Practical tips on how to imitate any accent for actors and language learners. Better pronunciation in other languages makes you easier to understand and better at listening.
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Check out these videos for an in-depth look at varies languages and accents. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG0zzzqipchnx3UvtmDyVCsO31aXK6dTh&si=2Kzhwv3E8i7lh9m9

00:00 Introduction
00:42 What is an accent?
01:07 Confidence
01:43 Research
02:30 International Phonetic Alphabet
02:52 Feedback
03:14 Rosetta Stone
05:01 Mimicry
05:36 Unfamiliar Sounds
07:31 Ariculatory settings
08:45 Understatement
09:04 How perfect?
11:12 Listening
12:20 Next steps

IPA Chart – By International Phonetic Association –
https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/IPAcharts/IPA_chart_orig/IPA_charts_E.html,
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92652779

Nicholas School – By Trevor Harris, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8134495

A Call to Spy poster – By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65028547

Far and Away poster – By POV – IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7630251

33 Comments

  1. Recently found your channel and fell in love with it. As a Brazilian guy who’s a professor of Spanish in the US, I’m constantly navigating many languages and accents 😵‍💫
    Liked, shared and subscribed!

  2. Do you have any tips for the alveolar trill? There are many YouTube videos (some better than others) that describe how it's produced and, unless I'm getting something seriously wrong, I think I understand the place and manner. But they all say "relax your tongue" and I think that's the instruction I'm failing at.
    It frustrates me that so many fellow native English speakers seem to be able to do it without any interest in foreign languages/linguistics: for them it's an unvalued skill, but for me it's essential and I just can't do it !!! 😬😂
    Have you always been able to do it, or was there a particular time in your life when you acquired it? And was it easier/harder to acquire than other non-native sounds?

  3. I find myself decent at an accent when speaking a foreign language, but difficult to speak in a different convincing accent when speaking English, is that normal?

  4. I can definitely resonate with the articulate setting part. I couldn't really master the Dublin accent until I started to speak with my nose and tighten my lower lip XD.

  5. I'm from Alabama and I have recently found that I cannot say "Keir Starmer" without sounding ridiculous. I have no idea how I am supposed to say it, as I only hear Brits say it and it doesn't come out of my mouth that way at all.

  6. I find that there are some accents I can do spontaneously, some accents I can't yet do, but also a third mysterious group of accents that I can only do *if I've just heard somebody else do them*. Scottish accents are like this for me, I can only do them when I'm imitating one that I've recently heard

  7. The immitation of an english accent in french is basically every Canadian politician outside Québec trying to give an interview or answer a question in their second language.

  8. Great video as always Dave! As a native French speaker though, I have to say that there is nothing more charming than an English person speaking French with an English accent. You'll find many French people who'll agree! 🙂

  9. I often wonder if my perception of the “oral posture” of the “standard” southeast English accent (maybe how a generic London newscaster would sound) as being somewhat “forward” in the mouth and maybe slightly “breathier” (wrong word, probably) than US accents is right. Am I imagining it?

    As an American, I can actually do it with an American accent—it sounds weird, like how no American would ever speak—but I wonder if it’s just something I made up.

  10. Thanks so much for all your videos, Dave. I too was the class mimic way back and everything you say about listening and preparing to be able to reproduce accents resonates a great deal with me. I took my language geekery and ran with it and am now an interpreter working with 7 languages. I only wish I had the energy to learn more! Keep them coming!!

  11. Do you ever find yourself drifting unconsciously into the accent of the person to whom you're talking? I have been accused of taking the p.ss, but i don't seem able not to! (Tips on how not to wd be appreciated…)

  12. Question for you…
    When I meet people with accents or dialects, I can’t stop myself from taking on their speech patterns. I have no idea why this happens. Is there a word for this phenomenon? Is it uncommon? I am able to put on various accents at will as well. I also happen to be bilingual from childhood. Thanks in advance. (It’s sometimes embarrassing.)

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