I want to learn a perfect Received Pronunciation (and after that, a few regional British accents), and I'd like your help. It's not hard to find samples of British English on the internet, but I need feedback on my attempts.
I'd appreciate it if you could post a vocaroo sample of yourself speaking in RP (or your local accent, if you want), which I will then painstakingly analyze and imitate before posting a vocaroo of myself repeating it, which could then be commented upon/mocked and derided.
Reasons:
My grades are too poor and my motivation too low to go for graduate school in my field of study, linguistics (unless I want to end up at some bumfuck state university in flyover country). I'm considering accent coaching as a possible career, as there's opportunity for good money, and it lets me make use of my linguistic knowledge.
I'm a native speaker of American English, but a lot of places and people prefer to aim for a British standard, and being able to teach that would be a great help.
And as for non-RP, as an enthusiast of historical linguistics, I have a soft spot for oddly conservative/unique dialects (especially north England dialects).
I won't lie that there isn't some appeal to the idea of being able to pose as a Brit (or later on, a Yorkshireman or super-chav) at will, but I promise that I will use this power only for good.
If you're posting these at least tell us your region. I couldn't work that one out. If you pointed a gun at me I'd guess Essex or thereabouts, but it is entirely a guess.
When I read 'received pronunciation' I can only think of the older newsreaders and television presenters, if youre after older examples british path just dumped a assload of old newsreels to youtube.
I'm interested in the reverse - I speak with a mild south east Leeds accent (mild enough that most people can't tell I'm from the north), and I'd like to learn to speak with an American accent. Specifically, one from somewhere around NYC or Philly. Is there anything for that in London?