The Wrong Accent

Andres had been an actor in Mexico City for eight years, so he was thrilled when his agent called with news from London. A British TV series wanted him for a small role: a Mexican chef who works in a restaurant in a village in Yorkshire. There was only one problem. In the last episode, the chef has lived in the village for twenty years, and the director wanted him to speak exactly like the locals.

The production company paid for an accent coach called Gerald. Gerald was very serious and very expensive. He spoke slowly and clearly, and he drew diagrams of the mouth on a whiteboard. After three lessons, Andres was more confused than before. "Your vowels are still too Spanish," Gerald said. "Try harder." Andres went home every evening feeling exhausted and a little embarrassed.

He was staying in a small house in Leeds, in a spare room that belonged to a retired nurse called Mrs. Pickles. She was seventy-three, she talked more than anyone he had ever met, and she was far more patient than Gerald. One night she found him in the kitchen, repeating the word "bus" again and again.

"You're saying it like a Londoner, love," she said. "Up here we say it short. Like this: bus. Same sound as in put." She made him a cup of tea and sat down. "Now say this: I'm going up the road for a cup of tea." He tried. She laughed so loudly that the cat ran out of the room. "Better," she said. "Much better. But less posh."

After that, they practiced every evening. Mrs. Pickles didn't use diagrams. She used stories: about her husband, about the factory where her father worked, about the best fish and chip shop in town. Andres listened carefully and copied the music of her voice, not just the sounds. The more he listened, the more naturally the words came. He learned that people in Yorkshire often say "love" to strangers, that "nowt" means "nothing" and that a bread roll can have five different names depending on where you are.

On the first day of filming, Gerald watched him with his arms crossed. Andres said his lines calmly and confidently. When the director shouted "Cut!", there was a moment of silence. "Where did you learn to speak like that?" Gerald asked, surprised. "From a much better teacher," Andres answered with a smile.

When the episode was shown on television, Mrs. Pickles invited all her neighbors to watch it. She was the proudest woman on the street. "He sounds just like my brother," she told everyone. "Only more handsome."