The film My Fair Lady dealt with accent and class

I've heard that there's class distinction in the accent of English. It sounds strange to me and I'm curious about it. Could you please explain it in detail?   Alfred, Tianjin

In Britain there are lots of different accents and dialects.

Generally speaking you can tell a lot about a person’s social, educational and geographical background from the way he or she speaks.

But it doesn’t mean that everyone wants to copy one particular way of speaking.

You might be surprised to find out that there is no standard accent in English, like there is in Chinese. In the past the most prestigious accent was what we call RP but this is no longer as fashionable as it once was.

To find out more, join Yang Li and Jo Reffin for a special programme on accent and class.

Once you've listened to the report, try our quiz to check your understanding.

Download and listen to Li's report 点击此处下载录音材料

Download the script of this programme 点击此处下载文字材料

Do you have a question about Britain?
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