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Received Pronunciation Spoken Practice – Take One

Hi guys, here’s my first attempt to speak with the Received Pronunciation in front of a camera (without reading)!

I’ve done a lot of spoken practice over the last ten days or so, and now I’m finally ready to make the leap from reading into speaking!

As you can imagine, it’s going to be a slow start because I have to keep thinking about both – WHAT I’m saying and HOW I’m saying it.

As a result, on some occasions I will say something that might not make a lot of sense because I’m really focused on my pronunciation; in other instances you may hear me revert back to my standard accent because I’m trying to say something meaningful.

One way or another, there are no shortcuts I could possibly take in terms of the British accent acquisition. I just have to do the hard work and try to speak while trying to get both right – accent AND fluency. It will be hard for some time, but I’ll thank myself later on, I know it!

And here’s another thing I noticed when listening to my own recording.

I don’t sound as good in the video as when practicing with myself without recording. Whether it’s the presence of camera, or something else – it’s hard to tell. It’s just that on some occasions when I’m watching yet another National Geographic documentary with a British narration and trying to mimic that voice, I do sound much more like a British person – at least I like to think so.

But then it’s always the case that when you’re not showing off, you can achieve much better results. When you’re displaying your skills to a larger audience – more often than not you can’t expect the same performance as when being alone, so I think it’s pretty normal and I won’t beat myself over it! 😉

Chat soon,

Robby

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American Accent Update – Still Well and Going Strong!

I’m in the middle of my Received Pronunciation learning mission – but it doesn’t deter me from practicing my General American Pronunciation!

To be honest with you guys – the American Accent has actually become my standard accent, and while some time ago I was a little bit ashamed of sounding like one, now I simply can’t help but sound like an American English speaker!

Obviously all those long hours of self-practice have done the trick and slowly but steadily my standard East-European accent has made a transition into a permanent General American Pronunciation based accent.

Please note that I said “General American Pronunciation BASED accent”! I did it to emphasize the fact that I don’t sound EXACTLY as a native English speaker. And I probably never will, for the simple reason that once you’re a foreigner, you’re always a foreigner. You can try to sound just like a native English speaker all you like, but your native accent will still be there at some degree.

But I’m totally fine with that because I never embarked on my accent learning missions in order to achieve 100% native English accent and pronunciation. It would be a mission impossible, and while it provides me with a standard to aim for, it’s still something so unattainable that I’m just trying to do my best and I’m happy with the results I’ve been able to achieve!

I’ll let you be the judge of it however, so watch the video above to hear my American English and don’t hesitate to post comments below – all kinds of opinion is welcome!

Chat soon,

Robby 😉

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Received Pronunciation Practice by Reading – Video #2

Here’s my second attempt to read with the Received Pronunciation – please watch the video above to hear how I sound this time around!

Of course, I’m still light years away from being a fluent British English speaker, but I’m not despaired at the slightest. I’m fully aware that PRACTICE IS WHAT MAKES ONE PERFECT, so I just have to stick with my reading practice till I’m ready to move on and start speaking!

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I’ve begun my second Accent Learning Mission – Received Pronunciation (Traditional British Accent) – and here’s a video where you can listen to me trying to read and sound like a Brit! 😉

Of course, these first feeble attempts into the British Accent are laughable; however, not every start is easy – and this one is definitely NOT because I’m so used to the General American Pronunciation!

Here’s what I noticed during this reading practice:

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Received Pronunciation Mission Starts NOW!

I’m finally ready to embark upon the next accent learning mission, and this time around it’s going to be Received Pronunciation ❗

Received Pronunciation is English spoken in the South of England, and it can also be called the General British Pronunciation because this particular accent is the typical British accent we can hear in British broadcasting, politics and of course – the Royal family!

So basically it’s the British equivalent of the General American Pronunciation, and it’s the most logical choice for my second accent learning mission. I tackled the American English first, so now it’s turn to master its British counterpart because the two versions of pronunciation – British and American – are always compared as the two main English accents.

And I can’t argue with that! While there are other English accents spoken by very large groups of people – arguably even more numerous than the population of British Isles and the States combined, at least historically Great Britain and the US are the two major superpowers and their English pronunciation has given birth to the rest of accents.

Anyway, please watch the above video to see how exactly I’m going to learn the Received Pronunciation!

Also, you’ll find out my personal stance in relation to accent and pronunciation issues and general English fluency issues – such as making mistakes when speaking and similar.

I hope you’ll enjoy following my Received Pronunciation learning mission, and talk to you soon my friends!

Robby 😉

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Differences between American and British English

I’ve successfully completed my first accent learning mission – General American Pronunciation – and now I’m looking forward to the next one – British accent or the so-called Received Pronunciation. (RP)

Quite obviously, I’m in the process of doing some research on what characterizes the Received Pronunciation, and what I’m finding is an overwhelming amount of info pointing out differences between English spoken on the either side of Atlantic.

There’s a lot of information out there telling us that the two versions of English – American and British – are SO DIFFERENT that they can be almost considered to be different languages. Also, if you try to learn either of the English versions, you’ll inevitably come across lists or videos where the two ways of pronunciation are compared and differences clearly displayed.

And this is where I’m having a slight problem, to say the least!

If you try to learn how to pronounce words in American or British English, you will find it quite difficult to reach fluency in your chosen accent if you keep focusing on the differences!

You’re much better off by being focused solely on your target accent without getting anything else involved. Forget about American English. Don’t even try to compare something – it won’t serve any purpose other than just to confuse you!

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General American Pronunciation Mission Accomplished!

I’ve been on my first accent adventure – which is the General American Pronunciation mission – for nearly 3 months now, and I believe I’m ready to draw the line here and move on to the next mission!

I’ve been practicing my American pronunciation on a daily basis, and I believe I’ve made a fairly good progress.

However, I’ll let you be the judge of it so please watch the video above and let me know what you think about my American pronunciation in the comments below ❗

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American Phrases are used worldwide

The world is a much smaller place than it used to be not so long ago. Thanks to the rapid development of modern communications people have an immediate access to all sorts of information from all around the world – digital media, eBooks, music, films. Just think about the worldwide reach the Hollywood industry has and how it spreads American colloquialisms and slang all over the globe!

Also, people are more likely to move to another English speaking country, mingle with others, use their local American English expressions and pass them onto others.

Basically what I want to say is that an awful lot of slang and phraseology traditionally classed as American is used in other English speaking countries.

It’s not as clear-cut as it was back in the day when people lived in closed communities and their spoken language didn’t have much of outside influence.

Nowadays you can’t draw a distinct line between American phraseology and the rest of the world simply because a lot of it is being used worldwide!

Here’s a list of just some of so-called American phrases and slang which is actually used in other parts of the world!

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I’ve heard my fellow English speakers make the same pronunciation mistakes over and over again while it’s OBVIOUS that they’re aware of the fact that they’re making them.

For example, the typical English ‘th’ sound isn’t that hard to master, yet a lot of foreigners will say – “Nope, not a chance in the word I’ll be able to pronounce it properly!”

Another sound that many foreigners refuse to learn is the ‘r’ sound. Many nationalities like Spaniards, Italians and East-Europeans will pronounce that sound very hard like in their own language while mastering the proper ‘r’ sound is actually quite easy.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a perfectionist, and my own English is far from being perfect and native-like. I do, however, pay attention to how I pronounce words in English, and with a little bit of effort nearly every English sound can be mastered to quite a decent level.

In this video I’m addressing this particular issue, so please watch it if you’re among those foreign English speakers always having considered themselves bad at learning proper English pronunciation and accents.

And of course, post your comments below!

Robby 😉

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Watch this video episode to learn why it’s very important to learn to pronounce whole sentences when you acquire the American accent as opposed to learning how individual words are pronounced.

Probably it’s not a very big issue for you because most likely you’d be repeating after a native speaker when learning the American pronunciation and that would quite naturally mean that you repeat full sentences.

Anyway, I’d like to take this opportunity and emphasize the importance of learning sentences and phrases in case some of you may be focusing on learning how to pronounce individual words most of your time! 😉

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