Which pronunciation to model your speech on

Question

Hello everyone,Many people in this forum seem to be interested in discussing differences between British and American accents, as well as which accent they prefer learning. Some people have  gone as far as to express their desire to learn very specific accents, e.g. some people wanted to acquire a Scottish accent while others wanted to learn Cockney. I'd like to ask all of you who choose to imitate speakers of a particular accent: why is this? Why do you want to learn Cockney, for instance? Is it because you feel comfortable speaking Cockney? Is it because people understand you better owing to your Cockney or near-Cockney accent? Some of you have highlighted that almost all non-native speakers have an accent typical for their country/first language. While this is largely true, I also think it should be mentioned that anyone learning English needs to imitate native speakers and to learn to pronounce English sounds so as to be understood. Imagine a person with Chinese or Polish as their mother tongue speaking English with his or her native phonemes. I personally doubt native speakers would understand what he or she says (unless they knew Chinese or Polish), and I think most of you'll agree. So, in conclusion, learners of English clearly need to imitate native speakers. The question is: whose pronunciation should you try to imitate? Queen Elizabeth II's? Tony Blair's? George Bush's? Or somebody else's? I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I'd say one should model one's English on the English of the community one is a part of. So if you're in Canada, learn Canadian English. If you're in the UK, learn the standard English of the UK so that you can understand and be understood by people anywhere in the country.

CalifJim · Answer

I would model my speech on the most neutral and standard accent of the country I was going to live in. If not traveling there, I would base it on the accent of the English speakers I would be in contact with most as part of my job.

CJ

(By the way, here's a completely technical point: speaking English with his or her native phonemes is an anomalous idea. A phoneme is impossible to say or hear; a phoneme is an abstraction. -- But no big deal; everybody knows what you meant!)

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Calif Jim,

You wrote:

(By the way, here's a completely technical point: speaking English with his or her native phonemes is an anomalous idea. A phoneme is impossible to say or hear; a phoneme is an abstraction. -- But no big deal; everybody knows what you meant!)

Yes, you're absolutely right. I obviously trust terms too much! Thanks for your reply, by the way.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Alienvoord,

You wrote:

I'd say one should model one's English on the English of the community one is a part of. So if you're in Canada, learn Canadian English. If you're in the UK, learn the standard English of the UK so that you can understand and be understood by people anywhere in the country.

First of all, thank you for your reply. However, I personally think that a conservative RP accent is appropriate in Canada, too. Her Majesty the Queen has that accent, after all.

CalifJim · Answer

Have you done a lot of traveling in Canada?  In the U.S.?

Nona the brit · Answer

The 'conservative RP accent' as spoken by the Queen is NOT the standard UK accent or even the standard RP accent. In fact, very few people speak like the queen and everyone else finds the accent hilarious!

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Calif Jim,

Have you done a lot of traveling in Canada? In the U.S.?

I'm afraid I haven't travelled in Canada although I've been to the US several times. Why?

KickingCat · Answer

But in swedish schools are RP standard. I agree that it sounds silly but that's the way it is. Nowadays it is allowed to use GA (general american) accent also but only if you can stick with that and not mixing dialects.

I don't think I sound like Queen Elizabeth II, nor aristocratic either. I know that I would never sound lika a native speaker but close enough anyway.

Our Prime Minister Göran Persson sounds like the Swedish Chef in the Muppet Show. Do you what I mean? That is unacceptable!

What do you guys think?

Anonymous · Answer

KickingCatBut in swedish schools are RP standard. I agree that it sounds silly but that's the way it is. Nowadays it is allowed to use GA (general american) accent also but only if you can stick with that and not mixing dialects. I don't think I sound like Queen Elizabeth II, nor aristocratic either. I know that I would never sound lika a native speaker but close enough anyway. Our Prime Minister Göran Persson sounds like the Swedish Chef in the Muppet Show. Do you what I mean? That is unacceptable! What do you guys think?

I think RP is the standard in many countries where English is taught as a foreign language. However, the RP you hear on ESL/EFL-tapes is less likely to be 'remarked RP'; you're much more likely to come across tapes with a 'modified RP' which is very close to the accent of English spoken by upper middle class Londoners.

I personally wouldn't say that any particular accent is more acceptable than another. We all have an accent, and I think we should accept and encourage diversity. If someone wants to speak like the Queen, let them do it, but don't blame anyone who sounds like George Bush, either.

MichalS · Answer

In my opinion, foreign students are taught the pronunciation of words according to the their first entry in the Pronunciation Dictionary (John Wells' Pronunciation Dictionary or Daniel Johns' English Pronouncing Dictionary - these two hold a good reputation in the field). I believe that the first entries for words in the dictionaries are the forms which are most popular among people in the United Kingdom and are not necessarily the ones you find in RP pronunciation. That is to say, foreign students are rather taught the standard UK accent, which by no means should be confused with RP accent, as Nona The Brit mentioned.

However, I do agree with your earlier statement that Polish people are hardly ever understood when they are using their mother tongue's phonemes (or better allophones as CallifJim rightly noticed) in English speech. I happen to be an English student at one of the Polish universities and know how terrible it is when a Pole has problems with distinguishing English and Polish consonants and vowels. The truth is that there is not a single vowel in Polish exactly the same like a vowel in English so the differences must be perceived and learned if one wants to sound English. As far as consonants are concerned, we don't aspirate them at all, so here's another very important issue if you aim not only at being understood but speaking English correctly. Let alone th-sounds, which are absent in European languages. If one can't pronounce them the way they should be, it often comes out as /s/ or /f/, which sounds horrible for anyone speaking English!

However, very often foreign students are exposed to American variety as well. This is mainly due to US movies which greatly outnumber British ones. They got me, for example, pronouncing American alveolar tap instead of a gentle /t/ sound (in certain contexts of course) and also vowel [a:] where British variety has short o. Anyway, I don't mind much as long as my teachers are cool with that.

Which pronunciation to model your speech on

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