2. Harden your consonants. As a general rule, Americans have gotten lazy in their speech. "Ladder" and "latter" are pronounced the same in the US, but not to an Irishman. Give each consonant its due (with the exception of the next rule!).
As a beginning sound, /d/ often sounds like /d͡ʒ/ or the sound that a J makes in most variants of English. That is, "due" will