Description

Acting With An AccentMiddle Eastern, African and Yiddish AccentsLearn to speak with an authentic accent from one of the foremost acting coaches in the world.  (Create your own new persona with a convincing, realistic foreign accent.)  Each course has a pdf of the workbook and mp3s of the lessons.Included accent courses are:ARABICTeaches one to sound like an Arabic language native who now speaks English as a second language. Denotes the slight difference between speakers from North African countries like Egypt and Libya and those from the Persian Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.IRANIAN – FARSI (Persian)This is the language of Iran; actors can also approximate a Turkish accent with this cd.JAMAICAN, WEST INDIAN, BLACK AFRICANWhile there are many different tribal dialects spoken in Africa, they all lead to a very similar accent pattern when natives learn to speak English as a second language. This cd teaches that basic pattern and includes “island” variations for characters from Jamaica and Trinidad. Also offers very brief instructions on how to create a French Caribbean or Haitian-style accent. YIDDISHTeaches the accent of native Eastern European Jews who grew up speaking the Yiddish language and now speak English as a second language. This is not the accent of native-born, Hebrew-speaking Israelis or of American-born Jews who grew up speaking English.DAVID ALAN STERN, Ph.D. founded DIALECT ACCENT SPECIALISTS, INC. in Hollywood in 1980. He has coached business executives, broadcast media personalities, government officials, actors, and members of the clergy to modify accents and speak more expressively for over thirty years. Among his celebrity trainees have been: Stephen Baldwin, Mike Farrell, Daryl Hannah, Julie Harris, Jack Klugman, Shelly Long, Liam Neeson, Edward James Olmos, Bronson Pinchot, Lynn Redgrave, and Michael York, as well as Oscar winners Geena Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Julia Roberts, and Forest Whitaker.Dr. Stern developed his “Sound & style” accent-reduction technique while teaching non-native actors to audition for the roles of American-born characters. Since the publication of Sound & style’s first edition in 1987, he has taught his effective and entertaining methods to thousands of ESL teachers, speech pathologists, and speech/drama coaches at his own weekend workshops, and at national, state, and local conferences of both TESOL and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Corporate accent-reduction and speech clients have included executives from: Bateman-Eichler-Hill-Richards, Beech Aircraft, Mitsubishi Bank, NCR Corp., TRW Corp., Union Carbide, and Wells Fargo Bank.Dr. Stern is now Professor of Dramatic Arts at his Alma Mater, the University of Connecticut. He continues to do occasional film and television work in addition to serving as Dialect Coach for the Connecticut Repertory Theatre and the Berkshire Theatre Festival.