Q&A for How to Speak in a British Accent

Yes, absolutely. It's not even about changing your voice, it is about growing your voice. So many people speak right from the throat, so their voices aren't really fully embodied. If you start to breathe and do exercises to open up your voice, you'll find out the full range of your voice.

Keep practicing to improve your accent, and try to think in a British accent so it comes more naturally.

Watch lots of British entertainment and listen closely. Practice everyday by reading aloud in a British accent. Also, record your voice to see how you're doing. You could easily have the accent down sooner than 8 months.

As explained in the article, you can watch movies or TV shows with British characters in them and watch British people on YouTube. Listen to podcasts from British speakers.

Practice until it becomes natural. After time, people will start believing your accent is true.

Watch a TV show where most people do British accents, such as Doctor Who and Wolfblood. If you're old enough, watch Man Up, in which Lake Bell adopts an amazing British accent even though she is American -- her performance will give you the confidence that you can do it too.

Sure, watch Harry Potter movies, even though they are not animated. They are appropriate for kids and have a British accent in them. There are some other movies with British accents too, like the Wallace and Gromit ones and Flushed Away. Do an online search for: "British animated movies".

Accents solidify between the ages of 18 and 24. If you live in Britain for many years before you are 18, you will pick up an accent. If you are over 18, however, then you will likely keep the accent of wherever you grew up in.

Of course. Just watch videos shows and movies with accents and if you immerse yourself and practice consistently you can easily adapt an accent.

You could always just pay close attention to the enunciation of your words so that you pronounce them in your British accent consistently.

You might want to actually take lessons on voice imitating or visit the land where that accent is dominant -- in this case, a quick trip to the United Kingdom might be helpful.

In the Southwest of England it's pronounced "Far-ther," with a long "a" sound and a long "er" sound on the end. I can't speak for the rest of England, however.

Yes, that will be enough. Immerse yourself in the culture: watch British shows and movies, listen to British podcasts and songs with heavy Brit accents. Target the type/region of accent you'd like to develop, and find as many examples of it as you can. Frequently read a newspaper or book (British, of course!) aloud, recording your accent, and play it back to see if you can find any weaknesses. Then, work to improve them.

Try a translation website. It could work well, plus you can use it to find similar accents.

Yes, except for Niall Horan, all members speak with a British accent. Niall speaks with an Irish accent.

They are good if you don't have any British people around you. They'll do the same job as listening to BBC or stuff like that.

Sure, people will notice if you speak in any accent that is not native to your area, and yes, they will probably think it's weird if you start talking with it all the time. Generally, speaking with a different accent is just something to do occasionally for fun (or when you're acting), not something you should adopt as your regular speech. Otherwise, it is unavoidable that some people will be annoyed or weirded out. But if you just want to speak it at home, you could try sharing your enthusiasm for it with your parents and see how they respond.

We have a tongue that sits flat and low in our mouths compared to the English and we don't open our mouths as wide to speak which gives off different vowel sounds. We pronounce beer differently with different sounds. We also have a fair bit of vowel reduction (it's common for us to say motha and fatha instead of mother and father) we don't always use the yod phoneme (Try saying dew for example and if it sounds a bit like there's a y phoneme after the d then you use a yod for that word if it sounds "do" instead then you don't. We also place stress in different parts of words and sentences. There's more differences particularly in slang but I haven't got time to talk about it all.

Yes, the characters on that show have British accents.

You need to practice a lot.

Just keep practicing. That is the only way to truly get a good British accent.

To speak fluently, surround yourself in the accent, visit Britain or keep listening to British TV shows or films. To speak faster, practice!

Mother wold be "muh-the," but people in Britain usually call their mothers "mum." Mrs would be more like messes, and suicidal "sue-E-sy-dal" (sy is like sky without the k, the a in dal is like the a in aww).

Just keep on practicing. Watch a lot of British TV and listen to British podcasts.

It depends on how old you are. If you're younger, you're more likely to pick up the accent quicker, so you could have it mastered in just a few months with enough practice.

Most letters are pronounced in the same way as in American-English, except in Britain they say “zed” instead of “zee”.

An eight year old would need to practice, just like anyone. Try watching the Harry Potter movies and imitating the way the characters speak.

If you wanted to you could, but it's not a requirement!

Keep practicing and work with a speech therapist to fix the stutter.

They usually use "telly" for "television." The best way to learn more words is by watching a lot of British television and movies, reading British books, and talking to British people. They also say "lift" for "elevator" and "flat" for "apartment."