An American man, "talking"

Barbara Berkery, a famed British dialect coach, sat down with a BBC reporter to critique his American accent impression.  She has worked with big names like Gwenyth Paltrow to prepare for her performance in Shakespeare in Love and with Brad Pitt, for Seven Years in Tibet.  

In the video with the article, she demonstrates the nuances of the American accent, including the buried “r”s and more open vowel sounds:

Berkery takes me through some of the major vowel changes from standard English to general American - their short “ah” in bath and sample, the “aw” in cloth and Boston - and the sound that comes out of my mouth is unrecognisable to me.

Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly ran Van Dyke close

It is a long way from my own south-east England accent, but not much nearer my trusted American impression. It does sound vaguely American, but like an over-the-top, slightly camp game show host with an occasional lisp - not what I had been aiming for at all.

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | How not to do an American accent.

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