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Hi I'm Joel and I'm Lia and today we have got an English accent lesson. Before we get
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started, don't forget to click subscribe on our channel for future content and don't forget
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to press the bell. So why is English accent training so important? Firstly, wherever you
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go in life, the first thing anybody will take from you, or absorb from you is the way you
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speak. It's your first impression really, or second impression, first is what you look
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like, but then second impression is what you sound like. And often people will be quick
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to judge you, before they get to know you. So in my experience, out of all the English
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accents, whether that's American English, Australian English, or Northern or Southern
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English, the Southern English accent, so a Neutral or Standard English accent is seen
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as the most prestigious, the most reliable, the most educated... just well-respected accent
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to have. Mainstream media used to be populated entirely by this accent. Which is why it's
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known in some circles as 'BBC English accent' because the BBC (British Broadcasting Company)
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in the UK, only used to hire people with our sorts of accents. Now that's not the case,
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they hire people with all sorts of accents, but back in the day, they only hired 'us'
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(people like us) because our accent was seen as the most educated and the right way to
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speak. Following that, it would be unusual if you were learning English in anything other
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than this accent. I would find it quite unusual if I spoke to someone who had English as their
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second language, but they spoken with a regional accent. Yeah, I've never seen anyone learn
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English in a Liverpudlian accent. Or in a Bristol accent. Like, it just doesn't happen.
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It would be bizarre. It would be really weird. I think it's either American English, isn't
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it? Or just British English, but by 'British English' meaning Southern British English.
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Essentially, the easiest way to sound more British is to consume as much British content
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as possible. When you're learning a new language they say the best thing to do is to move to
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that place and absorb yourself in that environment, and I think that applies to accents as well.
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Absorb yourself with that accent, listen to as many British English people as you can.
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Don't listen to people with loads of different regional accents, listen to one type of accent.
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So, Southern British accents, Southern English accents, RP, Standard English, they all mean
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the same thing. And I think we get a lot of people messaging us saying "how can I improve
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my English I really want to be better" and the simple answer is: you just have to absolutely
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commit to this and commit and make a decision that you are only going to speak English,
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you know, if you're coming here, I'm only going to speak English, I'm only going to
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be around English speaking natives. And as soon as you make that promise to yourself,
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your English will improve, 100%. But if you're just going to be.... it's never going to happen.
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Half-hearted. You can't half-heartedly try to do anything. Because you won't see the
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results. But I get people messaging me on Instagram saying "I've learnt so much from
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your channel, you've really helped me improve my English, how can I be even better?". No
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course that you enrol on is going to do it for you. You just have to do it for yourself.
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And you're in the best place possible to do that... Joel & Lia's YouTube Channel! But
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I mean, as well as us, you're living in the age of the internet, where you can watch as
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much content as you want as possible, for free! No longer do you have to go and pay
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£100 an hour to go and see an accent coach, or and English teacher, you've got all the
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lessons for free on the internet. So you're welcome! You're welcome! Kidding! When you're
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in the UK go and watch theatre, don't sit at home watching too many films, because everything
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you're hearing is American English. If you're getting confused and you can't really tell
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the difference between what you're hearing in Hollywood films and the way that Joel and
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I are speaking then you really need to listen closely and just watch British people if you
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want to improve your British English. Exactly, if you want to learn American English, absolutely
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fine, go ahead and do that. But I think that's really confusing for people learning an English
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(British) accent, is when you're confusing it with an American accent. For example, the
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'r' sound, the rhotic 'r', so in words like 'car', in British English we don't say the
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'r' at the end, it's just open 'cah'. But in America they say it like "carrrr", so they've
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got an 'r' at the end of the word, and just little things like that, British people will
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pick up on it and go "oh, you're not from here" because they've heard you say "carrr"
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instead of "cah". Yeah, 'that's a really nice carrr'. It's not right. Well it's not incorrect,
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it's just not British. Another thing that you said "example", we've covered this in
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other videos, it's just these small little signs, you know 'example' is really American.
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And also Northern. I would say 'for example', but that's not the be-all-and-end-all. No,
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no one's gunna not understand you, it's just that if you want to be really specific, then
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you need to listen out for these tiny little differences. Sounding more 'British' gives
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you more social capital. It's not just a dated idea, it's not just the BBC English that Joel
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was talking about, it's true. If you're coming here and having job interviews, for instance.
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Language is your biggest tool and your strongest weapon. It's a sad reality, that if you come
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over and have a job interview, and you're against a British English person and you speak
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English perfectly well, you're just as intelligent, maybe more intelligent, but you don't quite
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sound the same, people will judge you on that and you most likely won't get the job because
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they want to go with someone who - well people are shallow and they'll go with someone that
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sounds like them. Exactly, I think that's why as well, we've tried to create this channel
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which is just about British culture because you could speak perfectly, your pronunciation
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and everything about your English could be perfect. But an employer might be looking
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for you to just have a sense of humour that is similar to theirs or just be on that level
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with somebody where they feel like they can go to the pub with you, that they can have
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a drink with you, that they can have banter. And I feel like what we're trying to give
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you, is British-ness in one. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, because socialising is a huge
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part of British culture even in the workplace. Yeah, for sure. If I met somebody and I had
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a job, I know I would go for personality as well as if they were qualified for the job,
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because imagine having someone who's personality shines through the phone and you're talking
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to clients and so on. You just need that personable thing, going on for you. And you can't only
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get that from speaking the language that comes with living here, having British friends,
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making that commitment to yourself that you're gunna dive into British culture and really
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go for it. Yep, definitely. There's a lady at work who's absolutely lovely, she speaks
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English as a second language and speaks English perfectly, absolutely perfectly, and I overheard
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a conversation with her colleague and she was saying that during her appraisal, her
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boss had come to her and said "there's no issue with what you're saying or what you're
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doing, like you're really great at this, but you're just a bit cold and abrupt with customers"
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and she'd said it was because English was her second language so whilst the issue isn't
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with her speaking, it's about her mannerisms, her attitude, and things like that, so when
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you'r learning English as well, don't just learn the sounds, try and learn about the
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culture and the mannerisms and the etiquette of British English people. it goes the same
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the other way, like I'm really interest in Japan and I really want to go there. And I
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would love to learn Japanese, but imagine that I was perfect at Japanese, imagine, but
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I knew nothing about eating the Japanese way and how to 'be' at the dinner table. I could
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come across so rude without knowing. You know, it's just the same you've just gotta really
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absorb it. Definitely. So I hope that's helped those of you that are learning a British English
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accent. Those are just a few little tips and bits of advice for learning an English accent
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and culture. We'd love to open up this conversation in the discussion, in the comments section,
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AS a discussion! So please leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts. These are just
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our opinions but obviously we're open to hear the opposite. We're open to be wrong! Thank
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you so much guys, we'll be back next week with another video, don't forget to subscribe.
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Subscribe! Bye!