Why is it that some English accents are more valued than others?
Back in the 1950s, the only accent you would hear on the TV or radio in the UK would be a clipped 'BBC English' voice. It wasn't even received pronunciation, it was more like the Queen's English - regional or national accents were not considered acceptable for national broadcast.
Thankfully this is no longer the case - all English accents are considered acceptable these days, and we hear a wide variety of regional accents on a daily basis.
Download Drill of English for National Exam - Language Program
Rightly or wrongly, people STILL draw conclusions about you from your voice, making assumptions about where you come from, the level of your education and even how wealthy you are and what your potential in life might be.
It many not be fair, but as SOON as you start to speak, you are saying a great deal about yourself....and not just in the content of your speech. Your tone of voice and your accent - the very WAY in which you speak - is creating an impression with the listener.
You would hope that most people are open minded enough to listen to you and to begin to understand who you really are.
An interview, for example, or a spoken English exam; a telephone sales conversation, where all you have is your voice to work with: in situations like these it is VITAL that you create a strong first impression with a good voice and a clear accent. If the listener has to make too much effort to understand you, they will simply stop listening.
LEARNING AN ENGLISH ACCENT
But, I hear you ask there are so many English accents - which one should I try to learn?
When learning any language, I'd recommend learning the 'neutral' accent of the capital city. In the UK, that would be a neutral British accent, or received pronunciation.
Why? First, because it is the most easily understood English accent outside the UK.
Secondly, a regional UK accent mixed with a non-English accent can be very difficult to understand.
So how DO you learn a neutral British English accent? The key thing is, of course, to listen to native speakers.
Changing your accent needs MORE than listening. It needs observation too. Why? Because sometimes you need to look closely at what the mouth of a native speaker is doing before you can fully understand HOW to produce an English vowel or and English consonant sound in the correct, neutral English way.
Most non-native speakers of English can HEAR that there is a difference between their own accent when speaking English, and a native English accent. What they don't know is how to change the way they speak to produce 'English' sounds.
This takes careful observation and a little concentration, BUT, by focusing on the way individual sounds are produced, even strong accents can be reduced.
Consider the 'f' sound. Many Indian speakers find this difficult, and will either make a soft blowing sound, or will make a 'p' sound instead, so that 'fast friend' becomes 'past prend'.
Listening to a native speaker might tell them that this isn't quite right...but watching carefully will show them how to make that sound (Bite your lower lip lightly with your top teeth, and blow out. Put some sound into it, and it becomes the voiced V sound, which many Indians pronounce as a 'w').
ALL English consonant and vowel sounds can be explained in this way...meaning that ANYONE can choose the accent they learn, and can speak English confidently and clearly.
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