Accents & Dialects

A dialect includes the accent (the sounds used in pronunciation) but also vocabulary/vernacular, musicality/inflection, and grammar.  When learning an accent and dialect at The Actors' Place, each course is broken down into segments:

• A familiarization with the speech mechanism and the mechanics of sound formation in order to lay the groundwork for changing how you speak.
• An exploration of the ways consonant sounds are formed differently in the accent you have selected.
• An exploration of the ways vowels are formed differently in the accent you've chosen.
• The way the rise and fall of pitch as you speak (inflection) differs between American English and the dialect you have chosen.
• The use of certain phrases, pronunciation, grammar,  and vocabulary typical of the dialect.
• and each course has elements of provided text in order to practice the delivery of each element as well as a segment of extemporaneous speech and conversation with feedback.
• with a small class size, everyone gets attention each night and between the 4th and 5th class, each student has a 30 minute private session with the instructor to adjust elements with which they struggle.

At the end of the course, students have the materials they need to continue practice and build toward a fully convincing dialect.