SOME GENERAL TIPS
Know that some British accents may be that the 'T's are not pronounced and that the u in stupid and duty is pronounced with the y sound, not oo as in an American accent; thus it is pronounced stewpid, not stoopid, etc. The standard English accent, the a (for example in father) is pronounced aaw, not like a like apple. So pronounce "father" as "fawthuh". 4
Vowel usage also varies greatly across the UK. Vowels in words such as "about" would be rounded in London, but usually flattened in Northern Ireland. Get a British person to say well known sentences such as "How now brown cow" and "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain". 5
Pronounce that T as T, and not an American D. (Duty is pronounced Dyuty or condensed slightly to Jooty; not doody). 7
Pronounce the suffix -ing with the g, so it sounds like -ing rather than -een. But sometimes it is shortened to in as in lookin. Applying the two steps above, the words human being are pronounced h-yuman being rather than yooman been. In certain areas though it would be pronounced h-yuman bee-in. 8
Sometimes 'T's aren't pronounced at all, especially in words with two 'T's grouped together (this is known as the glottal stop, and is common in American English pronunciation). So battle might be pronounced Ba-ill, catching the air behind the back of the tongue at the end of the first syllable before expelling it on pronunciation of the second syllable. 9
Sometimes the 'H' is not pronounced, in some accents. The 'H' is always pronounced with the word herb, in contrast to American erb. 10
Realise that some words require the ee sound to be pronounced as ee, such as in the word been. In an American accent, this is often pronounced bin. In an English Accent, this may be pronounced been, a homophone of bean; or just as "bin", depending on where you go. Although 'bin' is probably most common.
ACCENT WEBSITES/AUDIO
Recieved Pronunciation -
EVERYONE work on RP
THIS IS A GREAT training guide - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNu3q5ODgqs
Part II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUg9sS9IDRI&feature=related
And some more...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDmKvz4Lfw&feature=related
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/received-pronunciation/london/
Cockney -
Lowerclass can pick up a bit of cockney
Great for most towns folk, Beggar Woman, Lovett, Bird seller, and Tobie
Here's a Youtube clip for Cockney
http://patricia-inenglishplease.blogspot.com/2007/10/cockney-and-rhyming-slang.html
http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=021M-C0900X05075X-0200V0.xml#
VARIETY!!
This website has A LOT of variations. If you use
this, scroll down to the London Area audio clips.
http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/england/england.htm