Highlights of this first of three parts of an unscripted, freewheeling discussion of the ways one of the world’s leading dialect coaches “breaks through” the barriers that needlessly restrict actors, voice actors and audiobook narrators from accepting jobs that require convincing accents include:
* His own big breakthrough
* The most common misconception people have about learning accents/dialects
* Misconceptions about using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
* “The beard nod”
* Jim’s unique way of gathering “native speaker” recordings
* The differing values of hearing native speakers reading vs. hearing native speakers in conversation
* The Accent Wagon
* The most common reason people find themselves struggling with accents
* How understanding the culture can help you perform the accent more easily and convincingly
