چرا آمریکایی ها و بریتانیایی ها لهجه ی متفاوتی دارند؟

WHY AMERICANS AND BRITISH HAVE DIFFERENT ACCENTS

Hi, everyone!

I’m Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently.

In this episode:

• I’ll talk about why is the American accent so different from the British accent.

• After that, I’ll use the Question and Answer technique for helping you develop your speaking skills.

Let’s get started!

In the eighteenth century, American and British pronunciations were pretty similar. Remember that the British Empire colonized America. Many immigrants traveled to America to start a new life.

So, a fair question is:

Why is American and British pronunciation so different nowadays?

Well, there are many theories, but here’s a reasonable one: It’s the standard British accent that has radically changed in the past two centuries. However, the American accent has remained almost identical.

So, what happened? A little bit of history can help us. At the time the British accent started to change, the industrial revolution started. That means that many families became wealthy in a short period. The upper-class society did not welcome those families despite the fact that they had a lot of money.

Therefore, the newly rich families tried to distinguish themselves from the other lower classes. One way to achieve that was to change the way they spoke. They tried to sound more sophisticated, more elegant.

So, new tutors and experts on pronunciation offered their services to the newly rich people. New guidelines and pronunciation dictionaries were written. This new way of speaking became standardized - it’s called “Received Pronunciation” - and it was spread across the country.

More and more people wanted to sound more elegant and not like the low class. It was a fashion that became very popular.

What’s funny about this is how the accents are represented in historical movies. For example, the American war of independence shows British soldiers talking with a refined current British accent, like if they were on the BBC, and American soldiers with the standard American accent. Now you know that’s not very accurate.

MINISTORY

(Improve your speaking)

Ok, let’s move on to the next section.

Here, I’ll use the Question & Answer technique. This is the perfect lesson for automatizing your spoken English. Let’s see how it works:

• I’ll give you some information. (A phrase or two).

• I’ll ask simple questions.

• After each question, there will be some seconds of silence: it’s your turn to answer the question! Just try to give an easy and short answer, not a complex one.

• After you answer, I’ll give you a correct answer.

This process will continue, and little by little, I’ll be telling a story using questions and answers.

Ok, let’s get started!

The Parker family owned a big factory in Liverpool.

Did the Parker family own a small factory?

No, they didn’t. They didn’t own a small factory. They owned a big factory.

Did the Parker family own a big restaurant?

No, neither. They didn’t own a big restaurant, but a big factory.

Was the factory big or small?

Big. The factory was big.

Where was the factory? In Manchester?

No. Not in Manchester. The factory was not in Manchester but in Liverpool.

What did the Parker family own?

A big factory. They owned a big factory in Liverpool.

More than 1000 people worked in Parker’s factory.

Did only 500 people work in the factory?

No. More than 1000 people worked in the factory.

Did less than 1000 people work in Parker’s factory?

No, no. That’s not true. More than 1000 people worked there.

Where did the people work?

In a factory. They worked in Parker’s factory.

How many people worked in Parker’s factory?

More than 1000 people. More than 1000 workers worked in Parker’s factory.

Whose factory?

Parker’s. Parker’s factory.

All the factory machines were steam-powered.

Were the factory machines electricity-powered?

No, they weren’t electricity powered. They were steampowered.

In the factory, were there just a few machines steam powered?

No, no. In the factory all the machines were steam-powered.

What element did they use? Steam? Oil? Water?

They used steam. They used steam to power the machines.

Where were all those steam-powered machines?

In the factory. In Parker’s factory. They were in Parker’s factory.

All three children of the family took pronunciation classes.

Did the three children buy a book about pronunciation?

No. They didn’t buy a book about pronunciation. They took pronunciation classes.

Did they take French classes?

No, neither. They didn’t take French classes. They took pronunciation classes.

How many children took pronunciation classes?

Three. All three children took pronunciation classes.

What did they take?

Pronunciation classes. They took pronunciation classes.

The children sounded more refined and sophisticated than their parents.

Did the children sound refined?

Yes. They sounded refined.

Did the children sound sophisticated?

Yes. They sounded sophisticated too.

Did the children sound as sophisticated as their parents?

No. The children didn’t sound as sophisticated as their parents. They sounded more sophisticated.

Did the parents sound more elegant than their children?

No, no. They sounded more elegant but less elegant than their children.

Why the children sound more refined and sophisticated than their parents?

Because they took pronunciation classes. The reason they sounded more sophisticated is because they took pronunciation classes.

As you can see, you are answering easy questions all the time.

They are easy on purpose, and this technique helps you develop your speaking skills. It’s like practicing with another person!

This is one of the techniques that I use in my courses. I recommend you to take a look at:

Courses.SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

Ok, this is the end of this episode. Remember to listen to it several times. It will help with your English.

Please remember that you can get the text of this episode at: SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

See you next week and have an awesome day!

Goodbye!