Shadowing Practice: British Accent Secrets 🤫 | Sound more British 🇬🇧 | British English 🫖 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hi there everyone!
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Welcome back to English with Catherine.
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It's me, Catherine, here to help you with your pronunciation.
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If you're here to compare the British accent with the American accent, or if you'd like to just pick up a few tips on how to sound more British, I'm here to help.
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There are many British accents across the UK, it's a big place.
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But today I'm going to be focusing on the accent that I speak with, which is called Modern Received Pronunciation.
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And the reason for that is it's my expertise because it's my accent, so I can teach it very easily.
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So if you're interested in learning an accent that sounds a little bit like mine Keep watching.
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Is that the time?
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We should start.
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The alphabet O.
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I call it the alphabet O because guess what?
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It sounds like the letter O.
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So the sound we're looking for in our British accent is Oh.
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Oh the vowel sounds are so integral, you can actually change your entire accent if you can master the vowel sounds.
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So let's focus on the alphabet O.
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The rose grows.
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like the river flows.
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Can you hear that "oh oh oh oh"?
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This is the music of the modern RP accent.
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How do we make this sound?
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Not a very wide mouth.
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You can't make this sound if you open your mouth, loads.
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Actually you'll probably notice that British people don't tend to open their mouth a lot when they're speaking.
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I guess we're not that expressive because we keep everything quite understated and quite subtle, including the shape of our mouth when we talk.
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You need to purse your lips in order to do this, which is like that.
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O O.
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You need to really make it sound like that letter O.
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Even if you feel like you're exaggerating that sound, Don't worry, it sounds great to my ear.
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It sounds exactly how it should sound.
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Trust me, if you master this, you can really sound a lot more British.
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Because this sound comes in so many little words that make up sentences.
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You know, like the little words that come very very often in speech, like "no".
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and sew and even "Hello !" There's also DON'T show and go.
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So remember the mouth shouldn't be too open, it should be quite a gentle sound, not too loud.
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O Oh, and come on guys, shadow me.
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I think that's what you're supposed to say, is it shadow me?
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Or just talk at the same time as me right now?
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Show me how to grow a rose.
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Show me how to grow a rose.
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You don't have to show me, I already know.
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So as long as you can hear that O O O sound repeating
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I bet you've got it right and I bet you sound amazing.
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Here are some absolutely beautiful words that you can practice along with me and just enjoy saying.
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Number one: Bungalow Bungalow.
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Number two.
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Rainbow.
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rainbow rainbow Don't you just love rainbows?
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Number three Shadow Shadow.
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I love that word.
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It's so mysterious.
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So everyone, try to master your alphabet O's to sound a little bit more British.
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The reason it's sometimes called the long O is that you need to take your time on this sound, okay?
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Don't rush it, because if you say it too quickly, it's not going to sound how it's supposed to sound.
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Let's move on to secret number two.
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Intonation So the way that we pronounce words in the modern RP accent has a kind of tune to it.
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There's a musicality.
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Usually in the middle of the word it goes up and down again.
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and that creates a kind of song inside the word.
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Today I'm going to show you the musicality of three syllable words.
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This doesn't always happen with all three syllable words so I will show you some exceptions, but I'm going to give you quite a long list of words where it does happen.
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for example take the word fantastic fantastic the reason people like the way
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that that sounds is because it it has feeling doesn't it it has soul you can hear
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that there's something going on in that word it's not just Fantastic fantastic.
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That would be more monotone.
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monotone.
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There's that alphabet O.
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Monotone.
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But no, we don't want monotone.
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We want music.
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It's got emotion, it's got a human element to it.
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And if you were to look at the psychology of why people like the modern RP or the British accent, it's quite an interesting area of study.
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I think you'll find that it's all related to trust and authenticity.
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Fantastic!
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just sounds like it's got some integrity to it, some sincerity So very often with three syllable words,
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the second syllable is stressed so that you have a pattern that's Unstressed?
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Stressed?
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Unstressed.
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fantastic Even the word tomato sounds more interesting, right?
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Tomato!
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Somehow, because it's longer, there's more focus on it.
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It sort of shines out more than it would if it was just monotone.
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Here are some more words that you can read out loud and practice with.
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Consistent.
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Consistent volcanic Volcanic Diminish.
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diminish.
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I feel like a conductor right now.
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Astonish?
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astonish.
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And now guys, the exceptions.
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I'm sorry.
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Maximum This word has three syllables and of course The first syllable is stressed: maximum.
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Now, my theory on that word is that we kind of want to stress the max part, because it's kind of an exaggerating word, isn't it?
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Maximum.
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You kind of want to use it quite strongly, so sometimes the first syllable is stressed when we really want maximum effect on the meaning of a word.
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Capital.
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The capital of the UK is London.
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Again, capital.
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We are stressing that first syllable, maybe because it's such an important word, right?
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The capital, that means the most important city in the UK, in the country.
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I've got one more example that does follow the rule.
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Banana.
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Now bananas are not very serious things so you know maybe there's a rule
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that we stress the second syllable on unimportant words or words that are not needed for effect like banana So,
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in conclusion, in order to sound more British, make sure you have some intonation happening in your accent.
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Don't speak with a monotone voice if you can avoid it.
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There are little tips and tricks that you can learn, because what you're trying to achieve is a bit of animation in your voice, a bit of zest, a bit of sparkle,
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which will make you sound more interesting, more engaging, generally.
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There's just one thing I want to talk about before we finish, and that is to do with the language that you're actually using.
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This is not so much about accent, this is about what you choose to use.
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You just need to make sure if you want British accent, you need to use the words that belong to British English, rather than American English.
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So in American they say pants, We say trousers.
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trousers, like jeans or something like that We call them trousers.
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We say rubbish.
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rubbish They say trash.
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Trash.
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We say pavement as in you walk on the pavement at the side of the road, they say sidewalk.
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I love that one.
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sidewalk.
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They say closet.
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We say wardrobe.
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wardrobe.
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We say crisps Lovely, lovely salty crisps.
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And they say, chips.
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Chips.
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Chips for us is a completely different thing, like fish and chips, That's what a chip is to us.
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Here's an alphabet O for you guys. So far.
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We say sofa.
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They say couch couch.
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One more, they say fall and we say autumn but you probably know that one.
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Well guys, It's the end of the video, I really enjoyed that one.
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You know I love teaching pronunciation.
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I'm quite a musical person, I love to play the piano, so pronunciation just feels so great and so natural to me.
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Thank you to all my lovely loyal subscribers for sticking with me through my experimental phase of trying out new videos.
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I'm going to be making a lot more videos on daily English
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and pronunciation because I think those are the areas that help you guys the most.
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Feel free to comment if you disagree.
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I love making videos for you guys and I really want to continue so click the subscribe button if you can.
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You can also follow me on Instagram, just type in English with Catherine and you will find me.
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I'm wishing you the most beautiful, incredible weekend and I'll see you next Friday.
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Bye.
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Mastering the Modern Received Pronunciation: A Guide to Sounding More British
The video, led by Catherine, focuses on Modern Received Pronunciation (RP), a widely recognized British accent. She emphasizes that mastering vowel sounds—especially the "O" sound—can transform your accent. British speakers often keep their mouths relatively closed, creating a subtle, understated tone, which is key to nailing this accent.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "The rose grows like the river flows"
- "Show me how to grow a rose"
- "Hello! Don't show and go"
- "You don't have to show me, I already know"
- "Bungalow, rainbow, shadow"
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for British Accent Practice
Shadowing—repeating speech in real time—is a powerful tool for English speaking practice, whether for daily use or IELTS speaking practice. Here's how to apply it to this video:
- Focus on the "O" sound: Purse your lips gently, avoiding a wide mouth. Practice words like "no," "sew," and "hello" to mimic the "oh" sound. Exaggerate it at first—it will sound natural to a British ear.
- Shadow short phrases: Start with simple lines like "The rose grows." Pause the video, repeat, then try speaking along in real time. Use a shadowing site or app to track your progress.
- Move to longer sentences: Try "Show me how to grow a rose" and "You don't have to show me, I already know." Pay attention to the rhythm and subtle mouth movements.
- Practice with vocabulary: Repeat "bungalow," "rainbow," and "shadow" to reinforce the "O" sound in different contexts. Shadowspeak exercises can help you internalize the accent's flow.
- Record and compare: Record yourself shadowing, then listen to the video. Note differences in vowel length and mouth shape—adjust until your pronunciation matches.
Consistent practice with these steps will help you sound more natural in British English, whether for casual conversations or formal exams.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called · are not needed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | with, which is · this, which is |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | Keep watching · enjoy saying · love teaching |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should start · should sound · shouldn't be |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.