A LONDONER Explains How to Speak COCKNEY (London accent)

today on let them talk TV you are going to learn everything you need to know about the cockney accent spoken in london now as you know I am a Londoner but when I teach these lessons I teach standard British English which is what I'm talking now by the way more or less anyway Bain London we have our own accent and it's called cockney now cockney is a working-class accent that originated around the city and the East End of London but now you'll find it all over London and beyond in the past Londoners tried to hide their cockney accent when they tried to rise the social ranks in polite society they were mocked and shunned and having an accent a cockney accent could hold them back but not anymore now it's cool to have cockney accent it's worn as a badge of pride and you'll find it's everywhere in the media on the BBC in Hollywood lots of famous people are the were cockneys for that for example at Dell Jason Statham Amy Winehouse Russell Brand Michael Caine and many more now I'm milling his teacher so of course when I teach English I use standard British English for trying to again standard British English RP it's all the court often called RP received pronunciation now this is the English you'll find in English textbooks and dictionaries but today with a little help from my cousin Bob say hello Bob alright we're going to learn some cockney so if you're planning to visit London speak to a Londoner listen to a Londoner or just have an interest in the accent of this great city [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello and welcome to let them talk and today we're going to look at the cockney accent now try to simplify this lesson and keep it relatively brief with as little linguistic jargon as possible we're going to look at the accent at three levels and for that I have a great expense invested in a cockney ohmmeter here it is every house should have one you see cockney is not just one thing it's more of a spectrum of an accent so level one is just the pronunciation of words and how they differ from Rp so here are some of things to look out for replacing the T sound with a glottal stop the glottal stop is a sound made from the throat rather than a tea that comes from the front of the mouth so for example water becomes water butter becomes butter and company we drop the H sound entirely so head becomes e D hat becomes at me at is on the edge the unvoiced th sound that's when you put your tongue between your teeth and blow in such words as thanks think Thursday that's replaced by an F banks think first day if it's a voice th and it comes in the middle of a word such as brother whether it's pronounced like V sound Rafa whether the final L becomes a W that bothers new girlfriend's so here I am with my cousin Bob and he's gonna speak in cockney while I speak in standard English R P if you like now we're going to move their cockney ometer to level one [Laughter] [Music] at level one we're just looking at pronunciation changes taking into account the sounds changes I already mentioned so you should understand most of what Bob says are you ready yes let's go cousin Bob are you ready okay hello how are you I'm a it's a beautiful day isn't it beautiful day in air Harry Potter brought his new girlfriend's to our house to meet my mother Harry Potter for his new girlfriend - ass to me from a bar I'm going to have a shower in Liverpool Street Station I'm gonna have a shower in lippel Street Station I can't go south of the river my friend because I haven't been vaccinated I can't go south of the river mate cuz I ain't fascinate me thanks for the butter but now I feel ill I hope I'll be better by Thursday thanks for the butter but now I feel ill Oh I'll be better by Thursday the weather in Hackney is lovely in autumn the weather in acne is lovely in autumn okay did you get that interesting just a few sound changes from standard British English and you've got it but I'm warning you it gets more difficult because now we're going to move the dial on the Katja meter up to level 2 [Laughter] [Music] okay on level two in addition to pronunciation changes we're going to look at some cockney expressions and vocabulary which are different from standard English and not just pronunciation you should still understand quite a lot but it's getting difficult Wow the pretty girl I met in the West End is very rich cor blimey that fit bird I'm out west is weldment is ten pounds for a tub of jellied eels that's ridiculous singing quid for a pint and a tub of jellied eels Dobby a favor the gentleman was smoking cigarettes in the toilets I said stop it my friend that's not right please leave immediately this bloke was smoking in the bog I said llevame your bang out of order now sling your hook I bought my car from a suspicious gentleman on the Old Kent Road for 250 pounds I bought me motor from this dodgy geezer on the Old Kent Road for ah a monkey what are you doing are you flirting with my girlfriend what's your game sunshine will you chang at me missus miss getting difficult isn't it but we've not finished yet now we're going to move the dial on the Cockney ometer up to the maximum to level three oh fudge captain if I push it any harder the whole thing is low now level 3 as well as the other changes we are going to use cockney rhyming slang now this is a particular type of slang which is unique to London let me explain let's look at this phrase lemon and lime lemon and lime it means time huh why does it mean time simply because the second word in the phrase rhymes with time lime time lime time lemons and limes have nothing to do with time it's all about the rhyme so in a phrase you substitute the words time with lemon and lime so what's the time becomes what's the lemon and lime you got it but sometimes that's not obscure enough so just say the first word of the pear what's the lemon or what's the lemon that's half past nine you get it okay now example can I use your dog and bone to call me mrs. dog and bone dog and bone what do you think that means phone of course dog and bone phone bone rhymes with phone can we drop the first word of the pair yes we can my battery is dead can I use your dog to call the mrs. sometimes we can just use the first word of the pair and sometimes we need to use both for example he's brown bread means he's dead but you can't say he's brown why I don't know but it's like that sometimes you have to use both so my battery is brown bread can use your dog to call the missus you get it when you have several rhymes in a sentence it becomes really difficult to understand and why is so difficult because that's how it's supposed to be back in the day we didn't want the police or any other Outsiders prying into our business so if you understand that let's look at some more examples with Bob but this time you might need to read the subtitles for an explanation that's a bit of luck I found the five pound notes on the road that's Beth Friar Tuck I found Lady Godiva on the Frog a thief stole my hat from my car some tea leaf are finish me tip four tap from the jam jar I'm tired I'm going to bed I'm cream crackered I'm going to uncle Ted's really you paid 25 pounds for two beers are you joking what you paid a pony for two Brittany's very Turkish can you move your ass I can't see the television movie a Kyber can see the custards I'm sorry my friend but that Rolex is a fake and I'm not lying sorry male Chyna that Rolex is a Sexton Blake and I'm not telling porkies kneebar so he cut off his hair and got a tattoo of his wife on his face so cut off his bonnet and God tattoo of his trouble and strife on his boat I'm broke can you cash me a check I brass it can you sausage me a Gregory so jungle trapped our solar panel give us a hunger strike or leave a Clark Kent and see you next lemon water who you talking about so I met his bird and I took her for an amateur and we was having a chinwag [Music] [Music]

Channel: LetThemTalkTV

Views: 1,982,602

Rating: 4.8927708 out of 5

Keywords: cockney, cockney accent, London accent, David Beckham, Jason Stathan, Amy Winehouse, British pronunciation, yt:cc=on, LetThemTalkTV, Gideon, English teacher, London, Learn English, Londoner

Id: s11qjmvTdJ8

Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Osalosaclopticus]

I just skipped through the dialogue as fast as I could. Trying to translate that stuff just gave me a headache.