I’ve been recently working on a super-challenging project for LibriVox. It’s a short story from a collection entitled Racketty-Packetty House, and Other Stories, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett (author of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess). The story I’m working on is titled “Esmeralda”…and it is providing me with some of the most challenging dialect work I’ve ever had to do!
The story is narrated first-person – in English – by a young Parisian man (yes, man…audiobook readers do have to be rather gender-flexible, after all) who, as it so happens, had previously taught in London…so I’ve made him speak his narration and dialogue with a French accent that has a subtle undertone of English (RP). A distinctly fun challenge in and of itself. And then there’s his wife, a young woman with a very similar accent, though with a little more heavily Parisian accent to her English – as she, in contrast to her husband, is an artist (a painter), rather than a linguist. Then there is the character of the concierge, an older woman with a similar accent to – though different tonality from – the young wife. And that’s just the Parisian contingent!
Next, add to the mix an American family – an older middle-aged couple and their daughter – from North Carolina! The mother is a little more educated, having had spent time in a more metropolitan setting during her youth (and now that she’s in Paris, she’s trying to make the most of herself and her family), so her accent is not as thick and, well…not as folksy (for lack of a better description at the moment) as her husband’s. (Not sure I hit the mark with him…but I really tried, honest.) Then there’s the daughter. A young woman – not educated, but very sincere – who has been dragged to France by her social-climbing and scheming mother who wishes to use the family’s recently acquired wealth in the States to break her way into the upper crust of highest Parisian society.
Never before have I had such a challenge as I have switching back and forth between these different dialects and varying levels and intensities of accent. But I’ll also say this. Rarely before have I ever had this much fun with my voice work! 😀
Salut!
