Struggling - New York accent

[AngusN]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 10:18am

Hi, I am currently in a production of 'Anything Goes' and I'm struggling to sustain a New York accent. Can anyone recommend a website or anything on the net that could help me?

[NYLG]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 10:34am

The irony...I can't seem to lose mine.

[kec]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 11:05am

You can take the goil outta New Yawk, butcha can't New Yawk outta the goil! (or guy as the case may be.)

I've been out of NY for 16 years, and yet people can still hear the accent.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 11:19am

The quickest way (aside from using dialect coaches or records) is to rent a few films or TV shows with the accent you're trying to emulate. There are several "New York" accents, by the way. They also range from realistic to complete cartoons.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 11:48am

There are SO many different NY accents. When Cher was trying to create her NY Italian accent for Moonstruck she went over her script line by line with her costar Julie Bovasso. She had the real thing. I think even I read somewhere that she was credited as dialect coach, though I may be mistaken. If you know anyone with the accent you want, get them to go over the script with you or like B12 said, rent some films. I would suggest Moonstruck, but I a native southerner. What do I know about authentic NY ANYTHING? lol

[jasobres]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 12:17pm

If you want to do a New York accent, listen to Bugs Bunny, who is actually an amalgamation of Brooklyn and Bronx, doc.

[otis33]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 12:44pm

Here's a silly suggestion that I was given MANY MANY years ago by a dialect coach. I was 14, doing Brighton Beach Memoirs, and couldn't get the accent. She gave me two BIG wads of gum and had me start chewing and talking. (I can see dialect coaches across the country cringing right now.) But it worked.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 2:54pm

You can purchase dialect tapes, and I have found them very helpful. I had a strong NY accent, which is now a light NY accent, and I was able to learn a British upper-class, a British cockney, and upper-class American just by using these tapes. One tip to keep in mind: New Yorkers over-pronounce and exaggerate when they are speaking, as opposed to the aristocratic Brits who seemingly keep their mouths almost closed when they are speaking.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 3:01pm

You can take the goil outta New Yawk, butcha can't New Yawk outta the goil! (or guy as the case may be.)

haha so brooklyn lol.

I live in NY so I'm not sure how to help you develop an accent. Sorry. I would say watch some movies based in NY.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 3:06pm

I am with those who say just listen to it over and over. I picked up the ability to do an upper class (and lower class) English accent through years of watching British programming. LOL.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 3:08pm

I find that people doing New York accents turn into the Brooklyn Italian or Brooklyn Jew (of Yiddish derivation).

So stereotypical.

And that gum thing is another stereotype - that girl from Brooklyn munching on a big wad of gum and talking obscenely and rudely. Thins Marissa Tomei in MY COUSIN VINNEY.

Updated On: 2/13/06 at 03:08 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 3:22pm

Cawfee tawk...SNL

[kec]

Posted: 2/13/06 at 4:54pm

"haha so brooklyn lol. "

Yes, well, I was born in Bay Ridge Brooklyn, and grew up on Staten Island. I don't really talk like that -- not anymore, anyway -- but I bring it out on occasion.