I have developed a niche specialty within the world of dialect coaching, and that is helping British actors (or anyone interested) to sound authentically American.
Perhaps I am especially well-suited to this because my native dialect for the first few years of life was, in fact, English. My mom is English and I have a deep understanding of both British and American accents. So here are a few tips specifically for the Brits.
It bears mentioning that most British and Irish actors who have formal training come to me with a pretty decent version of Neutral American already, but often not quiiiiiite good enough to fool native speakers. So these tips are more geared toward nuance than starting from scratch.
There are a LOT of different American accents.
If you are listening to native speakers, be mindful of where they are from. If you use speakers from California, Texas, Wisconsin, and Boston, you will hear very different sounds. This can make it confusing to nail down. Pick a region and find reference speakers who are all in the same ballpark.
“What” rhymes with “nut” (it doesn’t rhyme with “not”)
A few very common words in Neutral American English use the vowel in “cup” where many Brits and Irish speakers might use the vowel in “cop”. Examples of these common words are what (wut), because (becuz), of, (uv), and from (frum).
While minor, these little words jump out at native speakers and can give you away.
Spend time with the vowels in the words “all”, “honest”, and “father”
These vowels can vary a lot in the US, and many speakers merge two of these sets of sounds. Meaning for some people “caught” and “cot” sound the same, and for others “pom” and “palm” sound the same. Listen to the treatment of those vowels and practice them in relation to each other.
Your R sounds might be just fine
One of the most obvious differences between neutral American and RP is the presence of the R sound in the US. Because this is so obvious, I find that most people already have it mastered. There might be a little tweaking, but focus on the vowels at least as much as the R sounds.
The sound “a” as in “ask” or “cat” has many faces
In RP, the vowels in “ask” and “cat” are obviously different. In Neutral American, they are the same (both using the sound as in cat).
In RP the vowels in “cat “and “can” are basically the same, but in the US they are different. When the sound in question comes before an M or N, it is slightly diphthongized. One brilliant client named this the “dirty A”, which I love. It drags a little.
In RP, the vowels in Carol and Larry are basically the same as cat. In the Neutral US dialect, we use the diphthong “air” in those words. (In New York City and other environs, they might pronounce it the same as the Brits).
While there are always miscellaneous, random words that pop out in coachings, I find that this list covers a lot of what I address with many actors. I hope you find it useful.
If you’d like to get some customized coaching, reach out for a session!
