How to Speak With an Irish Accent

The Irish accent has captivated American audiences for years. Many people try to speak with an Irish accent each year around St. Patrick’s Day, and some actors and actresses will work hard to develop one for a leading role. Follow these steps to learn how to speak with an Irish accent.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Think about the way you speak. If you analyze how you use your words, you will be better equipped to change things about the way you speak later.

2. Soften your vowels. Americans have a tendency to harden the sounds of their vowels, as in the long sound of vowels when they are followed by another vowel. To speak with an Irish accent, you will need to soften the sound of your vowels. For instance, the letter A when pronounced by Americans is phonetically “aye.” However, someone with an Irish accent would pronounce the letter “ah.”

3. Focus on your consonants. To pull off any European accent you need to enunciate better. The first rule in enunciation is to focus hard on your consonant sounds. Instead of softening your consonants, like you would for a vowel, you want to harden the sound.

4. Make your speech more musical. To have a convincing Irish accent, you cannot have a deadpan American delivery. When an Irish person speaks there is a tone and inflection in their voice that is musical. Watch a few movies and listen for the vocal patterns.

5. Practice. The more you try to mimic an Irish accent, the better you will get at it.

Tips & Warnings

• When beginning, think about every part of speech independently from speaking as a whole.
• Listen for the musical delivery of the Irish accent. If your voice sounds musical, you are doing it right.
• Don’t get discouraged. Your accent will be awful at first. But with any luck, it will improve.
• Take special consideration to who is listening when practicing so that no one is offended by your new way of speaking.

[mcdubhgall]

on 10/16/2009 read this, then go to ireland and try it.
i'll b ther laughing at you

[chillmyster]

on 7/3/2009 There are 32 different versions of the Irish accent (one for each county) so this is actually quite a difficult task. Plus we don't appreciate the stereo-typed "fiddle-dee-dee" accent. And don't give us the history of your Irish roots...we don't like that either.

[theirishgirl]

on 6/21/2009 This is the worst advice on speaking with an Irish accent I have EVER seen.

First of all - not nearly as informative as it should be.

There are several vital points left out.

The information that IS provided is WRONG! We do NOT pronounce the letter A "ah" we pronounce it "ay" as in the word "hay"

This article is a disgrace.

I would urge anyone wanting to obtain an Irish accent to look elsewhere!

Slan! (goodbye)

[Myshashi]

on 3/27/2009 Try watching British movie. I recommend Hot Fuzz, its hilarious. Go to youtube, neutralaccent.com and type in English accent, or Irish accent. That's what I did. It's free, and you should be able to find videos that include the various accents of England and Ireland.

[Ceile]

on 12/9/2007 Aye, an' I'm lovin' this! Not only do the Irish speak with a musical tone, their eyes be always smilin' (makes people wonder what they're up ta, y'know)! ;)