Starting when your trip is just a few weeks out, begin to think like you are already there. Here is what I mean: for London, read the news each day on Evening Standard or BBC. Check the weather forecast including extended. Check TFL especially the tube lines and stations you will be using. Notice the tube areas that are closed on weekends for maintenance. Check Time Out, Visit London and other web sites on events and special offers. Check the Theatre news for what you want to see and general ticket availability. (Forget Hamilton!) We will be spending a month in London, and I feel like I'm already there. Even speaking with a British accent!
Posted by
Land of La
9261 posts
Forget the British accent. Otherwise spot on advice!!!
If a foodie might review London food blogs.
Also:
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks
Londontopia.net
InFormedLondon.com
Those are my fav websites to review before my London stays.
Have a great time!!
Posted by
Chicago
1334 posts
You can watch Sky News online if you want to feel that you're already there. https://news.sky.com/watch-live
And, yes, don't attempt to speak with an accent. I speak in my normal Midwestern accent, but I do use the UK pronunciation if it is different than the USA
Posted by
Portsmouth
5552 posts
No need to change your pronunciation Dale, we all know what you mean and changing the way you speak can sound a bit forced and unnatural......unless you're saying herb, please pronounce the 'h'!
Posted by
3124 posts
To my reading, the OP was making a joke about the accent.
If we are taking it seriously, I don't think there's any harm in mentally (silently, in one's own head) speaking with a British accent. Of course walking around in the UK nobody wants to come across as a phony. People will know you're not a local by many cues, not just your speech patterns. But getting into the frame of mind before the trip, I think it makes perfect sense.
Posted by
York
121 posts
When you say British accent do you mean a general English, Scottish or Welsh one? At the risk of being pedantic there is no such thing as a British accent!
Posted by
OP
Charlotte, NC, USA
52 posts
(I am the original poster.) I was only joking about the British accent. BUT a related question: I read somewhere that locals say "mate" in casual conversation with those they have just met. Is that true? I guess we will find out soon.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
I read somewhere that locals say "mate" in casual conversation with those they have just met. Is that true?
Yes, sometimes, but I wouldn't use it if I was you. It has a meaning similar to "workmate", or "person in the same life situation as I am". It is only ever used between males.
In Northern England there is a similar word "Luv", that is used from females to both males and females, and from males to females but never from males to males. You might hear it from a woman who is serving you in a shop or a pub ("thanks luv").
Both are a bit old fashioned and not used by the young.
Never mind the British accent (unless you want people to think you are taking the p### out of them), but important is to know the vocabulary. You are already part way there with "tube lines" and "Theatre"
Make sure you know what a "pavement" is (for walking on, not driving), a bill (what you have to pay, NOT the pieces of paper you pay with, they are banknotes), and you travel by train or bus, "ride" implies you are sitting on top of it, you ride a horse. Plus many more.
And understand temperatures in °C and the 24 hour clock.
Edit: And dates of course, today is 15/8/18, Wednesday 15th August, despite what it say on the left of this post.
Posted by
UK
1015 posts
Yes, and Westminster is a big part of London not the name of a church (incidentally there are two churches: Westminster Abbey & Westminster Cathedral; the former is the one most people want.)
Taxi drivers might well call you “mate.” Please don’t call them “mate” in return because it will sound awful.
Oh also we Brits swallow a lot of syllables in our words. Tottenham - as in Tottenham Court Road - is pronounced To’nm by many Londoners although Americans might do best with Totten’m.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1344 posts
Chris, me old luv, as a northerner myself I can attest that 'luv' is used male to male, but very infrequently these days as its an older generation thing, and naturally is dying out with them. I guess it is being replaced by 'mate' which personally I don't care for, especially if it is used to address strangers, implying a familiarity that isn't there. In some cases it sounds as 'maaate', which to my ears not only sounds impolite, but thick as two shorts planks into the bargain. Give me an old fashioned 'luv' any day!
Posted by
Freedonia
16409 posts
My best advice for London...........mind the gap.
Posted by
Almost Heaven
3135 posts
My buddy Wayne at the garage does a good Ringo sort of Liverpudlian accent. I'm gone try it and see if those upper crust British know I'm really a full blooded American.
Posted by
Almost Heaven
3135 posts
Amanda, a British accent like in the movies like Hugh Grant, James Bond, and the Mary Poppkns guy. He was also in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The wife just said Dick van Dike.
Posted by
York
121 posts
“Amanda, a British accent like in the movies like Hugh Grant, James Bond, and the Mary Poppkns guy. He was also in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The wife just said Dick van Dike.”
Should fit in a treat then!!