did you know there are approximately 160
accents of english around the world
within the british isles alone you will
find
over 30 of those accents so
which accents should you be learning if
you're learning english as a second
language
[Music]
in the title of this video i indicate
that the answer is
british english and i'll come on to why
in a moment
but firstly i want to address the
biggest misconception
about british english and american
english
many of my students feel that they must
learn one or
the other and that if they've started
learning american english
then they shouldn't look at british
english resources
so let me make this crystal clear we
both
speak english we can understand each
other
really well in fact the top 5 000 words
used in british english are pretty much
the same
as the top 5 000 words used in the usa
in fact any version of english is still
english of course we all have our own
dialects and
our own accents but it really doesn't
matter which version of english you look
at
it's still the same language
now if you do have difficulty
understanding someone
then it's probably more to do with the
way they speak
so it might be their pace which means
how fast they speak
it could be their volume perhaps they
mumble which means they talk quite
quietly like those
or maybe there's a lack of clarity so
they just don't
enunciate their words properly use their
mouth
properly so fundamentally
as you are learning english to
communicate in some way
it really doesn't matter which version
you're learning
as long as you speak clearly
however if you do want my guidance on
this question
which version should i learn then i will
say
british english learn british english
and learn a modern rp
accent which is basically the way i
speak
why because well i want you to stay here
with me and i want you to be my students
forevermore and i teach british english
of course so
learn british english
all joking aside how you speak is a
personal choice
your voice reflects your personality
your characteristics and
your identity or at least the identity
that you want to portray
some students love my accent and some
are desperate to acquire
this accent which by the way if that's
you
and you really want to speak like me
then i can seriously help you to achieve
your goal
just head over to englishlikeanative.com
and check out my british pronunciation
course
now some students feel that they have a
mixed version of english
if that's you then let me know in the
comments below you feel that you started
learning one version
and then you changed to maybe had a new
teacher you started teaching you a
different version and now you have
a mixed accent of different versions of
english
if this is the case i'd say don't worry
don't stress
english is still english you will be
understood in the real world
the only exception would be if you're
taking some form of english exam
in this case they usually need
consistency therefore
if you begin the exam using american
english with american spellings and
american grammar
then you'll need to continue throughout
the exam using american english
so as long as you understand what the
differences are
and you can be consistent in one over
the other then you'll be fine
now just for fun i'm going to tell you
the reasons why
i think you should learn british english
and if you have
any additional reasons then please
comment below
let me stress this is just for fun so
i think british english for many of you
is
more of a challenge many people say to
me that british english is
harder to learn perhaps because there is
more
american media that goes global so
there's more american films around the
world
american music is more popular globally
so
people are more familiar with the
american accent and find that that one's
easier
so take the challenge and challenge
yourself
to take on british english instead some
also think it's less
common more people go for
american english they think that um
american english is easier so everyone
learns american english and therefore
it's less common more exotic so be
exotic be different
don't be part of the majority be part of
the minority
another reason many people love the
sound
of british english for me british
english is just
the way we all sound and to me hearing
other accents is much more exciting
but for many people around the world
they say oh we love the british accent
another reason is that some of the
coolest characters of british
let's see you have james bond
sherlock holmes lara croft
harry potter austin powers
maybe not jack sparrow can you think of
any more
another reason is that some people say
that british english is the purest form
of english because well english is from
england
originally so i'm really scraping the
barrel here aren't i
um wouldn't you want to learn the
original version of this language
um okay another reason there are some
awesome british english teachers online
providing free resources to help you
you've got lucy
elliot tom leyla sabra
the list goes on but the biggest reason
to learn british english is because
you want to because you like this
version
and it inspires you to learn so
in a nutshell in a nutshell means to
summarize
it doesn't matter which version you
choose it's all the same language
but i endorse british english
i'm here to help you if that's what you
want to
now on englishlikenative.com you will
find my pronunciation course
with over 150 video lessons over 5
000 practice audios downloadable lesson
notes
interactive activities and access to an
exclusive facebook group and live
lessons
if you want to know more then i'll leave
a link in the description below
that's all from me for now hopefully
i'll see you
in another video take care bye
you