Ashleigh Gardner: Ginny, thank you so much for coming to visit us today to do an interview. Before we really get started with our 7 Essentials questions, could you tell me a little bit about yourself, your acting and production background, and where you are now?

Ginny Kopf: Sure! I am full professor at Valencia College. I was an adjunct there for 28 years. (Laughs.) And then I got a full-time position as the voice, movement, and dialect trainer out there. But I was also teaching at Rollins. I was at UCF eleven years, Seminole State College. But now I’m in one college [Valencia].

But I come from an acting background – improvisation. I was really interested in projection and big characters. And I was always really good at dialects. Even as a little tiny kid, I would just mimic off the TV. I got known in high school and college as somebody that could do the accents. And I was just really learning by hook or crook and took any class I could about dialects. And directors started asking me, if I was in a show, “Do you think you could teach THEM how to do the Russian accent?” I’d go, “Well, uh, I THINK so.” So I just tried it and I was good at it.

AG: That’s wonderful! My first question is, what is the difference between an accent and a dialect?

GK: They kind of become interchangeable to people. Technically an accent is foreign. Like, we’re American, so French, Russian, German, those would be accents. But a dialect would be within your own country, so there are many dialects in England. There are many dialects within France. So the dialects we [Americans] have are the southern dialects, and the New York, and the valley girl. All the different dialects within your own country.

AG: So why are there so many different dialects within just one country?

GK: A lot of it has to do with socio-economic level. The easiest one to explain is England. It has like forty million different dialects. And you’ve got (English – Received Pronunciation) the Queen’s English, right? And then you even have (English – upper class) more posh than that – a more elegant dialect! And then you have (English – Estuary) the middle class Estuary dialect in London, which is just Ricky Gervais or something. And then you’ve got all these countryside things, and in (English – Northern) the North country, way at the top, they have that – that up-inflection ‘cause it’s right under Scotland. And you’ve got the parts of England that are right above Wales, which is farmers and miners. So you’re influenced by your economy, your social class, your topography, what you do for a living. (English – closed throat, country dialect) If your throat’s very swollen, you’re in the mines all the time, y’know. Or [you’re influenced] if your speech isn’t important to you, like (English – Cockney) Well I’m jus’ tryin’ t’make a livin’ ‘ere.

So it’s all those influences and climate, too. It also has to do with not just social class but female/male relationships. You think of (US Southern belle drawl) the deep south, and the femininity of the deep south (US Southern gentleman) as opposed to, like, Rhett Butler, an’ all that, an’ Big Daddy, when macho is important. So some places have a male/female. They sound very different.

AG: And how do you teach dialects? Do you base it on culture?

GK: That’s all that I do. I teach somebody how to become Russian, become German, become Irish. I make it according to the archetype of their culture. Yes, we have vowel and consonant charts, and [dialects] differ in mouth shape. But I go beyond, “Oh, hold your mouth like this.” But WHY do they hold their mouth like this? And then I teach not just audially, which some coaches do, but I teach copying. Then I have them listen and record themselves. But if you’re a visual learner, then you watch people, you watch their mouth, and you get the body language. And then kinesthetics – how you hold your mouth. I use all three feedback systems so I can reach whoever’s in the room.

AG: What a great teaching method. So a dialect isn’t just a dialect, it’s a personality, as well?

It’s who you are. That’s why you can’t just do a show and the last second you decide you’re gonna be French. Because it’s who the character is. [The dialect] has gotta be trained early on, not after you’ve learned your lines and learned your blocking. It’s part of your character analysis.

And then are you an archetype, or are you a rebel? Are you a shy Italian? Are you straight down the line? Or are you a poser, or lying and putting on? And then where does your character fit in the archetype? So a good example is Blanche DuBois. (US Southern belle drawl) “I depend upon the kindness of strangers.” Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, she’s the archetype to a T, (US Southern drawl) but her sister Stella, she has the same accent, but she’s not posin’ at all, so she doesn’t put on those airs. She still has that accent, but she’s a totally different character.

AG: Right. And how would you suggest someone who is doing a dialect for the very first time approach that dialect?

GK: Put it in something they understand. So [at Universal Studios] the Durmstrang, the Russian students, they’re not actors – most of them – they are gymnasts and martial artists. And I ask them before we start, “What’s your background?” and they all say, “Gymnast. Martial artist.” But I immediately (Russian) get them on their feet. And we talk about the character. Out in the snow at four in the morning, and (shivers) you’re frozen and holding your head up high, and you will get the back of your legs caned if you do wrong. Right! YESSIR! It’s like boot camp. We talk about the character.

When I work with the girls that were playing Merida from Brave [at Disney], they gave me a room full of pretty girls. I ask, “What do you do all day?” They said, “This.” (draws bow and huffs) So that’s EXACTLY how we do the accent. (Scottish, breathy) They own it right away because yer goin’ (draws bow and huffs). You’re a warrior. They get it. The light goes on. They OWN it right away.

AG: Incredible. So though professional theatre may be far off for middle and high school students, why is knowing a dialect so early on so important as an actor?

GK: It gives you more range! If you have an arsenal of the most important dialects, then, when an audition comes up, you’re not caught off-guard. Sometimes for film auditions and for TV, it’s like, “Here. Do it in a French accent.” And they expect that you’re just gonna pull it out of your backside. You’ve gotta have an arsenal of the most commonly used dialects. But also think about for voice over. And improv! It gives you a lot of range if you’ve got a bunch of character voices.

AG: And the thing that you said about knowing the most popular ones, or the most needed ones  – that actually leads into my next question. If you could choose three dialects to start with for a beginner, which ones would you suggest?

GK: I always start with British. You gotta figure out what class you’re in and stay in your class. (English – Estuary) Because most people do the middle-class Harry Potter accent. (English – Received Pronunciation) But what if you have to be like Cate Blanchett, Kate Middleton? Perfect Queen’s English? (English – high Standard British) Or if you’re in Pride and Prejudice. You’ve got to do a period play. Well, you’ve got to be upper class. You can’t go to a [middle class dialect]. There was no middle class until about 1970.  Then all the way down to Cockney and different levels of Cockney. British cleans up their diction problem, so that they’re not saying, “Lemme do it. Can’t’cha, didja?” because they have to have very crisp T’s. So it helps an actor.

I don’t do the second [most important], but the most important American ones are the Southerns, and the difference between the Southerns, the New Yorker. But also French, Russian, Australian. Nowadays, they need Middle Eastern. That’s needed because of the plays that are out. You look at what’s playing at the movie theatres. “What accents are you gonna need?” It’s whoever we’re at war with, ya know? (Laughs.)

AG: Can you tell me a little bit about your textbook, The Dialect Handbook, and the concepts and questions you cover in it?

GK: It really goes through the whole process of learning, researching, and performing a dialect role. [It’s] from the word go with questions like you were asking: “What dialect should I learn?” or “What skills do I need to be a dialectician?” All the way through audition preparation! It’s easy to read because I wanted a junior high [student] to be able to read it. So anybody can read it. One of [the lessons] is, “Oh my god! I have to be Irish tomorrow! How do I fake my way through this audition?” Then, “I’m cast. Now what do I do?” or “How do I hold my own when he’s speaking Russian, and I’m the only Irish guy?” and “What if I start losing my accent?” And then a very important chapter is “Adapting to Dialect for the Stage.” Because you can’t have a full-on Yorkshire or Cockney accent up there. No one will understand you. I’m about clarity and pulling back and pulling back.

Then I’ve got a full bibliography of the dialect sets that are out there. I have a list in the back [of the book] of thirty-five different accents and the different movies you can see. I like leading people to movies because they’re clearer in movies. And I even tell people in the Dialect Directory, “Don’t watch THIS movie. The accent’s terrible.” (Laughs.)

AG: Thank you so much for coming in and answering our questions today! It was really great to meet you.

GK: Yeah, sure, sure!