Firstly, what is your native accent and how strong is it? There are 24 vowels in RP English, so if your accent is very different from RP then you have to learn all of them. That’s a lot of work! It may be that you have to learn a number of the consonants, typically R and TH, so this also takes time. RP is heavily dependent upon the tune and stress pattern, and learning to apply this to the new sounds in your speech can also be very time consuming, as well as great fun. How many ways can you say “I gave it to him”?

Secondly, some people have a better ear than others when learning a new language. If you are an engineer who is good with numbers and spreadsheets you are less likely to have an ear for language. Also, men are generally not as good with language learning as women. Teenagers are better than adults because their speech is still relatively plastic. These are all generalisations, of course, but they will have an effect on your progress in learning a new accent.

Thirdly there is time and determination. This is the most important factor of all. If you are keen and diligent then there is no limit to what you can learn. Remember to put your hours of practice in and you will see results.

So the answer to the question about learning your new RP British English Accent is if you want to, you can do it! Training is available online and face to face.

Find out more about our live Skype online accent reduction training.

What you may not have realised is that you can have your LAMDA lessons via Skype with Cardiff Speech & Drama. We have worked with all ages of people and entered candidates for a variety of examinations via this method. Candidates have to travel to a public centre in order to take their examinations, but are safe in the knowledge that high quality training by a very experienced teacher is available wherever there is broadband. All materials can be emailed and set Anthologies can be purchased directly from LAMDA.

Have a look at the sort of things your child can do via Skype:

Just get in touch to find out more and to book your free 15 minute introductory Skype session. Children’s Skype LAMDA and elocution training

Half term is the week commencing Monday 4th June.

M is a 15 year old girl who has been having lessons to help her with her confidence in speaking and to improve her communication skills. We started looking at her body language, getting her to sit up straight and to stop fiddling with her lovely long hair. We also looked at the meaningless fillers which make speech sound unintelligent, such as “um” and “like”.

Then we worked on the clarity of her speech, opening her mouth, ending her words and drawing out the vowels. We have been using tongue twisters and conversation practice to strengthen her lips and tongue.

She sent me this testamonial:
“I am feeling so much more confident. I don’t worry about people judging me because of the way I speak. I have more friends. My friends say that I seem happier and more outgoing. Thank you so much”

You don’t have to hide behind your poor speech. You can learn to have clear, confident speech and make your life so much more fulfulling.

We have been working on acting texts, exploring a wide range of characters from The Genie in Aladin to a serious piece about a dying boy. He finds reading difficult and repeats the phrases after me, a few words at a time. U thrives on his lessons and has gained considerable confidence from them. He is now 19 and recently performed in a show. I received this moving testamonial from his mother:

“He was really charismatic,nerve free and spoke clearly overall.He followed the script well and spoke with passion. I was so proud I cried.”

Acting and speech training can help a wide variety of people gain confidence in communication. Social Phobia, communication difficulties, speech impediments and stammers can all be helped with acting training.

One excellent way to work on all of these areas is to work towards a LAMDA Acting examination. In order to achieve a high mark, clients have to work on voice, speech, articulation, body language, movement, vocal and facial expression.

In this clip you can see a 10 year old boy working on one of his pieces for his grade 2 Acting exam. He is creating a character from the 1920s, Just William. The speech and expressions of that time were slightly different from our speech today, and it gives the student the opportunity to explore other characterisations and movement.

Tomos has worked very hard on his voice, speech and fluency, and the results are inspiring.

Find out more about LAMDA Exams

This helpful video explains how this rule works with the word “extent”.

Find out more about our training on our Accent Reduction page.

Eventually T felt confident enough to start taking LAMDA examinations in Spoken English and received very good grades which further boosted his confidence.

T is now taking his A levels and is soon to leave school. As part of one of his A level courses he was required to prepare a long and complicated presentation which was worrying the rest of his class. “It’s just like elocution lessons”, he told them, “It will be easy for me”.
When T presented his speech he was videod for the examination. Since we use video extensively in our training, T felt very comfortable in front of the camera. His friends were just terrified.

I later received this message from him:

” Just wanted to write to you to say thank you! I did the speaking thing today I feel it went well. My teacher said ” You spoke so posh”! Another teacher said “You spoke ever so well” .

No matter what your speech and communication problems, you can overcome them with help at Cardiff Speech & Drama.

Find out more about our Accent Reduction training.