Speak British English Clearly & Confidently

Speak British English Clearly & Confidently

Elevate your English with my British Council award-nominated course

The key to fluency

Master new sounds

Train the Mouth Muscles

You’ll be training the speech muscles to make them stronger and more flexible. This will give you the control to create new sounds more easily.

Progress quickly

designed for different languages

My course is tailored to your native language. This means lessons are designed for your needs and so your time and effort are invested in what matters.

Speak confidently with support

English Pronunciation classes

Join my classroom sessions online for 1–1 coaching and feedback. Find out which sounds are getting in your way and how to improve. 

Join a community of learners

Interact with others taking my course on the community platform.

I have been studying English for many years and I use it every single day for work; accent-wise, however, I always struggled to fill the gap between a good foreign speaker and a native. This course is simply amazing and it’s truly bringing my pronunciation to a level I had never been able to reach before: the materials are clear, well organised, brand new in their approach and ultimately very effective. Definitely recommended!

Luca, Italy

Luke’s course is by far the best and most affordable way to improve your English accent. With 30 min per day and within less than 2 weeks I could feel the English language flowing naturally from my mouth, and I could also see how both my colleagues and students took me more seriously. In the past, I have spent hundreds of pounds in private coaching and books, and I have no hesitation in saying that Luke’s course has been the best investment I have made of both my time and money.

SpanishRosa, Spain

How does it work?

I’ve spent over a decade perfecting pronunciation training so that you can learn as efficiently as possible.

You will be guided through the following stages:

The course is online so you can learn wherever and whenever you want!

"an innovative and expertly-presented resource" – The British Council

Teaching you can trust

Hi, my name is Luke and I’m a British accent coach based in London.

  • I have qualifications in languages, acting, teaching and phonetics.
  • I’m a member of the International Phonetic Association.
  • I’ve taught students from 90 different countries.
  • I lecture at the Summer Course in English Phonetics at University College London (UCL).

I created this course because I was frustrated at the lack of high-quality teaching materials for contemporary British English pronunciation.

What’s included?

  • Lessons tailored to your native language.
  • Speech muscle training.
  • Vowels, consonants, rhythm + intonation.
  • Live support in the online classroom.
  • Games, video lessons, mouth animations.

  • Access to the student community.

Is this course for you?

  • You find some words tricky to pronounce.

  • People don’t always understand what you say.

  • You have an intermediate or advanced level of English.

  • You’d like to learn British English pronunciation.

  • You’re willing to put effort into learning.

  • Your grammar and vocabulary are good, but you find pronunciation challenging.

" I shall be recommending this course to all my students."
Professor Masaki Taniguchi, Kochi University, Japan

It’s time to invest in an expert course

The only difference between the subscription plans is how often you make payment. The course content is the same.

Monthly

£3999

Every 6 Months

£199
  • 1 month free compared to the monthly plan!

Annual

£349
  • 3 months free compared to the monthly plan!
Unsure which plan to choose?
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Here’s what people say about my course

I have lived in London for 12 years now and always struggled with pronunciation. I had taken a few courses before but nothing really worked until I signed up for Luke’s course. It’s a game changer! I have been studying for 4 months now and it has made such a difference for me: improved my pronunciation, knowledge and confidence enormously. 

   Magdalena, Poland

Comprehensive, well structured, and easy to follow. It helped me understand, exercise and improve lots of sounds I had studied before but did not get right. I highly recommend it!

  Miruna, Romania

Luke’s pronunciation course is the best! I’ve taken more than half a dozen courses and Luke’s provides the most specific and detailed information about pronunciation including intonation and word stress! 

  Ceret, South Korea

Thank you so much for your accent course! It was an incredible journey. I’ve learned a lot!

Irina, Russia

A well-run course by a genuine professional. Worth every penny!

  Marie, France

It’s a fantastic course. I am thrilled I found it!

Alkyoni, Greece

You can find more reviews here, or on Trustpilot, Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

"This unique course is a game changer in the teaching of English pronunciation."
Dr Shanti Ulfsbjorninn, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Deusto, Bilbao

FAQ

FAQ

Speaking is a physical process – we move muscles to create speech sounds. In order to speak in a different accent, you need to re-train those muscles. You have been speaking the way you do since childhood, so it will take some time to change your muscle habits.

The amount of time it takes to improve your accent depends on:

1. Your native language (and how close the sound system/rhythm is to English)

2. How long you have been speaking English

  • Changing the way you speak involves breaking habits. If you have been speaking English with a strong foreign accent for a while, it may take longer to break those pronunciation habits.

3. Your current level of English pronunciation

4. How often you practise

5. How quickly your speech muscles adapt

6. Your identity and whether you like England!

  • Everyone (consciously or unconsciously) adjusts their voice according to who they speak to. If you identify with the person you’re speaking to, you’re likely to make your speech sound more like them. If you already have a strong sense of identity which you don’t want to change – or if you dislike the other person – then you’re likely to make your speech sound different to them.
  • This means that if you dislike English culture or can’t identify with English people, you’ll find it harder to change your accent.
  • If you don’t like the sound of English, you’ll find it more challenging to create English sounds because you don’t really want to sound English!

7. Your personality. If you’re positive, confident, open and willing to take risks, you’ll improve more quickly. Why? Because:

  • You’re more likely to socialise with native speakers and therefore practise new sounds.
  • You’ll find enjoyment in creating new, unfamiliar English sounds.
  • Your sense of identity is more fluid so you don’t mind sounding English.

Like all new skills, some people are naturally good at it, and others have to work harder. Most people will notice improvements after a few months.

To speed up the process, the course prioritises what will make the biggest and obvious improvements to your accent first.

Of course!

Sign up (no credit card details required) and you’ll get access to the course introduction and first lesson for free.

You’ll also be able to see all the lessons that are included.

Unlike other courses or textbooks, my course is organised according to your native language. This means you will concentrate on the most important aspects for you first (and don’t have to learn the parts that you can do already).

Uniquely, my course includes:

  • Speech muscle training
  • Muscle settings (exploring the overall sound of your voice and how you hold your speech muscles)
  • Modern English rhythm and intonation
  • Ear training games
  • Animations (to show you how sounds are made inside the mouth)
  • Click-for-IPA (by clicking the IPA button, you’re instantly able to see phonetic transcriptions)
  • Control audio speed (you can slow down audio to help you hear sounds more easily)

Additionally, my course explains how to make all the vowels and consonants in English. Advanced topics are also included, such as assimilation and elision. Further differences to other courses are that it:

  • Uses a sense-based approach.
    • For each new vowel or consonant, we explore how it feels in the mouth, what it looks like in the mirror, and how it sounds. This allows you to learn quickly and accurately.
  • Teaches contemporary British English pronunciation.
    • There’s no point sounding like the King (i.e. a very old-fashioned and posh form of English, which would sound humorous to a native speaker).

Your native language has a sound system that is different from the sound system of English. It is also different from the sound systems of other languages.

This means that a Mandarin speaker will have different challenges compared to a Portuguese speaker when learning English pronunciation.

Of course variation exists within each language: for example, there are many different varieties of Arabic. However, all speakers of a language will usually have similar challenges when approaching a language like English. Where necessary, reference is made to specific varieties (for example a sound that is more important for Brazilian Portuguese speakers to learn rather than European Portuguese speakers). In the course for Chinese learners, references are made to Mandarin and Cantonese.

When you log into the course, you will see a list of lessons. Your lessons have been designed and ordered to prioritise improving your intelligibility (i.e. people understanding you) and reducing the impression of a “foreign accent”. The lessons also include comparisons with words and sounds in your native language to help you understand why you pronounce English in a certain way.

If you grew up bilingual, you can change the native language in My Account at any time. Your lessons will automatically change.

The course has tailored lessons for speakers of the following languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian/European), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.

If your language isn’t listed when signing up, choose the my language isn’t listed option and you’ll get a course which covers the major topics of English pronunciation that most English learners have problems with.

In my online classroom, I offer live support and 1–1 coaching to help you progress more quickly. Join the group classes to get answers to your questions, receive valuable feedback, or simply observe and learn.

Classes usually take place once a week at either 11am or 5pm UK times and are for course subscribers only.

More information can be found here.

The community platform is an online space for course subscribers in which you can:

  • Find a buddy to practise and study with.
  • Get help and motivation from other students.
  • Read about others’ experiences.
  • Express your enthusiasm for English pronunciation, different accents, or phonetics/phonology.
  • Share interesting links.
  • Practise typing in IPA.
  • Make friends!

Only course subscribers have access to the Community platform.

The course is suitable for adult learners with an intermediate or advanced level of English.

Depending on the subscription plan you choose, you pay every month, every 6 months or every year. The course content is the same (you are just choosing how often to make payment).

It works out cheaper per month to take the 6-monthly/annual subscription rather than the monthly subscription. For example:

  • If you subscribe to the monthly plan (£39.99) for 12 months it costs £479.
  • But the annual plan costs £349. This is a saving of £130 compared to the monthly plan – essentially 3 months free (3 x £39.99 = £120).

You will only be able to register for the online classroom sessions and access the course materials while you have an active subscription.

If you want to switch from one subscription plan to another: (1) cancel your current subscription, (2) wait until it expires, (3) subscribe to a new plan.

You can pay using a credit/debit card or PayPal. If your employer is paying for the course and requires an invoice/alternative payment method, please see the final question on this page.

To cancel your subscription, click Account Settings -> My Subscription (in the course sidebar) and then click Cancel.

You must cancel at least 24 hours before the next billing date to avoid being charged again. If you cancel your subscription, you will still have access to the course until your subscription expires.

You can find out when your next billing date is in My Subscription.

You will be learning the Standard Southern British English Accent (SSBE), which is based on the accent in South-East England. You may have also heard of this accent as Non-Regional Pronunciation (NRP) or Modern RP.

It is perceived as a neutral*, intelligible, and contemporary English accent. As well as being associated with education, prestige and wealth, it is also widely understood across the world. For these reasons, it is the best accent to learn.

You may have also heard of the terms Received Pronunciation (RP), BBC English, or Oxford English. These names tend to refer to a more old-fashioned English accent, but some people might use them to refer to a contemporary accent.

(* No accent can really be neutral, but many native British English speakers would perceive this as neutral, standard or “not having an accent”)

This depends on how long it takes you to learn and how much time you have to study.

The course has a large amount of material which is organised according to what will make the biggest difference to your accent first. You do not have to complete the entire course in order to improve.

You can see what lessons are in the course by signing up.

My course uses a sense-based approach: for each new vowel or consonant, we explore how it feels in the mouth, what it looks like in the mirror, and how it sounds. This trains you to understand whether you are making a sound accurately or not.

At the beginning of the course, you record a text which contains all the sounds in English. This acts as a benchmark recording. You can re-record the text after spending some time in the course to measure your improvement.

Additionally, there are games to test your learning and to check whether you can hear the difference between sounds.

Plus you can join me in my online classroom and ask for feedback. Or purchase detailed feedback here.

You access the course through your internet browser.

This means you can use it on your computer, laptop, tablet and phone.

Yes, you can find out about this service here.

Alternatively, you can ask me for some free advice in the online classroom.

Payment

If your employer can pay using the company credit card, then you can simply use this at the checkout on the My Subscription page.

  • Receipts will go to the email address that you registered with. If you need to change the email address, go to the My Profile page (note that this email address is also the one you use to log in).
  • Please make your employer aware that they are paying for a recurring subscription (i.e. payments will be taken every month/every 6 months/every year). If your employer does not want to pay for a recurring subscription, then cancel the subscription after making payment (you will still have access for the time you paid for).

If your employer cannot pay with a card, then it is possible to do a bank transfer. In this case, I will need to send an invoice beforehand (see below). Once payment is received, I shall set up your subscription manually. Of course, this subscription will not auto-renew: you will have access for the time that has been paid for.

Invoice/Receipts

If your employer requires an invoice before payment, please contact me with which subscription plan you would like to purchase and the details you need on the invoice, e.g. your name, company name, address, etc.

If your employer requires a receipt after payment, please check whether the receipt you receive automatically to your email is sufficient (please note I do not charge VAT and so there is no VAT number). If it is not sufficient, then contact me with what extra information needs to be on the receipt.

Persuasion

If your HR department requires you to write why this course is worthwhile, here is a template you can use:

This British Council award-nominated English pronunciation course is designed for learners of English who have a [your native language] background. The course starts by explaining how speech can be analysed into sounds before moving on to over 20 topics that help [your native language] speakers improve their clarity in English. It also includes exercises to train the speech muscles and games to improve listening skills. Furthermore, the subscription gives the learner access to regular live classroom sessions with a teacher who can give support and feedback. By the end of the course, the learner will be able to speak more clearly and confidently in English.

Contact

You can email me Luke@ImproveYourAccent.co.uk or use the form on my website here.

For more information, go to the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Feel at home speaking English