Speak with Distinction: The Classic Skinner Method to Speech on the Stage

This book is an original. Truly the top when it comes to learning IPA. I used this book years back when I attended acting conservatory and rebought it today to refresh and I am still as happy today as I was back then!

This book is a must have for anyone who wants to increase their voice skills. this is a textbook for my vocal production and audition class. it's necessary for actors to pronounce words correctly. for the everyday person, we must be understood. this book teaches the international phonetic alphabet that covers all the possible sounds spoken in the american language. it is a how to manual that guides you through each sound. this book is invaluable to anyone that wants to improve one's voice. there are plenty drills and exercises in the book for one to practice. the coolest thing about this method is that it teaches you exactly where to place your tongue to make the appropriate sounds. i don't know you but that is very useful. in schools we were taught to imitate and mimic through repeatition. i find it much more easier to learn voice when one know how sounds are produce instead of trial and error. this is a classic book for anyone to get because we all communicate. my teacher and i'm sure many others, call this the bible of voice training. anyone that requires voice for their livelihood must get this book, especially a hypnotherapist or a presenter.

If you are an actor or a public speaker you know this importance of speaking properly.This book is like the bible for people looking to speak proper STANDARD AMERICAN (SAP). Comes complete with top-notch exercises to help you hone your proper speaking ability.People will treat you differently when you speak with distinction!!!

As the title says "Speak with Distinction", the emphasis is on "distinction". How distinct the speech described in this book? It is distinct from any dialect in the states--whether is general american (mid western) or new york/boston or southern. It is called 'Standard' in some circles. This stage standard was ( is? ) taught in many conservatories, theater/voice schools across the states. Recently, there is a backlash against this kind of teaching to aspiring actors, and this backlash has resulted in "Knight-Thompson speechwork", whose book is "Speaking with skill: a skills based approach to speech training".What is this book good for? If you want a set of words with a particular vowel (lexical sets), or a particular combination of consonants (start, end and middle), this is handy. This book also contains many phrases, sentences, tongue twisters of a sort. You can use this book as reference and use the dialect/accent (say Jamaican accent) to train your students.

The book itself has incredible explanations for standard american dialect. HOWEVER DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE VERSION. It is basically useless. The pages are cut in half in bizarre formats, the pages are not, numbered correctly, and the text size changes for no reason. BUY A HARD COPY.

Although there is some excellent guidance and a host of terrific exercise material, the outdated snobbery about speech patterns, and the eccentric insistence on longhand IPA symbols, make it unnecessarily limited and limiting for today's actor. Edith Skinner was a supremely knowledgeable teacher who made massive contributions to the field. It's a pity that the overall view embodied in this book is so blinkered. My hope is that the next edition will include the use of a proper IPA font and a less prejudiced, less prescriptive, attitude about variations in American English as it is pronounced by native speakers.

This book is a MUST have for any actor or public speaker. It goes over the phonetic alphabet and teaches you how to say all the vowels and consonants spot on. It helps you shape your mouth and your tongue for proper sounds. It teaches you how to write and read phonetics. If you want to speak well or use a dialect well, this book is needed. This book should be in every actors home! NO EXCUSES! Amazing. Written by the one and only Edith Skinner. Look her up if you do not know her. OWN THIS BOOK!

So, the book is fine and all, but I specifically wanted the edition with the CD, and the CD didn't arrive. Very disappointed.

Very interesting and informative read. Good buy!

I'm looking for book and cd to listen to the correct spelling and pronunciation,but it wasn't inside.I was a little worried about it. It's really difficult to study it alone.I will pay a teacher.

I find it clear, simple yet scholarly. perfect for actors. highly recommend it , though not to foreigners working without guidance.

The book is amazing, probably a must for an actor. The copy I was delivered, though, lacked its audio CD.

Nice book to read, but i think it is overvalued for this money. CD was not good even to listen to.