British Library Survey of English Dialects

The British Library launched a sounds archive in January of this year.  I was looking around today and found this, a collection of English dialects! 

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects

Scroll to the bottom and you can search by county and then by city/town.  The audio is from collections over the last several decades, so they are interviews about various random things.  Good to share with people who wonder what the dialect in your new home sounds like, since many Americans think all Brits sound like Hugh Grant or the Queen! 

Here is one from the region I am heading to, Northumberland, an interview with a farmer called Ned where he talks about one of his horses:

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects/021M-C0908X0041XX-0700V1

I found an archive of dialects a several years ago online, but can't remember where.

I just went and listened to several of the Yorkshire speakers. I couldn't understand a single one, yet I understand most of the people here. Funny!  Part of the problem is the poor recording.  It is low and scratchy.  Fun to listen to, though.

Ha yes they are quite old.  I was really impressed with the whole BL sound collection!  I am a university lecturer/researcher and love the fact that history can be preserved through sound, sometimes the best ways to get answers to questions is to ask the people to talk about it, not a "tick this box" survey kind of thing. 

This looks interesting -- I'll have to wait until I get home to listen though (overly public cubicles!)

Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing

Yes, thanks for sharing! I've been following these for awhile and are quite amusing - especially the ones from Norfolk as that is where my fiancee lives and I've visited. This was the the only place in England that I felt I needed an interpreter! LOL! You can also find the British Library on Facebook and if you subscribe, you will get updates on this type of thing.

I had the pleasure of a personal tour of the British Sound Archives at the British Library as a guest of the Operations Manager (a wonderful, friendly and engaging man!) when last in England in April. I perform similar work in the US and had been in touch by email through work. So I asked and fiancee and myself were allowed to see the amazing audio studios and labs. What a treat!

That sounds amazing FGM - how lucky!