I'm like a kid watching The Electric Company again! You should hear an Australian from Melbourne say the word NO - it's a tripthong. It's the word that fascinated me the most and took me over a year to learn. They cram so many sounds into a two letter word!
Thank you so much, Jay! I'm trying to get into VO for my long-time career (currently a performing arts major in school) after no previous experience. All of your videos are so informative and helpful!
Is there an easy-to-refer-to list somewhere of every phoneme, ideally with audio, perhaps divided into languages? I think I read there are 44 used in English. If each had a symbol that could be memorised there could be a universal guide to pronouncing accents. I feel this needs to be in our toolkit. Of course the other two elements are emphasis syllables and musical tone, the way pitch rises and falls, the "song" that's sung while speaking, that are distinct to certain regions.
That’s a great question Bill! What you’re looking for is the International Phonetic Alphabet. Here is an interactive chart referring to the different sounds and their relative ‘placement’ in the mouth during speech. I’m not sure there are lists breaking down what languages/dialects use specific sounds, but the IPA is used universally to hone in on the specifics of speech and what’s being said. There are different symbols assigned to each phoneme as well. Linked below is an interactive chart detailing the different sounds and their corresponding symbols. www.ipachart.com
Ah! And of course you’re dead on regarding the musicality of speech in different accents. Some linguists will use notation or ‘notes’ to denote the pitch/intonation/rhythm of dialects, though I’m not sure anything is standardized in that respect.
I think that largely depends on the types of audiobooks you’re narrating. More often than not you’ll simply be in your natural speaking voice (at least in my experience). Though I will say I think having a Standard American and an RP British are probably the most prolific, then stemming into regionalisms from there (i.e. US South, US South-West/Texas, US Midwest, UK North, UK Northeast, UK London Std, etc.) You can go as deep as you wish!
Excellent Jay; such an important aspect of narration
Great Tips! Especially the one on practicing.
Nice, good solid advice. Love it.
I'm like a kid watching The Electric Company again! You should hear an Australian from Melbourne say the word NO - it's a tripthong. It's the word that fascinated me the most and took me over a year to learn. They cram so many sounds into a two letter word!
Thank you so much, Jay! I'm trying to get into VO for my long-time career (currently a performing arts major in school) after no previous experience. All of your videos are so informative and helpful!
Thanks for taking the time to let me know! Glad you’re finding them helpful. 😊
I practice my Standard American accent with your videos, as well as interviews of Kevin Conroy as my references!
Rock on! Hope it helps.
Love that intro!
Is there an easy-to-refer-to list somewhere of every phoneme, ideally with audio, perhaps divided into languages? I think I read there are 44 used in English. If each had a symbol that could be memorised there could be a universal guide to pronouncing accents. I feel this needs to be in our toolkit. Of course the other two elements are emphasis syllables and musical tone, the way pitch rises and falls, the "song" that's sung while speaking, that are distinct to certain regions.
That’s a great question Bill! What you’re looking for is the International Phonetic Alphabet. Here is an interactive chart referring to the different sounds and their relative ‘placement’ in the mouth during speech. I’m not sure there are lists breaking down what languages/dialects use specific sounds, but the IPA is used universally to hone in on the specifics of speech and what’s being said. There are different symbols assigned to each phoneme as well.
Linked below is an interactive chart detailing the different sounds and their corresponding symbols.
www.ipachart.com
Ah! And of course you’re dead on regarding the musicality of speech in different accents. Some linguists will use notation or ‘notes’ to denote the pitch/intonation/rhythm of dialects, though I’m not sure anything is standardized in that respect.
Jay, do you practice voice matching?
I do!
top 5 accents to learn for audiobooks?
I think that largely depends on the types of audiobooks you’re narrating. More often than not you’ll simply be in your natural speaking voice (at least in my experience). Though I will say I think having a Standard American and an RP British are probably the most prolific, then stemming into regionalisms from there (i.e. US South, US South-West/Texas, US Midwest, UK North, UK Northeast, UK London Std, etc.) You can go as deep as you wish!