These six accent tips for actors come from the dialect coaches and voice artists we work with, and they apply just as much to a voice over booth as a stage. The short version: learn the dialect, not just the sounds, and never stop listening. , Below is a list of the six most important things an actor should keep in mind when learning a dialect.
1. It Isn’t Just How You Pronounce Words
When you learn a particular dialect, don’t merely switch out one pronunciation for another. We’ve all seen the results of such lifeless dialect work in movies: British actors playing all Americans as bored suburbanites; Americans playing all Brits as stuffy Edwardian aristocrats. Accents are as much about musicality, tempo and physicality as they are about how you say the word “bath.”
2. Learn the Slang
Actors should learn dialects, not accents. What is the vocabulary and unique grammar of the dialect? How is this used in everyday language? If you’re playing someone from Ireland, you’d better understand that “crack” means more than what you do to an egg.
3. Listen to Strong Dialects
One of the most useful accent tips for actors is to seek out strong speakers. Too often, “mild” dialect recordings are of people who spent a lot of time elsewhere, thus allowing their dialect to become Americanised, Anglicised, or some other kind of “-ised.” Hear dialects of people who are as close to your character as possible, who have spent their lives in the character’s region. Then work on being understood by your audience.
4. Accent Tips for Actors: It’s About the Character
Think about your character’s class, their age, their outlook on life, their upbringing, and how these factors influence their speech.
They are the most important things of all.
5. Work on Your Voice
You need to make sure your voice is supple and free. Otherwise you either won’t be heard in the accent or you’ll quickly tire your voice.
And most importantly:
6. Don’t Get Overconfident
What ultimately dooms many actors doing accents, more than anything else, is that they get cocky. They think they’ve “mastered” an accent that they haven’t. People’s delusions about their dialect abilities can be unbelievable. I’ve seen actors who barely grasp the fundamental features of a particular accent who sincerely believe they know it inside and out. Always be vigilant. There will always be plenty you don’t know.
And that’s really it in a nutshell. What makes an actor good at accents, move than anything, is a willingness to learn.
If you want to put these accent tips for actors to work on a real project, we cast and record character and accented voice over every week. See our voice over services or contact us, and read more about dialect coaching on Wikipedia.
