Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Julian Northbrook is on a mission to change the way people learn English for the better. To get Julian's legendary free daily email tips for speaking better English go to: doingenglish.com/emails
Go here to get the free training:
doingenglish.com/freetraining
Read the Good Shadowin Guide:
doingenglish.com/shadowing
Transcript:
So, this is a good question. I just want to talk about it a few times and it will definitely be in the self-service coaching app. This is not just a problem for you. This is a problem for every single person in the entire world, whoever speaks any English anywhere, including myself. You know what, here in New York, I haven’t got a fucking clue what people are talking about half the time. Like, some people, their accent is so strong and they’re just talking at me and I’m just like “Oh my God, what did you just say to me”. And it seems to go two ways because I find myself having to repeat myself because like, people, first of all, they tend to be surprised because I speak with a British accent and you know, if you don’t expect it like it’s like “ooh” and before you know it, you haven’t heard what I’ve said.
Second is probably just as tricky sometimes to understand my accent as it is for me to understand their accent. Does this mean I should learn to speak in a New Yorker accent? Hell no. Never. No, thank you. That is not something I would ever want to do. Though it is quite fun to give it a go and that’s a complete definition.
However, what is important is to develop the receptive skills, the ability to actually hear and understand that. What this is really all about is understanding the differences between different groups, different cultures, different groups of people, and the way that they speak because it is not just the accent that is different. People will use slightly different ways of speaking as well.
The core of the language is the same, in fact, I think I wrote about this in my email this morning. The core of the language is pretty much the same regardless of where you go, it’s the kind of the little, the little bits that give it more life colour, like the slang, the casual stuff, it tends to be a little bit different.
What I recommend is when you are watching films, or TV, or YouTube videos, whatever it is that you do in your relaxed usage and exposure time, this is when you maybe want to be watching things in different accents. So, if you’re often working with British people, and then sometimes American people, well you may be wanna watch, you know, like TV shows from both and just kind of try to acquaint yourself of those different kinds of accents.
In Extraordinary English Speakers, the way that I’ve tackled this, for now, and it’s something that I plan to do better in the future, is I do regular interviews with people from all around the world and it’s called the Extraordinary English Conversations series.
So recently, I interviewed a guy called Michael Tennant who was actually the guy who owns the Airbnb I stayed in, kind of, not the last one, but the previous one. And the reason I interviewed him is because when I talked to him on the phone, he had a very, very strong New Yorker, quite a typical New York accent. So he came on, he just talked about his thing, he’s done some really interesting stuff, traveling, he runs a business. And the point of it for you guys is exposure to different ways of speaking.
So, it’s less about the productive skills, practising those, shadowing, or something like that, and really, it’s more about exposing yourself to it and understanding that it’s always gonna be a problem. It’s never something you are not going to struggle with unless you dedicate your entire life to mastering every accent and understanding all the subtle differences and all of that stuff. It’s always gonna be an issue. It’s an issue for native speakers as well, it’s not just you. But that’s where I would stop. If there are people you regularly use English with, focus on that first, find TV shows with those people who speak in that kind of English, and just get your ear used to it over time.
Yes, you can go further with it. You can do dictation, multiple accents, you can do shadowing in multiple accents. Is it necessary? I’d argue probably not. My advice is always pick a base. Pick something to really just be your base and then the rest is just kind of exposure and acquainting yourself with it. Does that all make sense?
#DoingEnglish #JulianNorthbrook #learnEnglish
Julian Northbrook is on a mission to change the way people learn English for the better. To get Julian's legendary free daily email tips for speaking better English go to: doingenglish.com/emails
Go here to get the free training:
doingenglish.com/freetraining
Read the Good Shadowin Guide:
doingenglish.com/shadowing
Transcript:
So, this is a good question. I just want to talk about it a few times and it will definitely be in the self-service coaching app. This is not just a problem for you. This is a problem for every single person in the entire world, whoever speaks any English anywhere, including myself. You know what, here in New York, I haven’t got a fucking clue what people are talking about half the time. Like, some people, their accent is so strong and they’re just talking at me and I’m just like “Oh my God, what did you just say to me”. And it seems to go two ways because I find myself having to repeat myself because like, people, first of all, they tend to be surprised because I speak with a British accent and you know, if you don’t expect it like it’s like “ooh” and before you know it, you haven’t heard what I’ve said.
Second is probably just as tricky sometimes to understand my accent as it is for me to understand their accent. Does this mean I should learn to speak in a New Yorker accent? Hell no. Never. No, thank you. That is not something I would ever want to do. Though it is quite fun to give it a go and that’s a complete definition.
However, what is important is to develop the receptive skills, the ability to actually hear and understand that. What this is really all about is understanding the differences between different groups, different cultures, different groups of people, and the way that they speak because it is not just the accent that is different. People will use slightly different ways of speaking as well.
The core of the language is the same, in fact, I think I wrote about this in my email this morning. The core of the language is pretty much the same regardless of where you go, it’s the kind of the little, the little bits that give it more life colour, like the slang, the casual stuff, it tends to be a little bit different.
What I recommend is when you are watching films, or TV, or YouTube videos, whatever it is that you do in your relaxed usage and exposure time, this is when you maybe want to be watching things in different accents. So, if you’re often working with British people, and then sometimes American people, well you may be wanna watch, you know, like TV shows from both and just kind of try to acquaint yourself of those different kinds of accents.
In Extraordinary English Speakers, the way that I’ve tackled this, for now, and it’s something that I plan to do better in the future, is I do regular interviews with people from all around the world and it’s called the Extraordinary English Conversations series.
So recently, I interviewed a guy called Michael Tennant who was actually the guy who owns the Airbnb I stayed in, kind of, not the last one, but the previous one. And the reason I interviewed him is because when I talked to him on the phone, he had a very, very strong New Yorker, quite a typical New York accent. So he came on, he just talked about his thing, he’s done some really interesting stuff, traveling, he runs a business. And the point of it for you guys is exposure to different ways of speaking.
So, it’s less about the productive skills, practising those, shadowing, or something like that, and really, it’s more about exposing yourself to it and understanding that it’s always gonna be a problem. It’s never something you are not going to struggle with unless you dedicate your entire life to mastering every accent and understanding all the subtle differences and all of that stuff. It’s always gonna be an issue. It’s an issue for native speakers as well, it’s not just you. But that’s where I would stop. If there are people you regularly use English with, focus on that first, find TV shows with those people who speak in that kind of English, and just get your ear used to it over time.
Yes, you can go further with it. You can do dictation, multiple accents, you can do shadowing in multiple accents. Is it necessary? I’d argue probably not. My advice is always pick a base. Pick something to really just be your base and then the rest is just kind of exposure and acquainting yourself with it. Does that all make sense?
#DoingEnglish #JulianNorthbrook #learnEnglish
