Customer Reviews

Foreign Dialects: A Manual for Actors, Directors, and Writers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After getting this book, my parents were totally driven crazy for a week while I rambled in Cockney...it's amazing help, complete with little practice excercises, and each dialect has its own monolougue at the end of the chapter. The range of accents this book teaches is amazing...everything from Pidgen English to Scotish to Caribbean. super!

If you haven't learned dialect basics using the International Phonetic Alphabet, then you might find this book useful. The author discounts the use of IPA by saying that to learn it to be practical in this book would require the reader learning the equivalent of 3 other alphabets. I disagree; most useful IPA characters comprise about 36 different figures, most of which are similar or identical to the english alphabet. And the authors' use of very confusing diphthong combinations and upper and lowercase letters, without a solid basis of understanding their pronounciation, left me stumbling over the examples listed. I got more from trying to piece together their drawn-out descriptions of each sound than their "simplified" symbols.

If you're at all familiar with IPA, which is pretty much a standard for any dialect work you may learn, or any voice or articulation work, for that matter, you'd do better to avoid this book. The confusion is not worth the smattering of dialects (often bordering on the stereotypical) contained within.

As you maybe can tell from the title, I'm reading the first chapter on Cockney accent and driving everyone around me bloomin' bonkers. It's a well written, detailed book. The hints on dialects are so insightful...I've always liked to do accents but the fine-tuning ideas make you go, "Oh, yeah! That's right!" when you try them. There are almost too many details...the authors give you so many tidbits on doing certain dialects that you would be unintelligible if you tried them all. They warn you about this, though. The authors not only cover vowel and consonant changes but also lilt, grammar, and common slang. I only wish it came with a companion CD; I learn well by listening and imitating.

I definitely recommend this book and am planning on also purchasing "American Dialects".

This book is proof that some information is eternal. I found the sections on European dialects fairly useful. However, I did not find the Asian dialects to be all that accurate and found the background information given on them to be of a rather politically incorrect (not to mention rather inaccurate) nature. But considering that the book was compiled in the 1940's (so says the first printing date in the version I have), that isn't all that shocking. The main reason why I have a hard time giving this book anything higher than three stars is that, like stated earlier, it does not use IPA, which is a far more accurate than the awkward system they used in the book. The system they use still has me boggled as to whether I am pronouncing the words correctly.

I bought this book to help me build and polish a cockney accent for my first acting role as an adult. I was cast as Alfred Doolittle in a local dinner theatre's production of My Fair Lady. My accent got the most favorable comments from the audience and fellow actors alike, many of whom asked me for pointers on pronunciation. This book is great, and speaking cockney has become so easy and natural to me that I find myself slipping into it without realizing it immediately. The pronunciation tips and examples were excellent. I cannot praise this book enough.

Nevermind that if you already know IPA (which takes all of ten minutes to learn and the authors should have included it) or have studied phonology, then this book is completely useless. This stereotypical little goldmine is packed with such gems as the author's thoughts on WHY certain groups talk certain ways (apparently, the Irish speak slowly because "of his habit of falling back on verbal cliches and other hackneyed expressions"). If you can manage to get through the confusing explanations (again I ask, why no IPA?) to fake an accent that sounds like it came from a cartoon character, you may find yourself with a well-deserved black eye. Some sections are generalized (going back to the Irish section, which assumes there's only ONE Irish accent) and the book itself is outdated (apparently, British people are still "veddy" British). Check out wikipedia's section on accents, listen to youtube clips of real people talking, and save yourself some money.

I was given a copy of this book 30+ years ago. Over the course of many moves I lost it. I was told it was out of print. Finding it has "made my day".

This is a challenging book, and successful use will require lots of study to understand and use all of its resources, but if you do the work, the results will be outstanding. The author uses a musical scale to demonstrate the flow of a language. However you don't have to read music to follow the ups and downs of tone, and the spaces for pauses. A little common sense will carry you through.

I would recommend this to anyone who is serious about accurate dialects on stage (or those who just like to try dialects if they are willing to work).

I bought this book as an amateur trying to coach dialects to actors in my local theatre. As a native English person, the information comes across as quite dated - it gives the impression that we brits still all walk around in London with bowler hats and rolled umbrellas calling each other "jolly good fellows" - but I found it fairly easy to pick out the bits and pieces that I needed to give the actors a general overview of various dialects, with enough detail to present a convincing voice to an American audience.

This book was practically useless. The author uses his own phonetic writing system, which I found difficult to understand and memorize, and without a CD, I had no way to verify that I was making the correct sounds.

But what disappointed me the most was the use of broad ethnic stereotypes.

For example, the practice monologue for the Chinese accent is all about doing laundry.

Really?

My copy went in the recycling bin. Save your money and buy a better book that comes with a CD.

This book helped me learn some of the hard accents, the easy way. It's really well organised and helped me out alot. It's easy to follow, and it'll make you happy.