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In the same survey, 38% of UK citizens reported that they could speak (well enough to have a conversation) at least one language other than their mother tongue, 18% at least two languages and 6% at least three languages. 62% of UK citizens cannot speak any second language.
- Scottish
- Geordie
- Scouse
- Yorkshire
- Welsh
- Brummie
- West Country
- R.P.
- Essex
- Cockney
Let’s start in the North, with the accent that universally symbolises glassy lochs (lakes), snowy mountains, tartan, and… shortbread? The Scottish accent as we know it now developed as late as the 1700s, but existed in different forms before that. It was heavily influenced by the Gaelic language, which was (and still sometimes is) spoken in certain...
People from Newcastle speak a dialect called Geordie, which is one of the strongest and most distinctive accents in England. Geordie changes all the rules of Standard English, so nothing is pronounced as you’d expect it to be: the word button would be pronounced BOT-tdan instead of BUH-tun, with a ‘ooh’ sound on the letter U and a rolled T. Yeah, b...
People from Liverpool are called Scousers or Liverpudlians, and their dialect (which, like Geordie, is very strong and instantly recognisable) is called Scouse. Liverpudlians would say woss dtha? instead of what’s that?with a lot of emphasis on the letters A and Y in words. They also roll their Rs, making it hard to tell if they’re saying L or R. B...
One of the biggest counties in England, Yorkshire has a distinctive accent where one of the biggest pronunciation differences is on the letter U, which is spoken as ooo rather than uh – so cut is pronounced coht and blood is pronounced blohd. Apparently it’s seen as one of the nicest and most trustworthy dialects by other people in the UK, but pers...
Officially a different country, Wales has a culture and language of its own that’s spoken by half a million people. They have brilliantly long and complicated words like Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is the name of a Welsh village (and the second longest place name in the world). When Welsh people speak English, ...
Possibly the cutest name on our list, this accent is actually one of the most ridiculed in the UK – which is quite mean, because clearly people from Essex have never heard themselves speak. The name is derived from Brummagem and Bromwichham, both historical alternate names for the large city of Birmingham, where people speak this dialect. People wi...
The West Country includes the counties of Gloucestershire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and the dialect is the closest to the old British language of Anglo-Saxon, which was rooted in Germanic languages – so, true West Country speakers say I be instead of I am, and Thou bist instead of You are, which is very close to Ich bin (I am) and Du b...
The accent of the Home Counties area (the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex) is closest to what people call Queen’s English, also known as Received Pronunciation (R.P.) or Standard English. It’s basically a ‘flat’ accent with emphasised vowels like A (pronounced ah as in car) and O (pronounced ohw as in...
This county’s dialect is so distinct, you can immediately tell if someone comes from Essex. They’ll pronounce words like no as NA-hw and drop the th sound from words like think, so they’d say finkinstead. It’s also become common to drop words like to and thein statements like “Let’s go (to the) shops”. It’s an accent that’s become much more well kn...
Perhaps the most famous British accent other than R.P. is Cockney. It developed as the dialect of the poorer working classes in the East End of London, and it’s still regarded as a marker of ‘true’ East London heritage. Like the Essex accent, Cockney swaps the th sound for f, drops the h in front of words like head, and elongates vowels like A and ...
May 28, 2024 · English is the most widely spoken language in the UK – even though accents can vary so much that you might sometimes think you’re hearing totally different languages. Given the UK’s long and incredibly dense history, it’s hardly surprising that it also has many other indigenous languages.
In Britain, the main language is English (British English). It is not the same as American or Australian English. 'Hi mate' is not the correct and appreciated way to approach someone in the street. Neither is 'G'day', 'Howdy' or 'Hey Mister'.
Mar 17, 2022 · People often talk about “the British accent”. The reality is that there are many British accents and they can sound very different indeed! We will guide you through the main types of British accents and explain what all this means for an English learner.
If you open up a British passport, the three languages used are English, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic. But if you read a Scottish newspaper, you’re likely to see another language, namely Scots. The National, the only newspaper in Scotland to support Scottish independence, is keen on publishing articles in languages other than English.
Feb 8, 2018 · One feature of most American English is what linguists call ‘rhoticity’, or the pronunciation of ‘r’ in words like ‘card’ and ‘water’. It turns out that Brits in the 1600s, like modern-day...
