I’ll soon be moving to London in order to improve my English.
I’ve lived in London before and have a good English, but my goal is to reach a level above many natives.
I want to extend my vocabulary and most important: learn to speak with Received Pronunciation.
I have done a lot of research in order to find a language course with focus on Received Pronunciation, but so far I haven’t found the right place.
I think I’ll need a course aimed at English native/close to native speakers as my English is good and you learn so much more when the level is a bit higher and you want to put the necessary energy into the learning-process. I’m more than keen on it
Do anyone have experience with a certain course, have heard about something or have other information that I might be able to use?
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RP? Why aim so low? I’ve heard tell that there’s also something called “URP”. Perhaps Buckingham Palace offers something regal enough for your taste.
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I wouldn’t suggest that you learn that RP thing. People who speak with an RP accent, tend to sound stilted, unnatural, bereft of their “origin” (e.g. you can’t tell where they hail from - America or the UK or New Zealand).
In my book, if you aim at a native level, you would do much better to take a course on a specific accent (American or British or New-Zealand).
The reason for why I want to learn RP is that I think it is a good base for being really good with the English language. I don’t only want to sound very English (though that is an important part as well), but I want to be able to play with the language in such way that I for example can speak RP and use Cockney slang as well…
Even though Latin is a dead language many people learn it as well because it is a good base if you want to learn other languages, in the same way I think RP is a good base for me who want to extend my vocabulary, better my British pronunciation and so on - do you think this idea is completely far out? and do you know where I can find such a course… or maybe something else suitable in London?
To me, increasing your active vocabulary and knowledge of idiomatic usage is far more important than having a “perfect accent”.
Why don’t you make a recording of yourself speaking English (unscripted would be best) and upload it to the Internet so that we can listen to your pronunciation and accent. We could then give you some feedback.
Your forum name suggests to me that you’re German. Are you?
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A friend of mine who is a fan of RP said the same thing. In fact, she thinks every body should strive to speak like the Queen.
And my father told me students who graduated from what they call “Grammar school” can pronounce his and his other Asian friends’ names in one breath, because they learned Latin. Unlike other students who didn’t learn Latin.
Just some thoughts, good luck with your search. And oh yes, I think Amy has given you a good suggestion.
Thank you for the suggestion -I’ll try to record something at some point if I can -that would be great with some comments on that.
I am not German no,(live in austria at the moment tho -but visit London this week -yeeeh) but danish/swedish…
I would strongly recommend to seduce very gorgeous girl with decent RP accent and many additonal pro -motivative extras. It would be the easiest even if not necessery the cheapest way to make any progress in executing your hopeless aims.
Courses, classes , lessons afterall would be very very boring.
well, now I’m a girl who is into guys -so maybe I should go for that instead which kind of activities do you think of? I find it difficult to go and find the RP speaking people as often people don’t really use it in the daily day life…
Actually I don’t find it boring with lessons, I like studying languages and are very keen on studying English.
Maybe it’s allecution (spelling?) lessons I should go for?
I studied Received Pronunciation in a group of Latin students (I speak Spanish as first language) at a school in London, King’s Cross called ‘Pronunciation Studio’.
I could see that there were lots of things that make an accent that you do not realize. Intonation and stress are quite hard to master, but they show you how to get it right and my accent is clearer now (less people ask me to repeat). I think it takes a lot of practice to really sound RP, but the course I did was really useful.
People who speak RP English do not sound American or Australian. A RP speaker is quite easily associated with Britain.
The educated American accent or Australian accent does not bear any resemblance to RP really. The old school style of RP is very British sounding but the new school style is less so.
People like “the Queen” speak old school RP. David Cameron speaks new school RP. Lee Kuan Yew, ex prime minister of my country speaks RP as well. The new prime minister of Thailand speaks RP English as well but with a slight Thai accent.
As for where to learn RP, I guess you will have no problem finding English schools in London to teach you RP since it is the de facto “standard British English”.
