Top 10 Hardest Accents to Master
#10: Southern United States
The United States contains a myriad of accents, but not many that are as differentiated as the southern one. When we say southern accent, we could be talking about a variety of places, all the way from Texas to Alabama. For actors, it can be difficult to accurately place themselves (and their voices) in the region. Hollywood arguably doesn’t have the strongest track record when it comes to creating nuanced Southern characters, either. That lack of nuance extends to what the industry thinks is a believable accent. It would be great if we got more actors like Keri Russell really living in the southern drawl in movies like “Waitress”. But they tend to settle for something more akin to Nicolas Cage in “Con Air.”
#9: Italian
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With Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” and Chris Pratt’s … questionable Mario accent in the trailer for the new “Super Mario Bros.” movie, Italian accents have been in the culture lately. And honestly, we would love it if Hollywood put a little more work into getting it right. However, we’re willing to admit that mastering this way of speaking is exceedingly difficult. Like every country, the accent differs by region, but even the standard is tough to pin down. The consonants and vowels have some different sounds that might not be compatible with English speakers’ usual manner of speech. Still, even though we get it’s hard, we think Jared Leto could have toned things down a bit.
#8: British
While some American accents might be difficult to master, we’ve noticed that British actors often don’t have too much of a problem. But when it comes to Americans trying to sound English? It almost always ends in disaster, sounding fake or forced. Even the supremely talented Anne Hathaway isn’t safe from the pitfalls of the US to UK accent pipeline. There might be an answer to this debacle. Apparently, many British actors tend to learn American accents early on, worried they won’t make much of a name for themselves in Hollywood otherwise. American stars, on the other hand, often don’t spend as much time dedicated to dialect and accent work. The more you know!
#7: American
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While we concede that British stars tend to have an easier time with American accents than the reverse, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their terrible standouts. The thing about non-Americans (English or otherwise) doing American accents is they seem to pick a lane and stay in it. And that lane is usually a very generic one from an unknown, generic place. Fake American accents rarely have any sense of real environment, and if they do? It’s usually bad. Aussie actress Margot Robbie might nail that nasal New York twang in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but go rewatch “Elizabethtown” and tell us what you think of Orlando Bloom’s Kentucky drawl. And don’t even get us started on Emma Watson.
#6: Irish
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There’s something so soothing about a good Irish lilt. Trust us, we could listen to Saoirse Ronan talk all day. But when someone gets an Irish accent wrong, it’s almost unlistenable. Plenty of accomplished actors, from Julia Roberts to Sean Connery, have butchered the lovely manner of speaking. Lucky for them (and us), the aforementioned Ronan has a guide for how to save yourself the embarrassment of sounding like a literal leprechaun. On an episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in 2016, she gave a bit of advice to those wishing to master the Irish accent. First, stay out of that higher stereotypical register. Second, make sure your words are somewhat comprehensible. To state the obvious, she’s right.
#5: Scottish
When an accent is filled with this many layers, it’s no wonder it’s difficult to speak it right. No matter how many episodes of “Outlander” you watch, you may never master the magic of the Scottish sound. As with any accent, the cadence and emphasis falls in different places than you might be used to. There are also a variety of accents throughout the country, which makes finding a true, middle ground Scottish lilt difficult to do. But hey, if Hollywood history is anything to go by, you don’t have to be great at the voice to land a big role. Here’s looking at you, Mel Gibson.
#4: Cockney
When it comes to overexaggeration, almost no accent gets the short end of the stick like Cockney. At this point, it feels like it’s almost a Hollywood tradition to go full on cartoon when you’re asked to do one in a movie. That tradition was notably carried out by Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins,” and goes all the way up to Don Cheadle in “Ocean’s Eleven.” Unfortunately, most Cockney accents in big Hollywood movies are played for laughs. That encourages actors to go over the top, which leads to something a little more funny than it is authentic.
#3: Baltimore
New York, Philadelphia, you name it. Many U.S. cities have famous accents that have been glorified and/or butchered by Hollywood in some way or another. But few are as elusive or done quite as badly as the Baltimore one. It’s not quite as well known as others, so it can sometimes sound a little strange to our ears and is therefore difficult for a lot of people to master. It has a particular feature called “fronting back vowels,” which involves bringing your tongue forward instead of back. That, much like the Southern American accent, makes it rather difficult to mimic accurately.
#2: Boston
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The Boston accent might be one of the most iconic in all of the United States, and the most varied in terms of the success level of different performers. The thing about the Boston way of speaking is that, while the pronunciation is important, it’s really all about the attitude. There’s got to be a little bit of “you think you’re better than me” energy in every single thing you say. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in “Good Will Hunting'' probably embody this attitude the best, but as Bostonians, they have a leg up. When it comes to Boston accents that don’t quite hit the mark? We’ll point you to Blake Lively in “The Town” and Jack Nicholson in “The Departed.”
#1: South African
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We’d like you to take a moment and try to do a South African accent. Just try! Did you accidentally slip in British, Australian, or some combination of the two? Well, don’t worry. That’s more than common. South African seems to be the most elusive accent for actors to capture, not that that’s stopped them from trying. Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond” has borne the brunt of that criticism, though we should note that his character was Rhodesian. Nevertheless, he’s definitely not the only one – Val Kilmer in “The Saint” springs to mind. If you’re looking for good South African accent representation? Andy Serkis does a great job in his portrayals of the MCU’s Ulysses Klaue, and Rebel Wilson impressed us in “The Hustle.”
