How can I learn the british accent?

Question

How long will it take?

I am from Asia?

I was wondering, does it really matter to british people that we got to speak in your accent?

Answer 1

I haven't been the the UK, so I wouldn't know, but here in the US in my city, no one cares how you speak.

I can't do a british accent, in-fact I sound like I'm doing an indian accent when I try to.

Answer 2

Which British accent?...Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cockney (London), Scouse (Liverpool), Brummie (Birmingham), Geordie (Newcastle) etc. All these are British accents but VERY different.

Answer 3

Which one - there must be around 50 regional accents though most young people seem to want to speak with a US accent now anyway so maybe we'll all sound as if we were born in East LA eventually.  I shouldn't worry about it if I was you - an Asian accent has got to be better than a West Midlands accent at least so it could be worse!

Answer 4

Hmm, it's humilliant and prejudicious, but yes, in some places people do care if you've got an accent. I've been practising accent reduction for 2 years. You have to learn how the British pronounce and what words and expressions they use in order to sound as natural as possible. If you're already in Britain, you've got a great advantage, all you have to do is to listen to the people around you and to the British media - watch TV, listen to the radio, etc. Also, there is special mp3 podcast on Internet for listening and accent reduction, dealing on a variety of subjects, choose some you like, listen to them and copy their accent:

British Council Learn English:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnengli...

BBC Learning English - Watch and Listen:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learni...

Answer 5

99% of the time we can tell when its a foreigner doing an accent!  The important thing would be to concentrate on standard enunciation.  I don't know who came up with the daft idea that emulating a regional accent would increase sales!  It just doesn't work unless you're a local!

Whilst I appreciate that people have to make a living, I don't want to make my situation worse by taking out inadvisable loans or by buying double glazing etc etc!!!

Answer 6

Might I suggest a 'southwest, north-Wiltshire, non-rhotic, non-regional, English accent'.

Answer 7

If you want to perfect it you should practice at east once a day and put effort into it...you should also watch videos or movies that british people and see the different ways they speak...thats how I did it.

Answer 8

British people can tell if you are not native but we do appreciate people learning our language properly. It's very hard to imitate the accent unless you get lessons but unless you're an actor, learning the language should be sufficient enough. ^^

Answer 9

I don't know how long it would take.  It probably depends how much effort you put in and for how long.

It doesn't matter to most English people if you speak with a foreign accent (or a Welsh or Scots one, for that matter) but some people think it's a bit annoying to have Asians speaking with US accents - it makes us wonder why they learned that kind of English and not ours.  But it's not a big deal