Welcome to English with Catherine.

I hope you're all really well and you've had a lovely week.

British accent in ten words.

I've chosen some simple words that each showcase a sound that's in the modern RP British accent.

The vowel sounds, the schwa sound, and really, if you can pronounce the word, you've mastered that sound.

Simple as that. Okay, I'm ready.

Number one, butter.

Can you hear my bracelet rattling?

Sorry.

Butter showcases the double T.

In the modern RP British accent, which can be found in the south of England, we have a very strong T sound.

Compared to the American accent, it really is very pronounced.

Especially when there's two Ts, guys.

We've just got to pronounce them.

It's non-negotiable. Butter.

Butter.

Sometimes all you feel like having is a slice of bread and butter.

It just hits the spot. Number two, don't.

Don't.

This is a contraction, as you've probably noticed, of do not.

We use a lot of contractions in speech because, guess what?

They make life easier.

They make everything flow a little bit better.

Here we have the alphabet O.

I call it that, actually.

I'm not sure what other people call it, but it's really a long O.

What you're looking for is the sound of the alphabet O.

So the letter O.

O.

Can you hear that?

It's really lovely.

O.

Now, put it inside the contraction.

Don't.

Don't.

You can really hear that O sound, can't you?

Make sure you really exaggerate it and it will sound amazing.

Don't you just love autumn?

Probably my favourite season.

One more time, guys.

Practice with me.

Don't.

Don't.

You sound great. Number three, garden.

Garden.

A lovely word.

This word showcases the long or stretched A.

I actually call it the arm A because when you say the word arm, it's got this ah sound, which is the A sound that we're looking for.

Ah.

It's also the sound that you make when you're at the dentist.

You open your mouth and he or she says, say, ah.

That's the sound you want to make.

So garden.

As you know, we don't usually pronounce the ah when it comes after a vowel.

So of course, the ah is completely missing here.

I really just want you to master that long stretched A.

Garden.

I dream about one day having my own English country garden.

What a dream. Number four, potato.

Potato.

That was a really enthusiastic way of saying potato.

But I do love potatoes.

This word showcases the wonderful alphabet A.

Not the stretched arm A.

The alphabet A.

Potay.

A.

Potato.

It falls on the stressed syllable.

So you really hear it when you say that word.

So listen, potato.

And that's why often people say that the British accent, or the modern RP British accent, sounds musical.

Because it does tend to go like that.

Not just like that.

And as we all know, all the best music goes like that.

What I say is, if a fellow really likes potatoes, then he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.

That is a lovely quote by A.A.

Milne. Number five, rabbit.

Rabbit.

At the moment, the wild rabbits are in all the gardens around where I live.

I don't think the garden owners like the rabbits though, because they eat the flowers.

In this lovely word, we have the short A.

I call this the apple.

Apple.

A.

Because the sound we're looking for is that first letter in apple.

Ah.

It's made in the back of the throat.

Make sure you make that sound in the back of the throat and not further forward in the mouth.

Because it will sound like upple.

Upple?

No.

We want apple.

Apple.

You do have to open your mouth when you make that sound.

So let's put that sound into rabbit.

Ah.

Rabbit.

Rabbit.

In the modern RP accent, we have short sounds and long sounds.

So here we have the short A.

That helps to give the accent a kind of musical quality.

Because it acts like a staccato note in the music.

And a staccato note is a very short, sharp note.

It really just helps with the overall musicality of the accent.

And it's really important that you master it.

I used to have a pet rabbit called Simon.

He was so fluffy. Number six, flower.

Flower.

This lovely word showcases the ow sound.

Almost like the sound you make when you stub your toe or something.

And you say ow.

That hurts.

People say that British people don't usually open their mouth much when they're speaking.

But this is an exception.

You really do have to open your mouth to make this sound.

So ow.

Ow.

We have the same sound in hour and shower and crown.

My mum is doing my wedding flowers.

I'm so lucky. Number seven, another.

Another.

Would you like another cup of tea?

This word showcases the schwa.

Very often when a word ends with er, we have a schwa sound.

We're not going to say er.

No.

It is uh.

The schwa sound, in case you didn't know, is just a really basic, boring sound.

Uh.

But when you put it in a word, it actually helps to soften and smooth the word, in my opinion.

Another.

Can you hear that uh at the end?

Another.

Other examples of that are brother, mother, shoulder, and older. Number eight, cream.

Cream.

OK, so this word has a vowel combination, e-a.

And this is just to show you that in modern RP, it is quite a long sound.

So we don't want to say it too quickly because it's going to sound a bit strange.

It's going to sound more like crim.

Crim.

No.

We want cream.

The e-a combination creates this lovely, elongated sound.

Cream.

Strawberries and cream.

I like having cream in my coffee in the morning.

Very decadent. Number nine, sleep.

Sleep.

Similar to number eight, this is also a long sound.

We don't want to say slip because that will sound like slip, which is a different word.

When we have a double e, don't be afraid to really elongate that sound.

Again, this gives the musicality to the accent because we have the staccato notes, like with the short a, and then we have the long notes, like in the double e.

So sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep is very important.

And I try to get at least eight hours every night.

That is not always possible. Number ten, the last one.

Plum.

Plum.

Compared to sleep, this is a quick word.

And do you know why that is?

It's because we have another staccato note inside the word with the short u.

I call this the umbrella u because the first letter in that word is the exact sound that we want.

Uh.

Uh.

Very short and made sort of in the midsection of your mouth.

Not right at the back, like with the short a.

It's a bit further forward because it's a bit warmer.

But if you listen, uh, it's happening in the actual mouth rather than back here.

So you don't have to go, you don't have to open your mouth so much.

You just need to open your mouth a little.

So uh.

Plum.

Plum.

My granny Jane used to make the most incredible plum crumble.

So apple crumble is more of a famous English pudding.

But my granny made it with plums and it was divine.

Such nice memories. Well everyone, how did that go?

Let me know in the comments.

Which one did you struggle with?

I really want to know.

I'm going to leave a pinned comment, okay?

I've worked out how to do that now.

And then I want you all to reply to it.

It would be great.

Click subscribe if you feel in the mood.

I would be so happy.

I hope you feel really on the way to perfecting your accent, if that's what you want.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend full of cups of tea and bread and butter.

See you next Friday.

Bye.