Accents...Should kids be taught to speak proper?

[Itcouldhavebeenbeetroot]

I have been working (as I am sure loads of you know) with kids on a Shakespeare project. NOW....

Some of the kids have really strong accents - and so cannot be understood by many people - what should be done about this if anything?

Is it enough that they are having the experience? Or should we insist that they learn to tone down their accents?

AND should this be something that could be useful in everyday life - not just in theatre - darling?!

Interested in opinions - no judgements here btw - just raising the question.

So you ask them to repeat it. Big deal! This will become more common as immigrants continue to enter the country and learn English and try to assimilate.

Part of living in an ever smaller world.

I don't think having a regional accent and speaking properly are mutually exclusive actually.
I'm a scouser, you can tell I'm a scouser but I doubt anyone would have any problems understanding me because I pronounce my words properly.
I think speaking in a way that makes it hard for anyone to understand you is going to make life hard and would possibly hinder opportunities.

if they're performing for a local audience, then they will understand them anyway. shakespeare isn't the property of a clique 'what speak proper' in order to make the beauty of the language acessible throughout the country, you have to respect that people will regionalise it by using their own accents and that their audience will understand them.

that said, my children are scottish,I'm english and i do correct them constantly because if they do want to get the smarmy jobs then they'll be better placed to get one with a modified accent. dd puts 'but' or 'pure' into a sentence where it doesn't belong ds1 has a cockney accent. ds2 has slight speech problems
anyway, so i can't really hear an accent other than posh glasgow (david tennant, although he's a paisly boy, it's near enough..)

I think accents are lovely, and there are plenty of people with perfectly understandable regional accents. I think it's fair to expect someone to pronounce words in such a way that they can be understood, and I don't think that necessarily means losing your accent completely, but it might mean toning it down a little.
And I love a scottish accent (but can't understand Rab C Nesbitt for instance!!)
So it's not having to fit everyone in a single mould, it's more about making sure everyone can understand you.
I am certainly conscious that I have an accent and I always try and pronounce english words properly so as to be understood.

I get some beautiful Scots accents on the phone sometimes, I drift off into a trance listening to them

It's the verging-on-incomprehensible I have problems with!

I think psychologically it's natural to modify. It's part of adapting yourself to reflect the person you're talking to, as a way of encouraging them to relate to you. Though I've never been able to modify my accent so much it looses its regional tone altogether.

I have a strong accent and did a degree and MA in English, both of which had drama modules in them, and made no attempt to change the way I speak.

When I started working in London I used to get loads of people misspelling my name on correspondence cos of the way I say it over the phone, that kind of thing.

But nothing serious enough for me to change. My accent is part of who I am and I wouldn't change it for anybody (I'd probably find it physically impossible!) and I'd be seriously p'ed off if anyone told me I needed to modify it.

We arenot just talking regional accents from the UK here - but accents from abroad as well - so people speaking English as a second (or third etc) language

so what do the day people think?

I went to elocution classes as a child. I haven't read all the thread btw.

I grew up in a house full of Victorian elocution books. We lived with my granmother who was a servant girl in the fens in the late 19 century and she went on a mission to 'better' herself by learning to speak 'properly'. She was self taught - she then went on to run a business that bought her out of poverty. She insisted her four children, one of whom was my mother, also had elocution lessons and then, when I came along, I had them too.

In some ways me speaking 'ever so proper' gave people the wrong impression of me. I was teased a bit at school and when I moved to london in my twenties, some people assumed I came from a posher background than I did. This could be a help or a hindrance (but quite useful in job interviews).

As a shy child and teenager, the knowledge that I could project my voice well and speak clearly was very helpful to me.

My accent now has a slight London twang as I have lived here for nearly 30 years. However even yesterday, a colleague commented on my lovely speaking voice

I think knowing how to speak clearly is a great asset, and something to be encouraged. It has helped me through life on the whole. Speaking clearly does not mean no accent IMO, and does not mean upper class posh.

I think you would be right to encourage your students to speak so they are understood by the whole audience. Can you tape them, then sit them in the audience, play the tape at the volume they speak and show them what you mean? Or would they say they understood themselves anyway as they are at ease with their accent and know their lines? If so, could you tape some other heavily accented actors with unfamiliar accents to your students and make them listen to that?

It pisses me off when people think im thick because im a brummie.

It annoys me more so when people mimic my accent by talking with a deep, thick black country accent.

I think its nice to have an accent and a dialect, it gives identity.

Its a shame that people are judged by their accents.

It would freak me out if either of my boys had lessons to start talking like Little Lord Fauntleroy.

I have an Irish accent and when I came to this country in '87 no one could understand me cos I spoke very quikly as well as having an accent. I slowed down my speech and this had an effect on my accent, making me sound more American. My accent now is very slight and this saddens me a little. I adjsuted to be understood and I do feel it had an effect on my idenity. It's hard to explain but sometimes I hear myself speak and I wonder where did that come from?

I think leave their accents untouched. remember Ray Winston in Shakeseare. it adds dept to a performance I think and also who the hell understand Shakespeare anyway

I have a scouse accent, but having worked in telephone sales and related industries most of my adult life I have also developed a "telephone voice", which is exactly the same accent, but I speak more slowly, without using colloquialisms (so I use "my" instead of "me", "thank you" instead of "ta", "you know" instead of "y'know", that sort of thing).

I think this can be a useful skill, but I think there's a difference between this and "toning down" an accent (which I don't think I do).

I am sorry but everyone should be taught Shakespeare properly so they do have the chance of understanding it.

Ray Winston's accent was VERY different to a broad Bristolian or a Chinese or a West African accent - all of whom - I found it difficult to understand and I know Shakespeare pretty well

yes, it's an asset in life.

Of course accents are part of the rich tapestry of life, but if you have a thick accent which means people have difficulty understanding what you are saying in an everyday situation, wouldn't you consider modifying it slightly so that you are understood (and this refers as much to London accents as it does to accents from anywhere else)?

Surely the issue here is communication - if someone doesn't understand what you are saying then you modify the way you say it until you are understood. In a play you only get one run at it, so yes, use the voice that everyone can clearly understand. Modification doesn't have to be permanent. Who would want people to lose their identity? Expatinscotland - presumably you now understand everyone because you have got used to the local accents.

Dd peaks with a Potteries accent (as do I)

SHe is currently studying for her first LAMDA exam. I think that diction and enunciation are important, you can speak in an accent but still be understood.

When acting playing a character in an accent it is a conscious desision on how to interpret that character so I see no reason why clear diction or even RP if that fits with the character should not be taught.

Shakespeare had a West Midlands accent.

As had been said here the key surely must be to speaking more clearly rather than eradicating the accent. I do think it would be a great shame if these children had put a lot of time and effort into this only for their audience to not have a clue what they are saying. If you are performing then it is completely different to just everyday speaking. Difficult one.

that is why I asked the question about 'toning it down' - not eradicating it (well some accents could be eradicated but that is another subject -

yes you should try to teach them how to modulate the sounds that come out of their mouths

if they have the skill to do it it will stand them in good stead

speaking properly is advantageous in this country .. as I am sure it is in many countries

an inability to articulate so that one is understood can be detrimental to happiness

so a resounding YES from me

Sorry beety, worded that badly maybe, wasn't accusing you of anything! Thought it was a good question actually.

Yes, I think children should be taught to speak so that others from different backgrounds can understand them. Of course, that needn't prevent them from using local accents etc. in circumstances in which they would be understood.

I don't think children should be taught to 'speak proper' but should be taught to spaek 'properly'. In my oppinion, accents are a part of a person and should not be changed. However, I despair when my kids fail to use correct grammer or tenses. I do feel that this should be corrected as if a child is unable to speak properly, how will they ever be able to write correctly?