Accent Do's and Don'ts That Can Make or Break Your Career!

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That Doesn’t Sound Right…

‘What accents can you do?’

A question that can reduce even a seasoned actor to sweats and stammering half-hearted lists of general geography.

It’s fair; nobody wants to watch a casting director wince and comment that something you said didn’t sound ‘quite right’. I’ve observed that the fear of performing a ‘humiliating unconvincing car-crash of an accent’ is pretty universal for voice over artists, and that fear can drive a lot of us to never even try.

Or worse, it causes some to take under-practiced accents into auditions (YIKES!).

I’ve performed a variety of accents on stage, in games, and for podcasts and boy oh boy: I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn’t known before (as Sondheim so eloquently put it).

However, before I launch into some of the lessons I’ve learned, I’m going to plug an amazing event that I’ll be a panelist for:

Talk Like That Presents

‘Accents in Voice Acting’

LingFest 21

Wednesday 28 April at 11:00 Pacific, 14:00 Eastern, 19:00 BST

Ticket available here —> talklikethat.com/ava

We’re going to be discussing some the challenges voice talent face when implementing accents, including:

Accent Expectations: What Do Casting Directors Want?

Audiobooks: The Challenges of Voicing Old Texts

Authenticity, Stereotypes & License

All proceeds will support ELP (the Endangered Languages Project) who are working hard to preserve languages around the world. Hope to see you there!

So You Wanna Do An Accent…

  • DO suck at it!

    It’s an age old adage: ‘being bad at something is the first step to being good at it'. So, before you do anything, ACCEPT that you’re going to suck.

    Congratulations! You’re halfway to learning an accent!

  • DON’T rely on any single source to train an accent!

    We live in a wondrous age with so much information at our fingertips — go down the YouTube rabbit hole and be open to a variety of sources like:

    Learning from a wide range of sources will ensure you develop a well-rounded accent.

  • DO learn phonetics!

    There are about 44 sounds in the English language, and they’re described using a range of symbols from the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).

    It can be a little overwhelming but it’s well-worth familiarizing yourself with it, so here are some awesome resources I found online:

    Admittedly I don’t use phonetics as much as I could when learning an accent, but it’s a great tool for spot-fixing.

  • DON’T learn too many accents at once!

    Now that you’re not scared of sucking at it and you’ve got all these handy resources, you might feel like diving head first into learning ten new accents this week!

    Love the enthusiasm, BUT PLEASE STOP!

    Accents require a lot of focus, and if you bounce between learning several at once you may confuse yourself. So:

    • Limit Your Practice Sessions. Learning an accent is fatiguing, and you’ll only end up solidifying mistakes into the accent if you’re tired.

    • Learn One Accent at a Time. Stick with it until you’re reasonably comfortable, then you can start looking into another.

    I made the mistake of learning my basic Scottish and Russian accents simultaneously and to this day I still occasionally slip between them when I’m working.

    Damn my eager beaver mentality!

  • DO practice in front of people!

    I know, I know, it’s mortifying when it goes wrong but remember that whole needing to suck thing? Yeah. You’ve got to get over that bit. Some great ways to practice with people are:

    • Workshops with fellow actors and a supportive teacher.

    • Discord Groups with your friends. Get together with fellow voice talent and practice copy in different accents, critiquing and encouraging one another.

    • Role Playing Games are my favourite way to practice! Next time you play a ttrpg (tabletop role playing game) challenge yourself to create a character with an accent you need to practice. Better yet, run the game so you can play multiple characters and try to perform a range of accents back to back!

  • DON’T take yourself too seriously!

    Again, you’re going to suck, which means when you’re practicing it’s going to sound pretty laughable at times.

    So laugh! Invite your friends to laugh with you — in a fun group way not a cruel kids-on-the-playground way — and remember that it’s not do or die, it’s just an accent.

  • DO be mindful of which accents you choose to practice!

    Accents are deeply personal and important to people’s identities and culture, so remember:

    • Be Respectful and wary of stereotypes.

    • Research whether an accent is ‘right’ for you; is it racially appropriate?

    • Listen to Native Speakers when they offer feedback on your performance.

    Use common sense and compassion and if you’re uncertain, ask questions — social media can be a powerful learning tool (not just a massive time suck).

  • DON’T apply the accent to a single text!

    It’s vital that you’re able to improvise conversationally in the accent. It’s no good perfecting your whole script in a Slavic accent only for the director to issue on-the-spot line changes in the session.

    I practice using specific texts where I can exercise the different sounds, but once it’s starting to settle I’ll just monologue to myself about random stuff, listening for inconsistencies.

    If you can’t improvise in the accent, it’s not ready.

  • DO mimic!*

    It sounds crazy but when I’m watching TV I’ll often parrot the lines back (much to my husband’s annoyance). I use this as an opportunity to activate my accent learning mind outside of set practice time.

    I’ll just start chatting to myself in the accent from that one line, playing with inflection and vowel shapes.

    It’s kind of like stretching but for your accents!

    *BE CAREFUL: Mimicking is a great practice tool, but you don’t want to become a mimic. If you’re just mindlessly parroting the line back without listening to yourself, you’re not learning the accent, you’re just imitating someone else.

  • DON’T go it alone!

    YOU CANNOT LEARN AN ACCENT ALONE! You just can’t. On top of practicing in front of people remember to reach out to knowledgeable professionals:

    • Dialect Coaches have a wealth of technical training and are essential for helping you turn an okay accent into a highly-skilled, nuanced performance. I highly recommend checking out Mark Byron Dallas (https://www.talklikethat.com/ ).

    • Native Speakers are the real pros. Reach out to your international friends and ask them (very nicely) to record a piece of text for you. I’ve done this for my regional American and UK accents and it’s such a huge help!


  • DO change the script and incorporate slang!

    Sometimes you’ll get an audition that offers you the chance to apply with multiple accents — yay! However, it may be written with a specific accent in mind.

    Example: a script written for an American (Southern) accent may include the term ‘y’all’; you need to change that when you record your Australian read to something like ‘you’s’ or ‘you lot’.

    When I make these changes I make sure to inform the client in the accompanying audition email, and so far they’ve always been impressed by that attention to detail — go for it!

  • DON’T obsess about achieving perfection!

    The truth is, no accent is perfect.

    Within every accent there is a myriad of discrepancies and exceptions, and that’s a gift to us actors!

    Whatever version of an accent you end up adopting, BE CONSISTENT.

  • DO keep practicing!

    When I start learning an accent, I stick to three principles:

    • LOUD

    • PROUD

    • WRONG

    The bigger and broader I perform the accent, the easier it is to hear where the mistakes are. Over time, with continued practice, I work on creating a more subtle, realistic accent.

    And eventually, you get to hear a director say those golden words:

‘Wait, are you actually from Canada?’

  • DON’T list an accent on your CV until it’s convincing!

    This is the BIGGEST AND MOST COMMON MISTAKE I see fellow actors make, and I cannot stress enough how damaging this can be to your reputation.

    If you list you have a Contemporary RP accent you better be able to whip that sucker out INSTANTLY.

    If you can’t produce it on demand, DO NOT LIST IT!

    This is an easy way to burn bridges with casting directors, because they will have spent HOURS, DAYS, or EVEN WEEKS scouring resumes looking for the appropriate accents and if you’ve gone and wasted their time… Watch. Out.

    That’s not to say that they won’t be forgiving if you’re cold reading in your non-native accent and you make a few mistakes, but I’ve heard some real horror stories from actors and casting panels alike.

    But how do I know if it’s convincing?

    This is where your community comes in, and in my experience the voice acting community is one of the most generous and supportive groups of people out there.

    • Reach out to your fellow VAs and ask: does this sound convincing?

    • Schedule a session with a dialect coach to get their opinion.

    • Listen back to recordings of yourself and be brutally honest.

  • DO be confident!

    Nothing undoes your accent faster than doubt.

    When you’re in that audition and a member of the panel has just revealed they’re from Ireland you’ll freak out, but you’ve got to TRUST YOURSELF.

    Always remember that the panel want you to succeed — they want you to be so perfect that they can call off the rest of the auditions and have an early lunch.

    And if they do critique your accent, take it graciously and try to apply it to the second read. They’ll appreciate your humility and willingness to learn A LOT!

I Know All These Accents, Now What?

Honestly, most projects will call for a native speaker first and foremost, and that’s great! There’s plenty of work to go around.

Accent work is ideal for creative projects like games, animation, and audio dramas where they’ll want to hire a single actor to play multiple roles. The wider the range of accents you can offer, the more appealing you’ll be.

So while you might never be the voice of ‘Yorkshire Tea’, your ability to whip out a few strong regional British accents could land you a role with the next AAA Role Playing Game!

Here’s to dreaming big …

One day I’ll be that weathered Wiltshire tavern keeper! I just know I will!

And it’ll be gurt lush!