Can you follow this real British English conversation British Education 1080p h264

Hello there, today I'm joined by my voice coach Nicole who specialises in teaching the modern RP British accent. We'll be chatting about the British culture, travelling, the worst jobs we've ever had and much more. Now this is a very natural conversation between two native speakers and therefore will be an excellent and realistic test of your listening abilities. Watch till the end and see how much you can understand. Enjoy. Nicole, welcome to the channel. How are you today? I'm good, thank you. Thank you for having me, it's nice to see you again. So to the people who don't know, how would you describe what you do? I help people who want to speak with a more British accent speak with a more British accent. And when we say British, we are looking at the modern RP which is how you speak, which is from the southern part of England really, South East England in fact. So yes, just for people who want to have a bit more clarity in their speech. Good, well you've chosen the right audience here. I think so. Okay, and how did you get into becoming a voice coach? How do you refer to yourself, voice coach, accent specialist? Yeah, I do actually refer to accent, I say accent reduction because we're just lessening the sounds that need to happen in order to speak with a more English accent so that they less, more of their foreign accent out of it. And I don't think that's a bad thing, I don't see that as a detrimental thing, it's adding something. And so I got into it because I was an actress and I used a lot of language and all that kind of thing. I don't say voice coach because I think that can tend to lead into singing, tends to lead into people, which is a nice thing, but I don't do that because I teach, I'll help people who, English is their second language and I also help actors who want to have an English accent, the modern RP accent for their work. Good answer. Yeah, when I hear voice coach, I think actors or people who are about to do a speech. They get a promotion and they need to find a way to sound stronger. So yeah, I feel accent specialist is a bit more niche, probably for the best. So are you from, are you English by any chance? I am, I do happen to be very English. Yes, born, born and bred in Brighton actually, and I haven't lived there for many, many years, but for those that don't know, it's on the south coast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what are your thoughts on England at the moment? At the moment? I'm very lucky, I live in a beautiful, sorry. Quite hot today, I believe. Really hot, so apologies for any melting in front of people. It's really hot, but we do, we do get really English, don't we, when we do catch up and talk about the weather? Oh yes, yeah, yeah. No stereotypes, it's actually true. As soon as you meet any English person or British person, you just default to the weather, yeah. Yes, we do talk about, because actually it is, it does dovetail the small talk that we are famous for. So it's usually, yes, it's a small talk, but when we have proper weather like this, we do actually have something to moan about. So it's too hot today. It was the hottest day in Britain since records began. Yesterday. Yesterday. Yeah, actually yesterday. And today is similar, I don't know what the actual, but yesterday was the hottest day since we had a drought in 1976, which was always deemed, so that was thoroughly interesting for your viewers, but which was deemed the height of heat. And yesterday peaked it. So it was a big day, big news day in Britain yesterday, how hot it was. Wow. How was it? It was horrible. I don't like the heat, so that's why, but people have been enjoying it, so it's hard. I can imagine lots of people getting burnt. That's just kind of why, that's what my mind goes when it's too hot, just PTSD for some of my sunburn days. I remember when I was really young, well, not that young, maybe like 12, I went to a water park with my friend and I told my friend's parents, I was with him and his side of the family, and I told them, yeah, I'm wearing sunblock, I'm wearing sunblock, don't worry, but I wasn't. So I hadn't really been burnt before, so I didn't, I literally hadn't been burnt before, so I didn't know what the repercussions would be. And I got so sunburned, it was horrendous. I was out all day with my top off in the boiling sun in a water park, which just makes everything even worse. And I won't go into too much detail, but yeah, I had blisters. It was horrible. That's what I think of when I think of a very hot, but I learned my lesson. I don't really think I've been sunburned after that, since then. I'm not surprised, yeah, it is. It's very painful actually, isn't it? I was so scared as well. Anyway, I remember my recovery. I was, I remember it very well. I was watching Fawlty Towers, the, what are they called, the actual things that you put in, the tape recordings? Oh, the videos. The videos, yes. I had a whole box, the whole set, and I was eating mints. Just not sweets, just mints whilst watching Fawlty Towers. That's probably one of the English memories someone can have. I think that was quite literally one of those English memories in existence, yes. Do you know they only did two series of Fawlty Towers? And each series had six episodes, I think. It's a big cultural thing. Even when we have good TV shows, we just don't have the American budgets. For example, like The Office, the UK Office. I know it eventually got bought by the American one, but that was two series, I think, two seasons, maybe one. Yeah, yeah, it was. It was really short. Yeah, the seasons are short as well. They're probably like six episodes max. Yeah, we don't have the budget for it. What we lack in budget, we make up for in quality. Well, yes. Well, some of them, yeah. I'm one of the few people that think, I love the British Office, but I'm one of the few people that think the American Office is even better. To be fair, I think quite a few people think that. I just think that British people tend to be a bit stuffy about it. Yeah, just ours is better, ours is better. I mean, the American one's easier to watch. Yeah, but that's because, yeah, because I think it's very, for the British Office, the nuance of it, I think, is only got by Britain, that small town office mentality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, in Stroud, right, I think, or Slough, maybe, somewhere like that. And having worked a very, very dull job briefly in offices, when I was a temp many, many years ago. It really is like that, small-minded. Great, always great. Yeah, yeah, and comedy ensues, but not when you work there. Well, you're off soon, aren't you? You're going on your jollies to Mexico? Mexico, yes, yes, I'm so excited. So, because they have aircon. Do you know what it's going to be like? What it is over there? No, no, no, my daughter will probably tell you, but I don't know. Worse than here? Surely it can't be hotter than the UK. It might be hotter, but the difference when you're on holiday, isn't it, is that you've got aircon, because we don't have, it's not worth, whether it's our buses, or our tubes, or homes, it's not worth putting aircon in to British houses. That's so true, actually, yeah, that's such a good point, yeah. Yeah, so it's uncomfortable, but I always find the heat's more bearable with, you know, waiter in a drink and aircon. What's not to love? And the holiday vibes, yeah. Yes, yes. That's so true, actually. With no work. Because I don't think I've ever seen an airconditioner in a house in the UK. No, well, I never have. We might not be mixing with the right people in that case, because the people might have it now, but I've never met anyone who's got airconditioning. I'm sure there are a few who have air purifying machines. Yes, I think you can have it built in now into a heating system, and then you flick it. Yeah, but when you go to another continent, for example, in Asia, I think every single place I've stayed in in Asia, without exception, has had the air conditioning thing on the roof. Yes, yeah. Oh, that's cool, that's unusual, that's unusual. And then it's only then that you said that I realised that, yeah, we just don't have it. Yeah, and I was in Bali two years ago, and in the cars, so in your back seat, the aircon, there was an extra layer of aircon, one for technical term, across the middle of the roof. In the car? So, the back seaters. Yeah, so the back seaters could get the aircon. So, you know, in cars, generally, it will come from the front, and it doesn't really hit the back. Right. And that was awful, and I thought, that's genius. Why don't they just make every car like that? But we don't really need it. We don't need it so much. But that was brilliant, being in the back seat, having aircon in the back seat, that was height of luxury. Yeah, we need it probably like three days a year, if we're lucky. Yeah. And we, as you know, we could have August, a washout. And, in fact, a month ago, we had the heating on, because it was freezing. Which is crazy to think. Crazy to think, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's really, we've gone to the weather again, Dylan, we must refrain. God, yeah, all roads lead back to the weather. What's something about Britain that the British people take for granted? I think I have a couple of answers. Firstly, the nature, and I also take the nature for granted. It's only when you leave the UK that you realise, I miss the grass everywhere, and the trees, and the quality of the air as well. And another thing, I think, is people take their accents for granted. Because in the UK, it's just a normal accent. No one in the UK thinks, oh my God, you've got a British accent. It's like everyone has a British accent. And it's only when you go abroad that everyone, that you realise that it's kind of, I mean, it's the source of both of our employments. I guess we might be a bit biased. Yeah. Yeah, it's, you only realise how, the fact that it's somewhat notable when you leave the UK. Yes, no, I mean, you live abroad way more than I ever travel abroad. But yeah, but the greenery is one thing. In fact, that was one of my favourite things about the grass and the rain. I love rain. But yeah, the accent wise, yes, because I'm probably a tourist, that when I go away, they only speak English to me, because I don't speak anything else. They, I always find that truly impressive. Everyone speaks English. Yeah, that they'll just, you know, can just like that wherever you are. I think it is. I am humbled every time with that, to be honest. Yeah, I feel, I feel kind of embarrassed these days if I, I try, I try and just say hello, and that's it, and then that's all. But do you feel strange about doing that? You travel a bit more, so you may not, but I always feel like I'm an imposter. And even if I just do get hello, and you just feel like going, oh God, who do you think she is? Just trying to speak another language. And I wouldn't think twice about someone who's French in London going hello. Yeah. I would think it was odd. Bonjour. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think they know, when I say hello, and they can just hear that I'm, for example, in China, when I say ni hao, they know that my, I don't speak Chinese, they can just tell from the way I say it. So they don't try and continue the conversation in Chinese, they go straight to English. Yeah, I think they probably know you're not Chinese as well, Dylan. Yeah, from the accent, I reckon. Yeah, only the accent. The main giveaway. I was gonna say the height as well, but honestly, I was surprised by this. People here in China are very tall. Really? Yeah. Both the men and the women, both very tall. Yes, yeah. It's, my husband has relatives in America, and his cousin, because my husband's London, but he's from Vietnam, and they are super tall. They went, they went to, the children went to live out there, and they grew up like six foot basketball players, rather than the ones that stayed in England. But, so it must be something in the food. It might be, yeah, or the conditioning. Yeah, I think I saw the tallest person I've ever seen in my life yesterday, actually. He wasn't Chinese, though. He was in China, so maybe it tracks. Not sure that counts. No, me neither, but. Are you in a tall person dimension or something? It felt like that, to be honest with you, yeah. So, maybe it's just, there's something in the air that manifests. Just wondering where you were. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting that they asked all that. So, random question. What's the worst job you've ever had? Have you had many jobs? Yes, being a very out of, so I went to drama school when I was, you know, left school in London, and then when you come out of drama school, you are waiting for, you go in between auditions, so you generally try and get work that will allow you to give short notice for this, you can't get a proper permanent job. You have to have a job that allows you to go, I can't come in tomorrow at three o'clock because I've got an audition and they have to go, oh, okay, that's fine. Really hard. In fact, I think it's really hard now to do that, but then that was part of it. So, what you had to do was waitressing, which was really hard because you're really, you're treated really badly, generally, certainly the places that I was, I was waitressing in. So, that was one, and then the other one… Where were you waitressing in, out of interest? He said you were treated poorly. Where? Yeah, where? What sort of environments were you waitressing in where you received bad treatment? Just, so a couple of restaurants, one was a very small boutique-y restaurant, and the boss treated us really badly, actually, he would steal out of, you know, in the restaurant, all the tips, yeah, which was horrible. They'd leave it on the table for, and that, oh, you know, and I was a jobbing actress, I really could have done with the tips. Yeah. I could hear them, when we went to pound coins, and I could hear him clink them into his pocket as he got them off the table, which I thought was really awful. Yeah. So, that was bad. And then another sort of more relaxed, but casual cafe that I was working in, the customers were generally really rude to you. Yeah, not very nice. And then if I was lucky enough to go out for dinner another time, I might have a waitressing staff that would really rude to us. And I was like, which side do I have to be on to get some nice manners? Yeah. But my first job was in a mental hospital, just for a week. Yeah, could have told me that, just for a week, my first jumping job. Oh, you didn't know where you were working? No, I knew I was working at a hospital, but I didn't know I was in the mental department. And, but I worked with two of the loveliest ladies there, one very young, one very old one. And they were very, for British comedy sort of take off, just like, you know, they'd have their cigarettes out the back. And then when a few patients might go a little eccentric, shall we say, they had to lock the doors and we had to lock ourselves in the office while the security came and got them and put them away. So it was all, I don't know, just like, sit down, it's all right, you'll be back in a minute. But they're working in mental hospitals, but that was quite good. You could read their files. I'm not sure we were really meant to, but we did. Yeah, that was before GDPR existed. Yeah, I was a technical team member of staff, so maybe I was allowed to, but yeah. Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to share what you read. No, no. No, you wouldn't be able to do that anymore. My lips are sealed, but yes. So yeah, boring office work and boring waitressing work are some of the worst, worst jobs. I was a paperboy when I was 12. Ah. Yes. And it was. So how, did you have to start early? Yes, because before school, obviously, it was Monday to Friday. And I had to wake up. Oh, wow. Bit of a working week. It really was. Yes. I woke up at half five. It took about an hour and a half cycling around in the cold and the dark and the wet. And do you want to know how much they paid me per week? So bear in mind, an hour and a half of work every day. Five times a week. I was given £15 at the end of the week. That's £3 a shift. That's just going to take so long. £2 an hour. £2 an hour. Yeah. I bet you were pleased with that £15. Oh, yeah. When you're that age, that's so much money. Yeah. I was still happy with it. And I didn't last that long. Maybe I was there for about two months. Yeah. Well, I'm not surprised. And then one day I overslept and I just didn't deliver the papers. And that was my last day. Did they fire you? Did you just not go in? I think we had a mutual... Did you get fired at 12? A mutual parting. Oh, I'm actually glad you didn't do it too long. 12-year-old. Honestly. Yeah. I don't know what I was thinking. I needed money. I didn't need money. I can see the appeal of, yes. And I can see the appeal of, you know, 12-year-old boy thinking, if I do this, I get this. And it makes sense. I couldn't tell you what I spent the money on, but that's how it goes. I'm sure I found a good way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Get sweets. Yeah, a lot. You can get a lot of sweets. I think that's good tenacity as a 12-year-old to have such dedication for five times a week as well. Yeah. Well, my second job wasn't quite so tenacious. So it was a job working hospitality at a hotel serving people. And I did it for, I think, a day and a half, and then I quit. Yeah. I had one very big chain here, which will remain nameless. And I did one shift, which was like 10 hours waitressing for £12, which was admittedly many years ago, but even so, for £12. And I couldn't do it anymore. £12 in total. In total for the shift. 10 hours. Yeah. The way they did it was basically, they just got loads of low paid staff because we kept leaving. Because they were so bad at this. For a big chain. You're not allowed to say which one. I can. Why not? Which one was it? Café Rouge. Café Rouge and Chiswick. They were just awful. Café Rouge. They're like the French, trying to be French restaurant, right? I want to be French. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's not so nice. We have since got, Cote has taken over the Frenchness in the UK. Yeah, I think Cote is great. They're trying to bring the, what I believe is the French way of eating a little bistro, kind of a lunch you can get, which doesn't need to break the bank. And I think it's a brilliant idea. I'm a keen patron of Cote. And you're not sponsored, are you? Sadly not. I wish I was. You're a good sponsor too. But yeah, yeah. Right. It's very late here. And it's been a good conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed this. You didn't ask me any of your questions. I know. I'm sorry. Well, I think to be honest with you, we will have to do a part two. And I think we'll have to sort the, I have no idea how this is going to look or sound. We will see. We will see. I have no reason to believe it won't work. Yeah. Just for reference to the viewers who are still with us, we had about 30 questions that I prepared on this Google Doc. And I think we did about two of them, three of them. That's fine. This can be the part one. And then the part two will be even sharper. We'll have everything sorted and we'll be able to- And hopefully cooler. It should hopefully be cooler. I'd be a bit concerned if it wasn't cooler. So Nicole, please talk to all the people who are simply infatuated by your personality and accent. How can they get more of you in their lives? They can message me from my website, which is accentprogress.com, which you can link if you want. Of course, I will put the link in the top corner. Of course. And my email is on there, or my YouTube channel. Yes. I've just started. Just started. Yes. So you're welcome to pop over there, which you can also link because I can't remember what it's called. You can't remember your YouTube channel? British Accent with Nicole. That's the one. Okay. Yeah. It's a good name. I'll make sure to link that as well. Okay. So if you'd like to master your accent with Nicole in the same way that I did, go and follow her YouTube. Take her classes. Yes. Star student. And yeah, all the links will be in the top comment. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you, Nicole. Cheers. Thanks, Dylan. Bye. Okay, then. Thank you for watching. So if you did enjoy this conversation, or you like Nicole, or you like me, then I have a very exciting announcement. So as of today, I just opened a new online community where you will get to improve your English every single day with me and with Nicole as well. So I will host weekly live lessons and Nicole will also host a live accent feedback session where she will give you her professional feedback on your accent. Now, this isn't just another boring community. I will be active in there every single day making posts. You can message me whenever you'll be able to make friends with other members of the community as well. It's going to be a lot of fun. And you do also get some additional exclusive resources. Now you can actually try this completely free because this is a limited time offer, but I have a seven day free trial. Okay. So you can go there, you can try a full week. And if it isn't for you, you can just move on. You don't need to pay anything. You can try it for free. Okay. So the link to that is in the top comment. Definitely check it out. It's going to be really fun. I'm very excited. And as mentioned, it's completely risk-free. Link in the top comment. I look forward to seeing you inside. Cheers.