with Paul Strikwerda

We are honored to bring you this month's interview with Pamela Vanderway, one of the most sought after dialect and accent coaches in Hollywood. She is wise, intelligent, creative, and witty, to boot. She's also generously offered to be a regular contributor on Internet Voice Coach.

We will be creating a special area on our site called, "Dialect411: Ask Pamela Vanderway." In this area, you can ask questions concerning dialects, accents, and speech in general i.e., their place in the industry, the artistry and practice necessary to master a new tongue, online resources, etc.

Pamela's answers to you will appear in this area every month. So stay tuned for the inauguration of this valuable feature.

What can you do in the mean time?

Pamela is the author of one of my favorite blogs, Dialect411. In it is a wealth of knowledge, not only pertaining to dialects, but to the voice in general. It is a blog well worth reading by anyone interested in our craft. Be sure to visit her at: www.Dialect411.com

ANATOMY OF AN ACCENT

She rarely receives any credit for her work and you will never know which well-known actor has used her services. Yet, dialect coach Pamela Vanderway is working hard behind the scenes to take almost any accent from fake to authentic. Most of the time, Pamela doesn't even speak the language herself. So, how does she do it? Paul Strikwerda unravels the mystery.

Paul Strikwerda: You call yourself a dialect coach and not an accent coach. What's the difference?

Pamela Vanderway: Believe it or not, there is no difference between the two in the film and television industry. 'Dialect coach' is the most common term used in the United States, while 'accent coach' is favored in Europe. In most basic terms a dialect coach (or accent coach) has the job of assisting one person to sound like another. Exact services and specialties vary from coach to coach.

P.S. When and how did you first discover you had a knack for picking up dialects?

P.V. You know, I wouldn't say that I have a knack for picking up dialects. Sure, I enjoyed playing around with language when I was a kid, but many children do that. Learning dialects is a skill. It's no different than learning fencing, tai chi or how to play the cello. It simply takes sustained interest and targeted, thoughtful practice over time. Most people aren't aware of how much time and practice it actually takes to learn a dialect, so they end up feeling as if they (or others) lack the talent for it.

P.S. What does it take to be good and successful at what you do?

P.V. In my estimation to be a quality dialect coach you not only need to be able to hear and reproduce the sounds of any given dialect, you need to be able to stand in your client's shoes, 'hear with their ears' and innovate the most effective path for them to travel from where they are currently (their home dialect / their idiolect) to the target dialect. You must do all of this while understanding, respecting and staying out of the way of the actor's acting process. There is no single formula for learning dialect work. The process is always dependent on the actor and the project. If a dialect coach has only one way of working, they will be limited in their success.

P.S. Is it possible to do this work without speaking many languages fluently, and -- if so- how do you do it?

P.V. Language fluency is about comprehending vocabulary and understanding how to apply rules of grammar. It is tangential to the art of dialect acquisition. To illustrate- Arnold Schwarzenegger is considered to speak English fluently, but practically everyone agrees he doesn't speak the English language using any of the regional dialects of English from North America, Europe or Oceania. He speaks English fluently -- but in a modified Austrian accent of his own making.

Dialect work is about learning to hear and reproduce individual sounds (phonemes), rhythms, and pitch patterns and to incorporate them into the performance of a character in a seamless and convincing way. Understanding the structure of a foreign language can prove helpful at times, but language fluency is not necessary. Typically as a dialect coach your job is to assist an actor in being understandable while speaking a foreign or regional dialect of English, not a separate language.

P.S. You work with 'donors'. Please explain.

P.V. In order to find authentic sounding dialects, coaches (or actors in the know) will often seek out 'dialect donors' who have a similar background to or have grown up in the experience of the character they will be coaching an actor to play. If as a coach you are creating dialect materials relevant to a character who grew up in New Jersey in a working class Italian family, then you would seek out a donor with a similar background and record that person talking about their own life as well as reading diagnostic texts (passages that contain all of the sounds of spoken English) and perhaps even reading specific jargon, colloquial phrases or proper names from the script itself. These recordings become the template from which the actor will work.

P.S. Can anyone be coached? For example: the Dutch language has a number of very strange sounds. People often tell me "I'll never be able to do that. I just don't have the instrument." Can biology stand in the way?

P.V. With the exception of the few people who live with significant hearing loss or a severe physical challenge (such as paralysis), everyone has the instrument. As I mentioned before, it just takes time and practice -- often more than people expect. You mentioned that Dutch contains some 'strange sounds.' I would agree in that for some people Dutch contains sounds that are wholly unfamiliar to them. There is an easy cure for unfamiliarity, though -- repeated exposure. By repeatedly listening to recordings of words containing these unfamiliar sounds, the mind will begin to recognize them and once that happens, the articulators (tongue, jaw, lips, teeth, soft palate, hard palate, gum ridge) will soon be able to create these once 'strange' sounds.

P.S. Your clients are professional actors. I understand that you're not at liberty to name all names. Why not?

P.V. High profile clients lead a very different life from most working actors. Pursuits that most people take for granted as being private become public for celebrities. It has always been my belief that no amount of money an actor might earn will ever truly make up for this loss of privacy, and so very early on in my career I decided that I would offer clients the option of our work together being totally confidential, even going so far as to make sure that evidence of my work did not appear on IMDb (Internet Movie Database, PS). The result has been that my clients trust me enough to recommend me to their friends, and that has resulted in my working on some very enjoyable projects.

P.S. At what point do people bring you in, and what sort of problems do you need to fix?

P.V. When a production requests that I come in to fix problems, sadly it's too late. Quality dialect work starts prior to casting. Quality coaching goes a little like this: Early in pre-production, the coach gets a script and provides the production with a thorough analysis regarding any dialect challenges they may face in producing it. The coach then interviews dialect donors and with the director's approval creates dialect materials for the potential cast. Then the coach sits in on casting sessions, helping the casting entities recognize which actors will best be able to perform the dialect tasks at hand, or letting them know how much prep time it might take to bring a favored actor up to speed. Sometimes the production will supply actors with recorded dialect materials prior to auditions, but most often actors do not receive these until they are cast. Once casting occurs, the actors either work with the production's coach directly, or they take their recorded materials to their own personal coach to prepare for production. By the first day on set everyone is comfortable with their dialect and can focus on the acting work at hand. On set coaching continues, but the majority of the work is complete. It's similar to the way a football coach works. When a pro football coach is down on the field during a game, s/he's assisting in the execution of plays the team has practiced many times in advance of that game. Asking a dialect coach to come in and 'fix problems' after filming has begun is like asking a football coach to teach his/her team the fundamentals at half-time. It's a bit of a pipe dream.

P.S. Do you ever work with voice-over actors?

P.V. In the past year, I have met more voiceover actors than in the decade prior. I'm not really sure why, but most of my career has been spent working with on-camera talent. That said, on-camera work often involves some amount of looping which is something that can of course be classified as voice-over.

P.S. What's the best strategy for actors: Master the script first and add the dialect later, or do the dialect from day one?

P.V. Ideally the dialect should come at day zero. Think of it like this: If you are cast to play a character who rides horses while delivering key dialogue, you are much better off already having extensive experience in horseback riding before the cameras ever start rolling, rather than finding yourself in the uncomfortable situation of trying to act convincingly while sitting on a thousand pound beast you have little or no control over.

If you are a working actor or intend to become one, dialects may or may not be something you wish to make part of the skills you offer your clients. Every career is different. You need to determine what you think will be best for your particular career path.

P.S. How do you bring an actor from impersonation to incorporation of a dialect?

P.V. It's important to remember that different projects call for differing degrees of realism. Doing a campy send-up of westerns will require campy dialects. They fit the mood of the piece. If you're doing 'Unforgiven' on the other hand, you'll want the dialects to be as grounded and authentic as the entire piece is, so it depends on the work.

That said, you have really asked me a vast question. If I try to answer it completely, the answer will need to be in textbook form. The short answer is this: The path will be different for every actor. Your question reveals exactly why professional actors who intend to act in a dialect other than their own need to include in their annual business budget an allowance for working with a dialect coach. Developing an ongoing relationship with a quality dialect coach can help ensure that the actor can move as quickly (and accurately) as possible from the beginning 'parroting' stage of dialect work to the seamless integration of a dialect into their acting process.

P.S. You once wrote: "If you want to bring a new dimension to your acting career, learn a new dialect." Some actors and presenters have publicly stated that they worked hard to get rid of their accent. Your thoughts…

P.V. If you have learned how to play a mean game of basketball, would you 'unlearn' it so you can take up soccer (football)? Of course not. Why actors who speak English in a regional or foreign accent are routinely advised to 'lose their accent' is beyond me. As an actor the more skills you can bring to roles, the more likely you are to get a role in the first place. The truth is that for most people (actors especially) 'accent reduction' or 'accent elimination' attempts backfire. One's dialect is intertwined with one's sense of self. The mind will always fight to preserve that sense of self and can slow down or halt efforts to 'eliminate' an accent. It's best to think of learning a dialect as 'accent addition' rather than 'accent elimination.'

P.S. Who are your acting heroes in terms of dialect and why?

P.V. The actors who are my dialect heroes are the ones who do their work so well that I don't even hear them doing it. I love it when I watch a set of DVD extras and hear an actor being interviewed and am surprised to hear they sound completely different than they did in the film. Their excellence honors my profession, and they make movie-going a joy for me because I'm not being pulled out of the story of the film thinking 'where is that person really from?'

P.S. What's the worst movie dialect you've ever heard?

P.V. There are so many reasons a dialect can go wrong in a film, and most have nothing to do with the skill of the actor--- actors can be cast late in the game, characters might be re-written, huge passages of dialogue can be altered at the last minute, the director may not have any idea what is entailed in dialect work and may make unrealistic demands. Even very long hours or the act of placing an actor in a harness for the first time can play havoc with a dialect. When I hear a dialect 'gone wrong' in a film or TV show I try to figure out what might have caused it. I encourage professional actors to adopt the same hobby, as it can help them learn to avoid some of the pitfalls of dialect acting.

P.S. Not everyone will be able to afford your services. What simple things can people do on their own to start exploring and learning a dialect.

P.V. My blog Dialect411.com is a free resource where one can start learning about dialects and how to incorporate them into a professional acting career. If you take the time to learn what I have written there, you can save a great deal of time (and thus money) when you do work with a dialect with a coach.

Paul Strikwerda