Learn David Beckham's British English Accent (Cockney or Posh?)

footballer fashion icon one half of posh and Becks UNICEF ambassador and he has an OBE from the Queen David Beckham is a man that represents modern Britain like no one else so today we're gonna look at how his accent has changed over the years and we learn some fantastic British English along the way I'm excited I hope you are too let's get going welcome to each the dreaming issue you haven't met me before my name is Tom and I teach fresh modern British English so that you can take your english to their next level and achieve your life goals whatever they may be now David Beckham was born in whit's Cross University Hospital and he grew up in North East London so he's not a cockney in the strictest sense but he does have a very strong London accent with cockney features now I'm gonna look at three interviews today and I'm going to show you how his accent has changed it's evolved and it's softened over he is here's a clip from an interview that he did in 1994 then when I got to the game there was a few rumors floating about one of the most distinctive things about David Beckham's accent or his voice in general is the pitch the picture of someone's voices whether it's high or low in the earlier certainly with David Beckham it was quite Heist surprisingly high some would say and you can hear that in that interview here he says rumors floating about now a huge feature of the cockney accent and many accents as many of you will know is the dropping of the tea we call it a glottal tea instead of saying about it's about about so it stops just before you pronounce it you just stop it in the throat there now a glottal tea is something that I've talked about a lot on this channel it's a sound that we use to replace the tea in a word which can either be in the middle of the word or at the end of a word now this is a feature that's in common in a lot of British accents particularly in the cockney accent then when I got to the game right there was a few rumors floating about so here he said floating floating and about so in floating the tea is in the middle of the words and with about the tiers at the end of the word note that we never use duty at the beginning of a word it's always a true T sound but there was a few rumors floating about let's look at the glottal T in floating now you've got two syllables they're floating floating the stress is on the first syllable float float and the T is a part of the second syllable which is unstressed so when there is an unstressed syllable including a T then we can use the glottal T there so floating flow in with about it's at the end of the word and you've got a vowel in front of it so it's common for a glottal T to be used there as well but there was a few rumors floating about but then like the boss announced the team and I was playing so I was I was chuffed but nervous at the same time we got a nice bit of British English slang there chuffed Chuck this is an adjective and it means very pleased you're very pleased with an outcome or a situation so if you pass your driving test you might say I'm really chuffed you've passed your driving test or here I think he scored a goal so he's chuffed that he scored ago he's very pleased that he's scored a got chuffed very British that one nice bit of British English slang left ours I was chuffed no no one no interesting little feature here he says new KN e W the past of no and he says it new new now in received pronunciation and many other accents you might have new new that year sound new but he just says new new so no yeah sound in there that's also true of new as in the opposite of old new so New York so later on he says New York instead of New York so this is another little feature of a cockney accent I particularly find interesting you know say me on the texts and in the papers and that here's just a curious little bit of British English and that and that he says I've seen it in the papers and that and that means kind of everything connected to that subject so I've seen it in the papers maybe on TV in the magazines wherever it might be on the radio so everything connected to the thing that I just mentioned he use it a couple of times here it's yeah super informal British English in the papers in that I think he just jumps up and head butted the person beyond and I think nice head butted to head but someone is to use your head to hit someone but you can do it by accident here he's talking about his dad doing it by accident he uses two features here of a cockney accent first of all he used that glottal T again so head-butted but it and then the H where did it go it disappeared right so it's ed but not head-butted ed by it ed by it I had but the end but it's the man behind the man ed by it this feature here of rakaat any accent you'll find dropping that h at the beginning or indeed in the middle of a word in fact let's look at example of that he just jumps up and ed by the person we all knew i think the person behind him behind not behind behind so dropping that h in the middle position of a word as well as at the beginning now remember that word behind and the way that he says it in this interview because when i see it again in a later interview Pinet by the person beyond you i think you know you have to give up a lot of things you have to give up a lot of things right there's a lot going on here so you have to you after so he's dropped the h of half and then put those two together he's using the weak form of two there so after after not have two after very common in spoken english to use a weak form on the two there so after and then things he says things not things things so he's using a foot sound rather than a third sound again really common on that th sir for a cockney accent to use but for so things thank you for all that kind of stuff so that F sound replacing the sound you know you have to give up a lot of things okay so you can see how strong his London accent is back in 1994 let's move on to 2000 where it's starting to change so obviously he's got more famous and in turn his accent is starting to evolve you know that's the sort of support any youngster the first thing you'll notice there is that the pitch of his voice is still quite high similar to his interview in 1994 you'll also notice that he's still using that gravity so sort of support so not sort of support those T's disappear you know that's the sort of support any youngster needs and having someone like my mom and dad behind me has got me where I am today uh-huh let's look at the H sound here so having he's using the H cent note so it's not having it's having but then in the next word behind he's dropping that H again behind so he's using the H in the first word they're dropping it in the second word hmm so starting to mix his accent slightly or just change your evolve if you will and having someone like my mom and dad behind me um I used to get quite a bit of sticker score but this is such a British English phrase to get stick to get stick this means to get kind of criticism or abuse or something from people so if you do something wrong then you get stick people criticize that action it's commonly used in a football context but of course it can be used in any context really where criticism is given so you know Theresa May gets a lot of stick for her brexit plans for example so yeah to get criticism really informal phrase to say that I think they'd only know that I had a bit of ability all right deep down he knew so dropping the H there e so still keeping that cockney drop at the H nu again the same pronunciation as before I add dropping the H again and then ability he's using the the true T so still lots of features of a typical cockney accent but there is slight changes with things like ability all right now let's move on to an interview he did in 2018 and let's see what changes we can see in his accent know about it they don't dislike it to be honest you know they enjoy it okay can you hear it can you hear the pitch of his voice has lowered significantly I think anyway so it used to be quite high like this I think they barely know that add a bit of ability and now it sounds like this don't dislike it to be honest yeah you can hear the difference right so why it has his pitch change well I guess there's lots of different reasons it could be just a natural change in his voice as we get older perhaps the pitch of our voice gets lower but it could be coaching or training maybe he'd be very aware of it and so yeah it could be a variety of reasons but it's really significant and distinct isn't it going from his first interview to this interview also the way he holds himself is different you can kind of tell he's more of a statesman now he's he's used to giving interviews and talking and I guess again that comes with experience and with age and the way that he uses stress he's much more accomplished and confident the way he was distressed to to change meaning so for example don't dislike it to be honest yeah they don't dislike it to be honest he's using stress and intonation there to to play with the meaning of a sentence in a much more nuanced sort of sophisticated way than he would have done when he was younger in my friends and family joke about it at time said the word about and it now we've seen how he plans is about as a youngster here he's kind of joining those two words about it with it almost like a little D sound that is perhaps more common in American English about it about it now I'm not trying to do an American accent there but there is a slight connecting of those two words with a dissing like a tiny dirt so that's something that again wouldn't have been a feature of his earlier accent and maybe again that's because of time spent in America in LA or just a general internationalizing of his British accent and my friends and family joke about it there's a few benefits there's a few benefits aha now benefits here he says it with the true t benefits doesn't say benefit benefits he also does something that we all do at least a lot of people I know do is that little grammatical mistake where there is a lot of benefits so you're using a singular form of is with a plural noun so benefits and it should be of course there are a lot of benefits but it's really common to there is a lot of benefits of theirs because you're using the contraction you'll probably say there's there's a lot of benefits it's a silly little mistake everyone seems to make it if you make it I wouldn't worry about it at all there's a few benefits I think if you know each other well all right he uses well they says well he says it still would that same kind of cottony weld almost like a with the the L sound particularly the end of a word it might be a kind of almost people were so and so well well so instead of using that dark L well well he's saying he's using us and with the called worse sound so well well so that is a feature that has remained within his accent that he would have had as a young man and growing up so we said well now it's still well he also did that in the 1994 interview he said until until so not until it's until so there are still signs of his original accent in the 2018 interview yeah I think if you know each other well if you know you've got great friends great family behind you ah there is guys do you remember how he said behind in the first two interviews behind right drop that H right out of there this time he says it behind so he's using that H sound great family behind you and that would be more consistent with received pronunciation so be honest the boys ribbed me about it all the time another nice bit of British English here ribbed me they ripped me that means like to tease if you rip someone you tease them it's fun it's affectionate it's not meant to be mean in any way so if you rip someone you were just joking or you're you're teasing them in some way there's one picture that I have in my house I have in my house the h's are all there they're present and correct that I have in my house last one daughter he uses the true T doesn't drop that T daughter daughter is how he says it I find it so fascinating how his accent has changed over the years I hope you can see and hear that in the different interviews the examples that I've brought so not only has his pitch changed his accent has definitely changed he's moved from a strong London accent with cutting features right through to receive pronunciation still got a London feel to it and still using some cottony features but it's softer those features are softer now his accent in general is softer London accent small elements of American English possibly coming in but not not hugely it's fascinating to see and to and to witness that I've said this before but that's a really common thing I seen in a lot of famous people I've seen in my own accent how it evolves and changes over the years depending on the influences that you have in your life so we've got the pitch changing the accent changing and the vocabulary changing as well also just with him particularly the way he carries himself in the way he articulates himself it's significantly different in 2018 to how it was in 1994 again that's really normal really natural for someone in the limelight like he is he's gonna get training he's gonna get help with that to to articulate himself in in a clearer way so yeah brilliant I just love it I love all that stuff I'm such a like language geek i I hope you are too I guess if you're watching now you probably are I hope you enjoy guys if you have enjoyed it please give it a big thumbs up share it with anyone that you think will appreciate it and enjoy it and if they're learning English even better and if you haven't seen it yet there is an each LeDrew English store you can go check that out we've got t-shirts all kinds of good stuff you can go check that in the link below thank you so much for watching guys this is Tom the chief dreamer saying goodbye

Channel: Eat Sleep Dream English

Views: 118,182

Rating: 4.9470496 out of 5

Keywords: David Beckham accent, David Beckham cockney, David Beckham Cockney accent, David Beckham accent change, cockney accent, David Beckham British accent, British accent, English accent, English accent training, Posh and Becks, Beckham Posh, Beckham Posh accent, How David Beckham's accent has changed, British English accent, Learn English, Is Becks Posh?, Beckham, David, David Beckham, David Beckham interview, Cockney accent training, How to speak cockney

Id: GFMZDfqt-Vs

Length: 14min 55sec (895 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 02 2019