It's St. Patrick's Day! Learn how to speak with an Irish Accent

It's St. Patrick's Day! Learn how to speak with an Irish Accent

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It's St. Patrick's Day and it's a week long celebration of booze, greening the canal, and more booze. I have mentioned last week the events around Indianapolis and Louisville for this week. I also included a bit of history of St. Patrick's day which doesn't include the leprechauns... 

Since today is St. Patrick's day, I researched on how we can sound like an Irish so when we get drunk, we have the courage to at least try it. Lol! But of course, let's have a bit of a practice before we actually do it. There is something amazing about their accent that makes me really want to try it and I only have that courage to try during St. Patrick's Day, which is once a year.

I wouldn't dare try the Irish accent without any proper research and the basics to back me up (nerd alert!). Though, I cannot believe that tutorials on how to speak with an Irish accent exist! Let's all have fun and enjoy St. Patrick's day! 

Before you start reading tips below, make sure to watch this hilarious video of this guy teaching his friend to read a full sentence with an Irish accent. Video credits to Riyadh K's.

Here are some basic tips I found in www.wikihow.com on the basic concept to speak with an Irish Accent.

1. Soften your vowels.

Irish accent would pronounce it "ah" or "aw." Be very conscious of this in every word, but especially those vowels that come in the middle.

• The standard, "How are you?" should be pronounced, "Ha-ware-ya?" The "au" (in "how") and "oo" (in "you") of the Generalized American accent are not differentiated between.

• The sound in "night," "like," and "I," is pronounced similar to "oi," as in "oil." Think of "Ireland" as "Oireland."

2. Harden your consonants.

As a general rule, Americans have gotten lazy in their speech. "Ladder" and "latter" are pronounced the same in the US, but not to an Irishman. Give each consonant its due (with the exception of the next rule!).

As a beginning sound, /d/ often sounds like /d͡ʒ/ or the sound that a J makes in most variants of English. That is, "due" will sound like "Jew." As its unvoiced partner, "t" becomes "ch." "Tube" sounds like "choob." 

3. Drop your G's.

English is full of words that end in -ing, but you wouldn't hear an Irishman admitting it, at least not in a natural context. Whether you're muttering verbs or gerunds, cut it out.

• "Morning" becomes "mornin." "Walking" becomes "walkin," and so on and so forth. This stays true in all contexts.

Read more at http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-With-an-Irish-Accent.

Learn the English Vocabulary.

Learning the most common terms or words that they use will help us make or so not good Irish accent acceptable, or probably make us sound more Irish. I found the list of the common words/ terms that we need to learn at www.irishcentral.com.

• "Em" - This is generally used by the Irish instead of "um" or "uh" while pausing to think. This is definitely one of the most commonly used noises. Remember this one.

• "Cheers" - Although this is a drinking toast it is also an aloha-like multi-purpose word that can mean hello, goodbye and thank you.

• "Lad" - this means any male and when pluralized means any group of females or males.

• "C'mere" - literally this means "come here" but it also means "listen" and just a friendly "hey." It can be used to get someone's attention or just start a sentence.

• "Right" - This is another multi-purpose word. Used like C'mere. For example "Right, yours was a pint?", "Right, I'm off home."

• "Bollocks" - this literally means testicles but has become a word with which to express anger. For example, if you missed your train you might exclaim "Bollocks!" It can also mean rubbish. For example, "That lad is talking utter bollocks."

• "Bastard" - Although this literally means a child born out of wedlock it can also be used to express anger and as an exclamation. For example "where's my bastard coat?"

• "Eejit" - Idiot, but harsher.

• "Knacker" - This can be used to describe an undesirable person, or being exhausted. For example "Jaysus look at that knacker" or "I'm bleeding knackered, I need a kip."

Read more at http://www.irishcentral.com