Emma Thompson speaks with a clear, fairly traditional Standard British accent. Her pronunciation is polished and expressive, while still sounding natural and conversational.
FIRST LISTEN
Watch the clip without analysing everything. You can watch it 2–3 times.
What did she say?
It was my 25th birthday, and I was doing stand-up in the Croydon Warehouse… (Never go.)
Where’s Croydon?
Croydon? You don’t need to know.
Source: Emma Thompson On Getting Paid To Be Funny, And Feeling “Intense Irritation” Over A.I. , The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Watch full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkpQ_rTDqFg
NOW LISTEN TO MY EXPLANATION
Watch the clip once again paying attention to the features listed below. I will explain them for you ⬇️
Listen to words like birthday, never and warehouse. In standard British pronunciation, an R before a consonant or at the end of a word is usually silent (with exceptions).
Pay attention to 25th birthday. Notice the voiceless TH sound at the end of fifth and in birthday.
Listen to never go and You don’t need to know. The words go, don’t and know all contain the same British English diphthong /əʊ/. Listen to how the vowel glides from one position to another.
CAN YOU HEAR IT?
Listen again. This time, focus on the pronunciation features from the list above.