{"id":88936,"date":"2014-04-17T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?p=88936"},"modified":"2016-09-26T00:22:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T07:22:43","slug":"a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html","title":{"rendered":"A Brief Tour of British &amp; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<span class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"505\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-8mzWkuOxz8?wmode=transparent&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;showsearch=0&amp;rel=0&amp;theme=dark\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p>\n<p>Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, com\u00ading from the enor\u00admous and rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly recent\u00adly set\u00adtled place we do, tend to have a hard time with accents, strug\u00adgling to grasp the extent of the vari\u00adety of region\u00adal ways of speech in small\u00ader, old\u00ader coun\u00adtries, let alone to use them our\u00adselves. Study\u00ading the Kore\u00adan lan\u00adguage, I\u2019ve found that under\u00adstand\u00ading a native speak\u00ader from one city does\u00adn\u2019t mean I\u2019ll under\u00adstand any\u00adthing said by anoth\u00ader native speak\u00ader from a city fifty miles away. (Though that holds true even for Kore\u00adans them\u00adselves; hence the preva\u00adlence of sub\u00adti\u00adtles on their tele\u00advi\u00adsion shows.) Vis\u00adit\u00ading Lon\u00addon a few months ago, eas\u00adi\u00adly as I could make sense of every\u00adbody speak\u00ading my native tongue, I pre-emp\u00adtive\u00adly gave up hope of pick\u00ading up on the nuances of all the accents peo\u00adple had brought to the city from their home\u00adtowns \u2014 much less the numer\u00adous and sub\u00adtle dialects native&nbsp;of Lon\u00addon itself. Every\u00adone I met insist\u00aded that a Briton\u2019s accent says more about their ori\u00adgin, class, sta\u00adtion in life, and degree of self-regard than any oth\u00ader qual\u00adi\u00adty, but not know\u00ading New\u00adcas\u00adtle from Southamp\u00adton when I first set foot on Eng\u00adlish soil, I had to take them at their word (how\u00adev\u00ader they hap\u00adpened to pro\u00adnounce it).<\/p>\n<div class=\"oc-center-da\">\n<div data-fuse=\"22871471544\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/-8mzWkuOxz8\">The video above<\/a>, in which pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal dialect coach Andrew Jack demon\u00adstrates four\u00adteen British accents in 84 sec\u00adonds, might help sort things out for my fel\u00adlow con\u00adfused coun\u00adtry\u00admen. \u201cReceived com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion is the great com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtor,\u201d Jack says, using the accent I assume he grew up with. \u201cAs soon as you devi\u00adate from that and you go into Lon\u00addon speech, for exam\u00adple, you lose a lit\u00adtle bit of the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion.\u201d By that point, Jack has seam\u00adless\u00adly tran\u00adsi\u00adtioned into Cock\u00adney, from which he then shifts into the accents of East Anglia, the West Coun\u00adtry, York\u00adshire, Lan\u00adcashire, Liv\u00ader\u00adpool, North\u00adern Ire\u00adland, Dublin, the Scot\u00adtish high\u00adlands, Glas\u00adgow, North Wales, and South Wales. The Youtube com\u00adment box below has, pre\u00addictably, filled with com\u00adplains about all the accents \u2014 the com\u00admenters\u2019 own, dare I imag\u00adine? \u2014 that did\u00adn\u2019t make it into this brief lin\u00adguis\u00adtic tour. Though far from com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive, the video does in any case put the lie to the notion so many non-Brits seem to have that they can \u201cdo a British accent.\u201d If you encounter one of them, don\u2019t ask them to demon\u00adstrate it; ask them which British accent they mean. Then you\u2019ll real\u00adly hear how poor\u00adly they fare.<\/p>\n<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/kottke.org\/14\/04\/a-tour-of-the-accents-of-the-british-isles\">Kot\u00adtke<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2012\/09\/peter_sellers_gives_a_quick_demonstration_of_british_accents.html\">Peter Sell\u00aders Gives a Quick Demon\u00adstra\u00adtion of British Accents<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2012\/02\/peter_sellers_reads_the_beatles_she_loves_you_in_four_voices.html\">Peter Sell\u00aders Reads The Bea\u00adt\u00adles\u2019 \u201cShe Loves You\u201d in Four Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Accents<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/01\/sir-patrick-stewart-demonstrates-how-cows-moo-in-different-english-accents.html\">Sir Patrick Stew\u00adart Demon\u00adstrates How Cows Moo in Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Eng\u00adlish Accents<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2013\/09\/what-shakespeare-sounded-like-to-shakespeare.html\">What Shake\u00adspeare Sound\u00aded Like to Shake\u00adspeare: Recon\u00adstruct\u00ading the Bard\u2019s Orig\u00adi\u00adnal Pro\u00adnun\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n<p><i>Col\u00adin Mar\u00adshall&nbsp;hosts and pro\u00adduces&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/\"><i>Note\u00adbook on Cities and Cul\u00adture<\/i><\/a><i>&nbsp;and writes essays on cities, lan\u00adguage, Asia, and men\u2019s style. He\u2019s at work on a book about Los Ange\u00adles,&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kcet.org\/socal\/departures\/landofsunshine\/a-los-angeles-primer\/\"><i>A Los Ange\u00adles Primer<\/i><\/a><i>. Fol\u00adlow&nbsp;him on Twit\u00adter at&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#%21\/colinmarshall\"><i>@colinmarshall<\/i><\/a><i>&nbsp;or on&nbsp;<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/colinmarshallessayist\"><i>Face\u00adbook<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding: 10px 0\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"oc-video-container\">\n\t<span class=\"youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-8mzWkuOxz8?wmode=transparent&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;showsearch=0&amp;rel=0&amp;theme=dark\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- \/oc-video-embed -->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \/oc-video-wrapper --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, com\u00ading from the enor\u00admous and rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly recent\u00adly set\u00adtled place we do, tend to have a hard time with accents, strug\u00adgling to grasp the extent of the vari\u00adety of region\u00adal ways of speech in small\u00ader, old\u00ader coun\u00adtries, let alone to use them our\u00adselves. Study\u00ading the Kore\u00adan lan\u00adguage, I\u2019ve found that under\u00adstand\u00ading a native speak\u00ader from [\u2026]<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english_language"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Brief Tour of British &amp; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colin Marshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Colin Marshall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6876a344072c1e9dd894f4044f353ccf\"},\"headline\":\"A Brief Tour of British &amp; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-17T18:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-26T07:22:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"English Language\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\",\"name\":\"A Brief Tour of British & Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-17T18:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-26T07:22:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Brief Tour of British &#038; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Open Culture\",\"description\":\"The best free cultural &amp; educational media on the web\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Openculture.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn8.openculture.com\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/24113050\\\/OC-favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn8.openculture.com\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/24113050\\\/OC-favicon.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Openculture.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6876a344072c1e9dd894f4044f353ccf\",\"name\":\"Colin Marshall\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blog.colinmarshall.org\\\/?page_id=2\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/colinmarshall\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.openculture.com\\\/author\\\/cjmarshall\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Brief Tour of British & Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colin Marshall","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html"},"author":{"name":"Colin Marshall","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6876a344072c1e9dd894f4044f353ccf"},"headline":"A Brief Tour of British &amp; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds","datePublished":"2014-04-17T18:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-26T07:22:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html"},"wordCount":507,"commentCount":13,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["English Language"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html","name":"A Brief Tour of British & Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-17T18:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-26T07:22:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/2014\/04\/a-brief-tour-of-british-accents-14-ways-to-speak-english-in-84-seconds.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Brief Tour of British &#038; Irish Accents: 14 Ways to Speak English in 84 Seconds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/","name":"Open Culture","description":"The best free cultural &amp; educational media on the web","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#organization","name":"Openculture.com","url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn8.openculture.com\/2021\/04\/24113050\/OC-favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn8.openculture.com\/2021\/04\/24113050\/OC-favicon.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Openculture.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6876a344072c1e9dd894f4044f353ccf","name":"Colin Marshall","sameAs":["http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/?page_id=2","https:\/\/x.com\/colinmarshall"],"url":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/author\/cjmarshall"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openculture.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}