is possible to catch a british accent ?

[Marceloatp]

Hey !

I'm from chile, I'm 20 and I study translation in my country.
I've had some problems about my pronunciation and I wanted to know if it's possible to catch a british accent just studying a lot because I practice everyday british pronunciation but accent, I think, Is other topic. Most of the chilean teachers here don't understand my british pronunciation and they asked me to repeat my words at least twice. The problem is that I had a BRITISH TEACHER last year and he always, always understood everything I was saying, so now, I don't know who is right and who is not ! because I think my pronunciation is well but chilean teachers don't think the same, or maybe I'm ridiculous trying to catch a british accent not living there (britain). What do you think about it ?

Thanks and regards

[Anglika]

You don't "catch" your accent - you assimilate it from whoever is teaching you - all students do. If the teacher was American, you would be imitating the American accent. The problem is that your teachers are not hearing enough English spoken by native speakers. I would not let it worry me too much, but maybe adapt the sounds they find most difficult.

[BobK]

More about 'catching': when you acquire something through contact, and it's a bad thing, you 'catch' it - so you 'catch' a cold, or smallpox, or rabies. An alternative - that carries no sense of good/bad - is 'pick up'; you can 'pick up' either a cold or an accent. This phrasal verb is not very formal, but you may find it useful colloquially/

b