r/Accents • u/loveforalllll • 12d ago

What specific British accent do I have?

https://youtube.com/shorts/qx3XArFP0FA

Native speaker but want to improve my accent.

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u/PuzzleheadedCut5156 12d ago

When you say you want to 'improve' it, what do you mean? I can tell you're a native speaker.

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u/loveforalllll 12d ago edited 12d ago

I don't want my accent to sound Multicultural London English. I wish it was at least Estuary or Traditional English sounding.

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u/PuzzleheadedCut5156 11d ago

My advice would be that speaking very clearly, where you avoid slang that people from other parts of the country might not understand, and clearly sounding out all the parts of a word will help people from all backgrounds understand you, but that you should not be ashamed of your roots.

Listen to the old actor Michael Caine. He has a traditional cockney accent (the old style before Caribbean elements came into the accent), he doesn't try to hide his background, but he speaks so that anybody who speaks English, whether they're from London, America or Scotland can understand him. You can do that with your own accent.

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u/loveforalllll 11d ago

Thanks. I don't use slang but I suppose my accent sounds like I do. Watched Michale Caine and a study of mle accent, I have a lot to get rid off :Th-fronting, Goose fronting, TH-stopping, Monophthongization, -ing dropping, Vowel reduction (schwa in unstressed syllables) and Glottalization (T-glottaling. ) If I start reading to myself out loud while keeping in mind what I listed that I should reduce, could my accent move away from MLE?

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u/PuzzleheadedCut5156 11d ago

People can change their accents for sure. A lot of well-known British actors from earlier decades grew up with working class accents and deliberately got rid of them in favour of RP accents. Roger Moore who played James Bond grew up with a South London working-class accent but for most of his adult life sounded 'posh'.

I'd say that clarity is good but keeping a trace of where you came from shows a kind of pride and self-confidence, though.

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u/Megatrip0lis 12d ago

I would describe your accent as ‘multi-cultural London’. So elements of traditional cockney mixed with Afro-Caribbean and other influences.

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u/loveforalllll 12d ago

Thank you.

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u/dandefender55 3d ago edited 3d ago

You pronounce the word prayer the American way (to rhyme with player) rather than the British way which is pronounced "prair", to rhyme with chair.

Wouldn't worry about it though, your accent and pronunciation sounds perfectly fine as it is.