Welcome to the Speak English Now Podcast, your resource for practicing your English speaking and listening. You will also learn about lifestyle and culture, language, vocabulary, and how to learn English more effectively.
Transcript:
Hi, everyone!
I’m Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently.
In this episode:
• I’ll discuss why the American accent is so different from the British accent.
• After that, I’ll use the Question and Answer technique to help you develop your speaking skills.
Let’s get started!
In the eighteenth century, American and British pronunciations were pretty similar.
Remember that the British Empire colonized America.
Many immigrants traveled to America to start a new life.
So, a fair question is:
Why are American and British pronunciations so different nowadays?
Well, there are many theories, but here’s a reasonable one:
I know that may surprise you; It’s actually the standard British accent that has radically changed in the past two centuries. However, the American accent has remained almost identical.
So, what happened? A little bit of history can help us. At the time the British accent started to change, the industrial revolution began. That means that many families became wealthy in a short period.
The upper-class society did not welcome those families, although they had a lot of money.
Therefore, newly wealthy families tried to distinguish themselves from the other lower classes. One way to achieve that was to change the way they spoke. They tried to sound more sophisticated and more elegant.
So, new tutors and experts on pronunciation offered their services to the newly affluent people. New guidelines and pronunciation dictionaries were written. This new way of speaking became standardized – called “Received Pronunciation” – and spread all over the country.
More and more people wanted to sound more elegant and not like the lower class. It was a fashion that became very popular.
The funny thing about this is how accents are represented in historical films.
For example, the American Revolutionary War shows British soldiers talking with the Received Pronunciation (RP) accent as if they were on the BBC, and American soldiers with the Standard American Accent, you know, that’s not very accurate.
Ok, let’s move on to the next section.
Mini-Story 📖
(practice your speaking)Awesome! Now let’s practice with a mini-story, a method I use in my English courses.
Sometimes I call it a conversation simulator because you practice your English like in a real conversation.
Here’s how it works: I give you information and ask simple questions. After each question, there is a pause where you can answer. After the pause, I give you the correct answer for you to compare. You’ll see how this method will help you improve your English.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
The Parker family owned a big factory in Liverpool.
Did the Parker family own a small factory?
No. No. They didn’t own a small factory. They owned a big factory.
Did the Parker family own a big restaurant?
No. They didn’t own a big restaurant, but a big factory.
Was the factory big or small?
Big. The factory was big.
Where was the factory? In Manchester?
No. Not in Manchester. The factory was not in Manchester, but in Liverpool.
What did the Parker family own?
A big factory. They owned a big factory in Liverpool.
More than 1000 people worked in Parker’s factory.
Did only 500 people work in the factory?
No. More than 1000 people worked in the factory.
Did less than 1000 people work in Parker’s factory?
No, no. That’s not true. More than 1000 people worked there.
Where did the people work?
In a factory. They worked in Parker’s factory.
How many people worked in Parker’s factory?
More than 1000 people. More than 1000 workers worked in Parker’s factory.
Whose factory?
Parker’s. Parker’s factory.
(END OF THE EXTRACT).
Get the transcript in PDF here.
Resources:
- Audio MP3 (right-click to save the audio)
- Transcript Episode PDF (right-click to save the transcript)
Recommended Material:
Can you understand a conversation in English but still can’t speak? With the Fluency course, you will speak English automatically.
“Thanks to Georgiana, I have lost my fear of speaking English. I have eliminated my frustration and started to enjoy this language. Thank you, Georgiana!” Miriam
“I had very little time to prepare for an interview in English, I had a rather poor level of English. I contacted Georgiana, and she helped me prepare for the job interview, and thanks to that I got the job!”
“Georgiana is a teacher with amazing teaching material, helping you to improve your English listening and speaking skills.”
Thank you Georgiana for your efforts. .
I’d like to take the level 2 course, but my question is if you have a monthly program payment?
Hi Ruben! This is a very good question. When you buy any of my courses you pay only one time and then you download the courses on your PC, tablet, cell phone, etc. You pay one time and the course will be yours forever. Thanks for contacting!
You.re a good teacher thanks.
My dear teacher…I couldn’t get toy video orderly in YouTube….what to do
You can find all my lessons here on my website: https://speakenglishpodcast.com
Hello madam I would like to your first level courses how to send money please tell me I don’t know your money transfer method so please any ideas
give me thanks for your helping tentans
Thanks for your classes ma’am.
Very nice.
Your Episodes are too help me Mam. Thank you so much. Let you make more videos for us.
Thank you georgiana for your lesoons its usefall
My live for you
Thanks!! Episodes are very usefull that help me prove my English.
Thank you teacher, iam really like your wonderfull lesson inglish
Really Georgiana, you are the best teacher.
Thanks Jeremie! You’re really kind!
Hi, i am Zahid and i m from Pakistan .i want to buy your course tell me how i purchase your lectures.i start listening you. Thank you!
Hi Zahid!
Hi. I m hapy whit your english. I hunderstand you listening.
hello teacher may you help me..
Hi! Start with my free mini course here: https://Method.SpeakEnglishPod.com
Hi teacher, i enjoy the method you use i will like to comment you honestly, am having a challenge speaking in public because sometimes i make mistakes
and it’s embarrassing. I wish i have the money to get your full courses that will be a wonderful help to me .i want to be a motivational speakerand a communicator ,thank you
Hi Georgiana.
Thanks for your lesson
It interesting and useful for learning English.
Have a nice day.
Hi teacher. I’m Brazilian and I enjoy this lessons with you. Your english is perfectly to learn.
Have a good week.
Thanks, Campos! I’, happy to help you to improve your English skills. Cheers!
Hello teacher,
I am from Colombia, South America.
Let me tell you honestly that your English course is incredible. I started to learn with it since yesterday and I realized that is very useful. Congratulations and thank you very much for teaching people around the world. I am very excited about this new method!
Thanks to your class! I’m a vietnamese and after watching your video I’m quite confident about my accent. To be honest, before finding your site, I had trouble making my voice clearer. And I really happy to find that my accent was better after watching your video. Just watched about 3 or more videos, the change in your voice is already very noticeable. Once again, thanks to your videos and podcasts Georgianna! I love you so much
thank you
i found your telegram casually and i am taking great delight
god bless you
MHM Nawas