For a thing I am doing, I need to put on an English accent?
What is the easiest way to do this? Is there any particular English accent which is best to use? Any other tips on how to sound English?
block your nose, stick a small boiled potato in each cheek, and you’re almost there.
BTW thats “potahto”.
Narrow down the type of accent a bit, first.
Do you mean the posh-sounding “BBC english”? (“Upper-class Received Pronunciation”)
Or Scouse? Cockney? Southern? Mancunian? Newcastle? Yorkshire?
All quite different and distinct.
If you can narrow the accent down, and you have a decent net connection, I can send you mp3’s of radio programs that you can try to ape. I’m sure I can find something for just about any english accent. Also, if you can name a specific accent, we’ll be in a better position to play “dialect coach” for ya.
See in your OP you’re looking for suggestions as to the best accent… Are you planning on pulling someones leg, or something?
What’s the scenario? I would suggest finding an accent that’s as close as possible to your natural accent.
In turth you cannot. I am something of a student of accent and a fake is quite obvious.
If forced to try (for the stage, for example) hang out with Brits or watch British movies.
thats pretty good advice
go for a fake accent and you will get there
the real thing is difficult, since there are so many
‘actors act like actors’ jd salinger:cool:
and sounds just as bad as the fake american accent i hear on british tv.
You don’t have anything in your location field - it would be helpful to know where you are starting from!
**Dunmurry ** is from Norn Iron, IIRC.
No chance you can ever do another accent from that starting point. (You could try to be Uncle Andy though.) 
I dunno, a Liverpool accent might not be that much of a stretch…
huh? larry, norn iron is nothing like liverpool!
dunmurry, maybe you could try scottish (glasgow is easiest for the norn irish person).
if you try english accent you’ll only sound like someone from cultra…heaven forbid!
as for doing acents, i find it very easy to do irish and english, just by thinking how certain celebrities sound (susan hampshire and andrea corr) and copying them.
It’s pretty easy to do Michael Caine as long as you stick to the catchphrases. You’ll be hard-pressed to work - “you were only meant to blow the bloody doors off” and “don’t you throw that spear at me”* into the conversation though.
[sub]*Just in case there’s any smartarse film buffs around, I know he didn’t actually say this.[/sub]
It will depend on your ability to “do” accents and the time you have to learn it. There are some people who can never acquire an accent, no matter how hard and long they try. For others they come relatively easily.
If you live in a city with a theatrical bookstore or theatrical supply house, they may well have tapes or CDs to help you acquire an accent. There are also books out on the subject. If you have the time, the theatrical publisher Samual French will sell you both books and tapes on the subject and they are pretty good. I believe they have a website.
It will also depend on your own accent. The thicker it is, the harder it will be to achieve the desired one. Perhaps the easiest English accent for most educated Americans to do is “West End”. It is the educated English that most associate with English politicians and the “upper crust”. Americans such as Peter Lawford (from Florida) and the guy who played Higgins on Magnum PI (from Texas) did that one.
Cockney and Liverpudlian are very distinct and unless you have a definite talent for accents, don’t even try them. Look what happened to Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
If you live in either New York or L.A., There are schools in both those communities that specialize in teaching accents. I think Philly has one or two also, at least they used to. If you have a university in the city or town in which you live, you might go by the theater department and check for those tapes I mentioned earlier. I would bet they would have them and they might let you use them (probably for a price).
Lemon curry?
Another thing you have to rember there is far more regional variance in the English accent than the American accent.
My ex-girlfriend was a voice coach. She used to train dialects to theatrical performers. She could do a dead-on BBC and cockney accent, as well as various US accents (Southern/Virginia, Southern/Alabama, NYC/Italian ethnolect, NYC/Jewish ethnolect, Chicago South Suburban, and Twin Cities Lutheran). However, it took years of training to get the accents right; you essentially have to relearn the pronunciation of most words, and also learn vocabulary and grammar specific to the dialect. (For example, “I’m going to hospital,” “Microsoft are announcing a stock split,” “motorway” for “expressway,” and so on.) She had to learn the accents both to train performers, and for accent removal training for recent immigrants. (Some accents, such as Indian English or the Chinese ethnolect, are very difficult for Americans to understand.)
Training materials are available through bookstores that specialize in stagecraft and theatrical subjects. Most of what you’ll find will be for BBC English, Cockney, or the Scottish and Irish brogues.
A good place to start, IMHO, would be “S’effrican” … the South African English (not Afrikaaner) accent, which to my ears sounds like a combination of a US Midland Northern accent and BBC English. Many radio commercials in the US use a growing pool of South African immigrants for voice talent, because the SA English accent is perceived as less pretentious as a BBC English accent, but still sounds pleasant and elegant to American ears.
Are you sure? Given the geographic scope of the US I would think there is more variance in the American accent.
With my limited area in the Mid-Atlantic are of the US I have encountered the following accents: Boston area, North New York, New York City, Brooklyn, Long Island, North New Jersey, South New Jersey, Philadelphia, Northern Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania, Sourthen Delaware & Maryland. That’s 11 regional accents in a 400 mile stretch.
Frank #2
I don’t think there’s much to be gained from an argument about it, but there are far more than 11 distinct accents in the 400 mile stretch between London and Glasgow, for example. The amount of variation between the different accents might surprise you as well.
That’s right. There is a huge difference between Liverpool and Manchester, for example, and they are 40 miles apart (presumably you have some association with Liverpool, everton?). And it changes substantially from Manchester to Leeds - another 40 miles.
Originally posted by Frank #2.
Are you sure? Given the geographic scope of the US I would think there is more variance in the American accent.
On that basis Frank #2 would you assume Australia has as many different accents as the USA (given the comparable size). The distance between Sydney and Perth Australia is approx 2800 miles. Yet you would barely notice any difference in the accent.
That reminds me.
Does James Marsters do a passable accent as Spike on Buffy? Is it idenifyable as any particular kind?