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Originally Posted by Nary i am trying to learn the accent it has taken me longer than i thought it would. any ideas on how i could learn the British accent faster? |
The important thing is not getting the accent exactly right; the important thing is making sure people understand you. Living in London, you will hear a lot of different accents, including many from other parts of Britain and even other parts of the world. That may be one reason you're finding it difficult to pick up the accent -- the man in the corner shop may be from Pakistan, the bus driver from the West Indies, your colleagues from Yorkshire and Nigeria and your friends from Belfast, Chicago and Glasgow. It's great to meet people from such varied backgrounds, but it does make learning "the British accent" a bit more difficult.
The positive aspect of this is that the people around you are probably more tolerant towards strange accents, so your accent may not be such a big problem.
Some people seem to find picking up an accent far easier than others. I picked up a German accent very easily (although even I have problems with some of the sounds), while others who have lived in Germany for a lot longer and speak German just as often as I do still have real problems. I can't identify any common pattern here, so I don't really know what advice I can give.