{"id":781,"date":"2016-09-29T16:04:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T23:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?p=781"},"modified":"2019-01-31T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T23:05:18","slug":"accents-expect-ielts-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/accents-expect-ielts-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"IELTS Listening Accents: What to Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

IELTS Listening accents are widely varied compared to many other English exams, with speakers from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.<\/p>\n

While these countries are known for a wide variety of accents, IELTS Listening<\/a> only focuses on the “neutral” or “standard” accents of native English. So don’t worry\u2014you won’t have to learn the Cockney, Scouser, Scottish<\/a>, Welsh<\/a>, or Irish accents of the UK. And in North America, you won’t have to understand Newfie, Boston, or Texan accents. And the only “down under” accents you’ll hear will be urban Australian and urban New Zealander\u2014there won’t be any speech from Tasmania or rural New Zealand. (Still, feel free to look up samples of the other accents I mentioned if you’re curious\u2014there’s a big world of native English accents out there!)<\/p>\n

\"IELTS
Rob984<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what is a neutral accent?<\/h2>\n

It’s different in each country. But usually, a neutral accent is associated with just one or two cities or regions.<\/p>\n

The UK English<\/strong> you hear on the IELTS will be the London standard or something very close to it. Below are a few British accent audio examples for you to familiarize yourself with.<\/p>\n