Accent Reduction and the Standard American Accent

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Sharon Feingold: My name is Sharon Feingold and in today’s podcast we’ll be discussing an emerging trend in communications that can be very beneficial to Voice Over actors. It’s called accent reduction. Accent reduction is also referred to as accent modification. You may hear it called accent neutralization or dialect reduction. This is the art in practice of learning to diminish features of a foreign or regional accent so that it sounds like another foreign or regional accent. In the United States the goal of accent reduction is essentially the same thing as teaching the American accent. Even more specifically, what’s called the standard American accent. So what is the standard American accent? Well it is the name given to the most neutral of all the accents within the United States.
This is the accent that broadcast journalists are trained in. It’s also the accent you’ll hear when you listen to NPR or other similar broadcasts. And if you want to be proficient at the standard American accent one of the best places to start is turning on NPR and just giving a listen to the nuances of the way people speak. One of the best places to start if you want to start learning the standard American accent is to really really listen to the nuances on a broadcast like NPR and you’ll get a really good example for what to model. One of the coolest things I find about the various sounds spoken all around the world is that they’re actually all mapped out in what’s known as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Every sound of every language that we know of has been charted and identified within the IPA and given a symbol to match the sound.
So there’s a symbol for the sound a. And there’s a symbol for the sound h. So it’s really interesting to see the sounds represented as the symbols. Anyway, I find this fascinating but then again I am an accent and voice geek. What happens with accent reduction is there’s only a certain number of sounds that are typical of the American accent. And if you look at the IPA you’ll see those sounds that are the American sounds. So we teach people to recognize which sounds on the IPA are standard American and which ones are not and are of their native accent. And then we teach them to modify their sounds in the direction of an American sound. So why would someone want to reduce their accent? Well in the corporate world having a foreign accent can prove difficult to someone tasked with giving a presentation. The sounds of their accent including the vowels, consonants, rhythm, stress and intonation may prevent the speaker from being easily understood. Even the rate of speech, how fast or slow you talk, can be different from one accent to another. This can often lead to frustration as well as communication issues with colleagues and co-workers.
In the case of someone like a customer service representative in an offshore company, say in India, servicing the United States customers are quick to complain when they can’t understand the directions and assistance of the person they are talking to. In the Voice Over world it’s a little more straight forward. A Voice Over actor may be doing very well within a certain market where their native accent is highly desired. But what if that voice actor wants to work in a completely different market? Think of the possibilities if you could do a British voice over at 9:00 a.m. and a standard American accent voice over at 10:00 am. If you’re trying to compete in the US market and have a foreign or regional accent accent reduction can be the solution.
The great thing about accent reduction is that it’s quite a straight forward process. Here’s what you can expect. First, the teacher will start with an assessment of your accent to see where you are mispronouncing certain sounds. This analysis will usually highlight the consonants and the vowels typical of your accent. And it will also note any patterns of speech specific to your accent. Let’s listen to an example. I have a good friend in the voice over business who has mastered the art of accent reduction. Roger Baker works from his studio in Asheville, North Carolina. In meeting Roger you’ll hear a pretty strong southern accent. However in order to compete in the voice over market Roger learned to reduce his accent and adopt the standard American accent.
Take a listen to Roger reading a voice over script in his native southern accent. Let’s listen and note some interesting some features. See if you can identify some of the major differences in the southern accident when it comes to vowels, consonants or even rhythm or patterns of speech.
Roger Baker: At Smiths we got you covered from fresh fruits and veggies to our deli and hot bar. There’s something for everyone. Bring your family on Thursday nights when kids eat free. We even have weekend specials for only $10.99. Just go to smithsdeliandhotbar.com to learn more.
Sharon Feingold: So here’s some interesting patterns you might notice especially with vowels. With southern accents it’s typical to hear an elongation of the value sounds. For example when he said, “more” he made it “more.” As far as patterns go, it’s also quite typical to hear the ing turn into in. Or the ing turn into in. So for example the word something becomes somethin. Also note how the word day in Thursday is cut off and turns into [Thursdey]. Roger being the talented guy that he is is able to take a script and reverse read it into the standard American accent. Take a listen at the extraordinary difference.
Roger Baker: At Smiths we got you covered from fresh fruits and veggies to our deli and hot bar. There’s something for everyone. Bring your family on Thursday nights when kids eat free. We even have weekend specials for only $10.99. Just go to smithsdeliandhotbar.com to learn more.
Sharon Feingold: Now that’s a voice talent. So yes, listening to the before and after you may still hear some remnants of a southern accent. But if you don’t know to listen for them he can absolutely compete in a standard American accent market place. So now after this initial assessment and accent consultant or an accent teacher will work with you on a one-on-one basis. They’ll point out every little aspect of your speech to help you learn the changes you’re going to learn to make. Some of those changes are going to be tactile. Like the way you move your mouth, where to place your tongue, how to position your lips and what sounds require you to feel your teeth. And others will require you to use your listening skills and really tune in to those unique patterns and sounds of the dialect or accent you’re choosing to study which in this case would be the American accent.
So in conclusion accents provide the unique sound colours to the languages of the world. Accent reduction doesn’t seek to eliminate them. Its purpose is to celebrate the diversity of the spoken voice, the cultures it represents and the beauty of all the languages we are all using to communicate as humans in this great big world. In future podcasts we’ll be addressing specific sounds that are typical of different accents and how to do some at home learning of the standard American accent. Thanks for voices.com for the opportunity to be a guest expert today. And special thanks goes to Babble Consultants lead accent advisor Kim [Linsider]. And my friend Roger Baker who is already doing a great job competing in two market places using the art of accent reduction. Thank-you both for contributing your insights and talents to this podcast. We’ll talk to you again soon. In the meantime, babble on.
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