How to Speak Like a European (I want to speak like a brit, is it easy?)

Speaking with a British accent can be one of the easiest things to do as our accent is closest to theirs.

How can I speak like a Brit?

You need to Master 4 Sounds to Speak with a British accent.

Shall we have a look?

Here are a few aspects to look at:

1. The-U’s

While in American English the “u” is often pronounced as oo, in British English it is pronounced more as ew with an emphasis on the last letter.

For example:

The word “tune” is pronounced as “tewn”  in British English and “toon” in American English or the word “duty” would be pronounced as “Dewty”  unlike American English where it would sound more like “Doody.”

Try to practice a few:

• Tune
• Duty
• Stupid

Tongue twister: Luke stewed while he cooked a stew.

 2. The -A’s

In standard British English the sound of the “A’s” is distinctly an “ah” sound like that of the word “car”  or rather “cahr”.

Let’s practice a few:

•  plant,
•  can’t,
•  bath,
•  glass
•  path

Tongue twister: Andrea and Andrew ate eight acid apples accidentally

3. The R’s

In the standard British accent it is uncommon to pronounce the final “r” of most words, rather it is left open at the end. Some examples would be:

• Chair-Ch-eh
• Cover-Cov-ah
• Father-Fa-tha
• Rather-Ra-tha

Tongue twister: Father, mother, brother, sister, hand-in-hand go together.

4. Finally, the T’s

“T’s” are very under-pronounced in American English and often even take the sound of the letter “d” like “wadder”-water. If you want to really impress a British English speaker it would be a  good idea to always pronounce your “t’s” properly both at the beginning, middle and end of a word.

Try practicing some of these with the open ending but a pronounced “T”.

• Water
• Waiter
• Winter
• Titanium

Tongue twister: Tea for the thin twin tinsmith

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