Regional dialects/accents/ local languages

[ianess]

Have you heard about the Londoner, Cornishman, Geordie, and the Aberdonian trying to hold a conversation with a Yorkshireman with a Glaswegian standing by?

Is there such a thing as a `Standard` English or are there places where Brits can learn English as a second language?

What is the `worst` regional accent?

[Weaza_cfc]

What do you mean by worst?

[Quizmonster]

Until relatively recently, there was a way of speech described as 'received pronunciation'. This was generally take to be the least regional form of English...basically,  the normal speech of the educated population of southern England, particularly as spoken at Oxford and Cambridge as well as by announcers on the BBC. (BBC radio newsreaders, for example, were obliged to wear evening-dress as a social marker - despite being quite invisible to listeners - when doing their reading!)

This has quite disappeared in the greater (supposed) social equality that exists today.

Any view as to a 'worst' regional accent will inevitably be a personal choice rather than an absolute one. It seems to be generally taken, however, that the Birmingham accent is one of the least likely to be found 'acceptable' to others.

Pease note: I, personally, am not decrying the Birmingham accent! Do not accuse me of racism or districtism or whatever. I am simply passing on what is often stated in newspaper articles etc on this topic.

[Quizmonster]

When I said "this has disappeared" above, I meant that the notion of there being only one 'received' way of speech has disappeared and not that the Oxbridge/BBC accent had.

[BetsyLou]

I think you are confusing accent and dialect: Standard English is a dialect, it can be (and is) spoken with any accent. It is part of the National Curriculum now that kids in school must be taught about about SE: that it is one dialect among many, and that regional variations are just as valid, if not always suitable for use in essays or other formal contexts.
The RP accent - as Quizmonster states above - is a supposedly regionless 'posh' accent of British English. It can be used to speak non-standard English varieties, and is pretty well extinct these days (modified RP is common however, that is RP with some regional (especially Estuary English) accent features).
In opinion polls it has consistently been the case that inner-city British accents have been voted the ugliest or worst by Brits, and that speakers of rural accents such as the West Country one are voted as quaint but unintelligent. Interestingly [in my opinion!] this is not borne out in polls of people from other countries who are unfamiliar with the social aspects of these accents, confirming that there's no inherent badness or stupidity in for example a Birmingham or Somerset accent.

[cruthinboy]

Well, I hate that non-specific Southern student accent we get in South Manchester? Lots of Aussie-style false interrogatives at the end of sentences, liberal use of the word "random" , and a general voluminous timbre to the voice which cries out for a fist in the face.

[saffstar]

I can't stand Jo Whiley's over-empasised, nasal drawl that I think is supposed to convey to the listening public that she's like soo cool maaaan and such a muuuso - gah!!

[mother25]

I don't know about 'standard English' but I agree with everyone else that received pronunciation is supposed to be something we can all understand.  As far as I am concerned there is no 'worst'  dialect, and people should be proud of where they come from reagrdless of what others think.

I lived in West Wales for several years, and my eldest two children were taught Welsh in school which in that part of the country was the 'first language' for Welsh children. This is the only place I know for sure where English is a second language for some.