Colleen Firth

Colin Firth in Love Actually

I have been thinking about Colin Firth for the past few days. No, not thoroughly on him alone but he has been on my mind for a couple of days. Don't know much about him but saw him in Bridget Jones's Diary and Love Actually - but that was couple of months back.

Guess watching too much of Potter and Love Actually (my sis was addicted to it. She played the movie and CD on and off) - which involve listening to too much of british accent... thus led to Colin Firth. Hah! Just my assumption. Anyway, he just pop into my mind.

Speaking of british accent - My friend came over to my apartment to stay before the trip to Italy. She was a friend from my secondary school years. Once she reached my apartment, she asked "Pauline, how'd come you don't have any british accent in you?" and I go huh? She continued "You've been here for about a year, you should speak like a british!". I was speechless.

My parents never told me part of the package is to learn their accent. And my lecturers don't have problem understanding me. So, that got me into thinking:

1. If I suddenly speak like a british, I am sure my friends will be saying "Pauline, stop faking it!"
2. My sis friend has been staying in Australia for about 10 years, he don't have any so-called Australian accent

So, why bother? I think I only tried talking like a British once or twice and I went back to my own Malaysian accent.

Accent are clues to where people were born and where they grew up. Although some people may change the way they speak during their lifetimes, most people still carry some trace of their dialect origins. And if I am to speak with a british accent, which region should I copy?

Cockney English or Queen's English?

Cockney English is the broadest form of London local accent. It shows the working class accent of Londoners. While Queen's English or King's English, depending on who is the ruler at that time, can be traced back to the 16th and 17th century. It is ideally thought that the monarch's usage of the language should be a model in speech and writing. But current Queen's English is not what it used to be. Research compared how HRH pronounced certain words over the last 40 years. They discovered that 'estuary English' had influenced those cultured vowels, making Her Majesty altogether a little more common.

• Estuary English was coined by linguist David Rosewarne in 1984. It is characterised by using 'w' rather than 'l' is words such as milk or bill; glottal stops; and exaggerating the ends of words ending in 'y'? reallee, or lovelee. Being used by young people in Essex and Kent.