A Step-by-Step Guide to Perfect British Intonation

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eepurl.com/izRKww You urgently need to sound British. You could go to Britain for a year to study the intonation of the English language or instead, watch this 15-minute video where you'll learn 10 rules for perfect English intonation. You'll learn some general rules and then in part B we'll look at some emotions such as surpise, anger and fury and how to use intonation to express them correctly.
00:00 What are your options?
01:15 The intonation of questions
04:20 Question tags
05:41 Stress the content words
07:37 Adding emphasis
09:52 Lists
11:11 (positive) surprise
12:20 (Negative) surprise
13:04 Anger
13:34 Sarcasm
14:06 Fury
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[@DanielSvidersky]

Two things. First - your lessons are brilliant! Thank you, you've made a lot of things about English clear to me. Second - as a Ukrainian I want to thank you for your support. That little bracelet you have on your wrist means much more than you think. Thank you and much respect from Kyiv, Ukraine. If you ever come here after the war I'll be happy to show you around.

[@andreirublev8118]

How's the great counter-offensive going? Is your "peremoga" coming soon?

[@user-ne1hd7ok2v]

Where were their bracelets when the US was in Afghanistan or in other countries they invaded? Is it only because THE Russian started the war? I love how propaganda works, that’s so big

[@rook2635]

If there are any non native speakers watching this don't worry about sounding British it doesn't matter and foreign accents often sound nice

[@isabelatence7035]

British English is elegant, intonation is an important differential, I met an English woman in Egypt, she used this variation when I said I was from Brazil, "Brazillll!! Incredible class, Gideon, your way of teaching is top notch. I'm going to practice🤩 thank so much

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Glad you liked it.

[@eugeniomarins2936]

Eu adoro as aulas desse cara, são ótimas. Eu leio e falo o idioma, os meus colegas me pedem para corrigir os artigos científicos deles! Mas esse cara me mostra que eu não sei chongas de inglês. 😂

[@isabelatence7035]

​@@eugeniomarins2936 eu sigo Mr Gideon fazem um bom tempo, até hoje é o canal mais incrível para obter dicas e aulas, Gideon é o cara! É uma pessoa generosa em nos mostrar curiosidades da língua, humor fantástico.. 🤠

[@eugeniomarins2936]

@@isabelatence7035 E simpático!

[@oswaldocaminos8431]

​@@LetThemTalkTVHello Dear Gideon! I am already studying "The loom of language"; It is a wonderful book although quite difficult. Wiele Danke for the recomendation.🤭👏

[@helenschwickrath3412]

As an a New England speaker, born in central NY, I enjoy these segments. Many thanks!

[@joseaugustopiresdemeneses2908]

The best teacher ever.

[@Banes.]

Thank you. Love it.

[@memel5206]

Excellent video, thanks sir! ☺️

[@user-nw4ue6qr8o]

I love all your contents Old Bean , yet That episode about The Posh English was magnificent, mate! 💯 A Bravo Deserved👏🏼

[@OceanChild75]

Watching this video will be part of my morning routing from now on - I’m tired of being told I have a flat tone and of having people thinking I am being sarcastic when I am genuinely complimenting them 😅 it has taken me a while but I have now come to terms with the fact I will never sound English and having a good intonation is my new realistic(ish) goal. Thank you for your amazing video - once again sparkled with humour & Britishness 💛

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I'm sure you speak beautifully already.

[@simpleman7203]

That's interesting. Where are you from originally?

[@OceanChild75]

@@simpleman7203France, we don’t really use intonation unless we want to stress on a particular word or want to ask a question without bothering with changing the word order ("Tu es LÀ?" instead of "es-tu là?" for instance - the first sentence without any stress could be an affirmation). I just read one of your comment saying you were Russian, it is such a gorgeous language 🙂 I love the sound of it, it’s really pleasing to the ear! I used to work with some Polish people and I got them to teach me fruits and pets in Polish (I have to confess that the fact Polish uses the Latin alphabet made it a lot less intimidating than Russian). I was so proud of myself, not that I could go anywhere with words like "pomidor" (tomato) or "shwinka morska" (guinea pig) but I’m a bit of a language nerd 😂 x

[@simpleman7203]

@@OceanChild75 it was funny reading your flattering words about Russian language, because I was about to tell you how French sounds like music to me. That's why Im probably will never going to learn it. I'm scared of loosing that melody in it, I'm afraid I might become too caught up in finding meaning of the words instead of enjoying the flow 😅 French accent is the cutest by the way, whether it is English or Russian! Polish sounds kinda funny for my Russian ear with their love of "czczhzc", "gzchze" sounds, haha 😂. But I think Polish might say something of that nature about Russian as well. I'm not really language nerd, but I know for a fact that current Russian language and classic literature was heavily influenced by French. Now I think we are predisposed in liking how it sounds :)

[@OceanChild75]

@@simpleman7203 oh thank you haha I often have English people telling me they find my accent cute but whenever I meet a French person here and hear them speaking English, I feel like my ears are bleeding 🤣 Yes France and Russia have a lot in common, not only literature but the way we got rid of our monarchy (I’ll have to be more careful otherwise I’ll never get British citizenship 🫢)

[@claudiomolina4994]

I loved it!!! Thank you very much ❤

[@internations6272]

I feel so grateful especially for this one! Had a couple of never-ending gramma doubts that you have explained in a such an easy way to get. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@marciogarcia4761]

I am from Brazil and now I am living in the UK since 2021. For me is a very nice head every day some British intonation, and stressed words. Until the basic "Good Morning" have a special intonation.

[@sardorbek6399]

Perfect, I enjoy learning from this Sir's lessons

[@user-vi2qr9bd9r]

thank you very much indeed! absolutely brilliant video!!!!!!

[@amherst88]

You never cease to amuse/amaze me with new insights into my native language ❤

[@longaan2151]

Love this

[@ildarmingazov2304]

Hey there! The good explanation is a half of understanding. Thanks a lot!

[@Ignazio_Avulso]

Great video, thank you.

[@miodragpopovic3301]

Hi Gideon, many thanks for your clear and concise explanations.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

glad you liked it

[@jassianterri]

Very interesting. Great content! Thank you. I do notice, that from my background, furious sounds like annoyed/ surprised and happy surprise sounds like faked surprise. Shows how much it matters what you were emotionally primed to as a child.

[@Dragonbleps]

I've been watching videos about British accents to better understand a character I'm writing and how he would speak, in case I had to describe it to someone. But I've also been doing the examples and saying them aloud with your instruction! And it made me realize, as a monolingual American, how difficult it is to change one's accent. And how it's different from learning a completely different language in the sense that I know these words already, and my mouth already has a preferred way to pronounce them but I have to fight that, haha. Anyway, I've been having a lot of fun. Thank you for the videos :) Yours are some of the best.

[@rolandochavarria466]

It's a REALLY REALLY valuable video. Thanks a ton.. 🎉😅

[@jackdarby2168]

This gold mate! Gold!

[@sophiecooper81]

Another great video!

[@ArtBlade]

First off, thank you very much for your excellent videos. As to intonation, I learned how very important it was when a British friend once told me it wasn't my grammar or vocabulary that gave away I wasn't British but the lack of British intonation did. In other words, I didn't _sound_ British. He then imitated me by quoting one sentence the way I had said it and then repeating the same sentence "in English." It was an epiphany. And it stuck. And it motivated me. Having watched your video I am glad to report that I got most of it right and I thank you profusely for helping me with the rest. :)

[@olivewoohoo]

this is a brilliant video🎉

[@englishforadvancedlearners]

You made me laugh a lot again with those examples! And besides that, it's a very helpful video. I just realized that I often either automatically use speach patterns from my own language, or I do use English intonation, but in the wrong kind of situation ;-) Some fine-tuning is certainly needed and not very often explained in books or courses. So thanks a lot!

[@xPixelDreams]

I have to follow prosody classes for my English Linguistics course. This video is an invaluable resource, thank you so much!

[@leopard36cat]

Fascinating , as a native speaker I learnt English as anyone else listening to my parents talking I was never taught any of this stuff, So we learn as kids just by listening but if you have to learn as a second language there's all this stuff we take for granted, Its a eye opener for an old fool like me and I love it.

[@rickebuschcatherine2729]

I improuve my intonation by slow down all the video an read at loud the subtitles.... thanks Gedeon, you're very helpfull !

[@StuffMadeOnDreams]

This is my first video ever where I have let the two ads run until the end with just one purpose. Like always, excellent content, good editing and better humour.

[@maksym.kyrylov]

Thanks for another lesson!) 💛💙

[@AlexanderVadVer]

You are Brilliant

[@LetThemTalkTV]

so are you.

[@abidachaudhary874]

Love to listens to you Sir especially where I couldn't think of tomatoes and cucumbers sandwich and what else.

[@hatehypocrisy1]

Thanks ❤

[@mariambajelidze8515]

Thanks ❤❤ I haven't watched your videos for awhile😥 Today this video popped up and I was ecstatic ❤❤love your channel

[@yevhenhoncharenko7862]

Watching this lesson from Ukraine and I've just noticed your blue-yellow bracelet hanging on your wrist! And that warmed my soul soooo much!! Thank you my dear British people for your support!!!

[@LetThemTalkTV]

We stand by Ukraine

[@raychat2816]

Good series of videos, I personally still agree with Gideon saying you do NOT need to sound not like where you are from some time ago, English is a third language for me and my accent is ok for me 😊 I do however completely understand why some might have the utter need to lose their accent, specifically for work relations … not however for one’s identity … ultimately

[@pianobar8440]

love it!

[@rickebuschcatherine2729]

I've already see a video on the subjet by a French, but you explain so much on this video thanks...

[@annamiller9153]

Amazing, I found it really useful

[@briza2022]

so nice video, teacher !!

[@ThiccPhoenix]

I’ve never thought of these 🤯

[@Oyamakancho]

What an amazing video! Absolutely brilliant! Thank you very much indeed. You couldn't make a video about uptalk, could you? Cheers, Sir!

[@veroniquepeltier3631]

So precious and helpful! Thanks a bunch. The end is delicious.

[@francosecchi9288]

Could you run some classes in London! Your lectures are the best!!!

[@rvcdc]

This is absolutely a hack. Brilliant!

[@peaceandlove6854]

my favourite teacher uploaded a new video! Thank you

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thank you my favourite student

[@WNH3]

It's funny--as soon as you said, "I don't beLIEVE it!" I thought of Victor Meldrew. And there he was.

[@Tybold63]

Excellent video am just hampered as I have some not neurotypical features but I think I could try when asking things at least.😉

[@Sauvageonne]

Wonderful lesson! Never thought about this, but I can hear myself toning it down when speaking with people from other parts of the world (even the Irish) because, all of a sudden, I feel self aware when I'm the only one speaking like that.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

toning what down?

[@Sauvageonne]

@@LetThemTalkTV The musicality. I tone it down and unconsciously speak with my robot voice :-(.

[@itsyourgirlzuzu]

@@Sauvageonne Embrace it, stand out in a good way and get recognised faster than others 😆 people are always like “ohhh! The British girl! I remember you!”

[@user-qq5hd9wo9t]

Thanks. It may help me when I'll be visiting the UK)))

[@stephenyuen1610]

Thanks, British intonation is a topic rarely being touched upon.

[@JLa_802]

It just came to me that this world be an extremely helpful video for people who struggle reading other people’s emotions, especially if they have a hard time with facial expressions and body language. I don’t think vocal intonation is emphasized as much facial expression in therapeutic settings, specifically I’m thinking of autism. Part of the initial test is showing pictures of different faces and asking what that person is feeling, the more you get “wrong” the higher your score BUT intonation is a much more accurate way to read someone! We make silly faces all the time, especially when we’re being sarcastic! For people who struggle with eye contact and face blindness in general, diagnosis or no diagnosis, this would be a way more useful tool! Heck, it even helps me, I sometimes have a hard time getting my point across and changing my intonation might just be the fix! Thank you!

[@maritzajimenez6690]

Lol! You really made me laugh ! Thanks a lot !

[@saravananneother4868]

Hi sir, where did you get your t-shirt which has a syntax tree? That's amazing.

[@user-om2ti8jj1f]

Thank you for this splendid lesson, Gideon! By the way, I've got a question about pronunciation to you. Do you hear any difference between the sound in the beginning and the end of the words "under", "upper" and "utter"? The Oxford and the Cambridge dictionaries say they're pronounced /ˈʌndə/, /ˈʌpə/ and /ˈʌtə/, but I don't hear any difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/ Do you hear it?

[@nHans]

Compiling in one place all the viewers' ideas for food items containing cheese and tomatoes other than sandwiches: *Burger, pizza, pasta, salad, chips/crisps/Cheetos, curry, (savory) eclair, stuffed bun* etc. Feel free to contribute more ideas! (I'm personally lactose-intolerant and avoid most dairy products, including cheese.)

[@DarthGandalfTheGrey]

Thumbs up for IT Crowd!

[@RizwanAhmedKhan-et7gu]

Plz make a video on pronunciation explaining stress on particular syllables in 2, 3, and 4 syllabul words And if you have such video already made plz send the link

[@mariakaraiskou3291]

Oh, what a GREAT lesson!(is this the proper word to put the emfasis on in order to show our positive surprise?)

[@LetThemTalkTV]

I guess if it was something like "the last 10 lessons were terrible but this was a GREAT lesson."

[@nHans]

Oh no, my natural Indian-English accent goes up and down in a sing-song fashion! Do the Brits think I'm being sarcastic all the time? 🤣 Despite that, whenever I'm speaking to a room full of native English speakers, I deliberately speak in my natural accent. Paradoxically, that way, they pay closer attention and understand me better, than if I tried to fake a British or American accent. (I do fake my accent on phone calls though. And no, I don't work in a call center 🙄) Maybe it has to do with meeting expectations and avoiding surprises-they see an Indian guy with an Indian name, and are subconsciously primed to hear an Indian accent? 🤔

[@lindafortin7999]

Bonjour, question importante, à cause du titre de votre vidéo : Est-ce que ça veut dire que l’intonation pour l’anglais américain est différente de l’intonation britannique??? Merci beaucoup et bonne journée! Linda 🇨🇦

[@ilaFNorte]

Amazing class! thank you. Am I sounding british? hehe

[@Ruslan-rt6qe]

Great videos! Also Thank you for the Ukrainian bracelet on your wrist!

[@grantofat6438]

I like how you stress: "there are rules", and then 30 seconds later: "of course, you can break this rule."

[@lindafortin7999]

Bonjour, j’apprécie beaucoup cette vidéo qui nous permet de respecter notre personnalité, comme je suis une personne spontanée, d’apprendre que je peux monter le ton pour montrer ma surprise me plaît beaucoup puisque je peux ainsi être authentique. J’aurais une question pour vous, désolée de vous écrire en français, c’est que je suis une débutante. Comme je suis visuelle, j’appréciais beaucoup qu’au début vous avez démontré par des flèches, quelle partie de la phrase nous devions changer de ton. J’ai encore beaucoup de difficulté à entendre le changement de ton (montant ou descendant). Pouvez-vous me dire SVP dans la phrase : Who’s that guy I saw you talking to? Est-ce à partir de talking to que notre ton descend. Avez-vous une règle pour savoir à partir de quelle partie de la phrase on change le ton? Je vous trouve très brillant de nous enseigner l’intonation, car ça nous permet de s’exprimer en respectant les règles de l’anglais tout en respectant notre personnalité et ça nous donne ainsi plus confiance. Très peu de professeurs nous enseignent l’intonation et pourtant, c’est si important autant pour celui qui parle que pour celui qui reçoit l’information et ainsi se faire mieux comprendre, ça développe une confiance en nous que sans ces outils on n’aurait pas. Je vous admire pour nous enseigner quelque chose d’aussi important et quand on part avec de bonnes bases, ça nous motive à continuer notre apprentissage. Même à notre retraite et malgré l’âge, on a le temps et c’est enrichissant d’apprendre pour notre santé mentale et quel bel objectif. Une retraitée de Montréal, Québec (Canada) 🇨🇦 Merci beaucoup et bonne journée! Linda

[@tetiana7868]

What ARE those scones, by the way?

[@andrescastro4836]

How's it going' eh? After 40+ years I am still trying to sound Canadian, let alone Brit . Cheers from Van Isle...🙂

[@BberryHill1223]

Cheese and tomato pizza…excellent video, by the way.

[@fabiocossa2420]

thanks, ... and may I ask? ... what does it mean "sounds needy" - that you are gonna ask for sthing?

[@lynnodonnell4764]

Alot of readers don't pay attention to words like WAS, ALMOST, WERE etc so I put those words in CAPITALS for EMPHASIS. Or when speaking use tone to accentuate.

[@fozzytheflyingmuppet]

Thanks, I had a lot of fun watching this. But my love for everything British stops at warm beer. I don't think a Dutchman can even drink that ;-).

[@user-jo6ke9hw1x]

Perfect! Some intonations are the same in Russian

[@user-ps6bs7dv4x]

🌸

[@insulaarachnid]

I recently became aware of some English people using the word sat rather than sit/sitting/seated. Is that a widespread habit in the UK?

[@Sauvageonne]

That's quite common in the North.

[@insulaarachnid]

@@Sauvageonne Ah, The person I heard using it was a Londoner.

[@user-wz6oo9bq5j]

I'm learning German. Here there's a handful of little nasty words (Modalpartikeln aka, Redepartikeln) which are tbh much pain.

[@Bayerwaldler]

9:11 a cheese and tomato BURGER! 😁

[@LetThemTalkTV]

good call.

[@alish2alish]

Ha ha! The melody of british english is on point. As for any other language. But comparing to my mothertongue it's really the same in terms of the tone of emotion. It's just the same. The point is that many learners don't use intonation as much as in their native language. They sound flat like a machine.

[@user-nw3hh9og5d]

She promised to give me a cheese and tomato something else 😂😂😂😂😂

[@hubertheylen1188]

Quite nice but then, I already own most of it. Speaker is fun to watch though.

[@markedis5902]

I always say that someone truly understands English when they can swear properly

[@lindafortin7999]

Bonjour,non, je dirais que ce n’est pas simple du tout. Quand vous avez dit que dans une phrase, parfois un mot était plus important qu’un autre. Mais, dans les exemples que vous nous avez donné, ça change complètement le sens. Elle a promis de me donner un sandwich au fromage et aux tomates et si je mets l’accentuation sur le mot TOMATO, on m’indiquait dans la traduction en français : pas de jambon et de tomate. Je ne comprends pas le sens. Au départ, on parlait de sandwich au fromage et tomates et là, on parle de JAMBON, voulez-vous dire : Qu’il a reçu un sandwich au jambon et tomates, alors qu’il ne voulait pas de tomates???? SVP éclairez-moi. Merci, c’est très enrichissant votre vidéo. Linda 🇨🇦

[@EkaterinaKatyaru]

Thanks a lot for the very useful lesson. And, if you don't mind, please, tell: did you expect so much appreciation for wearing the blue-yellow bracelet in the comments below? It seems like one may say anything, even meaningless, but be gladly received just by wearing right colour laces 😂

[@victormacgrey8427]

thank you for supporting Ukraine, really appriciate it , i ve noticed that BAND on your HAND:)

[@tytan7772]

😢😊

[@davidcanaandaniel]

That's why I like British English...

[@murtazinrustam5751]

Mr. Good Grammarian!

[@lizzies9419]

Canadians use the rising tone, not just for questions.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

yes, I've heard it

[@Kaghemsuha]

Accidenti che canappia!!!

[@jean-louismorgenthaler4725]

Okay, that's clear. But what about the beat?

[@PROCATICJOLT]

The first scene reminded me of pygmalion.

[@lynnodonnell4764]

Why the moving yellow dot? I'm serious. I'm not getting it...

[@EH23831]

But we will rise at the end to emphasise the last word: where are you GOING? What are you DOING?

[@cavesalamander6308]

9:10 Pizza? 9:50 "I promise to buy her a bunch of red roses." Are you deliberately speaking in verse? 14:27 "These people drive me crazy!" - Again!!

[@LetThemTalkTV]

good idea!

[@jisimon]

What about England English instead?

[@simpleman7203]

Honestly, Gideon, as a Russian I wouldn't mind if English auxiliary verbs were completely eliminated with just intonation. We are notably not using them and I am quite guilty on that one, but I've read some comments that it sounds much cooler that way :)

[@LetThemTalkTV]

yes, by all means skip them if the intonation is right and it's clear from the context

[@simpleman7203]

@@LetThemTalkTV I absolutely love your stuff, by the way. I'm just wishing you were doing more on grammar, you have the right amount of humour and skills to make such videos not only just bearable, but really engaging and interesting. Especially, tenses (I saw you have some videos, but not on all tenses). I personally need a strong jump from my current B2-level to C1 and preferably to C2 even, there are many ppl like me, I'm sure, who would appreciate your help through vids and also your flair.

[@cookymonstr7918]

Now I need a video for how not to be too conceited 😄

[@jimivey6462]

My “nunciation” is not at the level of your “pro”nunciation AND, as it is not monetized, I have “am”nunciation. I would love to make a living nunciating.

[@Erik_Swiger]

I want to sound more British than the love-child of Blackadder and Baldrick.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

biologically not possible.