Just call me Henry Higgins

[ivyfic]

I had a half day today, so since it was a nice day (well, a bit hot), I decided to wander around the theater and garment districts and see what I could stumble upon. I wandered into The Drama Book Shop, which, as I expected, was full of scripts and screenplays and books on acting technique. And then! I turned the corner and there was a whole rack of diction tapes.

Diction tapes.

I suppose this isn't surprising since actors fake accents all the time, but I hadn't really thought about the market for phonetics CDs for faking accents. Now, I'm a diction geek. It comes out of some combination of being a failure at foreign languages and spending an awful lot of time in choir rehearsal learning to hear subtle differences of vowel and consonant pronunciation. I mean, I have some albums that I like mostly for quirks of how the singer pronounces some things (among this collection is the Power Rangers CD--I'm telling you, perfect shadow schwas). I love hearing people speak with authentic accents, particularly if there are sounds I just can't imitate. I often try to pick apart people's accents, but usually fail.

And then there's this rack of CDs with little booklets with the accents written out in IPA and recordings of authentic people speaking with their authentic accents! I wants them all!!!! They are unfortunately expensive, though. So I just bought the CD on the Welsh accent. (Shut up!) So now I'm listening to how South Wales speakers put full emphasis on normally unstressed syllables, like the second syllable of husband.

This is useless, useless stuff. I'm never even going to learn how to fake this accent. But it's so cool! There's even a list of movies to watch with Welsh speakers in them--it does list Very Annie Marie, but no Torchwood. I think the CD predates that.

I also found a shop with very authentic looking embroidered versions of badges for the US Secret Service, the US Marshals and a number of random British institutions (Queensland Police?). But I managed to resist buying one of those. I'm just imagining flashing the Secret Service badge at someone and having them go--wait...are those beads?

Comments

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

That *is* cool! We did accent training in acting class, years ago, and it was great fun.
The badges sound cool, too. You could always tell them your badge was beaded because you were undercover. Or because that way it wouldn't set off metal detectors. :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

The badge was, unfortunately, $25, so no go on that. (Also, it's kind of odd to have a purple heart patch if you don't have a purple heart. Just sayin'.)

Now I've been poking around on amazon for other diction and dialect resources. I could easily drop $200 on this. Must! Resist! Useless! Dialect tapes!

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Oh come on, there's a clear and immediate use for you:
"Allo? Ms. ivee-tree? Non, she iz not here. You vish to leave massage?"
:)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Why would anyone make fun of you? Most of the people reading your journal are now going, "Hey....can I borrow that from her?"

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

It's so cool! About two thirds of the tape is recordings of Welsh people talking, and it's a sampling of different regions, rural and urban, both sexes, different ages, so it's not the generic oh, quaint little Welsh chamber maid sounding accent. You know, you get so used to only hearing accents as reproduced by badly trained Hollywood actors you forget what they actually sound like. I want the southern tapes next. :)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think you could become terribly popular with your friends circle if you started investing in these. There's also the distinct possibility that you could download these for free online :)

[mithras03.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't the Queensland Police be in Australia?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Do I look like I know?