Studying a brand new language isn’t nearly vocabulary lists and verb charts, it begins with sound. On the newbie degree, language is generally oral: it is advisable to hear it, perceive it, and repeat it in actual time. Probably the greatest methods to get higher at this? Practice your ear with accents that problem you.
British accents, for a lot of Individuals, fall squarely into that class. As an alternative of treating them as obstacles, what if we approached them as coaching instruments? What if publicity to unfamiliar English accents may really put together your mind to soak up overseas languages extra simply?
That’s the place ‘Dialect Coaching’ is available in. Preply has created a collection of audio instruments designed to assist learners sharpen their pronunciation, tune their ears to difficult sounds, and construct stronger listening expertise – beginning with English accents, however finally supporting fluency in any language. As an alternative of seeing accents as a barrier, we’re encouraging Individuals to make use of them as a software.
The accent barrier within the U.S.
Preply surveyed over 1,200 Individuals and located that lots of the challenges round language comprehension don’t start with overseas languages, however with English.
- 50% of Individuals say they watch TV with subtitles more often than not.
- 61% of them use subtitles when accents are arduous to grasp.
- 83.4% are turning on subtitles particularly to observe English-language accents particularly, moderately than one other language solely.
In different phrases, for a lot of Individuals, the actual concern isn’t translation, it’s pronunciation.
Among the many mostly cited difficulties are British and Irish TV exhibits like Peaky Blinders and Derry Ladies, each identified for his or her thick regional accents. And the numbers replicate it: 17% of respondents say British accents are probably the most arduous to grasp, whereas a putting 50% say the identical about Scottish accents.
It’s not simply Brits that go away Individuals scratching their heads, because it seems some even have communication limitations with their very own neighbors. Actually, the Southern US accent ranked because the sixth most obscure, even amongst fellow Individuals.
This “accent barrier” is greater than a TV concern. It’s an indication that some Individuals aren’t often uncovered to assorted speech patterns, and that may have an actual impression when it comes time to study a brand new language. The excellent news? Like all talent, listening throughout accents will be realized and strengthened, which is strictly what Preply’s Dialect Coaching is designed to do.
The stunning hyperlink between accents and language studying
If you’re simply beginning to study a brand new language, you don’t want flawless grammar. What you really want is to listen to phrases clearly, bear in mind how they sound, and start to breed them naturally. That’s the place phonetics and accents are available in.
Accents, notably these you discover tough, practice your ear to note delicate shifts in sound. They stretch your vocal muscle tissues and enhance your listening comprehension. In case you’re good at mimicking accents, you’re seemingly already expert at distinguishing tone, rhythm, and articulation – expertise that make studying different languages considerably simpler.
Publicity to unfamiliar accents additionally boosts your mind’s potential to adapt to new speech patterns1. In brief, studying to grasp the traits of regional English accents might be step one to studying Spanish, Arabic, Thai, or another language.
Preply’s Dialect Coaching: A brand new approach to tune your ear, even when you sleep
Struggling to grasp regional British accents like Geordie, Scouse, Glaswegian, or Brummie? You’re not alone. These accents will be among the trickiest to observe, but additionally among the most rewarding for language learners.
That’s why Preply has launched Dialect Coaching, a novel audio collection that blends immersive listening with the science of unconscious studying. Designed as a set of calming soundscapes, these genuine recordings don’t simply assist you to get used to the rhythms of actual British speech, they will additionally assist you to study when you sleep.
Analysis2 suggests that in deep, slow-wave sleep, your mind continues to course of sounds, particularly speech, making it a great time to bolster listening expertise and phonetic reminiscence. So when you drift off to a gentle Scouse lullaby or meditate to a mellow Glaswegian monologue, you’re actively tuning your ear and enhancing your potential to acknowledge and reproduce troublesome sounds.
Simply by exposing your mind to those wealthy linguistic patterns, you’re laying the groundwork for stronger pronunciation, sharper listening, and quicker language acquisition. It’s a straightforward, accessible approach to construct fluency earlier than you even open a textbook; and now, you received’t even want to show your subtitles on.
Anna Pysna, spokesperson at Preply, explains its advantages: “Many individuals hesitate to start out studying a language as a result of they assume they should decide to common lessons or develop into fluent straight away. The reality is, language studying doesn’t all the time require an enormous time funding or perfection. Merely listening to completely different accents and understanding how phrases are pronounced will be a straightforward, passive approach to start. By exposing your self to quite a lot of sounds, you’re taking step one in direction of mastering a brand new language with out the stress.”
What you’ll study from every accent
Understanding why regional accents particularly might assist lie within the phonetic benefits their options provide. Accents should not nearly how we converse, they form our potential to provide sure sounds. Right here’s how among the UK’s most distinctive accents might increase overseas language pronunciation:
- Geordie (Newcastle): The glottal cease, a sound made by closing the vocal cords, is a characteristic of the Geordie accent3 that may seem in languages like Hebrew4, Thai5, Tagalog6, Danish7, and Czech8. Geordie audio system are already tuned to recognise and produce these sounds, giving them an edge in studying languages that use related phonetic buildings.
- Scouse (Liverpool): The rolled “r” in Scouse9 is much like the trilled “r” in languages like Spanish10, Russian and Italian11. This makes mastering these languages’ pronunciation simpler. Moreover, Scouse’s musical intonation12, with its rising and falling tones, is well-suited for languages and dialects like Welsh13, Irish14, and Cantonese15, which use related tonal patterns.
- Glaswegian (Glasgow): The distinct rhythm and cadence of Glaswegian speech16,17 align with languages like German18, and Dutch the place sturdy emphasis on syllables19 and guttural sounds20 will be necessary in conveying that means. This makes it simpler for Glaswegian audio system to adapt to languages with related speech patterns.
- Brummie (Birmingham): The sometimes monotone nature of Brummie21 speech may also help with languages like Finnish22 or Russian23, which can have much less melodic intonation in comparison with different tonal languages.
The larger profit: Publicity builds fluency
The speculation is easy: the extra accents you’re uncovered to, the extra versatile your mind turns into with language. It’s a talent referred to as phonetic consciousness, and it’s important for anybody studying to pay attention, converse, and assume in a brand new language.
That’s why Dialect Coaching goes past comprehension. It helps you develop into a greater listener, improves your pronunciation, and builds the sort of confidence that interprets throughout any language you wish to study.
Prepared to start out?
🎧 Hearken to Preply’s free Dialect Coaching Playlist on Spotify
Go forward – calm down, hit play, let your mind do the work, and unlock the language expertise you didn’t know you had.
As a result of as soon as you possibly can perceive a Glaswegian or Scouse meditation host, a Spanish information anchor or a Thai road vendor may not appear fairly so arduous to observe.
Methodology:
To attract parallels between regional UK accents and overseas languages, linguistic options have been matched based mostly on similarities recognized in analysis, suggesting potential pronunciation assist.
Sources:
[1]: Xie, X., Weatherholtz, Ok., Bainton, L., Rowe, E., Burchill, Z., Liu, L. and Jaeger, T.F. (2018). Fast adaptation to foreign-accented speech and its switch to an unfamiliar talker. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(4), pp.2013–2031.
[2]: Züst, M.A., Ruch, S., Wiest, R. and Henke, Ok. (2019). Implicit Vocabulary Studying throughout Sleep Is Sure to Gradual-Wave Peaks. Present Biology, [online] 29(4), pp.541-553.e7.
[3]: Llamas, C. (2000). Middlesbrough English: Convergent and divergent developments in a ‘a part of Britain with no id’. Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics 8.
[4]: Kostant-Greeley, M. (2024). Opaque Segholates Revisited: The Glottal Cease in Customary Trendy Hebrew Phonology. Journal of the Undergraduate Linguistics Affiliation of Britain, 2.
[5]: Bennett, J.F., 2005. Reanalyzing Thai Glottal Codas: Likelihood, notion, and displaced distinction. SIL Worldwide.
[6]: Middle for Utilized Linguistics, n.d. Heritage Voices: Tagalog.
[7]: The Native Denmark, 2025. Stød: What’s the Danish glottal cease and when must you use it?
[8]: Šturm, P., Przedlacka, J. and Rojczyk, A. (2022). Phonetic imitation of t-glottaling by Czech audio system of English. Linguistica Pragensia, 32(1), pp.142–165.
[9]: SWPhonetics, 2013. Rhoticity in Lancashire, Liverpool, and Manchester.
[10]: Henriksen, N., Greenley, S. and Galvano, A. (2022). Sociophonetic Investigation of the Spanish Alveolar Trill /r/ in Two Canonical-Trill Varieties. Language and Speech.
[11]: Winter, B., Sóskuthy, M., Perlman, M. and Dingemanse, M. (2022). Trilled /r/ is related to roughness, linking sound and contact throughout spoken languages. Scientific Stories, 12(1), p.1035.
[12]: Nance, C., Kirkham, S., Lightfoot, Ok. and Carroll, L. (2020). Intonational Variation within the North-West of England: The Origins of a Rising Contour in Liverpool. Language and Speech.
[13]: Quaino, S. (2013). Pitch Alignment in Welsh English – The case of rising tones in Ceredigion. dig, 21(1), pp.82–98.
[14]: Bongiorno, J., Herment S. (2018) A qualitative evaluation of rising tones in Dublin English. ninth worldwide convention on Speech Prosody.
[15]: Fox, A., Kang,L., Nancarrow, O. (2008). Facets of intonation in Cantonese. Journal of Chinese language Linguistics. 36. 321-367.
[16]: Rathcke, T.V. and Stuart-Smith, J.H. (2016). On the Tail of the Scottish Vowel Size Rule in Glasgow. Language and Speech, 59(3), pp.404–430.
[17]: Scotland’s Enchanting Kingdom (2025). Scottish Accent Defined – Historical past, Dialects And Pronunciation Suggestions.
[18]: Wadas, M., 2020. Stereotypes and Language Attitudes: Analyzing the Notion of German as “Harsh”.
[19]: Woudt, T., 2023. Is Dutch Laborious to Be taught? A Information for English Audio system. [online] Tobian Language College.
[20]: Zwitserlood, P., Schriefers, H., Lahiri, A. and van Donselaar, W., 1993. The Function of Syllables within the Notion of Spoken Dutch. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Studying, Reminiscence, and Cognition, 19(2), pp.260-271.
[21]: Mohamed, H. and Amina, A. (2021). RP English Vowel and Consonant Modifications within the Brummies’ English Accent. Technium Social Sciences Journal, 22, pp.790–803.
[22]: Taylor & Francis On-line, 2022. Title of the article. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Improvement.
[23]: High, E.J., 2013. The Function of Intonation in L2 Russian Audio system’ Intelligibility, Comprehensibility and Accentedness. Brigham Younger College.