British English

British English actually covers a vast range of accents across the UK — what most learners think of as British is Standard Southern British (sometimes still called RP), the broadcast neutral. About 60 million native speakers, but enormous regional variation packed into a small country: London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Birmingham each sound distinct. Defining features include non-rhotic speech (the r in car or hard disappears unless followed by a vowel), the broader a in words like bath and grass, and a richer set of vowel contrasts than American English. Many regional accents drop or glottalise the t between vowels (butter → bu'er). Where learners struggle most: the missing rs make familiar spellings feel unfamiliar, and connected speech swallows function words. Once you're comfortable, deliberately mix in non-RP voices.