How To Do An Irish Accent

Hello, I am Gareth Jameson. I am an actor and a voice coach from www.londonvoicelessons.com

Here are some tips for working on your voice. The key to any accent is to isolate sound that is specific to that accent.

Now for me the most important one in an Irish accent is the "i" sound. The "i" that we get in "like" or "height", or even at the beginning of the word Irish. It becomes like an "oi", almost like the "oi" in oil.

So that is why you sometimes hear people say "oirish" and "oireland". It is not quite "oi" really, it is slightly less than that, it is "oii". So that we have "I will be fine with all this oil", there is a difference "I will be fine with all this oil, I will be fine".

That introduces another feature as well, the "th", "I will be fine with all this oil". The "th" is usually removed from Irish speakers, especially with more casual speakers so that you get more d's and t's instead. So have a listen to this.

"What do you think of this, what do you think of this?" That is "think" and "this". Our next feature is the letter "r". Now for most Irish speakers the "r" is always pronounced.

So, instead of saying words like "park", we will have "paark", with a "err". It is right at the front of the mouth, unless you are from Dublin where your right at the back of your mouth. You are right at the front, "park" and "garden".

Right at the front like that. Now we move onto a "l" sound. Now, for British English speakers we have two versions for the "l" sound.

We have one at the back of the mouth, like in "kettle", "bottle" and "pull", and one at the front in "lovely", "lemon" and "limned". For an Irish speaker, they are all at the front. In fact, it is quite helpful I like to think of the whole accent coming from the front of the mouth.

This phrase might help, "a little bubble at the front of your mouth, a little bubble at the front of your mouth". Finally, that introduces the "ou" sound in mouth. It becomes "ouw", like if starting on a "ou", if you start on "ou", "ouw", "mouth".

So try "how now brown cow, brown cow" with an "our" in it. "How now brown cow, a little bubble at the front of your mouth". Now we have not got time for more features today.

I am Gareth Jameson, thanks very much.

Matt Damon on playing Francois Pienaar in the film Invictus

Matt Damon explains how Clint Eastwood made him look taller and how he had to get beefy and learn to speak with a South African accent for the role.

NB. Matt Damon is 5'10'' (175cm) and Francois Pienaar is 6'4'' (190cm).

The Catherine Tate Show - The Aga Saga woman

An Aga Saga is a kind of novel about the lives of middle-class women living in British country villages. The name comes from Aga, a type of oven that these women would typically own.

Catherine Tate plays Mrs Montgomery, an upper class English woman who goes into a state of shock in various, seemingly harmless, situations. For example, in Series 1 she receives a phone call from her husband's business associate and has to tell her children that "daddy hasn't been able to find any good brie" on his business trip to France. They fear that the other children will make fun of them at the Parisian picnic at school because they don't have the right cheese.

In Series 2, the Aga Saga woman goes into a state of shocked terror when a Northern nanny has to look after her children. She does forewarn the children that the agency arranged for a temporary nanny (as Alice was ill), and that she feared that the nanny may come from as far north as Sunderland.

A Geordie is a person from Newcastle in the north of the UK.

A standard Aga oven

Fernando Torres: his pronunciation and his popularity in the UK

Learning English pronunciation

Pronunciation of the endings -s and -es

New Zealand accent and vocabulary

One News report on how the New Zealand accent has changed noticeably over the last 30 years.

You have here what seems like an innocent word. English - you might think “Whak-a-papa”, something similar to that. However, here in New Zealand, well James, why don’t you help explain this, how do you say this word? “Whaka-papa” That is “Whak-a-papa”, there is a word on the other side. This is how to speak New Zealand 101. Okay, we have the letters “N” and “Zee”. However, when you are in New Zealand, James — “N-Zed”. Aah! Slight difference. If you are wearing something like flip-flops, Rick, what would you call those? “Jandals”. Now Sam, if you were to ask your pastor to pass you the pasta what would you say? “Pass the pasta, pastor”… I don’t think that’s right, Rick - “It’s pass the pastor, pasta”. Oh, alright! “That was pass the pasta, pastor.” “I am confused.” And if you were to put something in the back of your car what would you put it into.” “It’s in your boot mate” Here it is. “Whatever is in the back of your car, is in your boot mate.” Not the trunk, it’s the boot. What would you call a big, grizzly thing, that would growl at you and eat you. “A bear” What would you drink..? What drink has alcohol in it? “A beer”.. Did you hear any difference? “Uh-uh” And what is a soft fluffy toy that you would often give to small children. “It’s a bear”, “Teddy bear” They don’t say “e” like we do, they say “ay”. I’d love to have a teddy bear. Is there anything else you can think of? “Oh! She’ll be right mate.” Okay, what does “Oh! She’ll be right mate” mean?. “It means she will be right” So it’s like you are doing good, alright. “It means that women are always right.” Ohhhh! “It means it’s okay, it’s good” Good to know, thank you. “She’ll be right is just she’ll be right, don’t worry about her, no worries mate, no worries” What do you put at the end of any adjective to make it cool? “As” So say something. “Sweet as”, what if something is really weird. “Weird as” So everything just has “as” at the end of it. “Cool as”. Cool as… cheer bro. “Cheer bro” Kiora is to say hello. And what’s a resume called here? “CV - Curriculum vitae” If someone quits at a sport like Dan you might taunt him and call him what? “Piker” A Piker. ” A what?” Dan would be a piker. “I don’t even know where this is going from” This is coming from your trash talking. “I’d say a quitter”, I like it. “A buster”, “a what, butter?” “Bus-buster” And if there is any word that ends with ‘r’ like for instance if it is say… “Amber?” Amber, ‘aymber’. “Faster”, “Fayster”. Alright that’s it, Okay. And that’s how you speak New Zealand 101.

Click HERE for more Kiwi words and expressions with their equivalent definition.

English accents

Thanks, Rocheli.

Proper English

Homophones

Brian McKnight and Cleo the Lion present "Homophones"


LYRICS
I read this book, it's red, come look
A book about a special love, homophones!
Right here, you'll hear.
Two words that sound the same
But don't look the same, here's the name
Homophones!
I know there's no one else who loves them so
You're right, let's write these words all day and night
They're out of sight
Yes, they're so sweet
That's why we always meet
But not that kind of meat
But you can't beat homophones
Two words that sound the same
But they're not spelled the same, homophones

Silent -e

Tom Lehrer




Music man

Word of the week 16 - 22 February 2009 YOB

What are you really saying when you mispronounce the word "job" and say "yob" instead?

A yob (or yobbo) is an aggressive, impolite young man (or teenager) who engages in antisocial behaviour and/or drunkenness.

The word is believed to have derived from spelling "boy" backwards (maybe because a yob is the antithesis of a good boy).

It is usually used as an insult, so calling someone a yob or a yobbo can be dangerous.

Examples:

Be careful if you go to a pub on Friday or Saturday night. The yobs will be out and lots of them will be looking for a fight.
Lots of yobbos travel to places like Spain or Greece and get drunk, behave badly, and damage the image of Britain and the British.

You can read and find out more about yob culture here in the first part of a BBC series of features focusing on different aspects of crime.

Just for fun:

Barenaked Ladies - 7 ate 9

Homophones are fun!

The art thief and the crisis

A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre. After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, 'Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.'

I had no Monet


to buy Degas


to make the Van Gogh.'



See if you have De Gaulle to send a link to this page on to someone else.


Don't worry, you have nothing Toulouse.

Thanks, Almudena.

English spelling

An Italian man who went to Malta

Love conquers phonetics

Either has two different pronunciations in modern English. The pronunciation IPA: /"i;D@/ prevails in American English, and is the pronunciation of the majority of English speakers. The pronunciation /"aIð@/ is associated with British English and Canadian English, but it is not universal in either place or in Australian English and other dialects that take their lead from British English. It is also found in the U.S., especially in New England, although many Americans will regard it as an affectation.

An Ira Gershwin song, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, opens with the words "You say /"i;D@/ and I say /"aIð@/", and concerns a couple who lament the difficulties in their relationship by pronunciation differences (and the different social backgrounds which they imply). These differences between the two lovers could be the reason to call off the relationship. But they can't stand the thought of being apart so the singer will compromise for love.

Click on the image below to see the lyrics in full size: