In this week’s blog we are concentrating on accent.

People often tell me that I sound posh. Anyone who knows me knows that’s not the case. If you really listen to me when I speak, you’ll notice an accent. It’s not a specific accent because I’ve lived abroad and moved around so I’ve picked up different habits from different places. There are, however, some definite northern ‘twangs’ in there because that’s home to me.

My accent

But my accent is not recognisable as being Geordie, Welsh or South African – it’s an amalgamation of all of those.

What it’s definitely not is posh. What you’re hearing is that I speak clearly so that you can understand what I’m saying.

So pulling together everything we’ve already talked about, we’re focusing on how important it is to make sure you’re clear about making those sounds.

Speaking clearly

The best way to do that is to move your mouth. As a challenge, video yourself or watch yourself talking in the mirror and see how much your mouth moves around all the different sounds you’re making. It’s not about being posh or speaking with RP, it’s about making yourself understood when you’re speaking.

When I say the word ‘too’ I have quite a strong ‘oo’ sound which is quite South African. But I lived there so I own that particular nuance.

Start noticing how much you and other people move your mouth around the sounds you’re making.

Ideally, you need to be able to get a finger between your teeth when your mouth is open. And when you’re making the sound /i:/ ()”eeee”, make sure you’re smiling when you do so otherwise you’re changing the sound of the letter. Experiment with the difference.

Let’s talk about the Schwa (ə)- it’s a central vowel – created in the middle part of our mouths. Its also the teenager grunt “uh” /ə/. We use it a lot but but it is also a ‘mumble’ vowel which is used whenever we aren’t really moving out mouth enough. By really moving our mouths around vowel sounds we can be sure to avoid unnecessary mumblings of /ə/ and we can make sure our speech is much clearer. Be aware of the central vowel and make sure you’re moving your mouth to differentiate the sounds.

Check out this week’s video here.