what dialects are spoken in the uk?
English Language
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 English language learning and teaching is an important economic activity , and includes language schooling , tourism spending , and publishing . There is no legislation mandating an official language for England , but English is the only language used for official business . Despite the country 's relatively small size , there are many distinct regional accents , and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country . 

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 Throughout the United Kingdom there are distinctive spoken expressions and regional accents of English , which are seen to be symptomatic of a locality 's culture and identity . An awareness and knowledge of accents in the United Kingdom can " place , within a few miles , the locality in which a man or woman has grown up " . 

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 English in England can be divided into four major dialect regions , Southwest English , South East English , Midlands English , and Northern English . Within each of these regions several local subdialects exist : Within the Northern region , there is a division between the Yorkshire dialects , and the Geordie dialect spoken in Northumbria around Newcastle , and the Lancashire dialects with local urban dialects in Liverpool ( Scouse ) and Manchester ( Mancunian ) . Having been the centre of Danish occupation during the Viking Invasions , Northern English dialects , particularly the Yorkshire dialect , retain Norse features not found in other English varieties . 

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 There is no single British language , though English is by far the main language spoken by British citizens , being spoken monolingually by more than 70 % of the UK population . English is therefore the de facto official language of the United Kingdom . However , under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , the Welsh , Scottish Gaelic , Cornish , Irish , Ulster Scots and Scots ( or Lowland Scots ) languages are officially recognised as Regional or Minority languages by the UK Government . As indigenous languages which continue to be spoken as a first language by native inhabitants , Welsh and Scottish Gaelic have a different legal status from other minority languages . In some parts of the UK , some of these languages are commonly spoken as a first language ; in wider areas , their use in a bilingual context is sometimes supported and / or promoted by central and / or local government policy . For naturalisation purposes , a competence standard of English , Scottish Gaelic or Welsh is required to pass the life in the United Kingdom test . However , English is used routinely , and although considered culturally important , Scottish Gaelic and Welsh are much less used . 

neutral
 Common British versions include : 
