STAMBERG: I asked Sam to coach me, a New Yorker, to do an Irish accent. Steadier work and decent money - more jobs for coaches than actors, after all - but he loves doing both and is lucky to have a steady fallback. STAMBERG: Sam Lilja himself is an actor on Broadway now in 'The Inheritance.' When he's not acting, he coaches. And that illusion can be broken if the mask slips. STAMBERG: Saoirse Ronan up for a best actress Oscar as Jo March in 'Little Women' - her dialect coach Sam left her lilt alone but took care that nobody's obvious mess-up would stick out like a sore tongue. Maybe I shouldn't tell you that because then everyone will know where I slipped up. I mean, usually, like, when I get quite emotional, obviously, it'll come out more. They wanted a 19th-century American accent with a smidge of Europe still in their mouths. STAMBERG: They didn't want a today American accent. LILJA: (As Jo March) Those are just stories, of course. And Irish - I noticed a certain un-American lilt from Saoirse every now and then. STAMBERG: Brit speech is peppier, Sam thinks. LILJA: There's more a rapidity and alacrity in the way that the Brits speak with their consonants, as opposed to an American who sort of lives in the vowels. STAMBERG: Dialect coach Sam says, in addition to accent, the pace of speech was different, too. RONAN: Everyone will just have, like, a funny little sound, you know? But I would have to give that note every once in a while to some of the Brits on the set. LILJA: The word been - B-E-E-N - Saoirse didn't say been as a Brit would. And with the British actors, a word that to us sounds like a nutritious legume kept popping up. The Irish R is heavier than the American R. RONAN: Talking to her in American, getting her warmed up - some actors spend whole days speaking their foreign language. LILJA: I was in the hair and makeup trailer with her every morning before the shoot. Still, there were long days starting at 4:30 a.m.

STAMBERG: Sam says Saoirse Ronan was very good with her American accent. The dialect coaches that are worth their weight in gold - and Sam is one of them - comes in, doesn't make a big thing out of it and then get out again. STAMBERG: Wasn't that annoying to you hearing notes between each tick? If there was a sound that was coming out more Irish, he would come over. LILJA: I was on set every day for every take and would sit as close as I could to the action and give a note between a take. Lucky for him, they had all played Americans before. So dialect coach Sam Lilja had the erstwhile British empire to work with. STAMBERG: Pugh is the best supporting actress Oscar nominee. Emma Watson is English, and she plays Meg. STAMBERG: None of the March sister actors is American. And I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. And they've got talent as well as just beauty. RONAN: (As Jo March) Women - they have minds, and they have souls, as well, as just hearts.

STAMBERG: But in this story of four American sisters in 19th century New England, the Irish disappears. SAOIRSE RONAN: My gateway into understanding a character - it always inevitably ends up being through the accent and how the character speaks. Saoirse Ronan, who portrays Jo March in 'Little Women,' has a rich, thick, glorious Irish accent. STAMBERG: And then they play his recording over and over to get it in their own mouths.

LILJA: I will speak it for them, or I will record their lines for them. Some of dialect coach Sam Lilja's actors do the same thing. So, of course, I had trouble and wrote it out phonetically. The Irish best actress nominee's name is Saoirse Ronan. SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: I have a piece of paper in front of me in which I have written capital SIR - SHUH. And Susan needed a little coaching for one of their names. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg learned about coaching from a fellow who worked on the dialect of all the actors in 'Little Women.' Two of his cast members are up for Oscars, one for best actress, one for best supporting actress. The wrong accent at the wrong time can distract the audience and break the illusion. But they're on the set of countless movies and vital to films. Tomorrow night's Oscar ceremonies don't include a category for best dialect coach.

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