Asian Accents Panel


Welcome to the site for the Asian Accents Panel from the VASTA 2012 Conference in Washington D.C., A Voice for Good. Here you’ll find resources from the panelists for the 5 accents we covered. All resources are copyright their prospective creators.

After the panel presentation, Steven Eng sat down with Marina Tyndall (and Eric Armstrong, who is off camera) to discuss his work as an actor, and the industry’s expectations and challenges for asian actors. It’s a very interesting interview that we’re sure you’ll enjoy. Download the video (mov—274 MB).

Mandarin — Steven Eng


  1. Beijing Mandarin Breakdown (pdf)
  2. Beijing Mandarin sample — male (mp3)
  3. Beijing Mandarin sample 2 – male (mp3)
  4. Beijing Mandarin sample – female (mp3)

Cantonese — Marina Tyndall


  1. Cantonese Breakdown (pdf)
  2. Background & Introduction to Cantonese Speaker (mp3)
  3. Cantonese Informal Speech Sample (mp3)
  4. Cantonese Phrases (mp3)
  5. Observations of Cantonese vocal use (mp3)
  6. Stereotypes of the Cantonese accent (mp3)
  7. Male Cantonese Speaker Comma Gets a Cure (mp3)

Japanese — Eric Armstrong


  1. Japanese Accent Overview (pdf)
  2. IDEA’s Japan 5 sample page Sample | Transcription
  3. Japanese Samples from the internet

Eric recently coached a new play, Arigato Tokyo by Daniel MacIvor which is being produced at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, Canada. He developed a full break-down of a Japanese accent for the show including a complete review of consonants and vowels.

Korean — Jane Guyer Fujita


  1. Korean Accented English Breakdown (pdf)
  2. A Formal Korean Greeting (m4v video)
  3. Korean accent Prosody English vs. Korean (m4v video)
  4. Korean female – dating – lightest accent (mp3)
  5. Korean female – ear piercing (mp3)
  6. Korean female – Korean language (mp3)
  7. Korean female – New Year’s eve (mp3)
  8. Korean female – jobs (mp3)
  9. Korean male – Konglish (mp3)
  10. Korean male – Korean language (mp3)
  11. Korean male – Army (mp3)
  12. Korean male – School in Korea (mp3)

Vietnamese — Erik Singer


  1. Vietnamese Accent (pdf)
  2. Vietnamese ballad - Yêu nhau ghét nhau (mp3)
  3. Vietnamese Language – female (mp3)
  4. Vietnamese Language – male (mp3)
  5. MB Vietnamese sample - female (mp3)
  6. MB Vietnamese - Comma Gets a Cure (mp3)
  7. MB Vietnamese - Arthur the Rat (mp3)
  8. Thich Nhat Han (mp3)

Erik has also provided for your downloading pleasure a zip file of the accent “tokens” that demonstrate each of the features he describes in the #1 pdf above.