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Received Pronunciation Spoken Practice – Take Two

by accentrobby on November 3, 2012

Welcome back to my British Accent mission and here’s the second video where I’m speaking without having anything prepared prior to turning the camera on.

It’s 100% improvisation, and what makes it so special in terms of accent learning is the fact that it’s quite tricky to make sure I pronounce all words correctly while trying to think about WHAT I’m going to say at the same time!

That’s why you’ll notice me hesitating on certain occasions and it’s also the reason behind my sometimes chaotic speech.

But I’m not too worried about it anyway because I’m very well aware that while trying to get into a new accent speaking ‘mode’ you’ve got to be prepared to spend some time struggling.

It’s normal – no-one can realistically expect a foreign English speaker to start speaking FLUENTLY with a specific English language accent right from the start!

And here’s my typical day of learning the Received Pronunciation:

Watching some X-Factor USA and mimicking Simon Cowell;
Engaging in random monologues during the day (voicing my thoughts, narrating my actions and so on);
Reading a few online news articles out loud;
Before sleep – watching some nature documentary and mimicking the narrator.

It may sound that there’s an awful lot on my table, but it’s not as overwhelming as it may seem. I would have done some of those things ANYWAY (like engaging in spoken English self-practice and watching a little bit of National Geographic), and spending a few extra minutes a day trying to master the British Accent isn’t really such a high price to pay.

Thanks for watching this video, and I would really welcome your constructive criticism!

Chat soon,

Robby 😉

Comments on this entry are closed.

Scooby

Hi Robby,

Great website.. Its nice to know that you encourage people to speak fluently, despite their natural accents!
I do have a few problems though.. a little bit about myself..
I grew up in the Gulf where we were taught to speak with the British Accent. And then we moved to India, and I’ve developed an Indian accent. I can still speak with the British accent, but I don’t feel natural speaking that way to native speakers, although I sound much more articulate with the British accent. I’m not sure why this is happening? What do you think could be the problem?
- accentrobby
  
  Hi Scooby,
  
  First of all – thanks for positive feedback, I’m glad you like my new blog!
  
  Speaking of your accent problem, here’s what I think.
  
  You should follow your instinct and speak with others – regardless of whether they’re Indians or Brits – the way you feel most comfortable. Don’t let any feeling of inferiority or anything else dictate how you should speak; do only what’s best for your fluency.
  
  You’re saying that speaking with the British accent you’re sounding more articulate. I’m guessing it’s from other people’s perspective, isn’t it? You’re basically worried that when speaking with your Indian accent you mightn’t be understood or get different treatment.
  
  Well, if it does pose certain problems in terms of communication and makes you feel uncomfortable when speaking with natives, you should probably consider getting your British accent back. Other than that, however, you should speak the way it feels most natural to you!
  
  Personally I don’t try to put on a certain accent when speaking with others, and my pronunciation also changes depending on the day of the week; I basically speak the way I sound most fluent so as far as it doesn’t hamper the communication process I think we shouldn’t worry too much about our native accents.
  
  Having said this, let me reiterate once more that if speaking with the British accent would make you feel more comfortable when communicating with natives, you should probably doing some accent training because at the end of the day you can’t ignore your mental well being. There’s no point in keeping to speak with the Indian accent with native speaker despite your inner discomfort just to prove that you don’t care about others opinion of your accent! 😉
  
  Hope this all makes sense,
  
  Regards,
  
  Robby