Talking like Donald Duck can be a great trick to impress friends and make kids laugh. The character of Donald Duck has been around for over 85 years and his voice is immediately recognizable to people of all ages around the world. The key to pulling off a great Donald Duck impression is to perfect the voice of Donald Duck and make use of some of Donald’s trademark quotes or sayings. Anyone can do it, it just takes a good deal of practice to master the technique.
Method 1: Sounding Like Donald
Step 1: Put your tongue to the roof of your mouth
Put your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Open your teeth slightly. Place your tongue so the top of your tongue is lightly touching the roof of your mouth.
Step 2: Twist your tongue a little to the left or right
Twist your tongue a little to the left or right. Go with whatever direction feels more comfortable to you. Put the side of your tongue slightly inside the space between your upper and lower teeth.
Step 3: Press your tongue
Press your tongue. Push your tongue against the inside of the teeth on the side of your mouth. Use enough pressure that the tongue remains in contact with the teeth, but loose enough that you can push air between your tongue and teeth.
Step 4: Vibrate your tongue
Vibrate your tongue. Blow air and direct it into the cheek that your tongue is on. Use your cheek to push the air through the gap behind or between your teeth and your tongue. When you push the air through properly, you will hear a high-pitched, hoarse sound.
- Try pushing the air through different spaces between your tongue and your teeth until you hit a good spot. It might be difficult at first to make the sound consistently, but keep at it. Getting this voice down will require strengthening muscles of your mouth you’re not used to using for speaking.
- Be patient. It took the current actor that plays Donald Duck a full year of training to get the voice right.
Step 5: Form words as you would with your own voice
Form words as you would with your own voice. Most of the work in changing your voice should be done with your mouth, not your vocal cords. If you are feeling any soreness in your throat you should take a break. Talking like Donald, especially attempting a long Donald Duck rant, takes a lot of breath and can make you light-headed. Even the voice actor that plays Donald needs a break after a long rant so be sure you don’t overdo it.
- To make the angry Donald sound make the normal Donald noise while shaking your head so your cheeks flap and vibrate the sound.
- Some letters are easier to say than others. For example, when Donald Duck says the word “little,” it sounds like “widdle.” Changes to letter pronunciation will come naturally as a limitation to speaking in his voice.
Method 2: Using Donald Phrases
Step 1: Use Donald Duck expressions
Use Donald Duck expressions. “Boy, oh boy!” This is one of the most common expressions used by Donald Duck and can be heard in most of his dialogues. It can be added on to the beginning of most sentences and can express a wide range of emotions.
- Use some of Donald’s other favorite words like “scram,” “phooey” and “doggone” continually. Donald also likes to ask the question, “What’s the big idea?”
Step 2: Have a lot of tantrums
Have a lot of tantrums. Donald is a famously cranky duck that gets angry over just about anything. Work on making angry Donald Duck noises. Try making an angry quacking noise while doing the Donald Duck voice.
Step 3: Inflect your voice like Donald Duck
Inflect your voice like Donald Duck. Donald Duck speaks in an animated way. Listen to some clips of Donald speaking and pay attention to the pitch and tone of his voice. When he is excited he tends to speak faster in a much higher pitch. When he is sad the pitch drops and his speech slows down.
Tips
- Some words are harder to say than others. Try words like “hello” and “what?” (for hello he would pronounce it like “hewow”).
- Play around with different mouth, tongue, and lip positions.
- Make sure you stay hydrated, it does not work as well with a dry mouth.
Warnings
- What makes Donald Duck’s voice unique is that it primarily uses the inner cheek rather than the larynx. If you are using your throat and feel strained, this is not the correct technique.
- You may feel lightheaded, (if so, take a break). In his later years, Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck would take frequent breaks to avoid overexerting himself.
