A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfect British Intonation

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00:00 What are your options?
01:15 The intonation of questions
04:20 Question tags
05:41 Stress the content words
07:37 Adding emphasis
09:52 Lists
11:11 (positive) surprise
12:20 (Negative) surprise
13:04 Anger
13:34 Sarcasm
14:06 Fury

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[nHans]

Oh no, my natural Indian-English accent goes up and down in a sing-song fashion! Do the Brits think I'm being sarcastic all the time? 🤣

Despite that, whenever I'm speaking to a room full of native English speakers, I deliberately speak in my natural accent. Paradoxically, that way, they pay closer attention and understand me better, than if I tried to fake a British or American accent. (I do fake my accent on phone calls though. And no, I don't work in a call center 🙄) Maybe it has to do with meeting expectations and avoiding surprises—they see an Indian guy with an Indian name, and are subconsciously primed to hear an Indian accent? 🤔

[rook]

If there are any non native speakers watching this don't worry about sounding British it doesn't matter and foreign accents often sound nice

[isabelatence]

British English is elegant, intonation is an important differential, I met an English woman in Egypt, she used this variation when I said I was from Brazil, "Brazillll!! Incredible class, Gideon, your way of teaching is top notch. I'm going to practice🤩 thank so much

Two things. First - your lessons are brilliant! Thank you, you've made a lot of things about English clear to me. Second - as a Ukrainian I want to thank you for your support. That little bracelet you have on your wrist means much more than you think. Thank you and much respect from Kyiv, Ukraine. If you ever come here after the war I'll be happy to show you around.

[Only.mosafeer]

excuse me sir,
is it true when we used to be in a question the last intonation fall down
and
when we use auxiliary for in a question they will go up, aren't they?

[internations]

I feel so grateful especially for this one! Had a couple of never-ending gramma doubts that you have explained in a such an easy way to get. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Y]

I love all your contents Old Bean, yet That episode about The Posh English was magnificent, mate! 💯 A Bravo Deserved👏🏼

[nHans]

Compiling in one place all the viewers' ideas for food items containing cheese and tomatoes other than sandwiches:
*Burger, pizza, pasta, salad, chips/crisps/Cheetos, curry, (savory) eclair, stuffed bun* etc. Feel free to contribute more ideas! (I'm personally lactose-intolerant and avoid most dairy products, including cheese.)

[helenschwickrath]

As an a New England speaker, born in central NY, I enjoy these segments. Many thanks!

[ildarmingazov]

Hey there! The good explanation is a half of understanding.
Thanks a lot!

[amherst]

You never cease to amuse/amaze me with new insights into my native language ❤

[ArtBlade]

First off, thank you very much for your excellent videos. As to intonation, I learned how very important it was when a British friend once told me it wasn't my grammar or vocabulary that gave away I wasn't British but the lack of British intonation did. In other words, I didn't _sound_ British. He then imitated me by quoting one sentence the way I had said it and then repeating the same sentence "in English." It was an epiphany. And it stuck. And it motivated me. Having watched your video I am glad to report that I got most of it right and I thank you profusely for helping me with the rest. :)

[OceanChild]

Watching this video will be part of my morning routing from now on – I’m tired of being told I have a flat tone and of having people thinking I am being sarcastic when I am genuinely complimenting them 😅 it has taken me a while but I have now come to terms with the fact I will never sound English and having a good intonation is my new realistic(ish) goal.

Thank you for your amazing video – once again sparkled with humour & Britishness 💛

[andrescastro]

How's it going' eh? After 40+ years I am still trying to sound Canadian, let alone Brit . Cheers from Van Isle...🙂

[ilaFNorte]

Amazing class! thank you. Am I sounding british? hehe

[Ruslan-rtqe]

Great videos! Also Thank you for the Ukrainian bracelet on your wrist!

[WNH]

It's funny--as soon as you said, "I don't beLIEVE it!" I thought of Victor Meldrew. And there he was.

[raychat]

Good series of videos, I personally still agree with Gideon saying you do NOT need to sound not like where you are from some time ago, English is a third language for me and my accent is ok for me 😊 I do however completely understand why some might have the utter need to lose their accent, specifically for work relations … not however for one’s identity … ultimately

[БогданКостюченко-цо]

Thank you for this splendid lesson, Gideon! By the way, I've got a question about pronunciation to you. Do you hear any difference between the sound in the beginning and the end of the words "under", "upper" and "utter"? The Oxford and the Cambridge dictionaries say they're pronounced /ˈʌndə/, /ˈʌpə/ and /ˈʌtə/, but I don't hear any difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/ Do you hear it?

[insulaarachnid]

I recently became aware of some English people using the word sat rather than sit/sitting/seated. Is that a widespread habit in the UK?