Listening and observing is a crucial first step to developing your facility with accents and dialects. It is important to study both native speakers of the accent you are working on (primary sources) and actors using that particular accent in a performance (secondary sources) to develop your ears and start to pick up the nuances of an accent or dialect.
Explore the audio archives and recordings below to practice listening and get an exposure to different ways of speaking!
The various audio archives and online resources linked below provide examples of different accents and dialects.
In addition to the audio archives above, check out some of the listening resources available to you through the library catalog. There are many books on accents and dialects that have accompanying CDs (several of which are highlighted on the next page on Identifying & Analyzing), but we also have more general listening resources where you can explore a variety of accents and dialects at once.