How to do Accents

Voice over artists are often asked how they learn different accents and switch so quickly between them. It comes down to having a good ear for sound, so generally speaking you don’t need to consciously try hard to speak in a particular accent, but it does take practice. In most cases you just remind yourself how the accent sounds (Google it) and then begin experimenting by talking to yourself while in character.

In the accent videos I make with Jade Joddle for her YouTube channel, we have fun playing around with different accents. To make the accent easier to get into, we imagine ourselves as characters who happen to speak with the particular accent(s) we are making a video about. That’s why in our accent videos you see so many stereotypes – it is much easier to grab hold of the accent and to think of something to say if you stay if you stick with the predictable and expected.

My advice to anyone who wants to improve their skills with different accents is to simply let go and have fun while you are doing it. Just keep going if you find you can’t hold the accent or it slips into a closely related accent. You’ll find that with practice you get much better at holding the accent you are working to master. When you find that you can improvise in the particular accent without needing to think about what you are going to say, then you have truly perfected the accent.

Watch Jade Joddle and myself improvising American Accents in the video below:

 

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