How to Fake a British Accent FAST

You urgently need to sound British. You don't have time to study phonetics and practise for years so hear it is. In just 12 minutes you'll learn six sounds that'll mark you out as British. The accent here is SSBE (Standard Southern British English) sometimes referred to as RP.

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0:00 The SSBE accent
02:01 The big round 0
03:55 The non-rhotic R
06:37 The A in cat
07:43 A T is a T
09:07 The long A
10:22 The short O
11:11 Practice

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[UkSapyy]

As a Northerner this was a great help in coming to understand how the South speaks English wrong.

[MortimerFolchert]

Well, thank you sir.
I learned "Oxford-English" as a boy in school (in Germany) but never got a "British Accent".
I must say though, that it's incredibly funny to practice your lesson by reading all the comments here out loud.
Although I catch myself switching between dozens of different accents all the time. Can't keep one straight for too long :D

[cuervoso]

I'm from Chile, I learnt English because when I was younger my family had a lodge and most of the tourists were from UK, so I spent my entire childhood trying to realise how to pronounce some words properly. So there I was, a 10 years old kid, in July I was speaking with a London accent, in August someone from Manchester came and told me "no, that R is pronounced like this...", then someone from Leicester, then a Scottish... so, well, nowadays I'm not quite sure about what kind of accent I have, but every time I speak English with a British person, I can see how confused he is because he can't recognise from which part of UK I'm supposed to be, at least until I commit some grammar mistake and he realises I'm from Chile hahahaha.

[NarsFromMars]

As an Anglomaniac from Iran, this is the only thing I have the motivation for watching at 2:20 am to help allay my palpitation caused by all the disturbing news around me.
Thank you, and tears. For real.

[ThePsydrummer]

As a non-native english speaker, I must admit that during my learning process, I decided to experiment with the british accent, working long hours in front of a mirror, repeating some sounds that I could relate to the british way and in doing so, I think I became quite good on pretending to be a brit. By the way, I'm from Chile and I've never been to Europe.
You are certainly one of my favourite English teacher, all of your lessons are pure gold. Thanks for your work. Cheers!

[johnkirton]

Excellent video! As a linguist who has coached foreigners in English, this covers lots of difficulties for European learners of English.

[sciencelad]

I wish the whole world would speak with this accent! Lovely, clear, delightful!

[Ahrimas]

It's so interesting to hear someone talk about how to do your own accent.

[christopheryoung]

As a Bostonian, it was interesting to find how many similarities we have with standard British English, especially the non-rhotic, linking Rs, long As, short Os, etc. It was easy to match your pronunciation of most of your practice sentences. Fun lesson.

[Nerketur]

This confirms some of my suspicions.

I was born and raised as an American, of the southern US variety. Yet southerners think I'm from the north, and vice versa.

Part of this is when I was learning how to speak, I learned it with alphabet sounds from a British teaching tool. This caused me to learn from a mix of both, and as such, some of these I do naturally in certain words, and others I do in the more American way.

Language is interesting, and I've since accepted that my accent is uniquely mine. I've trained myself to speak not "the proper way", but "the way that most will understand"

[mattuk]

I am from Bristol in England and I like these videos. I had fun pronouncing everything wrongly like I was from Eastern Europe.

[joe]

I'm British. Why am I watching this!? 😂

[craigmillar]

What a great video. I have an English mother, and I’ve been traveling back and forth to London from Toronto regularly for 25 years and have never heard this explained so well. Well done sir 👍

[AndrewAndZz]

Brilliant video! All main British English pronunciation specifics gathered together and given in a clear and concise way! Thank you a lot!

[benceszekely]

I learnt English just as my second language at school but always prioritized the British accent. Watching TV series, listening and noting all the unknown words truly helped a lot back then among practicing in England when I had the chance to be there. Now I can say I read aloud literally everything just as Gideon did. It's somehow satisfying.

[rhess]

I've been a v.o. artist most of my adult life. This was an outstanding tutorial. Kudos to you, sir.

[darkredvan]

I am a German who had quite a lot of my several years of English lessons done by native speakers. One of them being from Cambrigeshire, the other an Australian from Sydney. Though my last lesson has been more than 45 years ago, your pronunciation comes very, very near to what I can remember was taught. Though how I would speak now (I am not that good at it, reading / writing suits me better) would be quite corrupted by watching too many American movies. It definitely is a pleasure to hear you perform perfect British English. BTW my Australian English teacher warned us not to copy his own Aussie accent (sometimes telling stories he slipped back into it). I especially remember his „wrong“ pronunciation of „moon“ being more like „müün“, even after ~ 50 years. RIP Mr. John Slinn.

[LADYLARACROFT]

You are an excellent teacher and also hilarious! The information is better retained if you have fun. Thank you!

[javierduhart]

What a fantastic video! This used to be my accent, I spent my childhood in London in the 70s. Then we moved to Chile, and I learned Spanish which is now my main language, and I gradually lost my British accent... I’m going to try and see if I can get it back!

[irina_moscow]

Lovely video, I wish British sounded like you, Gideon, it’s so clean and clear. The life would be so much easier ! 😀