Jeremy Sortore Enterprises LLC

Hello cast!

It was nice to see you all and meet a few of you last night. Here are some resources for your language and accent work in this production:

• General Italian Language Pronunciation Guide: Italian Diction Notes
• Italian Accent Guide: TouchOfSping_Italian_Guide
• Audio Pronunciation Guides:
  • Waiter
  • Spina
  • Baldo_Italian
• Italian Accent Example (Baldo’s speech p.39-40– keep in mind this is only one accent interpretation I performed off-the-cuff, not gospel!):
  • Baldo
• Online listening resources for authentic Italian accent (better than mine!):
  • http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=find&language=italian
  • http://web.ku.edu/~idea/europe/italy/italy.htm

Have fun and please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions!

–J

Dialect Notes

Hello and wilkommen!

Here is a link to the German Accent Guide you will receive on the first day of rehearsal.

Here is an audio pronunciation guide to the German/French words in the script. Please use this in favor of the pronunciation guide in the back of the script.

The best way to learn an accent or dialect is to listen to it as much as possible. The following are some German accent resources available online:

Speech Accent Archive (Take care to use German examples, not Austrian etc.)

International Dialects of English Archive (Examples 5, 10, 11, and 14 are especially good. Avoid the examples from younger speakers; their accents will be too globalized and American-sounding. Example 8 has a nice light Yiddish flavor.)

Deutsche Welle (German Radio) (Listen to develop a feel for the tonal characteristics of the language and accent…also the German talk channels available on iTunes radio.)

The Yiddish tone pattern is a little different. Here is a link to audio files of stories told in Yiddish.

Please feel free to share below in the comments section if you find other useful audio links of Germans speaking in English.

This is a fairly broad Austrian accent…we can pare it down if need be, but this is the general sound we’re aiming for with a wider jaw position and exaggerated vowel sounds.

Sound File:  Max

Casual pronunciation guide for the Miner’s Alley production of “Art.” Remember, we’re aiming here not for authenticity, but for fluency…integrate these new words into the same dialect as the rest of your speech. Don’t use a different accent. We will accept the convention that you are French people living in France as long as you don’t call attention to the fact that you’re speaking in a general American dialect by making the foreign names stand out as “foreign.”

Thanks and have fun!

Here’s the MP3: MinersAlley_Art

***Whoops! Missed one…Françoise. Here’s the audio: MAP_Art_Francoise

Note the American /r/, nasalized /ã/ (no /n/), “ç” becomes /s/, “oi” makes /wa/, “se” makes /z/ = /frãswaz/.

• Introduction/General Notes PLEASE READ! (pdf)
• Italian Accent Guide
  • Brief Overview (Wikipedia)
  • Italian Accent Sound Examples (IDEA)
  • Italian Accent Sound Examples (SAA)
• French Accent Guide
  • French Accent Sound Examples (IDEA)
  • French Accent Sound Examples (SAA)
• German Accent Guide
  • German Accent Sound Examples (IDEA)
  • German Accent Sound Examples (SAA)
• Greek Accent Guide
  • Greek Accent Sound Examples (IDEA)
  • Greek Accent Sound Examples (SAA)
• Foreign Language Translations/Pronunciation Key
  • Sound files:
    • Guido
    • Carla
    • Luisa
    • Claudia
    • La Fleur
    • Mamma M./Renata/Annabella
    • Maria
    • Germans
  • IPA Resources:
    • Interactive online IPA chart
    • IPA chart/example words