Lesson 5: British pronunciation

British English


A lesson on pronunciation
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This lesson contains 34 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 6 videos.

time-iconLesson duration is: 30 min

Items in this lesson

British English


A lesson on pronunciation

Slide 1 - Slide

American vs. British English
Let's see what you know...

Slide 2 - Slide

You may know the (American) word "trash."
How do you say this in British English?

Slide 3 - Open question

What about "vacation"
How do the Brits say this?

Slide 4 - Open question

A Brit doesn't put on "pants" but... ?

Slide 5 - Open question

In America, people get "sick." In the UK, one would say "I'm feeling a little _____ today."

Slide 6 - Open question

American go to a "movie theater..."
Brits go to the _____ ?

Slide 7 - Open question

Slide 8 - Slide

In this lesson

... you'll learn how to sound more British.

There are many things to look out for when working on a British accent, but we'll just go over the basics for now.

Slide 9 - Slide

First of all...
We are aware there are many different British dialects and accents.
In this lesson, we'll talk about standard British pronunciation (also known as RP).
Whenever you see 'British English', it's about that particular accent.

Slide 10 - Slide

Part 1 - Syllable-final R
In British English, we don't pronounce the R at the end of a syllable (lettergreep).

Examples:
car
mother
horses

Slide 11 - Slide

Slide 12 - Video

Try it! Say the following words out loud.

bark, work, doctor, park
car, sir, pork, actor, after
water, curler, color, winter
former, star, wear, stare

Slide 13 - Slide

Part 2 - T in between vowels

Another big difference between British and American is the way we pronounce a T-sound in between two vowels (klinkers).

Slide 14 - Slide

Slide 15 - Video

T in between vowels
When there's a T in between two vowels (klinkers), an American would pronounce it as a 'flap'. A flap is even quicker than a D sound.

In British English, you pronounce a T in the middle of a word just like you would at the start of a word.

Slide 16 - Slide

Slide 17 - Video

Now you try. Say these words out loud.

better, cotton, butter
water, fatter, photo
sitting, letter, flatter
ghetto, fitter, attitude

Slide 18 - Slide

Part 3 - The short O

There's a big difference in how Brits and Americans pronounce the O between two consonants (medeklinkers).

The British version is short and round.
The American version is longer and more open.

Slide 19 - Slide

Slide 20 - Video

Here we go! Pronounce these.

hot, coffee, snob
Rob, not, knock
bomb, rock, robber
block, body, stop

Slide 21 - Slide

Optional: getting familiar with the difference

Try them again, but in American English this time.



hot, coffee, snob
Rob, not, knock
bomb, rock, robber
block, body, stop

Slide 22 - Slide

Part 4 - Aspiration

To be frank, this is something that's also done in American English.

Still, to sound authentic, it's important to use aspiration.

Slide 23 - Slide

Slide 24 - Video

To summarise:

P, T and K sounds at the start of a word are aspirated.

P, T and K sounds in the middle of a word are not aspirated.
P, T and K sounds at the end of a word are not aspirated.

Slide 25 - Slide

Let's hear how you do.

talk, cat, pool
call, part, cake
pig, tool, top
tongue, kind, past

Slide 26 - Slide

Part 5 - /e/ or /æ/?

Many languages don't have the /æ/ sound. Dutch doesn't have it either. Many Dutch people fail to pronounce the /æ/ correctly.

However, it's not very difficult. The only thing you have to do, is open your mouth a bit further when saying /e/.

Slide 27 - Slide

Slide 28 - Video

Let's give this a go!

bed, red, cat, cab, black
met, strand, and, Fred, that
stack, step, stand, flat, fled
bad, bed, bet, bat

Slide 29 - Slide

On the next slide...
Take your time to write a sentence that your classmates will pronounce.
Try to include as many of the discussed points in your sentence.
- the syllable-final R
- T in between vowels
- the short O
- aspiration
- /e/ and /æ/

Slide 30 - Slide

Think of a sentence that's difficult to pronounce. Try to include what we've discussed. The five points are on the right.

Slide 31 - Open question

Good to remember
We think you already know, but just to be sure:

Spelling and pronunciation are two very different things in English. For example, there are nine different ways to pronounce the combination -ough in British English (but we'll just go over the six most important ones here).

Let's see if you can figure this out. Combine the ough-words with the words that have the same vowel sound.

Slide 32 - Slide

stuff
off
go
door
new
the
through
cough
thorough
though
rough
bought

Slide 33 - Drag question

Slide 34 - Slide