Text 02

British Accents and Dialects: A Rough Guide 

Have you ever tried to put on a British accent? The chances are the accent you’re trying to copy is ‘Received Pronunciation’, or standard English – also known as the Queen’s English. Received Pronunciation, or RP, is what most non-Brits are used to hearing as a British accent, often when you switch on the BBC or World Service.

But it’s called the Queen’s English for a reason – hardly anyone in the UK apart from the Queen speaks this way.

The truth is, although it may be called Standard English, it is anything but standard. The British Isles is made up many, many different accents and dialects – more than 37 dialects at the last count. A dialect is a Variety of a language that differs from the standard language, in this case RP. Dialects can vary regionally – depending on where in the country a person is from, as well as socially.

[…]

Types of British Accents – Cockney

This is one of the UK’s most famous dialects, and it goes hand in hand with London. It came about as the dialect of the London working classes, especially in the poorer East End of the city. The Cockney dialect also gave us Rhyming Slang, and you can still hear plenty of market traders round the East End shouting out in Cockney from their stalls. With the Cockney accent, there are lots of ‘glottal stops’, and the ‘th’ sound frequently changes to an ‘f’ sound. There have also been some famously terrible attempts at the Cockney dialect – here’s Dick Van Dyke to show you how not to do it! 

Text adapted from: <https:englishlive.ef.com/en/blog/English-in-the-real-world/rough-guide-british-dialects/>