The voices of the American Civil Rights Movement are the focus of this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Actor, director, voice/dialect coach, and IDEA Associate Editor Jacqueline Springfield returns to the podcast to discuss and analyze 11 speeches, ranging from Booker T. Washington in 1895 to President Barack Obama in 2017. Paul and Jacqueline look at dialect, content, style, and historical context.
Go here to listen.
Some sad news: One of my favorite colleagues, iconic musician and actor Kris Kristofferson, died Saturday at his home in Maui. He was 88 years old. It was my pleasure to coach Kris in the German accent he needed for his character, Rudolph Meyer, in the film Molokai. I will miss you, Kris. It was great to know you.
Happy Labor Day weekend to those of you in the United States. Speaking of labor, few people work harder than legendary linguist David Crystal, who has just completed three years’ work on his new website, TraceThatPlace.com. The site allows users to explore “the story and sound of place names on the road signs and railway stations of Britain.”
David joins Paul on this month’s episode of the In a Manner of Speaking podcast to discuss the site and the history of place names in Great Britain. Go here to listen.
Please welcome renowned dialect coach and IDEA Associate Editor Joel Goldes to Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Joel and Paul discuss dialect coaching, specifically two of Joel’s most prominent projects: Come from Away and The Woman King.
Go here to listen, or find the podcast on your favorite podcast channel of index.
Have you ever wondered where that old movie sound came from? You know the one: when actors sound not quite British but not quite American.
Wonder no more, as Paul explores the Transatlantic dialect on this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Paul’s guest is Barrie Kreinik (actor, singer, writer, dialect coach, audiobook narrator and IDEA editor), who has recently released The Queen of Fourteenth Street, an audiobook celebrating the life of actress Eva Le Gallienne, who spoke with a Transatlantic sound. Paul and Barrie are joined by podcast co-producer and film critic and historian Cameron Meier. Go here to listen.
Paul welcomes celebrated Danish-American actor, writer, and director Lukas Hassel to his In a Manner of Speaking podcast this month. Go here to listen, or find the episode on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Paul and Lukas are joined by film critic and co-producer of this podcast, Cameron Meier. The three discuss Lukas’s career, life on the film festival circuit, and the challenges of acting in a second language. Accent modification or “reduction” is central to this discussion.
Paul’s new series of Zoom masterclasses begin on Saturday, June 1. As of the date of this post, there are still a couple of spots left, so act now if you want to participate! Topics for the June courses are “Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Estuary, and Transatlantic” and “Acting in a Foreign-Language Accent.”
For more information, visit the masterclasses page.
We are currently experiencing technical problems with the download/registration process of our Windows dialect/accent ebooks. These are the popular LiveCode-format ebooks that we sell on this site. If you have already bought and registered your ebook, this problem does not affect you. The problem exists only when you try to download and register your newly purchased ebook.
We apologize for this inconvenience and are working to fix it. Until the problem is fixed, please e-mail paul@paulmeier.com if you are interested in purchasing a Windows (LiveCode) ebook. If you just purchased an ebook and are having trouble downloading and registering it, e-mail Paul and he will guide you through the process.
Please keep in mind that the purchase process for all our other products is working fine. And our iTunes ebooks (Apple Books) are unaffected by this temporary glitch.
Join Paul and his podcast guest, Patricia Cukor-Avila, this month on In a Manner of Speaking for a fascinating conversation about historical African-American English. Paul and Patricia, president of the American Dialect Society and professor of linguistics at North Texas University, discuss Black American dialects from Colonial times to early 20th century. Go here to listen.
You voted, and Paul listened! Based upon your feedback, the topics for Paul’s June/July series of Zoom masterclasses have just been announced. Go here to discover the topics and learn how to register.
After a two-year hiatus, Paul’s Zoom masterclasses are back! They are scheduled for June and July of this year. And the best part is: You get to help select the topic! Possible subjects are:
Just e-mail Paul at paul@paulmeier.com and tell him which topic you prefer. (You can pick more than one.)
For information on the dates, prices, and more, visit the masterclass page.
Ever wonder how loud a person can get? It was that wondering that inspired this month’s episode of Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking episode. Go here to listen, or find the podcast on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Paul explores loudness, or the lack thereof. Just as he examined extremes of the human voice’s pitch and speed in past episodes, Paul discusses the extremes of volume, specifically looking at world records for loudness while reflecting on the rarity of true silence.
Image (iStock-174789753) courtesy of SKrow.
Folk linguistics is the topic of the March edition of Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. And Paul’s guest is dialectologist Dennis Preston. Go here to listen, or find the podcast on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Paul Meier Dialect Services and the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA) are proud to sponsor this year’s Love Your Shorts Film Festival in Sanford, Florida. Go here for more information about the 14th annual festival.
PMDS Vice President and IDEA Executive Editor Cameron Meier was at the festival on Thursday evening for Education Day, meeting filmmakers and discussing accents and dialects. Thanks to everyone at Love Your Shorts for making this possible!
This month’s episode of Paul’s podcast, In a Manner of Speaking, celebrates the American Dialect Society. Paul’s guest is Betsy Evans, the new executive director of the ADS. Listen to it here, or on your favorite podcast channel.
The sudden, unexpected death of Tom Wilkinson has hit me hard, not simply because he was one of the finest actors of our generation, but because our friendship goes back to our college days.
I dialect-coached both Tom and his wife, Diana Hardcastle, in several films and plays over the years. My wife Marilyn, our son Cameron, and I had been guests at their London home. He left us far too soon, for I am sure he had even greater performances to add to his astonishing 130 movie credits and untold number of stage performances. For me, his greatest role was Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton with George Clooney.
Our condolences to Diana and their children, Alice and Molly. Farewell, Tom.
That’s the question Paul and his podcast guest Victor Boucher are asking on the latest episode of In a Manner of Speaking. Check it out here.
Did you know that reading aloud was once more common that reading silently? And it was more common than not to see NO spaces between words in written text?
In the final In a Manner of Speaking episode of 2023, Paul dives into this topic with Paul Saenger, curator of rare books, emeritus, at Chicago’s Newbury Library and author of Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading.
Go here to listen to the podcast episode, or find it on your favorite podcast channel of index.
Looking for a great gift for an actor this holiday season? Or looking to save money while improving your own dialect and accent skills? My book, Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen, makes the perfect stocking-stuffer for the actor in your life! He or she will love mastering its 27 accents and dialects, using the book’s fun exercises and accompanying sound files.
And to make it more affordable, from now until January 5, I’m offering $10 off on both the Deluxe Streaming print edition AND the iTunes ebook (Apple Book) version. That’s just US$69.95 (or US$69.99 on iTunes) instead of the usual US$79.95.
The Deluxe Streaming edition is a printed book with the sound files available via streaming audio from any internet-connected mobile device or computer. It’s available for this discounted price on this site (select Deluxe book w/streaming audio) until January 5. (The iTunes ebook must be purchased directly on iTunes by the account holder who wishes to use the ebook, but what a great inspiration for an iTunes gift card!) The original CD version of my book is still available for its usual price of $99.95 but does not contain Jamaican, Estuary, or Birmingham.
Please note that the discount is not available on Amazon. However, if you are outside the United States, you might find it cheaper to order the book through your own country’s Amazon, such as Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca.
And now … my gift to you: my audiobook reading of Charles Dickens’ beloved A Christmas Carol. Just click the link to start listening absolutely free. (The link will expire January 5.)
As 2023 draws to a close, may your holidays bring peace and joy to you and all your family.
What did Americans sound like in the 1700s? Find out on this month’s episode of Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Paul discusses the topic with Karen Burgos, a freelance linguist, independent researcher, and founder of Ace Linguist, a truly valuable blog. Go here to listen.
Join Paul and his guest on this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, Professor Brian Ott, as they discuss the connection between orality and literacy, in addition to rhetoric and the oral tradition throughout human history. Go here to listen.
For the September episode of his In a Manner of Speaking podcast, Paul travels through time with renowned linguist David Crystal. Paul and David discuss the history and development of the English language from Roman times to the spread of Modern English around the globe. Go here to listen.
It’s an admittedly different topic for Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, but variety is the spice of life, and podcasts! So this month, Paul discusses harmonic overtone chanting with Jill Purce, possibly the foremost expert on the topic. Check it out here.
If you are teaching a dialect course during this coming semester, Paul’s Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen, Deluxe Streaming Edition, is your perfect textbook!
Less expensive than the older CD version and containing three additional dialects (a total of 27), the Deluxe Streaming Edition has been the top textbook for the last two years. (It’s still a printed book, just with the sound delivered via streaming audio.) Preview it quickly here, or more fully in a new 13-minute video. It’s also available as an iTunes ebook (Apple Book).
Want a free instructor’s copy? Get one with your order of five or more copies, plus a 15% academic discount! For details, see Information for Instructors.
Of course, you and your students might prefer to purchase it on Amazon, where discounts are also available and postage might be cheaper.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 18. Though not quite as lovely as Shakespeare himself (or the Fair Youth he was addressing in the sonnet), Paul’s first In a Manner of Speaking podcast episode of the summer is nevertheless quite inspiring, as it’s all about the Bard!
Whether you’re an expert or just beginning your Shakespeare journey, you should get some enjoyment and inspiration from the July podcast, which you can listen to here, or on your favorite podcast channel of index.
Getting people to say your name — and pronounce it correctly — can often be a challenge. Enter Namecoach, the company founded by Praveen Shanbhag that allows people to record their name and embed the resulting sound file into their e-mail signatures and social-media accounts.
In this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, Paul Meier talks to Praveen about Namecoach and pronunciation in general. Listen to the podcast episode here, or on your favorite podcast channel or index.
For the first time ever, Paul is offering a summer sale on his popular dialect/accent recordings for plays and musicals. Normally priced at $349 for an entire play/musical, the recordings have been reduced by $100. So that’s just $249 for the dialect/accent design for an entire production, delivered via streaming sound files. The sale runs through July 31 and includes complimentary copies of the appropriate accent/dialect ebook. Go here for more information and to see if your play or musical is among the many that Paul offers.
If your show is not among the many that Paul offers a complete package for, you can still take advantage of the sale. If Paul offers only some of the characters in your play or musical, E-mail Paul and he’ll be happy to discuss a special offer.
And, as always, if you don’t see your production listed, Paul is happy to talk to you about preparing new recordings just for you!
That’s the question Paul asks of former BBC Pronunciation Adviser Graham Pointon on this month’s episode of In a Manner of Speaking. Check out the podcast here, or on your favorite podcast channel or index.
The latest topic for Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast is the venerated Oxford English Dictionary. And Paul’s guest is Dr. Catherine Sangster, executive editor of pronunciations at Oxford Languages. She has been in charge of the Oxford English Dictionary’s pronunciations for 11 years. Listen to the podcast here, or on your favorite podcast channel or index.
That’s what Paul wants to know in the latest episode of his In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Specifically, Paul dives into the world of speed talking and singing. Go here to listen.
Please welcome Professor Malachy O’Neill to the In a Manner of Speaking podcast. Paul and Malachy discuss all things related to the Irish language. Listen here, or on your favorite podcast channel or index. (But be advised that you can get all the free extra content related to this podcast only on PaulMeier.com.)
Professor O’Neill is also the latest IDEA subject: Northern Ireland 9.
Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast is ringing in 2023 with a new topic: whistled speech. Listen to Paul and his podcast guest, linguist and acoustician Julien Meyer, discuss this unique topic here.
In the December edition of the In a Manner of Speaking podcast, Paul and his guests, Enrique Pardo and Linda Wise of Pantheatre, discuss the legacy of the intriguing and often controversial actor and vocalist Roy Hart (1926-1975). Pardo and Wise have spent decades building on the legacy of Hart, who is known for his almost superhuman vocal range, avant-garde performances, and work with German singing teacher Alfred Wolfsohn. Listen to the podcast here.
Looking for a great gift for an actor? Or looking to save money while improving your own dialect and accent skills?
Paul’s book, Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen, makes the perfect stocking-stuffer! With its 27 accents and dialects, the book is packed with fun exercises and accompanying sound files.
And to make it more affordable, from now until January 5, we’re offering $10 off (or a 12% reduction) on both the Deluxe Streaming print edition AND the iTunes ebook (Apple Book) version. That’s just US$69.95 (or US$69.99 on iTunes) instead of the usual US$79.95.
The Deluxe Streaming edition is a printed book with the sound files available via streaming audio from any internet-connected mobile device or computer. It’s available for this discounted price on my site (select Deluxe book w/streaming audio) until January 5. (The iTunes ebook must be purchased directly on iTunes by the account holder who wishes to use the ebook, but what a great inspiration for an iTunes gift card!)
The original CD version of the book is still available for its usual price of $99.95 but does not contain Jamaican, Estuary, or Birmingham.
Please note that the discount is not available on Amazon. However, if you are outside the United States, you will still find it cheaper to order the book through your own country’s Amazon, such as Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca.
And now … our gift to you: Paul’s audiobook reading of Charles Dickens’ beloved A Christmas Carol. Just click here to start listening absolutely free. (The link will expire January 5.) And please don’t forget that Paul offers coaching for every character in A Christmas Carol, in addition to dozens of other plays and musicals.
As 2022 draws to a close, may your holidays bring peace and joy to you and all your family.
Finally, for a free video preview of Paul’s book, see below:
We’re proud to reveal a new, free video/audio preview of Paul’s Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen Deluxe Streaming Edition. Even if you don’t plan on buying the book, it’s a great, fun way to introduce yourself to 27 accents and dialects. See how many you can imitate!
Would you like to listen to a podcast on rhetoric?
No, that’s not a rhetorical question. Instead, it’s an invitation to this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, which features Paul discussing Shakespeare’s rhetoric, and rhetoric in general, with Professor Gideon Burton. To listen, go here.
How do babies learn to talk? Listen to Paul and his podcast guest, Professor Jenny Saffran, dive into that topic in the latest episode of In a Manner of Speaking. Go here to listen.
A discussion with the great linguist and author David Crystal always sounds appealing. But on this month’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast, David and Paul are taking the phrase literally: by discussing David’s 2018 book, Sounds Appealing. They discuss various topics related to the book, including pronunciation, phonetics, phoneticians, speech melody, intonation, and stress patterning.
Go here to listen to the podcast and learn more about David Crystal.
Paul’s podcast guest for August 2022 is Nick Enfield, professor of linguistics at the University of Sydney. Inspired by Nick’s 2022 book, Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists, Paul and Nick discuss how language is not always the best tool for conveying and representing reality.
Go here to listen to the podcast, or find it on your favorite podcast channel or index. (But keep in mind that to access all the free extra content, you must visit the podcast page at PaulMeier.com.)
Exhausted by inflation? We are too. That’s why we’ve decided to buck the trend and drop the price of Paul’s signature product, Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen Deluxe Streaming Edition, by 10% for a special summer sale. That’s US$67.45 instead of the regular $74.95.
The sale runs through August 15. The lower price is available on this site, Amazon, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk, and also applies to the iTunes ebook (Apple Book) version. (If you live outside the United States, please check your country’s own Amazon, as that might be the cheapest way to buy when you factor in shipping.)
And if you’re a professor or anyone else wishing to buy five or more copies, you still receive the bulk discount on top of this sale, which means a further savings!
All good things must eventually end, though, and, unfortunately, we’re not immune to rising paper and ink prices, and Amazon and iTunes fees. So when this sale finishes on August 15, Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen Deluxe Streaming Edition will start selling at its new, permanent price of $79.95. This means that there will never be a better time to buy the book (or ebook) than now, during this summer sale.
The July episode of Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast is proud to welcome renowned voice and speech teacher and coach Patsy Rodenburg. Paul and Patsy discuss various topics related to Patsy’s forthcoming book, The Woman’s Voice. Go here to listen to the podcast or search for “In a Manner of Speaking” on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Tired of inflation? We are too. That’s why we’ve decided to buck the trend and drop the price of Paul’s signature product, Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen Deluxe Streaming Edition, by 10% for a special summer sale. That’s US$67.45 instead of the regular $74.95.
The sale runs through August 15. The lower price is available on this site, Amazon, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk, and also applies to the iTunes ebook (Apple Book) version. (If you live outside the United States, please check your country’s own Amazon, as that might be the cheapest way to buy when you factor in shipping.)
And if you’re a professor or anyone else wishing to buy five or more copies, you still receive the bulk discount on top of this sale, which means a further savings!
All good things must eventually end, though, and, unfortunately, we’re not immune to rising paper and ink prices, and Amazon and iTunes fees. So when this sale finishes on August 15, Accents & Dialects for Stage and Screen Deluxe Streaming Edition will start selling at its new, permanent price of $79.95. This means that there will never be a better time to buy the book (or ebook) than now, during this summer sale.
On this month’s In a Manner of Speaking, Paul tackles a topic that is new to the podcast but is arguably the oldest subject that the four-year-old podcast has ever discussed: the ancient Bardic Tradition. Paul’s guest is the “Bard of Bath,” Kevan Manwaring. Go here to listen, or find it wherever get your podcasts.
For the May 2022 edition of his In a Manner of Speaking podcast, Paul welcomes dialect coaches Edda Sharpe and Jan Haydn Rowles, authors of How To Do Accents and leading figures in the world of voice, speech, and dialects. The three discuss dialects in the English National Opera revival of My Fair Lady (coached by Edda) and the film Belfast (coached by Jan). They also engage in a larger discussion of dialects and accents, including the ones featured in those productions: Received Pronunciation (RP), Northern Irish, and Cockney.
To listen, go here or search for the podcast on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast is turning 50! And that’s not an April Fools’ joke! OK, so that’s 50 episodes and not years. But we’re still proud. And to celebrate, Paul is turning the 51st episode (just released) into a celebration of the first 50 episodes. Check it out here.
Following the successful launch of the iTunes ebook (Apple Book) version of Paul’s Voicing Shakespeare earlier this year, we’re pleased to announce an updated edition of the original Windows version. To purchase the ebook, go here. (Mac users will need to purchase the iTunes version.)
The ebook, which sells for $29.99, features embedded audio and video. You will enjoy seven major sections, all divided into short and easy-to-read chapters, unlocking all the secrets you need to perform Shakespeare’s great work with confidence, clarity, and power. The ebook thoroughly explores verse; prose; voice, speech, and dialect; physical performance; musical dynamics; and Shakespeare’s rhetoric. In addition to readings by Paul, the ebook includes performances from 17 well-respected actors and theatre professors: 76 performances in all.
A big thanks to Curt Ford for the ebook’s development.
Paul’s In a Manner of Speaking podcast guest for March is Denise Woods, successful Hollywood dialect coach, theatre professor at the California Institute of the Arts, and author of the recent book The Power of Voice, published by HarperCollins.
In addition to the two dialect coaches discussing the finer points of their profession, Paul and Denise talk about the contentious terms “accent reduction/modification” and how to help clients who believe their accent is holding them back socially or professionally. They also discuss coaching Black actors and delve into the changing landscape of audiobooks and how a single narrator can respectfully voice scores of characters who differ in age, gender, dialect, nationality, and ethnicity.
You can find the podcast where you normally go to listen to podcasts, or just click here.
New month, new podcast! And February’s episode of In a Manner of Speaking features Lane Greene, language columnist and Spain correspondent for The Economist. The podcast episode takes its title from one of Lane’s books, You Are What You Speak (2011), and Paul and Lane tackle a variety of topics related to linguistics, accents, and the myths, fears, and politics surrounding language. Go here to listen to the podcast, or look for it on your favorite podcast channel or index.
Paul’s new series of Zoom masterclasses will begin soon, and spaces are still available! The first two courses, covering voice-over and Shakespeare, begin February 5 and 6, respectively, while three more courses begin in early March. Topics for the March classes include British and Irish dialects, accent modification, and foreign-language accents.
For more information, go here. Or e-mail Paul at paul@paulmeier.com.
Happy New Year! To start 2022, Paul is welcoming Jeremy Fisher and Gillyanne Kayes of “Vocal Process” back to the In a Manner of Speaking podcast. The three discuss pitch, specifically the extremes of the human voice as it relates to both speaking and singing. Listen to the episode here, or find it on your favorite podcast channel or index.
