Elocution lessons for our American daughter?

[VintageRainBoots]

Our five year old daughter will soon start school in the UK. She was born in US, has only lived in the US, and has so far been educated in the US. As a result, she speaks with an American accent.

My concern is that there are a few sounds that she still needs to work on, and moving to a different country with different speech patterns may complicate things for her. For example, she cannot pronounce the "r", as in "star" or "very." Could elocution lessons in the UK help her pronounce words the American way? That is, can a British speech therapist help her learn to say the American "star" or will she be taught the British version (which sounds a lot like "stah" to our uncivilized American ears)?

In addition, she's only recently mastered the "th" sound (before, she was approximated "th" with a "d" so that "them" was pronounced "dem"). However, I hear a lot of folks around town (and more often in London) pronouncing "th" with an "f" or "v" rather than the American "th". We spent a fair amount of time helping her with her "th" sounds; I would hate to see all that work amount to naught if she's in a class with students who use "v" or "f" instead.

So, will elocution lessons help her?

Along those same lines, does anyone have a recommendation for a speech therapist or elocution coach near Guildford?

marvellous, what a hoot, just killed 15 mins for me. OP I am English and don't pronounce my tt as dd. Most English folk don't AFAIK, so what makes you think it is the 'American' pronunciation?

Still not conviced this isn't a wind up, although a very good one

Actually, most US dialects pronounce the /t/ in 'letter' differently anyway - they do what is called a 'flap' instead of the aspirated /t/ that RP etc do. It sounds to British ears like you are saying 'budder' instead of 'butter'. She will probably lose that feature.

So there you go OP. It could go either way. Either she will learn to pronounce aspirated /t/ or she'll get a glottal stop. If you're actually serious about controlling what accent she gets, send her to a private school where the chances of having more RP speakers is higher. But I think you have to accept that there is huge dialectal variety in the UK, and that non-RP accents are not necessarily stigmatised.

Guildford children to my ears just sound like children with RP, Surrey teens typically sound RP with. Smidgen of Esturian. All my children have at times dropped their "tt" s etc. and usually get teased about it by me. But it's not a normal accent.

OP there aren't mant apartments/flats in Guildford, there are some bungalows (all on one level) but most are pretty much on the edge. Land is quite expensive, so most houses are multi level, from detached, semi-detached and terraced; although a lot of the last are 3 floors if new built and called "town houses". If your kids are going to state school, I would push to be shown properties south of the A3.

Dear OP,

I group up in French speaking Europe with an English mother and attended an American/Int'l school. I have primary school age tapes of me speaking with an American twang. Later I attended English Public school and am told by some I that I developed a 'posh' accent. Later still, my speech morphed into non-descript Anglo/American. I even picked up Geordie lingo at some point. Now, the accent scales are probably tipped towards North London.

The point is it makes no difference to who I am inside and accents can change depending on where you are. I would strongly strongly suggest that you invest your energies on ensuring that your daughter settles happily in her new surroundings. All this worry about her accent and elocution will just stress her out, waste your money and serves no meaningful purpose.

Ooo, hello, went!

Huge rofl at dd3. that's made my day!

I lived in a flat with stairs in Guildford. true story.

The old St Luke's hosp redevelopment. I'd suggest the grammar, tbh. In an educational sense, rather than linguistic, obv.

Oh, a five yo. Place is packed full of worthies. I'm sure there are montessoris pouring out of your ears.

I do miss Guildford. I don't even know why - I spent my whole life on the train.

Still, I only have a billion things to do. It should keep me away from them for a bit...

I live in a condo with stairs now. Billions of the blardy things.

OP
As a kid I spent my summers in the US, so had a US accent from July to October and a UK one through till July
FFS give your kid a chance to FIT IN not make her stand out even more.

Will you be taking lessons on how to speak proper like?

OP you will just be like lots of British parents reminding their children for the 1,432nd time that it is 'letter' and not 'le'er' and your daughter will acquire a school voice and a home voice like generations of kids before her.

My 2 are at an international school with classmates from all over - have one who drops his 't's and one who Americanises them (waader instead of water), both of which drive me mental. Anyway, they both can speak how they like to their little friends but I nag them about talking properly at home. And sound exactly like my mother when I'm doing it

Go rent a house in Lympne

I don't understand the 'tt' thing. I work with loads of Americans and they ALL say 'ledder', 'budder', 'compuuder' etc.

The difference between a Boston / New Jersey / Northern California / Georgia / Texas accent and the difference between a Geordie / Brummie / Scouse / Dorset / South Ken accent are such that all generalisations are pointless.
I get teased for speaking French with an 'Oc accent as that is where I got fluent ....

Re: "I don't understand the 'tt' thing. I work with loads of Americans and they ALL say 'ledder', 'budder', 'compuuder' etc."

Americans aren't really saying "dd", but it could sound like it to someone who isn't used to hearing the sound. To us, there's an obvious distinction between "better" and "bedder", but I don't think most British can hear it. As I said before, it's as if the "tt" sound in the middle isn't completed, so you hear something intermediate between dd and tt. To us, the "tt" in the middle is crisp, and the "dd" in the middle is thicker, clunkier. They're not the same sound at all.

Vintage
I can hear it.
And I know that the pronunciation is NOT the same all over the US.

You are really putting way too much thought into this.

Eau, you have to if you're going to create an entire thread out of it.

Nice Christmas shopping in Guildford, anyway.

Is there anything else you're an expert in, Vintage? Besides physics and standard American English, I mean.

This has got to be a wind-up, hasn't it? No one is this obtuse and lacking in self-awareness, regardless of their nationality.

The S&B thread as well. It looks a lot like an attempt to start a UK vs US bunfight. Or maybe it's just attention-seeking. It's weird, anyway. But quite entertaining, to be fair!

Of course it is. But it whiles away the long winter evenings, and all that.

FairPhyllis: I think you've hit a major point. In the UK, non RP accents are not necessarily stigmatized. In the US, noticable regional accents are often considered the province of the poorly educated. This is particularly true with younger people.

Dalek, please. Non-RP accents are not necessarily stigmatized, well yes not stigmatized by others with non-RP accents.

It reminds me of a receptionist we used to have that would answer the phone with her poshest accent: "Chains & Co" and then when asked for the spelling would say "Certainly sir, that's 'c' 'haitch'..."!

Remember op that in the uk, fanny and shag have different meanings to in the states

As does rubber :)

Erm, if you're going to teach her anything it might be worth you being able to distinguish between English and British accents - RP is an English pronunciation.
HTH

NOt convinced Americans really pronounce "better" and "bedder" differently.

How do Americans pronouce "intercontinental", OP?