The Irish accent is a unique and distinct sound that can be learned through various techniques. To write an Irish accent, soften vowels, sprinkle regional words and expressions, focus on word choice over pronunciation, drop the “G” in “-ing” words, leave no “R” unpronounced, and incorporate these words into dialogue.
To learn the Irish accent, practice listening to real Irish accents by watching films and talking with native speakers. Study Irish phonetics, listen to native speakers, and practice tongue twisters to perfect the accent.
An effective way to learn the Irish accent is to practice by watching Irish movies and practicing pronunciation and inflection. For instance, instead of saying “How are you?”, say “ha-ware-ya?”.
When writing Irish-sounding English dialogue, soften vowels, sprinkle regional words and expressions, divide words into syllables, and emphasize the “Rs” in words. Pronounce your vowels softly in every word, and avoid cliche phrases. The language should be the same as English, but with certain phrases and colloquialisms that distinguish it.
Work through word choices to write what someone means rather than how the sound comes out. The Irish dialect of English seems to elude many people, so understanding it can help you better understand the language and its sounds.
📹 How To Do An Irish Accent FAST
How To Do An Irish Accent FAST, how to do an Irish accent, how to sound Irish, how to do a Irish accent fast, how to do a Irish …
📹 How to do an Irish Accent
In this video, we’re going to learn how to speak an Irish accent. Whenever you’re learning a new accent, it helps to isolate sounds …
⚠️BE CAREFUL⚠️ When I did this, I of course had fun with it. You know finding more articles, and talking with an Irish accent for the rest of the night. When I tried to be American again, I just couldn’t speak right. I kid you not I was stuck. My parents thought I was just messing around, but I actually could not speak in an American accent! It went away after a few hours, but I was convinced I had turned Irish 😂 I’m pretty much better now, but I can’t say Irish or Barbie
Just wanna share an anecdote here. I was preparing to try an irish accent in front of a small crowd as previously requested. I watched this quick tutorial and, armed with my new knowledge, sent a practice to someone. She told me it was ‘so shit’ and that I should never do it in front of anyone else. 2/10
Need to point out that Ireland has multiple very distinct accents. That’s probably part of the reason why people find it difficult to get the accent right – they learn a jumbled mix of exaggerated accents. To get a genuine Irish accent, you’d need to spend time listening to people from one particular part of Ireland. A Cork accent, Galway accent and Dublin accent are all very different from each other. There even multiple distinct Dublin accents!
This is a great article. I’m in my first play and the director and I both decided to make my one character Irish instead of Cockney English. I can already do Irish pretty well but your article made it all make so much sense which makes it that much easier. I found that Irish accent seems the easiest for me. I think it’s because I’ve been a musician my entire life so yes it’s an incredibly melodic language.
I’m from Belfast and I’d say this is more the American interpretation of the Irish accent. Potentially acceptable for a film where they don’t really care about the accuracy as much like in comedy but I couldn’t even pick an area of Ireland where this would be from! I think a Dublin accent would probably be most recognised one and you can kind of play with It from there. Belfast accent is haaaaaard for people who haven’t been there or lived there! I have some vids if you want to just hear my voice lol
You r perfect. Your teaching style is so good. I don’t know english well I can speak indian accent but I wanna learn Irish accent. Not british and american. It sounds good Irish accent is another leval. And your teaching style too good. Make more vedios with more n more example to teach like us we can’t go for tution. God bless you.
I found this article once before. I had a thought about this and this may have occurred to the creator of the article as well. If an actor needed to sound authentic maybe one thing they could do is be introduced to a native irish speaker from the area they want to sound like they’re from. that person could read a paragraph of irish slowly and at regular speed and the learner could learn to say that as authentically as they can. ideally the teacher can give advice on elocution, this advice is informative and can be really entertaining believe me! . i’m not saying learn the language (unless you want to) but rather just learn to practice speaking some until it’s dead on. it has definitely shaped hiberno english in both sound and structure. i’ve been here for several years now and i wouldnt even try to emulate any accent here because they’re all over the shop nevertheless, it occurred to me that a way to sound local is to get down with some gaeilge. just a thought.
I am a filipino but when I speak English in a natural way I got this accent and they don’t understand me😭 I recently searched any accent in the world to know my accent and I got here, and it’s accurate. I probably got this accent in movies because since I was a child I watched Irish movies even my books is from ireland. Now, I’m struggling to speak in English because people here can’t understand me even our second language is English 😬 So I want changed my accent but I don’t know how… Sorry for my English.
This doesn’t sound right. At two minutes in, you’re already conflating different Irish accents together into an erzatz form. In most Irish accents, the ‘r’ is a retroflex approximant (vs the postalveolar approximant of American English), and you don’t end up with the same degree of r-colouring in vowel: the ‘r’ tends to be much more distinct from the preceding vowel. That /oi/ is a feature of a maligned form of Irish-English sometimes referred to as ‘dortspeak’, because it’s peculiar to parts of South Dublin. Some other accents have something close to that realisation, but that particular one is very specific to a very small part of the country. Yes, ‘wh’ with an unvoiced ‘w’ is still pretty common in Ireland, but it’s falling out of favour owing to influences from abroad. The musicality of Irish accents is overplayed. Sure, it might generally have more musicality than other forms of English, but (a) the pitch changes are based on prosody and are not arbitrary, and (b) most accents outside of Munster aren’t all that sing-songy.
i was born in ireland and i have immigrant parents. first i had an indian accent and then my sister started using an american accent and i slowly developed one too from talking to her. i was like 5. now i sound american and weird as hell when talking to people because i have an irish and american accent at the same time?? your article helped me balance out my accent and make it more irish. thank you.
Sounded Australian on Moike. The Irish “oi” is also in the back of the throat and slightly nasally unlike the Australians open and rounded “oi”. “th” turns turns into basically a half D half T or even a harder “D” depending on where you are from. It’s a breathy sound in the pocket between the forward “th” and the “d” which is further back like the more nasally D in American and British English. The “h” is super breathy. The S sound can be anywhere from a hard S to a full SH depending on the word and letter placement in the word. This is also common in Irish gaelic. Take “stories” for example… It would be “shtories” with two different S sounds in one word. This also depends on which accents go hard or light on the “SH” sound. But I noticed if there is a vowel after the “S” it is a harder S, like in “Sour”. you wouldn’t hear “shour/Shower” The Irish language even has the “ach” sound like in Germanic languages and shows up in I think mostly northern accents. Modern Irish accents are quite literally rooted in, duh, the Irish gaelic language. They share these commonalities with Germanic languages due to them being geographical neighbors 2000 years ago on mainland Europ, and branches of the same mother tongue at least more than 3000 years ago, and English also being directly from Germanic branch which has influenced the Irish accent. Honestly, the Irish accents hit every part of the the mouth and tongue positioning. In one sentence you can have hard and soft letters, crisp to slurry sounding, and breathy and gutteral.
Absolute confidence, unfettered by competence of any kind. The key thing with the Irish accent is to research which specific Irish accent you’re going for – Cork vs Kerry vs North Dublin vs South Dublin are each world’s apart. Then to refine further, the Irish have a tendency to drop the last half of each word – our enunciation is decidedly muddied. This article will only teach you what’s known colloquially as a Shite Hollywood Accent. It also veers into Australian parody at moments. How’s the boikin’?
Interesting article but your Mike and Bikin sound more Australian than Irish. You’ve tried to go for a generic west coast Irish accent, since no one from Dublin or much of the east coast would sound anything like this. I would suggest listening to the accents in the last few Ken Loach films based in Ireland. You’re spot on with the up and down tone. Focusing on some more realistic examples would help. Failing all that listen to YouTuber Sgt Ducky who’s as Irish as Guinness, Tayto crisps and the constant rain and crappy weather. Good luck.
It’s amazing to me how many people try to describe the “ING” to “IN” switch as “getting rid of a G sound”. That’s spelling, not phonology. There is no G sound in the ING ending. That NG is a nasal, like M and N. Of the three main points of articulation, you’ve got B/M, D/N, and G/NG. And in many dialects, having that velar nasal turns the “ih” sounds into a tenser “ee” sound, so the ING ending sounds like “EENG”, but if the nasal changes to an alveolar (N) then the tension typically doesn’t happen and you get “IN”. Compare KING, SEEKING, KIN. King gets a G sound and a tense vowel (EE); seeking gets the tense vowel in both locations but no G; kin gets the lax vowel (“ih”). So the most notable shift to the Irish “-IN” ending is in the vowel, not the consonant: seekin’ In my dialect, Pacific Northwest (American English), we maintain the tense vowel but have lost the velar position, so it’s “EEN” (“speaking” has the same vowel twice; “meaning” has the same vowel-consonant combo twice). So to get that Irish shift, we only change the vowel.
I just have to say that I am 30 something percent Irish and I went to Ireland once and I enjoyed my time there I just wish that I was there for a much longer time than I was. Anyway, every time I see a article or look up how to do an accent, and I see how to do the Irish accent for some reason I get a little upset I don’t know why, but I do, but I don’t blame people for this because some people think that the Irish accent is one thing when in reality it’s different things. But if I have to recommend a article for you to actually listen to all the accents, I would because this person I believe is from somewhere in Ireland, and does a really good job at explaining what each accent sounds like. But like I said, I don’t blame people for thinking that’s just one thing, but where ever you go around Ireland you will hear different accents. But it is really cool to see how people take on the Irish accent, even if they think it’s just one thing.
Irish guy here – just thought I’d let you know that this accent is more like the stereotypical leprechaun accent, and not so much a modern Irish accent. There are many different Irish accents, despite the size of our little island. A ‘culchie’ accent is one of the country, so typically the midlands, but then you have the Cork city accent as well as the Cork ‘culchie’ accent. Then you have the South Dublin accent, which is quite refined and soft, whereas the North Dublin accent is more harsh and uniquely distinct. If you’re looking to learn an Irish accent for acting, you’d be better off understanding what sort of Irish accent you need (e.g. country (culchie), North/South Dublin or Galway (a softer form of the ‘culchie’ accent), etc.), then you should watch articles from Irish movies/tv shows or celebrity interviews and note what makes their accent so distinct, such as the way they pronounce vowels and consonants, and the rhythm of their speech. You might get lucky also and find a “how to do a ___ Irish accent” specific to the one you need. TLDR: No Irish person will take you seriously if you bring this accent to a stage or to a screen. Focus on learning specific accents from regions of Ireland as there is no such thing as a generic Irish accent – pronunciations and rhythms vary quite greatly from one accent to the next and the whimsical leprechaun accent in this article would be useful only if the part is satirical or stereotypical.
The R is just as hard it’s in the pronunciation of the vowel. American accent car= c awh r Irish=c ah r. For bike Mike etc it’s also the vowel we shorten the vowel so American accent really pronounced it American- my ke more emphasis on the my less on the ke Irish- Mike emphasis on the ke I’m not sure if that makes sense. The while was spot on tho hwile
Am Irish, questioning why anyone else is here. Ireland has a few regional accents that are quite distinct. He’s taking points from different ones and mixing them together and teaching a frankenstein accent that sounds more Australian than anything else. For example the only Irish accent that does the I to oi sound change is the Dublin 4 accent, you won’t really hear it anywhere else. The other two sound changes are real, but using them alone won’t make you sound Irish. I think this kind of article would be more convincing if you said longer sentences than just 3 words. You should focus more on intonation.
As an Irish person, I would like to say that our AR is not OUR, but more like a pirates ARGH, the OI pronunciation is not true to ireland either, our I is pronounced just like eye, or spanish AI, although in Dublin, the capital, we say a sort of AOI, that is our most anglicised accent, and in this article, the OI sounds like an Australian accent, not Irish, although Australian could be a derivative of Irish. Anyhow, the best way to learn Irish accent is from listening to Irish people, also, great vocal exercise is ‘how, now, brown, cow’s’
Dear god don’t listen to this man. I’m Irish, I don’t know how I ended up here, but if you speak like this to an Irish person they will either laugh at you or think you’re taking the Mic out of them. Irish accents are complicated because just like American accents, region to region they are wildly different. If you want to sound Irish, you need to learn the accent of a particular location. Belfast, Dublin and Cork are seriously different!
thanks im an american girl and 1/8th irishbeen trying to get in touch with my heritage after tireless searching of how to do an irish accent i have found no luck (typical haha because i’m irish and you know the phrase luck of the irish) but this article is perfect thank you i feel like a true irish person 😁😛🍀
Um, this is more of a stage Irish accent. For instance in “far” most US accent is faa but Irish accent the R is not like OUR as you say but ORR almost ORRuh, “OUR” is too high in pitch. American actors tend to make the Irish accent too musical, possibly because they are working from sources which too old. So think Paul Mescal in Normal People instead of Colin Farrell in the Banshees of Inisherin. Mescal’s accent is authentic, Farrell’s accent is not because he is from Dublin. (Not dissing Farrell, he is excellent, just not from the West).
I wish all accent learning articles were structured like this. Too many just say the differences and only give a word example. The practice list for both words and sentences on top of hearing you repeat them several times is so much better. Specially for someone like me who catches on to accents quickly by hearing it over and over again. Hearing the breakdown helps but hearing it in extended practice solidifies it for me.
Hi Madeliene you really helped me with an Irish accent, as I was actually born in Ireland in Clara but moved to Australia when I was 2 but now I’m 13 and we are going to be moving back to Ireland and this really helped as I lost my Irish accent and want it back again as I’m going to move back there so thank you so much!
Irish accents is music to my ears I just love it whenever I hear it as I have an Irish mate, however his accent changes depending where he is so if he is at school his accent isn’t so broad but when at home his accent it just so different and it’s interesting I love it and it’s funny cuz I’m picking up his words 😂
Being Irish and having an Irish accent makes it interesting to listen to American – English speakers do the accent. I guess when people get it spot on it makes stereotypes like the Lucky Charms accent sound so fake. Fantastic job Madeleine ! One tip; many places in Ireland have different accent so, like mine for example, (which is a Corkian ( I’m from County Cork )accent ) would sound different opposed to a Dublin accent, or a Wicklow accent.
I found you clearer than any instructor for Irish accent ever! Especially the comparison with the English sounds, the repetition provided with a list of similar sounding words, and the very evocative descriptions of things like the “small” sounds, the bending, etc. I do have questions on three areas I’ve noticed but would love instruction on: 1. The lingering on the “L” sound; 2. the dropping of the “g” at the end of “ing”; and the very articulated “t” and “tt” sounds (eg., little). I’ve noticed these things but don’t know how to work them. Might you help in your clear way? Thank you, Madeleine!
Hello! I’m from Ireland, the South West county of Kerry. Here in Kerry we have this weird thing where everytime we say a word with an S we pronounce it SH. So it’d be Shound instead of sound. Also, your R is more Northen Ireland and The O and I are more Dublin/Midlands as far as I can tell. Decent article though.
Hi Madeleine, I’m from Ireland and this isn’t too bad of an attempt it’s certainly better than our attempt at an American accent! I have one tip for you and that is that a cúpla focal as gaeilge (a few words in Irish) are thrown into everyday conversation for example “craic” is the Irish word used for “fun” and “ceol” is the Irish word for “music”. These words are usually used together to describe an event such as a family gathering or party for example “the craic agus ceol was mighty” meaning “the fun and music was great”! Slán leat!
This is my favourite accent article on the site. I’m working on changing my voice because I don’t like the pitch and scratch of it, so I’m going through websites to learn more about pitch and trying different accents to learn about the mouth feel. This is the first one that really helped, and I love that you put the information in the description!
There are so many distinctive Irish accents. Similar to many other countries in that respect. Treatment of vowels is key. Also the “th”, especially in the midlands, “this and that” becomes ” dis and dat” . Accents and idiom are changing. I saw a group of school girls at a DART station in south Dublin a few years ago. They were chatting away, in what to my ear was not so much an American accent, but American idiom. Each of the girls had a smartphone in her hand, and were talking about some Instagram story. Social media has a big influence.
Thank you! I definitely came to the right place. The Irish accent is among the most beautiful in the world. You make it look and sound so easy. It rolls off your tongue so effortlessly. Hopefully I’ll speak using it with confidence! Have you ever spoken in a Cajun accent? When a beautiful lady speaks with it, the men become putty in her hands.
I like how I can start to learn to improve my Irish accent. I do understand the way to really get any accent down is to go to the country and immerse yourself in the culture. As with any culture there are several regional accents. The chance to learn and practice is the important part for me as an actress.
I admire how you practice an Irish accent. While I can only say a few words in Gaelic, imagine what it would be like to speak and write it? I encourage you as you might require it for your singing. The other prerequisite would be that with Gaelic we can understand Irish culture and Irish history more profoundly.
HOW ARE WE GETTING ____SUCH____ QUALITY MATERIAL FOR FREE??? I don’t understand! This is SO amazingly done and taught. It’s also really nice to hear you jump back and forth from an Am. to an Irish accent and think “yeah, she knows her sh*t” and trust you with the tips and lessons 😅 Thank you very very much! I really loved the lesson!
yes hi and this my first time doing this I want to take some lessons to speak into this Irish accent or Scottish language or wales language because I want this experience of these accents so I would impress my guy of my life with is NiallHoran so I want impress him into those accents or to prove of him that I’m only princess&queen for him that’s why o want to be taught by you so I would impress him much more
I can’t tell on which side of the fence she’s native. I’m Northeast American and her accent is so readily recognizable that it’s almost too recognizable. It’s like she’s incorporating such an amalgam of all the most popular dialects that you think, “Yeah she could be from here… but where?” I wonder if the Irish viewers feel the same way.
i never knew how to speak an Irish accent because i’m half Irish and my dad’s family came from ireland that’s why no one really taught me how to speak it but i am also half italian and my mom’s family came from italy and i never knew how to speak it because i never was taught how to speak it in flentaly in either both sides of my family and i know some of the italian words that i already know because i took the italian class in high school but they never got into more just 101 speaking italian can you please help me