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Accents and dialects | British Library - Sounds

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A selection of English accents captured at the British Library

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IDEA: International Dialects of English Archive | free dialect and accent recordings for the performing arts

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Welcome to IDEA. The International Dialects of English Archive was created in 1998 as the internet's first archive of primary-source recordings of English-language dialects and accents as heard around the world. With roughly 1,700 samples from 135 countries and territories, and more than 170 hours of recordings, IDEA is now the largest archive of its kind.

IDEA's recordings are principally in English, are of native speakers, and include both English-language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages. (Many include brief demonstrations of the speaker's native language, too.) The archive also includes extensive Special Collections.

Paul Meier is IDEA's founder, director, and principal contributor, personally collecting nearly 20 percent of the archive. He established IDEA to provide actors the real-life models they need for their characters' accents and dialects; many actors use his Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen in conjunction with IDEA. But IDEA has proved invaluable in many other fields too; for example, it's a favorite tool of international business, helping personnel become familiar with their customers' accents and dialects.

HOW IDEA WORKS

To find an example of an accent or dialect, use the Global Map, or the Dialects and Accents tab on the menu bar. The site is also fully searchable, not just by country, state, and province, but also by characteristics of each speaker, such as ethnicity, age, and occupation; even single phrases from transcriptions and phonetics can be searched online. You may conveniently listen to the streaming audio while reading the accompanying transcription and commentary. All samples have one-line descriptions (gender, age, year of birth, ethnicity, location). Submission of new samples by the editors and other contributors is done entirely online.

At the heart of IDEA are its Senior Editors and the Associate Editors, forming a global network of contributors. They record the subjects, transcribe the recordings, and, in many cases, write scholarly commentaries that often include phonetic and cultural analyses. Many editors are professors at major universities, or are members of The Voice and Speech Trainers Association ( VASTA).

Cameron Meier is IDEA's executive editor and chief sound and copy editor, and also vice president of Paul Meier Dialect Services.

New recordings, their accompanying transcriptions and scholarly commentaries are added frequently (see What's New). Each recording includes both a reading (Comma Gets a Cure, or, on our earliest recordings, The Rainbow Passage) and some unscripted speech - about four minutes in all.

The Global Map quickly reveals which countries/states/provinces have a representative sample, and those that still lack one. As you see, IDEA continues to grow, aspiring to provide a recording from every corner of the world. Please join us in this ambitious project by becoming an associate editor, or contributing your own voice to the archive.

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IDEA: International Dialects of English Archive

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Welcome to IDEA, the internet's best source for primary-source recordings of English-language dialects and accents as heard around the world.

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Voices - The way we speak in the UK today. Voices - The way we speak in the UK today

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A huge number of native English speakers make frequent English slip-ups that bring on the wrath of the UK's army of grammar pedants, and it's mainly because they weren't taught properly at school. But for you, help is at hand. So that you can learn the rules from the word go, we've put together this guide to some of the most common mistakes people make when writing in English. Learn them all, and you'll get your knowledge of English off to a better start than most Brits! Even if you're a native speaker, you may find some useful advice here to make your use of English the best it can be.

Apostrophes aren't difficult to use once you know how, but putting them in the wrong place is one of the most common grammar mistakes in the English language. Many people use an apostrophe to form the plural of a word, particularly if the word in question ends in a vowel, which might make the word look strange with an S added to make it plural.

The rules:

How not to do it:

How to do it properly:

The horses are in the field
Pens for sale
In the 1980s
We didn't want to do it
Jane's horse is over there
The girls' dresses are ready for them to collect

We covered this one before in our post on homophones, but it's such a widespread problem that there's no harm in covering it again.

The rules:

"Your" indicates possession - something belonging to you.
"You're" is short for "you are".

How not to do it:

Your beautiful
Do you know when your coming over?
Can I have one of you're biscuits?

How to do it properly:

We said earlier that apostrophes should be used to indicate possession, but there is one exception to this rule, and that is the word "it". Unsurprisingly, this exception gets lots of people confused.

The rules:

"It's" is only ever used when short for "it is".
"Its" indicates something belonging to something that isn't masculine or feminine (like "his" and "hers", but used when you're not talking about a person).
If it helps, remember that inanimate objects can't really possess something in the way a human can.

How not to do it:

Its snowing outside
The sofa looks great with it's new cover

How to do it properly:

It's snowing outside
The sofa looks great with its new cover

This common mistake arises because the contracted form of "could have" - "could've" - sounds a bit like "could of" when you say it out loud. This mistake is made frequently across all three of these words.

The rules:

When people write "should of", what they really mean is "should have".
Written down, the shortened version of "should have" is "should've".
"Should've" and "Should have" are both correct; the latter is more formal.

How not to do it:

We could of gone there today
I would of done it sooner
You should of said

How to do it properly:

We've met this one before, too; it's another example of those pesky homophones - words that sound the same but have different meanings.

The rules:

How not to do it:

How to do it properly:

The fact that many people don't know the difference between "fewer" and "less" is reflected in the number of supermarket checkout aisles designated for "10 items or less". The mistake most people make is using "less" when they actually mean "fewer", rather than the other way round.

The rules:

"Fewer" refers to items you can count individually.
"Less" refers to a commodity, such as sand or water, that you can't count individually.

How not to do it:

There are less cakes now
Ten items or less

How to do it properly:

These two work in the same way as "less" and "fewer", referring respectively to commodities and individual items.

The rules:

"Amount" refers to a commodity, which can't be counted (for instance water).
"Number" refers to individual things that can be counted (for example birds).

How not to do it:

A greater amount of people are eating more healthily

How to do it properly:

A greater number of people are eating more healthily
The rain dumped a larger amount of water on the country than is average for the month

It's time to revisit another common grammar mistake that we also covered in our homophones post, as no article on grammar gripes would be complete without it. It's easy to see why people get this one wrong, but there's no reason why you should.

The rules:

How not to do it:

How to do it properly:

Confusion between "then" and "than" probably arises because the two look and sound similar.

The rules:

"Than" is used in comparisons.
"Then" is used to indicate something following something else in time, as in step-by-step instructions, or planning a schedule ("we'll go there then there").

How not to do it:

She was better at it then him
It was more then enough

How to do it properly:

The matter of how to refer to oneself causes all manner of conundrums, particularly when referring to another person in the same sentence. Here's how to remember whether to use "me", "myself" or "I".

The rules:

How not to do it:

Me and John are off to the circus
Myself and John are going into town
Give it to John and I to look after

How to do it properly:

This mistake is now so common that it's almost accepted as an alternative, but if you really want to speak English properly, you should avoid it.

The rules:

"Invite" is a verb - "to invite". It refers to asking someone if they'd like to do something or go somewhere.
"Invitation" is a noun - "an invitation". It refers to the actual message asking someone if they'd like to do something or go somewhere.

How not to do it:

I haven't responded to her invite yet.
She sent me an invite.

How to do it properly:

Another conundrum arising from confusion over how to refer to people. There are lots in the English language!

The rules:

How not to do it:

Who shall I invite?
Whom is responsible?
He was the only person that wanted to come

How to do it properly:

It's an easy enough mistake to make given how similar these two words look and sound, but there's a simple explanation to help you remember the difference.

The rules:

Affect is a verb - "to affect" - meaning to influence or have an impact on something.
Effect is the noun - "a positive effect" - referring to the result of being affected by something.
There is also a verb "to effect", meaning to bring something about - "to effect a change". However, this is not very commonly used, so we've left it out of the examples below to avoid confusion.

How not to do it:

He waited for the medicine to have an affect
They were directly effected by the flooding

How to do it properly:

He waited for the medicine to have an effect
They were directly affected by the flooding

These two abbreviations are commonly confused, and many people use them interchangeably. However, their uses are very different.

The rules:

I.e. means "that is" or "in other words". It comes from the Latin words "id est".
E.g. means "for example". It comes from the Latin words "exempli gratia".
Only use "i.e." and "e.g." when writing informally. In formal documents, such as essays, it is better to write out the meanings ("for example" or "that is").

How not to do it:

He liked many different cheeses, i.e. cheddar, camembert and brie.
He objects to the changes - e.g. he won't be accepting them.

How to do it properly:

He liked many different cheeses, e.g. cheddar, camembert and brie.
He objects to the changes - i.e. he won't be accepting them.

We hope you've found this a useful reference guide as you continue your journey to become fluent in English. If you'd like to learn even more about the ins and outs of English grammar, why not enrol on one of our English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses this summer?
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14 Common Grammatical Mistakes in English - And How to Avoid Them

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A huge number of native English speakers make frequent English slip-ups that bring on the wrath of the UK's army of grammar pedants, and it's mainly because they weren't taught properly at school. But for you, help is at hand.

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Materials that concentrate on activities to promote speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending.

This was published under the 2005 to 2010 Labour government

Documents

Details

This pack outlines an approach for practitioners and teachers to help children with word reading skills and spelling.

Please note: the DVD which accompanied this document is no longer available.

More information about teaching phonics in schools is available.

Thank you for your feedback

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Materials that concentrate on activities to promote speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending.

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Punctuation - KS2 English - BBC Bitesize

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KS2 English Punctuation learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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Punctuation - KS1 English - BBC Bitesize

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KS1 English Punctuation learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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A useful resource for developing your knowledge about grammar is:Seely, J. (2007) Grammar for Teachers: The Essential Guide to How English Works, Tiverton, Oxpecker.

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A useful resource for developing your knowledge about grammar is:Seely, J. (2007) Grammar for Teachers: The Essential Guide to How English Works, Tiverton, Oxpecker.

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Free videos and downloadable worksheets to help adult learners improve their reading, writing, spelling and grammar.

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BBC BITESIZE

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http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27424?msg=welcome_stranger

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POETRY

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BOOK FOR KEEPS

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When I was about seven, my dad and I - having gambolled happily through innumerable Ladybirds, all of Milly-Molly-Mandy's adventures (I yield to no one in my love of the little girl in the pink and white striped dress) and a fair proportion of William Brown's - embarked on the weightier matter of Ian Serraillier's The Silver Sword together.

This is the story of the three Balicki children who must fend for themselves in occupied Poland after their parents are taken away by the Nazis. They become friends with an orphan called Jan. Or, as Dad kept calling him, "Yan". Eventually I had to stop him and explain politely that, actually, "J" was pronounced "jay", not "wye". Whereupon he explained, that the vagaries of the Polish language were such that, in fact, a J could be a Y and this is how Jan's name would have been spoken. I forgot all about that until about 13 years later when a university lecturer was trying to teach me about semiotics. He had been talking about signifiers and signifieds for several minutes and then, suddenly, the memory of Jan/Yan popped up and brought the various fragments of knowledge I was gleaning into focus like a twist on a kaleidoscope tube. Nothing is innately or immutably attached to anything. You only have to have a system. As long as A is different from B and Y is different from J and everybody is aware of this, all works smoothly.

It was a tiny but gratifyingly tangible example of the usually amorphous benefits of reading aloud to a child.

Latest research reveals that increasing numbers of children are starting school without ever having been read to at home. Pie Corbett, educational adviser to the government, says: "This isn't just an economic thing - it's across the whole of society. You get a lot of children coming from very privileged backgrounds who've spent a lot of time in front of the TV and not enough time with a good book. The TV does the imagining for you - and it doesn't care whether you're listening or not."

There is an argument to be made in favour of TV's role as a failsafe babysitter, giving frazzled parents restorative breaks, and we should also be wary of characterising the TV as something that injects noxious substances directly into children's brains, and of books as something that are universally capable of transforming the dustiest mental landscape into a lush and verdant pasture.

But perhaps after the revelation that the average adult in the UK watches nearly four-and-a-half hours' TV a day, it is time to remind ourselves of some of the best books out there for our young people.

The following - a combination of personal recommendations, enduring classics and currently popular borrowings from school and public libraries - are suggestions and starting points only, of course (and the age ranges attached even more so), but hopefully there will be something, somewhere for everyone.
Best books: 0-2 year-olds Best books: 2-4 year-olds Best books: 5-7 year-olds Best books: 8-12 year-olds Best books: 12-years-old and over
What did we miss? Share your suggestions below

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Increasing numbers of children are starting school without having been read to. But which are the books to get them - and keep them - hooked? Lucy Mangan introduces our guide to the best

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INSPIRING CHILDREN TO READ

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BOOK TRUST RECOMMENDATIONS

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LIST OF CLASSIC BOOKS