and unconsciously picked up some Yorkshire dialect traits over time. For example, reducing 'the' to 't' or omitting it altogether; dropping initial 'h's on words like 'happy' or 'house'; using 'right' to mean 'very' and using 'were' instead of 'was' for third person singular: "That were right 'ard."
As for the other question, I would say that I've achieved near-native pronunciation in Catalan, again after living in Catalonia for many years and it becoming one of the main languages in which I live my life. I think, at least in a short interaction, most people wouldn't notice that I wasn't from here. Over an extended conversation I think people do still tend to sense that there's something up with the way I speak. There's always something that gives you away whether it's phonetic, an expression that's just not quite the way a native would say it, or just a silly grammatical or vocabulary mistake.
Some American TV shows and movies have Brits playing Americans. They are so good at American accents that I really found it hard to believe they were Brits!
There's some studies around to say that the English are the best at putting on other accents, as they all have roots in English English.
@@fuxkoff428 It's also cause of exposure. We hear every British and Irish accent in our media, plus North American ones, plus Australian and New Zealand, plus Indian, Nigerian etc. due to immigrant populations.
Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy come to mind
I usually suss them out the way this youtuber was sussed out. Although our American accents generally inhabit much larger pieces of real estate than British accents, most Americans will have some type of regional accent even if its subtle due to moving or trying to get rid of a strong accent. I might not know if its Massachusetts or Rhode Island, but I can at least get the state or the bordering state right. Now with the Rockies I've never been there so if someone is from Colorado or Utah would likely have zero clue on that.
As a German native speaker and former student of English studies, I picked up the RP-pronunciation to a nearly perfect level after years of practicing. What plays a big role in picking up the British accent is mastering the intonation correctly. That’s even more difficult than learning how to pronounce in RP properly. As for instance, which vowel in a word is stressed shorter and which one is stressed longer. Also, stressing the consonants, low or mid or high pitch sound etc. In addition to that, depending on the length of a sentence, the rules can change quickly.
What helped me the most was just keep on listening to British radio presenters on a daily basis for many years. Still, the reaction of BE native speakers is interesting since they get distracted by the fact that I don’t speak a particular local British accent but in RP.
I am from South East England and tend to speak English without too much regional accent, I thought you did pretty well, although I probably would have assumed you were from Norway.
Dude this is a great video, when I started watching the video until timestamp 9:05 I've notice that you were moving your mouth like an American, more precisely like a midwestern speaking with a fake accent lol. Then the boy at 9:08 told you that you sounded so "Posh" and then he told you to speak with a deeper voice. British people tend to be more expressive with their mouth when they speak English whereas Americans barely move their lips and are more nasal. Also 10:50 you said Molly coached you on individual sounds and also focus on helping you on relax your jaw and create more space in your mouth. Excellent video man, I love it; keep up the good work.
Someone else said you sounded staccato and that's it. You can learn the sounds but you have to also learn the delivery. Would love to see you continue accent challenges. Particuarly an urban accent from the UK and Ireland.
I once achieved a near-native accent of English, when I spent a few months actually living in Britain. I don't sound like a native speaker anymore, because a lot of what made me sound more British was simply imitating people around me. Since getting back to my home country, I've had fewer opportunities to practise with native speakers, which is why my accent is now fluctuating between RP and mid-Atlantic (sort of British with a few Americanisms mixed in).
I did keep my British accent for a few years though, RP with a few elements of regional Oxfordshire, and was sometimes asked by Brits where in Britain I was from because they couldn't quite place my accent. I count that as a win.
In 1990, I studied a book in college titled English phonetics and phonology by Peter Roach. It was all about vowels, trithongs and diphthongs and how to pronounce the R in different situations.
Once you master that you are 50% in reaching your goal.
I have a 1950s RP accent. It’s never changed. My family and friends and schoolmates all spoke like me = BBC news at the time… What’s funny, given your experiment, is that several times over the last few years - in England (!) - I have been asked where I’m from, apparently because I don’t sound English. Take heart, therefore! If people don’t think you’re English you’re getting closer to your goal!
Now I'm curious about hearing your accent
Amazing video. Thank you for making this. As an English man, it's quite interesting seeing a Canadian put so much effort into imitating an RP accent. You did a very good job, but obviously as a native British person I could very clearly hear the inadequacies. I would love to see you try a more colloquial accent, such as a northern accent (Manchester or Yorkshire). Not many people actually speak with the accent you were trying to emulate.
This was a fun experiment! This was a brilliant idea to step away from just explaining languages, and doing something different and absolutely fun props to you !!!
tbf I am British and I don't do that weird accent with the "a" for 'bath'. Then again, I am from the north of England
Props to you for trying, it must have been incredibly tiring! You did alright, although I could tell. In my opinion, English is one of them languages that enables a variety of accents, so within the UK itself there are many accents, Scouse, Cockney, Glaswegian etc, but i think that can also extend to different countries, French/English accent, Indian/English accent, all can be perfectly understood and gives a sense of identity to that person. When something is too perfect, it takes away all the character, but that's only my personal opinion.
It sounds to me that you nailed the South African accent. ( Australian ears )
I’m half South African and I thought the same 😅
I think one of the biggest differences in dialects is the rhythm. Every lenguaje has a different rhythm, also there is the presence of a vowel sound that is use more, another thing is the "thinking vowel", some languages use the "a" sound, other the "e" sound and so on.
You can sound more natural and local if you get the right rhythm and entonation, even if you are saying the word wrong is gona feel right, for example for me now, with the danish language, even if a say something wrong, because I aim the entonation and this other small details, sometimes they think I have a accent from a small island or a corner in denmark.
I feel like in your case, the dominant vocals in Canada are the "a" and "e", but for the British accent is more like "o" and "u", also they have a tendency to lengthen vowels like in "sound" "pound", they sound for me more like "soouund" "pooouund", but in your case are shorter, more like a strike, is the same in how you end the words, you cut the word when ends, but they have the tendency to make the vowels longer.
Paul as Canada tried to keep the English Accent in Canada I think your doing a great job of doing the Accent
hey Langfocus. Long time fan of your content and I loved this one, was impressed. Would you ever consider doing a video on the yam-yam AKA Black Country dialect of English, it's my native dialect and it's super interesting: we have a very unique grammar (for example we use second person plurals) and intonation (one of the only english dialects to roll our Rs). Some people say it's the closest modern English dialect to middle English. I'd love to hear what you have to say about it.
Ow b'ist gooin, mate?