Frequent British accent/dialect?

I'm an actor, I'm going to start learning some accents just so I have them in my bag of tricks. I was going to start with a single British one, then move on to other countries/accents, then just keep learning more.

What would be a good general British one to start with? Is there a dialect that's used by the largest number of British people today? I'd like to learn one that's in use, so I hear that Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) would be a poor choice. I've heard strong Cockney, that seems pretty affected and uncommon, but what do I know. I've found dialect coach tapes on all kinds of British accents...Cockney, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Scottish, Welsh. Hmmm, what would/should James Bond speak, maybe I'll get cast as a spy one day? ;)

Interesting article on accents:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...n-of-an-accent

Some dialect tapes:
http://www.paulmeier.com/
http://www.dialectaccentspecialists.com/learning.shtml
http://www.dialectresource.com/
http://www.theatrebooks.com/accents_dialects/
http://www.stageplays.com/browse-no-...gi?group=voice

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by jasonk

I'm an actor, I'm going to start learning some accents just so I have them in my bag of tricks. I was going to start with a single British one, then move on to other countries/accents, then just keep learning more.

What would be a good general British one to start with? Is there a dialect that's used by the largest number of British people today? I'd like to learn one that's in use, so I hear that Standard British English (Received Pronunciation) would be a poor choice. I've heard strong Cockney, that seems pretty affected and uncommon, but what do I know. I've found dialect coach tapes on all kinds of British accents...Cockney, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Scottish, Welsh. Hmmm, what would/should James Bond speak, maybe I'll get cast as a spy one day? ;)

Interesting article on accents:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...n-of-an-accent

Some dialect tapes:
http://www.paulmeier.com/
http://www.dialectaccentspecialists.com/learning.shtml
http://www.dialectresource.com/
http://www.theatrebooks.com/accents_dialects/
http://www.stageplays.com/browse-no-...gi?group=voice

Welcome

I believe tdol would be the best person to respond to your question re: which dialect? As for James Bond, well, I could be mistaken, but, didn't one of the Bonds, if not the original Bond, have a Scottish accent? :wink:

Thanks. Heh, yep, Sean Connery, the original Bond, had a Scottish accent, though the Bond character I don't think was written as a Scottish background. The more I've read now the more it sounds like RP would be the appropriate thing to learn...though perhaps in a few years Estuary might be the thing.

[Tdol]

I'd say Estuary English might be a good one- coming midway between RP and Cockney, though grammatically more towards RP, it is spreading all over the country, so for a standard accent, it might be a good choice.

Hmmm, unfortunately I haven't found any Estuary dialect tapes yet. RP & Cockney though I have found.