#002 American and British accents

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Transcript:

Hi, everyone!

I’m Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently.

In this episode:

• I’ll talk about why the American accent is so different from the British accent.
• After that, I’ll use the Question and Answer technique to help you develop your speaking skills.

Let’s get started!

In the eighteenth century, American and British pronunciations were pretty similar.

Remember that the British Empire colonized America.

Many immigrants traveled to America to start a new life.

So, a fair question is:

Why are American and British pronunciation so different nowadays?

Well, there are many theories, but here’s a reasonable one:

I know that may come as a surprise to you, It’s actually the standard British accent that has radically changed in the past two centuries. However, the American accent has remained almost identical.

So, what happened? A little bit of history can help us. At the time the British accent started to change, the industrial revolution began. That means that many families became wealthy in a short period.

The upper-class society did not welcome those families, although they had a lot of money.

Therefore, newly wealthy families tried to distinguish themselves from the other lower classes. One way to

achieve that was to change the way they spoke. They tried to sound more sophisticated, more elegant.

So, new tutors and experts on pronunciation offered their services to the newly affluent people. New guidelines and pronunciation dictionaries were written. This new way of speaking became standardized – it’s called “Received Pronunciation” – and it spread all over the country.

More and more people wanted to sound more elegant and not like the lower class. It was a fashion that became very popular.

The funny thing about this is how accents are represented in historical films.

For example, the American Revolutionary
War shows British soldiers talking with the Received Pronunciation (RP) accent, as if they were on the BBC, and American soldiers with the Standard American Accent, you know that’s not very accurate.

Ok, let’s move on to the next section.

 

Mini-Story (practice your speaking)

 

Awesome! Now let’s practice with a mini-story, which is a method that I use in my English courses.

Sometimes I call it a conversation simulator because you practice your English like in a real conversation.

Here’s how it works: I give you information and ask simple questions. After each question, there is a pause where you can answer. After the pause, I give you the correct answer for you to compare. You’ll see how this method will help you to improve your English speaking.

Are you ready? Let’s go!

The Parker family owned a big factory in Liverpool.

Did the Parker family own a small factory?
No. No. They didn’t own a small factory. They owned a big factory.
Did the Parker family own a big restaurant? No. They didn’t own a big restaurant, but a big factory.
Was the factory big or small?
Big. The factory was big.
Where was the factory? In Manchester? No. Not in Manchester. The factory was not in Manchester but in Liverpool.
What did the Parker family own?
A big factory. They owned a big factory in Liverpool.

More than 1000 people worked in Parker’s factory.

Did only 500 people work in the factory?
No. More than 1000 people worked in the factory. Did less than 1000 people work in Parker’s factory? No, no. That’s not true. More than 1000 people worked there.
Where did the people work?
In a factory. They worked in Parker’s factory. How many people worked in Parker’s factory? More than 1000 people. More than 1000 workers worked in Parker’s factory.
Whose factory?
Parker’s. Parker’s factory.

All the machines in the factory had steam-powered engines.

Were the machines electric?
No, they were not electric. The machines in the factory had steam-powered engines.
Were there in the factory just a few steam- powered machines?
No, no. All the machines in the factory were steam- powered.
What element did they use? Steam? Oil? Water?

They used steam. They used steam to power the machines.
Where were all those steam-powered machines?
In the factory. In Parker’s factory. They were in Parker’s factory.

All three children of the family took pronunciation classes.

Did the three children buy a book on pronunciation?
No. They didn’t buy a book on pronunciation. They took pronunciation classes.
Did they take French classes?
No. They didn’t take French classes. They took pronunciation classes.
How many children took pronunciation classes? Three. All three children took pronunciation classes. What did they take?
Pronunciation classes. They took pronunciation classes.

The children sounded more refined and sophisticated than their parents.

Did the children sound refined?
Yes. They sounded refined.
Did the children sound sophisticated?
Yes. They sounded sophisticated, too.
Did the children sound as sophisticated as their parents?
No. The children didn’t sound as sophisticated as their parents. They sounded more sophisticated.
Did the parents sound more elegant than their children?
No. No. They sounded less elegant than their children. Why the children sound more refined and sophisticated than their parents?
Because they took pronunciation classes, they sounded more sophisticated because they took pronunciation classes.

Perfect. That’s the end of the mini-story. As you can see, you are answering easy questions all the time.

They are easy on purpose; this technique helps you develop your speaking skills. It’s like practicing with another person!
This is one of the techniques that I use in my courses. I recommend you take a look at:

SpeakEnglishPodcast.com/courses

Well, That’s all for today. Try to listen to this content several times and share the podcast with your friends and families. That would mean a lot to me. Thanks!

I’ll see you next week! Bye! Bye!

28 Comments

  1. najeeb

    Thank you Georgiana for your efforts. .

    Reply
  2. Ruben Moreno

    I’d like to take the level 2 course, but my question is if you have a monthly program payment?

    Reply
    • GEORGIANA

      Hi Ruben! This is a very good question. When you buy any of my courses you pay only one time and then you download the courses on your PC, tablet, cell phone, etc. You pay one time and the course will be yours forever. Thanks for contacting!

      Reply
      • Toufik

        You.re a good teacher thanks.

        Reply
  3. Luthfy

    My dear teacher…I couldn’t get toy video orderly in YouTube….what to do

    Reply
    • Baskarraj

      Hello madam I would like to your first level courses how to send money please tell me I don’t know your money transfer method so please any ideas
      give me thanks for your helping tentans

      Reply
  4. Venkatesh Reddy

    Thanks for your classes ma’am.

    Reply
  5. Bhavana

    Very nice.

    Reply
  6. Bhavana

    Your Episodes are too help me Mam. Thank you so much. Let you make more videos for us.

    Reply
    • Ameen

      Thank you georgiana for your lesoons its usefall
      My live for you

      Reply
  7. Thao

    Thanks!! Episodes are very usefull that help me prove my English.

    Reply
  8. Amboise norejeune

    Thank you teacher, iam really like your wonderfull lesson inglish

    Reply
  9. Jeremie

    Really Georgiana, you are the best teacher.

    Reply
    • GEORGIANA

      Thanks Jeremie! You’re really kind!

      Reply
  10. Zahid

    Hi, i am Zahid and i m from Pakistan .i want to buy your course tell me how i purchase your lectures.i start listening you. Thank you!

    Reply
    • GEORGIANA

      Hi Zahid!

      Reply
  11. Gildardo

    Hi. I m hapy whit your english. I hunderstand you listening.

    Reply
  12. gilvan

    hello teacher may you help me..

    Reply
  13. Philimon mathias

    Hi teacher, i enjoy the method you use i will like to comment you honestly, am having a challenge speaking in public because sometimes i make mistakes
    and it’s embarrassing. I wish i have the money to get your full courses that will be a wonderful help to me .i want to be a motivational speakerand a communicator ,thank you

    Reply
  14. GENADY

    Hi Georgiana.
    Thanks for your lesson
    It interesting and useful for learning English.
    Have a nice day.

    Reply
  15. Campos

    Hi teacher. I’m Brazilian and I enjoy this lessons with you. Your english is perfectly to learn.

    Have a good week.

    Reply
    • GEORGIANA

      Thanks, Campos! I’, happy to help you to improve your English skills. Cheers!

      Reply
  16. Jason Asprilla

    Hello teacher,

    I am from Colombia, South America.

    Let me tell you honestly that your English course is incredible. I started to learn with it since yesterday and I realized that is very useful. Congratulations and thank you very much for teaching people around the world. I am very excited about this new method!

    Reply
  17. Phạm Ngân

    Thanks to your class! I’m a vietnamese and after watching your video I’m quite confident about my accent. To be honest, before finding your site, I had trouble making my voice clearer. And I really happy to find that my accent was better after watching your video. Just watched about 3 or more videos, the change in your voice is already very noticeable. Once again, thanks to your videos and podcasts Georgianna! I love you so much

    Reply
  18. reza

    thank you
    i found your telegram casually and i am taking great delight
    god bless you

    Reply
  19. MHM Nawas

    MHM Nawas

    Reply

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With Georgiana’s method  I have started speaking English from minute one and this is exactly what I needed. With the traditional method you will practice grammar, grammar and grammar, but with Georgiana’s method you will practice listening and speaking and in my opinion this is the most important thing when you are learning a new language. Ricardo

“Thanks to Georgiana, I have lost my fear of speaking English. I have eliminated my frustration and started to enjoy this language.” Miriam

“I did not study English when I was a child. I contacted Georgiana at a time when I felt blocked. She has helped me to lose my fear of speaking English.” Ana