Pronounce British Towns & Cities CORRECTLY - Modern RP Accent

How on earth are you meant to pronounce these British towns and cities? A while back I made a simple video on pronunciation of British towns and cities and it went crazy. People were so shocked at how they are truly pronounced. Today I'm going to make it really easy for you. I'm going to teach you loads of commonly mispronounced place names in English and we will do this by looking at 10 common place name suffixes, that's the end of words. Once you know those you'll be able to pronounce so many place names without anyone laughing at you. Of course there will be a quiz at the end of the video. Now if you are trying to speak with a British accent I have something for you. It's going to get you results fast. It's my five-day British accent boot camp. In just 15 to 30 minutes per day, or five days, you will understand why native speakers sound so clear and natural and you will learn to do it yourself. We will tackle the vowel and consonant sounds that cause the most confusion. We will explore the sounds we drop and we will also practice the rhythm and flow that make British English sound effortless. You will start hearing and feeling a difference from day one and I'm giving you a massive discount and lifetime access. To learn more and join click on the link in the description box or scan that QR code there. It's a really special programme. So many students have taken it already and had amazing results. Pronunciation plays a big part in sounding natural and feeling confident when you speak English. That is why it is a key focus in all of my courses. Not just a bonus but a priority from day one and this Black Friday you will get access to my most popular programmes at the best price of the year. So make sure you join the Black Friday waiting list now. You will be the first in line when these incredible deals go live. Don't miss it. Click the link in the description box or scan the QR code on screen now. Okay let's begin and remember I am teaching my pronunciation of these places with my modern received pronunciation accent. First, how do you pronounce this town in central England? It's a really long word but a short pronunciation. Loughborough. Loughborough. So the suffix here borough means a fortified settlement but is usually pronounced borough but you will hear some people add an extra vowel sound and say borough. Loughborough. Loughborough. I say Loughborough. Some more places with this suffix are Scarborough, Marlborough or Marlborough sometimes and Peterborough. Or with that extra vowel sound Scarborough, Marlborough or Marlborough and Peterborough. Now if you're in North America you're probably used to pronouncing the ending of these words very differently. In North America the suffix is often pronounced borough. An example from my American friend. Scarborough, Marlborough, Peterborough. Thanks buddy. Now the Scottish spelling for this suffix is b-u-r-g-h. So with that in mind how would you pronounce this Scottish city? That's right it's Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Although the n sound the n often changes to an m in a process called assimilation. Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Very similar. Okay number two. How do you pronounce this city in the heart of England? Not too far from Loughborough. This is Derby. Derby. Derby. Now we need the long r vowel sound here. Not er. It's not derby and we pronounce the b-y suffix be. Not by. Can you think of any other places ending in the b-y suffix? Well we have Rugby, Tenby and Formby to name but a few. Okay this next one number three causes so many headaches. How do you pronounce this city in the Midlands where afternoon tea was invented? Well it's much easier than it looks. In fact let's just get rid of these letters here. How about now? Okay it's Leicester. Leicester. So we usually pronounce this c-e-s-t-e-r suffix So that means these lovely places here are Bicester. Not Bicester. Bicester. Worcester. Not Worcester. Worcester. And Gloucester. Not Gloucester. Bicester. Worcester. Gloucester. Now be careful though. This is English. We always have exceptions. This place which is next to Gloucester is Cirencester. Cirencester. Cirencester. Okay number four we are heading further south to this beautiful historic market town. How do you pronounce it? It is Hartford. Hartford. Not Hertford. Hartford. Now the noun ford meaning a place where a river is shallow enough to walk across is pronounced with the strong or vowel. Ford. But notice how it weakens to a schwa as a suffix. Bradford. Chelmsford. Salford. Not Salford. Salford. You will notice that all of these suffixes have weak vowels in them. Usually the schwa. This uh sound. So remember Hartford not Hertford. Okay we're up north for this next city. How do you pronounce it? It's Durham. Durham. Not Durham. I can see why people would say Durham though. It looks like a Durham but Durham. The h is silent. The ham suffix is often reduced to m like in Buckingham, Uldum and Birmingham. I know it's tempting to say Birmingham. Now be careful. If we have an s before the h then the letters combine to make a sh like in Lewisham and Portiam. Okay for number six we have this glorious seaside resort on the south coast. How do you pronounce it? Did you say Tame Mouth? I understand your logic but it's actually Tynmouth. Tynmouth. Again the strong ow vowel we have in mouth meaning the place where the river meets the sea is reduced to an uh in the suffix m. Tynmouth. Now can you think of any other places that end with this suffix? Well naturally we have several coastal towns where the river meets the sea. Plymouth, Bournemouth and Exmouth. Okay next up we have an English county. How do you pronounce this place? Now we already know that c-e-s-t-e-r is often reduced to st. So we have Worcester but how do we pronounce the s-h-i-r-e suffix? Is it the shire like in Lord of the Rings? Worcestershire. Sounds gorgeous but no. Again we just need the schwa. We love the schwa. Worcestershire. Worcestershire sauce. Shire becomes sh. I wish we did say shire. I think that's beautiful but it's sh. We can also say shire. Bedfordshire. Worcestershire. Gloucestershire. Other counties ending with this suffix include Yorkshire or Yorkshire and according to my teacher who is coincidentally from this place the best county in England, Lancashire or Lancashire. To be fair the Lancashire accent is one of my favourites. It's warm and gorgeous. I encourage you to go and find an example of it and see if you agree with me. Okay number eight. If you've ever been to England there is a chance you might have flown into this airport. How do you pronounce it? Is it Luton? No it's the schwa again. It's Luton. Are you sensing a pattern here with the damn schwa? We have loads of places that end in this suffix. Places like Preston, Eton and Bolton. Okay for number nine we have a corner of London on the banks of the river Thames. Not Thames. Thames. How is this corner of London pronounced? Did that silent w in the middle catch you out? This is Woolwich or Woolwich. Now interestingly many words ending in the w-i-c-h suffix can be pronounced ij or ich. For example Greenwich or Greenwich. Norwich or Norwich. And one more thing to look out for with this suffix. The w or the w isn't always silent. I know I'm sorry it makes things very complicated but there are quite a few places like Nantwich, Ipswich and Droitwich that all have the w sound. Okay time for our 10th and final suffix and then you will officially be a British place name pronunciation pro. That took me quite a few takes by the way. Hard to say. British place name pronunciation pro. How do you pronounce this place? This is Wadsworth. Wadsworth. Like we had mouth reducing to mth in the unstressed suffix w-e-r becomes w-th. Some more examples are Letchworth. We also have Howorth where the Bronte sisters lived and wrote their novels. And Wandsworth in London. Okay so as promised we're going to end today's video lesson with a quick fire quiz. I'm going to show you the place on screen and you simply pronounce it or at least try to pronounce it. Number one. It's not Barnstaple. It's Barnstaple. Two. It's Marleben not Marylebone. I went to university here and it took me ages to pronounce it correctly. Number three. It is not Reading. That's an activity you should do at home often. It's Reading. Four. Please don't say Warwick. It's Warwick. Warwick. Number five. Not Cambridge. Cambridge. Number six. I did mention this one earlier in the lesson. It's not Thames. It's not Thames. It is Thames. Number seven. It's not Southwark. It's Southwark. I used to live there as well and I definitely called it Southwark when I first moved there. Eight. Not Holborn. Hoban. Hoban. Number nine. Not Leominster. Lemster. Lemster. Sounds like a cool place. And number ten. It's not Yeoville. It's Yeoville. Yeoville. Okay how many of these place names did you get right out of ten? I'd love to hear if you visited any of them and if you know of any other places with really weird name pronunciations. Also if you want to speak with my accent that's Modern Received Pronunciation, join my five-day British Accent Bootcamp. It's the best place to start. You get a massive discount and lifetime access if you click the link in the description box or scan the QR code there. I will see you soon in another lesson.