So you’re a fan of Niall Horan’s accent - here’s a guide to speaking with an Irish brogue

C'mere, you'll be talking like Bono in no time, grand altogether

Americans say "How are you?" Irish say "Ha-ware-ya?" / "Hawareya?"

The response to this question is not "good" or "fine", by the way, it is "grand" or "grand altogether."

Hard consonants

Enunciate, this is the most important thing. Americans have a habit of slurring constants, while Irish, though they run words together, tend to enunciate their consonants. For example, Americans tend to say coulda, woulda, wanna instead of pronouncing the whole phrase. 

Lyricize your inflection

This is probably the most difficult thing to learn - the rhythm and tone of the accent. This has a lot to do with having an ear for it. Varying pitch accounts for the different feel of the Irish accent and its commonly described as lyrical. This means that a sentence sounds more musical or sing-songy than American English. 

Drilling

The best way to learn is to practice. Although you could hire your very own dialogue coach, a better solution might be to watch some Irish movies and try to focus on their accents and mimicking them. Some great movies to watch are "The Butcher Boy", "Circle of Friends" and "The Commitments."

Try to copy some of these lines. Record yourself saying them and you should be able to find the faults in your own accent. 

Warning, you will be lousy at first but keep trying it can be quite fun. 

3. The Irish spelling

If you're really going for the all Irish experience you'd better change your spellings too. Although mostly spellings in American English and the English from across the pond are the same, there are some differences. 

Add the U

For some very odd reason the Irish and English use extra u's. Just some examples being armour, behaviour, colour, favour, honour, humour, parlour and savour.

Change the Z

Another difference is that the English and Irish use "s" more often that "z". For example, crystallized, industrialized, memorise, realized, recognised and specialized.

Here's an eHow video on how to pick it up: 

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