I Love-Hate YouTube

As a dialect coach, I have a love-hate relationship with YouTube.

I love YouTube because (one) it has made it so quick and easy to find audio clips of celebrities as I prepare for voice matching projects, (two) I can easily access samples of my clients’ work, and (three) I can sometimes even find an interview featuring someone with exactly the dialect I’m looking for and via their YouTube account even have a means of contacting them and securing a ‘dialect donor’ interview with them. YouTube has saved me hours of work compared to what I was having to do ten years ago.

So, thank you, YouTube!

But…

I really do hate YouTube because there are so many truly terrible ‘learn a dialect’ offerings posted there.

So.

Many.

(Ugh.)

I’ve had new clients come to me sporting a rather strange sounding accent only to find that they have diligently been studying the video lessons of an unqualified ‘teacher’ on YouTube. (And now they must ‘unlearn’ much of what they invested so much time in.) (Again, Ugh.)

I know that if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you are probably too savvy to fall for a shoddy YouTube dialect lesson, but I’m writing this post in the hope that you’ll help me actively spread the word to the people that just might fall for the lure of a quick and free YouTube lesson but not be experienced enough to realize when that free lesson is jam-packed with fresh-minted malarky. If you love your friends and colleagues, give them the heads up!

If you know me, you know that at my core I am not a cynic. While I have yet to find any reliable dialect lesson offerings on YouTube, I am ever remaining optimistic and will let you know when I do run across something reliable. If you have already found something you think is worthwhile, please post a link here in the comments section. I’ll be sure to check it out and if I like what I see, I will share the link on my Further Resources page.

If, like me, you can’t find any reliable dialect offerings on YouTube, and you want to volunteer to help me create some free YouTube dialect lessons for pro actors, I’m open to that, too. Just say the word!