A Practical Step-by-Step Guide

The mistake most people make with the Irish accent is treating it as one single sound.
It isn’t. Ireland is full of distinct regional accents, and if you don’t choose one, you’ll end up with a vague, inaccurate Irish caricature.

This guide will teach you how to learn a specific, authentic, North Dublin accent through seven practical stages.

1. Be Specific About Which Irish Accent You’re Learning

Ireland is small, but its accents vary dramatically from region to region.
There is no single Irish accent.

Before you begin, choose one:

• North Dublin

• South Dublin

• Cork

• Kerry

• Belfast

• Donegal

• Galway

• Limerick

• Midlands

• Etc.

For this guide, we focus on North Dublin.
Even within North Dublin there are variations, but specificity already takes you out of the “generic Irish” trap.

2. Research and Gather Real Resources

Once you’ve chosen your region, learn everything you can about it:

Cultural + Physical Context

• Geography

• Economy

• Religion

• Music, dance, theatre

• Local slang

• Behavioural rhythms

• Humour

• Pace of life

This context shapes how people speak—tone, rhythm, mouth shape, energy, attitude.

Find Native Speakers

Do NOT rely on other YouTubers doing Irish accents.
Use real people:

Actors from North Dublin:

• Colin Farrell

• Colm Meaney

• Brendan Gleeson

Listen to:

• Interviews

• Podcasts

• News clips

• Local radio

• Everyday conversations

• Street interviews

Immerse yourself until the rhythm “soaks in.”

3. Analyse Quality, Tone & Direction of the Accent

Using the Laban-inspired approach from your character-voice method, examine three qualities:

A. Timing

Is it:

• Sudden?

• Sustained?

North Dublin often uses short, sharp, flicking/dabbing bursts.

B. Weight

Is it:

• Light?

• Heavy?

This accent is generally light, not thick or forceful.

C. Spatial Direction

Is it:

• Direct?

• Indirect?

There’s a flicking, indirect feel to the movement of words.

Tone Placement

The tone sits in the nasopharynx—the space behind the nose.

You can find this placement by:

1. Saying “sing”

2. Noticing the nasal buzz on -ng

3. Keeping that buzz alive as you speak.

Air Placement

In North Dublin:

• Air slips across the hard palate

• Escapes lightly through the front teeth

• Creates a breathy, airy onset

This is gentle, not forced.

Try repeating:
“I like to ride my bike.”
Let the air glide through the teeth and across the upper palate.

4. Master the T, TH, and D Patterns

Common mistakes:

• Replacing th with d: dose / dem / dat

• Replacing th with t: tink / tings

Instead, use:
A light t + a small aspirated h
A sort of tʰ sound.

Examples:

• These → tʰese

• Those → tʰose

• Them → tʰem

• Think → tʰink

• Through → tʰrough

It’s not a hard D.
It’s not a clean T.
It’s a breathy, aspirated T.

Endings with T or K

Don’t fully complete the consonant.

• “Heart” → harht

• “Start” → starht

• “Bike” → boikʰ (soft aspirated ending)

Let air take over at the end of the word.

5. Use Rhotic R’s & Link Words Properly

North Dublin is rhotic:

• All written R’s are pronounced

• No R’s are added where they don’t exist

Example:
“The water under the bridge was running rapidly.”

Contrast with non-rhotic accents (e.g., London), which drop “r” at the end of a word and sometimes add them between words.

Avoid adding linking R’s:

• Not: “Linda-r-and I”

• Instead: “Linda and I” with clean boundaries.

But words still glide together smoothly—just without adding new R’s.

6. Learn the Vowel System (Monophthongs, Diphthongs & Triphthongs)

North Dublin vowels differ significantly from English RP or London speech.

“I like to ride my bike” becomes:
“Oi loik t’ roide me boik.”
…but not with a Cockney “oi.”

This is why phonetics matters.
Your own accent colours how you interpret written vowel tricks.

Use a phonetic approach:

• Monophthong = one vowel sound (e.g., “e”)

• Diphthong = two (e.g., “ai”)

• Triphthong = three (e.g., “oiyə”)

Work through vowel sets inside real sentences rather than isolated sounds.

Example:
“The nurse had a likely reason to get a head start.”
Listen to North Dublin natives handling:

• NURSE set

• FACE set

• PRICE set

• START set

This gives you structure for all similar words.

7. Practice Consistently (With Purpose)

Use structured tools:

Scripts

The classic script: Comma Gets a Cure
Contains every important phoneme for English accent work.

Lexical Sets

From J.C. Wells:

• PRICE set

• FACE set

• GOOSE set

• TRAP set

• NURSE set

• START set

• THOUGHT set

• STRUT set
  …and many more.

Once you learn ONE word correctly from a set, you learn ALL words in that set.

Daily Practice

• Analyse

• Record

• Compare

• Adjust

• Repeat

Consistency over a month or two will let the accent become natural and improvisational.

Putting It All Together (Summary Checklist)

North Dublin Accent Essentials

• Choose a specific accent (North Dublin, not “Irish”)

• Study real speakers

• Use light, flicking/dabbing vocal energy

• Tone in the nasopharynx

• Air gliding across hard palate + front teeth

• Breathy onset

• Aspirated TH/T/D patterns

• Softened word endings

• Rhotic R’s (pronounced only when written)

• North Dublin vowel sets

• Words glide together

• Practice with lexical sets and Comma Gets a Cure