How do you teach a Newfoundland accent? Come From Away’s dialect coach figured it out

Come From Away has shared the story of Gander’s involvement in the events of Sept. 11 with audiences around the world — and with it, the Newfoundland accent and dialect.

But with actors from all over the world cast in various productions all playing a variety of characters from Newfoundland and Labrador, how do you make sure it’s authentic?

Turns out it’s something Joel Goldes — a dialect coach who has worked with Come From Away productions in Canada, London, Australia and more — has figured out.

The musical is about how thousands of detoured airline passengers descended on Gander in the hours after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, and how residents of the town and area welcomed them. Each cast member is required to play multiple characters, often switching roles — and voices — on a hairpin. 

“You listen to an accent, you find out what’s different from my own accent or sort of the general American, typical American accent, and I isolate those differences,” Goldes told CBC Radio’s Weekend AM.

As a professional dialect coach, the California-based Goldest works with actors on mastering many accents. His credits include TV series Presumed Innocent and The Handmaid’s Tale and movie The Woman King. 

Outside of having a dog that was part Newfoundland as a kid, Goldes said he knew very little about the island before joining Come From Away.

But as he started to do his research, work with original cast member Petrina Bromley of St. John’s, and listen to the accent more and more, he was able to pick up on a few things. Bromley started with the show in its earliest incarnations, playing harried SPCA worker Bonnie and other characters through to the staging on Broadway.

She is appearing this summer in a version in Gander, which Goldes recently visited — reuniting with real-life residents who inspired characters in the show. 

1. Irish, but not too Irish

Goldes said most actors want to start with an Irish accent when learning the Newfoundland dialect, but there are several key differences.

“The biggest trap to avoid would be to use a very Irish intonation. That’s too sing-songy … so we go for a flatter intonation,” he said.

“We did a modified version of the accent, a moderate version, and that became the theme for all of the accents in the show.”

However, Goldes said there are moments where Irish influence can shine through — particular in certain sounds shared by both dialects.

For example, Goldes said there are many similarities in how Newfoundlanders and the Irish pronounce the long-I sound in words like “drive” or the name “Kyle.”

“Petrina was helpful in saying that she didn’t think that that should happen on personal pronouns … but [in words] like ‘right’ and ‘find’ and ‘fly,'” he said.

2. Don’t lean into ‘dis or dat’

While some Newfoundland accents often replace T’s with D’s or drop H’s and A’s, Goldes said it’s important to not lean so much into it that the words become unintelligible.

“It was important that the audience not get caught trying to understand what someone was saying. They had to be able to identify the accent very quickly and easily understand where that person’s from, but most importantly, paying attention to what that character is saying,” he said.

“If the accent is so strong that it can’t be understood, my job has not been done well.”

3. You’ve got to ‘understand Newfoundland’

Finally, Goldes said there are other intonations that can make a Newfoundland accent stand out in comparison with others.

For example, he said Newfoundland accents tend to be the inverse of the American accent, in that the pitch of a voice tends to go up as someone speaks.

Where syllables are emphasized is also key, he said.

Bromley, for example, taught him how to correctly pronounce Newfoundland and Labrador by giving him and other actors a hint that the third syllable of each word needs to be emphasized.

Or, as the common saying goes, you pronounce “Newfoundland” as you would “understand.”

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