Why is it that some English accents are more valued than others?

Back in the 1950s, the only accent you would hear on the TV or

radio in the UK would be a clipped 'BBC English' voice. It wasn't

even received pronunciation, it was more like the Queen's English

• regional or national accents were not considered acceptable for

national broadcast.

Thankfully this is no longer the case - all English accents are

considered acceptable these days, and we hear a wide variety of

regional accents on a daily basis.

Something of the past remains, though. Rightly or wrongly, people

STILL draw conclusions about you from your voice, making

assumptions about where you come from, the level of your

education and even how wealthy you are and what your potential in

life might be.

It many not be fair, but as SOON as you start to speak, you are

saying a great deal about yourself....and not just in the content

of your speech. Your tone of voice and your accent - the very WAY

in which you speak - is creating an impression with the listener.

On one hand, this might not be a problem: once you get to know

someone you will have the opportunity to express yourself and

demonstrate who you really are. You would hope that most people

are open minded enough to listen to you and to begin to

understand who you really are.

On the other hand, though, there are times when you simply do not

get a second chance to make a first impression. An interview, for

example, or a spoken English exam; a telephone sales

conversation, where all you have is your voice to work with: in

situations like these it is VITAL that you create a strong first

impression with a good voice and a clear accent. If the listener

has to make too much effort to understand you, they will simply

stop listening.

LEARNING AN ENGLISH ACCENT

But, I hear you ask there are so many English accents - which one

should I try to learn?

When learning any language, I'd recommend learning the 'neutral'

accent of the capital city. In the UK, that would be a neutral

British accent, or received pronunciation.

Why? First, because it is the most easily understood English

accent outside the UK.

Secondly, a regional UK accent mixed with a non-English accent

can be very difficult to understand.

So how DO you learn a neutral British English accent? The key

thing is, of course, to listen to native speakers.

There is, though, another important factor which most teachers of

English either don't, can't or won't tell you. Changing your

accent needs MORE than listening. It needs observation too. Why?

Because sometimes you need to look closely at what the mouth of a

native speaker is doing before you can fully understand HOW to

produce an English vowel or and English consonant sound in the

correct, neutral English way.

Most non-native speakers of English can HEAR that there is a

difference between their own accent when speaking English, and a

native English accent. What they don't know is how to change the

way they speak to produce 'English' sounds.

This takes careful observation and a little concentration, BUT,

by focusing on the way individual sounds are produced, even

strong accents can be reduced.

Consider the 'f' sound. Many Indian English speakers find this difficult,

and will either make a soft blowing sound, or will make a 'p'

sound instead, so that 'fast friend' becomes 'past prend'.

Listening to a native speaker might tell them that this isn't

quite right...but watching carefully will show them how to make

that sound (Bite your lower lip lightly with your top teeth, and

blow out. There it is! Put some sound into it, and it becomes the

voiced V sound, which many Indians pronounce as a 'w').

ALL English consonant and vowel sounds can be explained in this

way...meaning that ANYONE can choose the accent they learn, and

can speak English confidently and clearly.