The Nigerians learning to speak with British accents - BBC News

For some Nigerians, the English language is not perfect unless spoken with a British accent.

2 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Elizabeth StephensImage caption, English undergraduate Elizabeth Stephens teaches both adults and school children in AbujaBy Nduka OrjinmoBBC News, AbujaEven though many Nigerians speak perfect English in everyday conversations with family, friends and colleagues, some are taking extra classes to learn to speak with a polished British accent.

It is the long school vacation in Nigeria and Elizabeth Stephens' regular students - the children of Abuja's rich and famous, who she teaches diction and phonetics at expensive private schools - are on holiday.

So now, she is holding Zoom classes for adults who want to "correct" their accent by speaking like the British so they can appear refined and classy.

Most Nigerians are multilingual and English is a second language for them, which affects how they speak the language. It is these peculiarities that students of Ms Stephens want to erase.

"When I speak [with a] Nigerian accent there is a gap, there is a vacuum… I need to improve, upgrade, by learning the British accent," says Sunday Israel, a motivational speaker who joins the class 10 minutes late.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66569668?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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