How to Learn a British Accent

Co-authored by Patrick Muñoz

Last Updated: December 2, 2020 References

Whether you are an actor or moving to Great Britain and want to fit in, learning a British accent can be challenging if you are accustomed to a different way of speaking. While British accents vary by country, region, city, and even neighborhood, there are several commonalities in pronunciation and vocabulary that you can learn to help you convincingly speak like a Brit.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Mastering Mouth Movements

1
Speak through your hands to help your mouth move vertically. Hold your hands parallel to one another on either side of your mouth. Then, imagine you are speaking through a crack in the wall. Make sure that your mouth never widens past your hands. Your lips will need to move up and down rather than to the sides, which is how British people tend to speak.^{[1]
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- For example, practice with the Shakespearean quote “O for a Muse of fire, that would ascent the brightest heaven of invention.” With an American accent, for example, the words “muse,” “would,” “brightest,” “heaven,” and “invention” are generally spoken with a relaxed mouth where lips move up and down and to the sides. With a British accent, however, these words are spoken with the lips moving only up and down.
2
Focus on keeping energy in your upper lip as you speak. Speaking with a British accent generally requires more facial engagement than many other accents, such as most American or Canadian accents.^{[2]
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Research source} If you naturally speak with a more relaxed accent, it is likely that your upper lip relaxes as you speak. Focusing on engaging your upper lips as you speak will help you keep the correct shape in your mouth while you speak in a British accent.^{[3]
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- Practicing the word “hello” can be particularly helpful. With many accents, such as most American and Canadian accents, “hello” is spoken with little movement in the upper lip. To say “hello” with a British accent, however, the upper lip must be engaged and move upward as the “h” is spoken.
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3
Practice flicking and twisting the tip of your tongue. Unlike most American and Canadian accents, which are generally spoken with a lazy tongue tip, most British dialects require that you have a flexible tongue tip. Flicking and twisting your tongue around will help you loosen the muscle and be able to perfect your pronunciation.^{[4]
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4
Watch British people speak to mimic the mouth movements. As babies, we first acquire our particular accents by watching our parents and the people around us move their mouths.^{[5]
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Research source} You can use this same method to help you retrain your mouth to move in ways that will allow you to speak with a British accent.^{[6]
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Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.}
- Watching dialect videos online can be particularly helpful. In these videos, accent experts often over-enunciate words and dramatize their mouth movements to help viewers mimic the movements more easily. YouTube, for example, has a vast amount of dialect videos.^{[7]
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- This can be particularly helpful if you are trying to learn a specific British dialect. For example, if you trying to learn a Scottish accent, focus on watching Scottish people speak. While there are consistencies, the mouth movements will vary from other British dialects, such as a Received Pronunciation English accent.^{[8]
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  Expert Source
  
  Patrick Muñoz
  Voice & Speech Coach
  Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.}

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Learning the Pronunciation

1
Practice enunciating your consonants clearly. When learning a British accent, try to deliberately enunciate the consonants in words as you speak.^{[9]
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Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.} Unlike many other accents, such as most American accents, most British dialects enunciate consonants very clearly.
- For example, the word “often” is pronounced “off-en” in an American accent. When spoken with a British accent, “often” is pronounced “oFF-TeN,” with all of the consonants clearly enunciated.
2
Enunciate your “t”s clearly. “T”s are particularly important for nailing a British accent.^{[10]
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Research source} While Americans tend to gloss over the “t”s in words, British speakers clearly enunciate the “t”s. To practice, try speaking out repetitive ditties, such as “ten tiny typists tripped through the tunnel.”^{[11]
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Research source} You will likely need to enunciate the “t”s in order to avoid tripping up.
- The word “British” is a great example. With a British accent, the word “British” is pronounced “BriT-Tish,” where the “t”s are clearly enunciated. In contrast, when spoken in an American accent, “British” is pronounced “Bri-dish.”
3
Go softer with your “r”s. Unlike many other accents, British people tend to slide over the “r”s in words as they speak. For example, the word “farther” is often pronounced as “father” would be for an American.^{[12]
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Research source} When learning a British accent, try to soften your “r”s by keeping the back of your tongue down.^{[13]
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- When you are just beginning, “car” is an easy word to practice with. Instead of “car” with an enunciated “r”, try keeping your tongue down to pronounce the “r” more like “ah.”
4
Pronounce your “u”s with an “ew” sound. In contrast to an American accent, where “u”s are often pronounced like “oo,” speaking with a British accent requires that you pronounce “u”s with an “ew” sound. For example, when spoken in an American accent, the word “duty” is pronounced like “doo-ty.” In contrast, when spoken in a British accent, “duty” is pronounced “dew-ty.”
5
Stress syllables in a British manner. To learn a British accent, it is important that you learn when to stress syllables in different types of words. For example, when speaking with a British accent, the word “garage” is pronounced “GARE-ahdge,” where the first syllable in stressed. In contrast, when spoken in an American accent, the last syllable is stressed. “Garage,” then, is pronounced “ga-RAHJ” in an American accent.^{[14]
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6
Learn the different dialects. While there are pronunciation commonalities to all British accents, there are also a lot of differences depending on the country, region, city, and even neighborhood within a single city.^{[15]
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Expert Source

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.} To learn to speak with a British accent, determine if you specifically want to learn to an English accent, a Northern Irish accent, a Welsh accent, a Scottish accent, or one of the many other British dialects.^{[16]
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- For example, in England, the word “alright” is generally pronounced “al-right,” where both the “l” and the “t” are clearly enunciated. In Scotland, however, “alright” is generally pronounced as “aw-right” with a soft “l” that sounds as a “w” would sound in America.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Learning the Lingo and Vocabulary

1
Understand the uniquely-British usage of English-language words. In addition to pronunciation, using the correct vocabulary is necessary to convincingly speak with a British accent. While most English language words are used in the same manner across English-speaking places, there are some words that are used in ways specific to Great Britain and, within Great Britain, specific to different areas. Although the meaning of the words does not change, per say, the way they are used is generally unique to Britain.
- For example, in Great Britain, the Royal Mail delivers the post, whereas in America, the Post Office delivers the mail.^{[17]
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  Research source} While both “post” and “mail” relay similar meanings and can likely be understood either way, use the former to make your British accent more realistic.
2
Learn which English-language words have different meanings. While most English-language words have the same or similar meanings, there are some words that have a wholly different meaning for Brits. In order to nail your British accent, it is crucial that you learn what these words are, what their uniquely-British meanings are, and use them accordingly.
- For example, in America, “mad” generally equates to “angry.” In Great Britain, however, “mad” almost exclusively means “crazy.”^{[18]
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3
Use British conversational lingo to convincingly speak like a Brit. When learning a particular British dialect, it is important that you find out what the “slang” terms and phrases are. While these terms and phrases might not be a part of any formal accent training, learning the slang is crucial if you are going to have a convincing accent.
- For example, British people often use “rubbish” as slang for lying or not making sense. Similarly, “pull a sickie” is used to refer to taking a sick day from work.^{[19]
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Expert Q&A
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Question

Can I change my accent?

Patrick Muñoz
Voice & Speech Coach
Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association.

Patrick Muñoz

Voice & Speech Coach

Expert Answer

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It depends, but try looking at the sounds of others' accents that are different from your own. A lot of times when you're going from one accent to another, there's going to be some generals sounds that are pretty much exactly the same. Focus your attention on the sounds that are different from your own, as well as the overall intonation patterns and musicality of the accent. If you practice modeling those sounds and patterns, you'll be off to a great start.
Question

How long does it take to learn a British accent?

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It really depends on how much time you spend practicing. If you work with a dialect coach or use a dialect training course to teach yourself, you can probably pick it up in a few weeks with regular practice. You’ll learn even faster if you spend a lot of time around people with real British accents!
Question

How can I make my British accent better?

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The best way to make it better is to practice. It might help to listen closely to people who naturally speak with a British accent and imitate the way they say things. If you don’t know anyone with the kind of accent you want, look for movies, TV shows, or YouTube videos that feature the accent you’re interested in. You can also take a dialect class or purchase a dialect/accent training book, preferably one that comes with recordings you can practice along with.