Good evening, it's very nice to be here...that sort of thing.

I..I'm sorry.

Who are you?

I'm here to do the received pronunciation, the RP posh accent.

I believe you must be mistaken, I'm here to do the RP accent.

Oh, certainly we can work together.

I don't mind.

If...if it's okay with you.

Very well, if we must...

Okay!

Well, I suppose I'll represent the more modern RP,

basically people who wish to show a level of intelligence or class in their speech

will generally speak as I do.

And I suppose you represent the more archaic, old-fashioned RP?

Old-fashioned!? I shall wash your mouth up with soap and water!

Yes...well...

Perhaps you should begin by telling them what RP is and is not.

Okay, well, RP goes by many different names:

Standard English

Oxford English

The Queen's English

BBC English

Well, it is true, in the past,

BBC news reporters were expected to speak in a similiar style to the Queen.

They'd speak very upper class.

For example:

Good evening!

We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin.

The Germans have bombarded British shores from the air.

Our American allies are here to lend a helping hand.

Lovely.

Thank you.

Whereas today's BBC represents a more realistic range of British accents.

Today, modern RP isn't exactly a very specific way of speaking.

Think of Tom Hiddleston,

Hugh Grant,

Keira Knightley,

Emma Watson,

Stephen Fry.

They're all on the spectrum of RP but the way they speak isn't exactly identical to one another.

The main idea of RP today is using good enunciation,

a wide range of vocabulary,

and just generally using the correct grammar.

Unlike those bloody Kardashians who really leave a great deal to be desired in that department,

they may have rather splendid rear ends...

- But

Bottom of the barrel, I say.

Yes, I mean...

I...I...I...I

I bet they sat at the rear of the class.

In fact, I bet they were kept behind after school, ay?

I should say.

Yes, indeed.

Are you finished?

Sorry, yes.

Indeed! Let's begin with the sounds.

We'll show you the differences between the more modern RP and the older-fashioned upper RP.

Modern RP is more just about proper enunciation,

good full articulation of consonants,

good pronunciation of consonants,

especially Ts, for example.

Try not use glottal T wherever possible.

For example,

"water", not "wa'er";

"better", not be'er.

However, when there's a T sound at the end of the word,

sometimes we don't say it.

For example,

absolutely,

definitely,

United States.

In regular RP, we use something called "R linking" or "R joining."

In a sentence such as this:

"India and China"

India ends with an "A" sound, the next word begins with an "A" sound,

so in regular RP we join them with an "R."

For example:

"India (r) and China"

Whereas in upper RP,

you wouldn't do that.

"India and China"

One important thing to note is RP is non-rhotic,

which means we don't pronunce the "R" sound.

For example, in this word,

Americans might pronounce it "hard", with an "R" sound.

But in RP we don't.

We pronounce it /ha:d/.

One important thing to remember is in these words that "A" is pronounced as an /a:/.

Class, task, ask, grass.

Whereas in these words, the "A" sound is pronounced like an /æ/.

Man, can, hand, maths.

The sounds in more common English accents come in more further back in the mouth,

as Jason Statham pointed out in his video.

Whereas in RP and upper RP, the sounds come from further forward in the mouth.

The rule is this:

the higher level the RP, the posher the accent,

the further forward in the mouth is where the sound would come from.

In upper RP, the jaw will move as little as possible.

think Keira Knightley!

She speaks with a very good posh accent,

but she looks like a ventriloquist dummy when she speaks because her mouth barely moves.

And that all lands to make a sound posher.

So I think that's probably...

Oh we have time for it, isn't it? You probably have to be somewhere?

Yes, I gotta be going.

Ehh, I'm a bit in a rush.

So...what time is now?

Click here to view the next class.

Goodbye!