There’s a unique excitement in playing a new character, but every role comes with a bit of research and studying. This is especially true for characters who speak differently than you. With some focus, patience, and these six quick tips, learning an accent for your character can be simple, fun, and rewarding.

1. Mimic Until It Hurts

The simplest way to develop a new accent is to mimic other people who speak in that accent. Don’t be embarrassed to even imitate people around you in public. After all, your authentic accent, the way you speak today, was picked up by mimicking the adults around you as a child. Develop your accent even faster by watching YouTube videos, shows, or news reports from the area where your desired accent originates from. Repeat every line you can. Find your inner parrot, and mimic until it hurts.

2. Ask A Friend to Read The Rainbow Passage

The Rainbow Passage is a script used to help students improve their speech, reading comprehension, and accents. Find someone who can read The Rainbow Passage for you in the accent you’d like to learn, then record them and play it back as often as possible. Of course, you’ll still want to mimic the recording, but this may be a much faster process than with a newscast. Depending on the accent, you could also search YouTube for videos of someone reading the passage.

3. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize: The Mouth

Listening and imitating are great when you’re first beginning to learn an accent, but the trick to separating one dialect from another is often in the face. Watching the movement of a person’s lips, cheeks, teeth, tongue, and jaws is invaluable when learning an accent. Notice the pace, movement, and inflections required to nail the accent. If it helps, use a mirror to copy the speaker you’re watching.

4. Research and Use Slang Words You Aren’t Familiar With

English teachers can’t stress enough that students should look up words they aren’t familiar with. The same is important for learning an accent. If the role requires you to play a character from Ireland, for example, you should know the difference between “bollocks” and “bolloxed.” (The former refers to someone you don’t like, and the latter means someone is very wasted). Even with a well-developed accent, your hard work can be derailed if you don’t know common words to use with an accent.

5. Pay Your Way or Download Free Help

When all else fails, there are plenty of accent coaches out there waiting for a client like you! A quick Google search will return millions of results. Thanks to the 21st century, you can save some time and money by giving an app a chance, first. The Real Accent App teaches 10 accents with instructions and lessons from native speakers. The app even has quizzes to grade your understanding of the accents you study. This is just one of several apps available on Apple and Android devices.

6. Try On Your Character’s Shoes

Now that you’re on your way to learning a new accent, don’t forget your character! You are an actor, not a voice magician, and your character has to develop with the accent. Once you’re confident in your learning, start over in your character’s shoes. The learning will be much faster since you’re already in the thick of it. Consider your character’s age, sex, class, education, and any other factors that would play into the dialect your character should use.

Behind every great study session is concentration and patience, so don’t be blinkered or get brassed off. Keep these six tips handy when you’re ready to start learning, and you’ll be gobsmacked at how easily you can develop accents in the future.