New York is a very special city. The way of speaking of its inhabitants is generally different from traditional American English, both in the accent and in the sentences used. Learn the pronunciation of vowels and consonants, perfect some words and practice whenever you can: in no time, you will be speaking like a real New Yorker!
Steps
Step 1. New York English should be pronounced as if you were projecting words directly out of your mouth, keeping your lips slightly puckered
The first thing to do is to learn the pronunciation of some words:
- "Tomorrow" becomes "te-ma-ro" ("te" is a cross between the "a" and the "o")
- "Sunday" is simply "sun-dA"
- "Monday" is "Mun-dey"
- "Tuesday" is "Twos-dey"
- "Wednesday" is "Wehn-s-dey"
- "Thursday" is "Therrs-dey" ("err" is pronounced with the "r" rotic)
- "Friday" is "Fry-dey"
- "Saturday" is "Sater-dey"
Step 2. Learn to pronounce consonants:
- In the New York accent, the "r" at the end of a word is almost never pronounced. In some cases it is a slightly rotic "r".
- The "g" at the end of the words in "-ing" is not pronounced. (The biggest exception is "Long Island" which is pronounced "Lawn Guyland"). So, "going" is pronounced "goin '" while "here" will be "hea".
- The hard "th" at the beginning or center of words has a sound between "d" and "th" (similar to the "d" rotica), but if you can't, use the classic "d" sound.
- The sweet "th", in words like "both", sounds like a "t" as if the "h" was not there, so "both" is pronounced like "boat" and the number 3 becomes "tree", as in the Irish accent.
Step 3. Learn to pronounce vowels:
- The first word you need to learn to pronounce is "new", as in "New York" or "New Jersey". It is pronounced "Noo". There seems to be only a few words in which it occurs, such as "two" or "stupid" while "few" and "cue" are pronounced normally, ie keeping the sound of the "u".
- Many words that have the "o" sound (such as "coffee") are pronounced with the "aw" sound; eg the word "dog" will sound more like "dawg" and "coffee" will be "cawfee".
- Many "a" are pronounced like "o": "talk" is pronounced "tolk" and "call" is pronounced "coll".
- The short "o" is rare in New York English. Words that have a long "i" in the middle like "liar" use the sound "aw" so "liar" is pronounced almost like "lawyer" (it sounds like it was on purpose!).
Step 4. Get the accent
The voice is usually deep and the words are spoken in a relaxed way. Since New York has a strong presence of Italians, particularly in Staten Island and Brooklyn (Staten Island is still 44% Italian, the highest percentage in the country), people who are descended from Italian families and who live in those areas continue to have a slightly Italian accent. So for those who know the Italian accent it becomes easier to learn the New York accent. Think Sylvester Stallone!
The equally popular Hebrew version of acent is more nasal: your throat should feel constricted. Some characters who use this accent are Jerry Lewis and Fran Drescher (the protagonist of "The Nanny"). Even "Judge Judy"
Step 5. Improve the attitude
Talking like a New Yorker is more about how you say things, what you say specifically. New Yorkers are renowned for being straightforward, confident and categorical. They talk a lot, and very loudly!
Step 6. Use some local conversational phrases
The typical ones are: "Get outa hea", "Fawget aboutit" and "Ahrite ahready".
Say "hey" instead of "hi" or "hello" and say it quickly
Advice
- In New York the word "like" is used very often and abbreviations of words or phrases are used a lot.
- Try to use the word "like" in the sentences you say.
- Instead of saying "kind of" you say "kinda".
- Instead of "you know" you say "ya knoaw".
