AccentHelp Blog

Introduction to Accents 6: Prioritizing Learning Accents

What accent should you learn when it's not immediately demanded by a project? Coach Jim Johnson leads you through a list of which accents and di...

Introduction to Accents 5: Helpful Hints

Often there are little shortcuts or tricks that help you to jumpstart learning an accent. Here, Jim Johnson leads you through a number of possible ...

Monotone Speech

Jim Johnson makes a few suggestions on monotone speech and a few techniques for speaking with more variation: Being louder, opening up the resonant...

Intro to the Soft Palate

Jim guides you through the basics of what the Soft Palate (or Velum) is: The Soft Palate/Velum is the back part of the roof of the mouth and serves...

Showing Length with IPA Transcriptions

Here's a quick overview of how to show the length of a sound using the IPA: I also get into what tends to make a vowel longer and what tends to mak...

Shawn Hatosy & Ben McKenzie

Shawn Hatosy has had a very good career in Hollywood. He’s currently in the midst of another season of Southland on TNT as officer Sammy Bryant. ...

Nuyorican Accents in Melbourne

New York City, Australia Where do Aussies go to sound American? Director David Bell and dialect coach Jennifer Innes turned to Accent Help for the...

New Orleans Actors Resource Center

Acting in New Orleans The New Orleans market has exploded for actors the last few years – it’s currently the number three market in the US a...

Jim's Irish Reviewed by Natives

Aug 20, 2015 The Facts YouTube channel hosts a number of Irish natives sharing their rather funny takes on a variety of subjects, including tasti...

Gaming Character Accents

Tabletop Gaming in Washington Often, actors use accents to help build characters, but character building isn’t limited to actors. James Wood, a D...

Introduction to Accents 4: Intonation

Intonation is primarily about musicality and rhythm. There tend to be recurring musical phrasings, such as lifts at the ends of phrases, that are b...

Introduction to Accents 3: Placement

Placement refers to the sensation of where the sound "lives" in the mouth, which can commonly lead to a mouth posture that helps with an accent. Th...

Cockney & Australian Confusion

I was contacted by someone who is struggling to nail the Cockney accent, and he keeps slipping into what sounds more like an Australian accent. Thi...

Northern Irish Accent Intonation

Here's an introduction to the upward lilt of the Northern Irish accent - maybe not what you'd expect from an Irish accent if you're used to thinkin...

Dark-L vs Light-L

An L at the beginning of a word is commonly a "light-L" whereas an L at the end of a word is commonly a "dark-L" - pulled back in the throat. It's ...

Introduction to Accents 2: Phonetics

The International Phonetic Association created a system to represent the sounds of world languages. The Phonetic Alphabet is a useful tool for lear...

Breath Support - Transversus Abdominus Crunches

Major element of Breath Support = Abs (more specifically, the Transversus Abdominus) It can be difficult to get a sense of where the Transversus is...

Intonation in American Accents

An introduction to the primary intonation patterns in most American accents, especially focused on dropping off at the end of phrases, how pitches ...

Introduction to Accents 1: Accent vs Dialect vs Idiolect

Part 1 of 6 - Introducing how to learn an accent. This session gives a quick overview of what the terms Dialect & Accent mean, and an explanati...

Breathing from the Diaphragm?

Can you "breathe into the diaphragm" or "breathe from the diaphragm?" Yes, and no... Here's an introduction to how the diaphragm works and the basi...

Intonation of Western Irish Accents

The intonation of a western Irish accent is actually very similar to a southern Irish accent - I like to think of western Irish intonation as "Sout...

Breath Support = Abs

Ever heard of Breath Support? Think "Abs!" It's all about the abdominal muscles (or, more specifically, your Transversus - watch for a future post....

Breath Support at the Ends of Phrases

You need even more breath support (ABS!) at the ends of phrases than anywhere else, especially to avoid falling into vocal fry. Breath Support and...

Tongue Stretch to Open the Throat

I had an inquiry from someone about how to improve his sound. He had an issue that tons of people have: tongue tension and a sense that the sound i...

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