Here Are Some Tips For Understanding The English Accent

Paul watson
Posted by October 20, 2022 December 28, 2022

English beholding the stature of Lingua Franca around the world is surprising because only 25% of the world population are native speakers of it. Still, it is because most nations have a second language, English. So, practically speaking, the number of non-native speakers is much higher than that of native speakers. Isn’t that interesting? The usage of English as a communication medium is so much so that it should be declared as an official international language as it doesn’t only belong to its place of origin but is used by billions of people to express themselves and connect on the global level.

Suppose you are gearing up to start mastering this language. In that case, your journey in English learning can be more comprehensive because English is a brand, just like a mega brand has multiple valuable products. Similarly, this language has many different versions inspired by the respective countries, their culture and other demographic factors.

Europe alone has forty different dialects of English. The same goes for America and other Asian countries. Of course, having a command of each of them is a very complex task, but knowing about them through a few snippets would not harm and will increase linguistic knowledge of anyone. So, let’s check out the different accents of English and their origin.

  1. British Accent:

The British accent is also known as Queen’s English. It is a typical accent of Great Britain preferred by people from the elite class to the upper middle class. A perfect example is what we hear on BBC News, where the ‘r’ at the end of the word remains unpronounced and is replaced by the ‘uh’ sound. So, water will be pronounced like ‘wa-uh’, and ‘a’ in certain words is also pronounced as a long-sounding A, for example, chance, father, etc.

British accent itself has various sub-branches like

  • Cockney- ‘T’ remains unpronounced mostly. Better will sound like “be-uh”
  • Yorkshire-Words with the ee sound, in the end, will be pronounced as eh
  • Scottish-’r’ sound is mostly rolled, and vowel sounds are elongated.
  • Welsh-This accent is the toughest nut to crack with very, very, very long words.
  • Northern Irish-’r’ at the end of words is exaggerated like’rrr’, and sentences end with intonation, even if it’s not a question.
  1. American Accent:

You need to be well versed in the variety of vocabulary and pronunciation when it comes to the American accent, as this accent, too, has different forms and faces. Some of it depends on the region are:

  • New York City- A standard New Yorker will replace ‘a’ and ‘o’ as ‘awww’ in most cases. So, coffee becomes “cawfee”, and talk becomes “tawwk”.
  • Southern accent- They have a drawn-out approach with vowel sounds, and the trends in Gen-Z lingo, like “going to” replaced with “gonna”, “let me” replaced with “lemme”, etc., originated here itself.
  • Canadian- This accent is a blend of British and American English and has unique characteristics.

Two prominent accents and some of their types are listed above, but documenting all the categories and sub-categories of English spoken worldwide in a single article is impossible. Now, before you install an app to learn English online, make sure you have the option to explore different elements of different accents spoken commonly.