Episode 2
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Hi, everyone!
I'm Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently.
In this episode:
• I'll talk about why is the American accent is so different from the British accent.
• After that, I'll use the Question and Answer technique for helping 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 pronunciation so different nowadays?
Well, there are many theories, but here's a reasonable one:
I know that may come as a surprize to 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, 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 – it's called "Received Pronunciation" - and it 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.
Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.
IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING
Mini-Story: Speaking Practice
Answer the questions aloud with short and quick responses. Repeat the Mini-Story several times to improve your speaking and listening.
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.
All the machines in the factory had steam-powered engines.
Were the machines electric?
No, they were not electric. The machines in the factory had steam-powered engines. Were there in the factory just a few steam-powered machines?
No, no. All the machines in the factory were steam-powered.
What element did they use?
Steam?
Oil?
Water?
They used steam. They used steam to power the machines.
Where were all those steam-powered machines?
In the factory. In Parker's factory. They were in Parker's factory.
All three children of the family took pronunciation classes.
Did the three children buy a book on pronunciation?
No. They didn't buy a book on pronunciation. They took pronunciation classes.
Did they take French classes?
No. They didn't take French classes. They took pronunciation classes.
How many children took pronunciation classes?
Three. All three children took pronunciation classes.
What did they take?
Pronunciation classes. They took pronunciation classes.
The children sounded more refined and sophisticated than their parents.
Did the children sound refined?
Yes. They sounded refined.
Did the children sound sophisticated?
Yes. They sounded sophisticated too.
Did the children sound as sophisticated as their parents?
No. The children didn't sound as sophisticated as their parents. They sounded more sophisticated.
Did the parents sound more elegant than their children?
No. No. They sounded less elegant than their children.
Why the children sound more refined and sophisticated than their parents?
Because they took pronunciation classes. They sounded more sophisticated because they took pronunciation classes.
Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Review
Vocabulary
Review the most useful words and expressions before listening again.
British Empire
the group of territories once ruled by Britain.
distinguish yourself
show that you are different from others.
immigrant
a person who moves to another country to live.
sophisticated
refined, knowledgeable, or elegant.
upper class
the wealthiest or highest social group.
Received Pronunciation
a traditional standard British accent.
affluent
having a lot of money.
steam-powered
operated using energy produced by steam.
Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.
Thank you Georgiana for your efforts. .
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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!
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You can find all my lessons here on my website: https://speakenglishpodcast.com
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Thanks, Campos! I’, happy to help you to improve your English skills. Cheers!
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