British accent course

[Chicken Sandwich]

Well, she speaks with a perfect American accent.
She sounds like British sometimes, but she's exaggerating "a British accent," which makes it somewhat funny.:-D

She makes generalisations that are not true. She says in one video that in a British dialect you always have to pronounce again as əˈɡeɪn, which is in fact no true. Some people pronounce again as əˈɡeɪn but əˈɡen is also common.

 

[TomUK]

I don't really understand why people feel the need to learn speaking English with a British accent, and from what I understand they usually mean English when they say British. What is wrong with speaking English with a Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, or, God forbid, a German accent? Language is about communicating with others, and as long as you have a good knowledge of vocabulary, have a good grasp of grammar rules to string a few comprehensible sentences together, know enough idioms and collocations to make what you are saying sound more natural, then that's really all what matters. After all, what are the poor devils supposed to do who speak English with an American accent? Or try to convince somebody from Scotland that they need to speak with an English accent. You will soon find out what they are wearing under their kilt when they turn their back on you.

I personally find it rather charming to hear somebody speak English with their native accent. It makes me want to know more about them, where they come from, their culture etc. Isn't that the beauty of the English language that you can make friends with people all over the world, even though you might not be able to understand each other's mother tongue? When a native English speaker gives you stick because of your foreign accent just ask them how many foreign languages they can speak.

TomUK

 

[5jj]

Language is about communicating with others, and as long as you have a good knowledge of vocabulary, have a good grasp of grammar rules to string a few comprehensible sentences together, know enough idioms and collocations to make what you are saying sound more natural, than that's really all that matters.

:up:

And so says all of me.

 

[birdeen's call]

somewhat funny.

Ridiculous even?

She clearly has no idea what she's talking about.

John Wells wrote about her on his blog.

 

[BobK]

Obviously a member of the Dick Van Dyke School of Authentic English Pronunciation.

b

 

[santimarti]

Too expensive to me, but it´s interesting.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

(Apologies if this is a bit too off-topic...)

Do you hold a CPE exam certificate or something equivalent to it?

Now I do. I sat the CPE in December, just for fun. Well... fun? The fun amounted to 228 euros, but I thought, 'Oh, well, why not?' Anyway, I passed the exam at grade A, 91/100.

Are you going to sit this exam any time soon? If so, here's what I would do. Obviously you should familiarise yourself with test and you should do as many past papers as possible. But you already know that. You may not know that there's a Cambridge Teacher's Handbook - which, by the way, can be accessed by anyone - which has some very useful information about how the examiners grade your papers. For instance, they say that candidates are expected to use either British or American spelling throughout. Either one will do, but if you write 'capitalize', you should also write 'internalize' and so on. And if you write 'internalise' you are expected to write 'colour'.
As for the writing paper, I wouldn't worry too much about the word limit. I had to write a propasal and an essay, both of which ended up being way too long, and when I say 'too long' I really mean it. I exceeded the word limit big time, but I wasn't marked down... or so it seems. Lastly, try to get a good night's rest. It's a long exam - about 6 hours if I remember correctly - and I was pretty tired by the end of the day. The listening paper came last and too be honest it was quite difficult to keep my head straight.

 

[5jj]

Now I do. I sat the CPE in December, just for fun. Well... fun? The fun amounted to 228 euros, but I thought, 'Oh, well, why not?' Anyway, I passed the exam at grade A, 91/100.

Congratulations. Passing CPE at all is quite an achievement, but passing with an A grade is something you have every right to be proud of.

 

[Esredux]

Just FYI, they have altered the CPE exam format since 2013, so be reasonable in using past papers.

Chicken Sandwich, congratulations! :up:

 

[emsr2d2]

I wouldn't be so sure. Many of the language teachers I've met also have choral singing as a hobby (as I do). ;-)

b

I definitely think there's a link between language and music. All the members of my family who are linguistically talented are also quite musical. On my mother's side of the family, there was only one exception - my maternal grandmother who could never master even the most basic individual words or phrases in any foreign language, and was also genuinely tone deaf.

My grandfather spoke a dozen languages and was a very proficient pianist, clarinet player and singer. My mother and her two sisters speak a variety of foreign languages and all either play(ed) or sing/sang well.

I speak pretty good French, school German, a little Italian and understand if not speak a lot of Spanish. I play the guitar, piano, flute and sing.

I'm pretty sure there's a connection!

 

[5jj]

I definitely think there's a link between language and music.

There certainly seems to be for many people I have met.

I am an exception to the rule. I am, or was in my youth, a moderately competent linguist, but had the distinction at my school of being one of only three (out of 750) boys excused compulsory attendance at the school choral society practices and concerts.

The token compulsory audition involved merely singing a scale. I got only as far as mi when the music master told me he never wished to see me again. :-D

 

[Stephanie S]

A friend of mine who did her master's in linguistics started a business called AccentSchool. Basically, it is online tutoring (via Skype) to help people improve their English accent. However, she is not British, she is American, so I'm not sure if it would be something you're looking for.