American vs British accent

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Posts: 9

Hugh Laurie, Linus Roach, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and a few others come to mind when I think of British people doing an American accent. Each one of them surprised me when I found out they were not Americans. On the other side, Renee Zellweger is really the only American doing a British accent with any real success that I can think of.

So, my question is, is it easier for a Brit to do an American accent or an American to do a British accent?

Also, can anybody from the UK tell us what, if any, Americans fooled them when they found out they were not British.

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:33 pm

Apart from the obvious (Gawd blimey Mary Poppins'!) my favourite Yank doing a British accent is Gwyneth Paltrow in sliding doors. I think her vocal chords are in her nose.

Those actors you mention, doing American accents grate with me a little. Are they really that accurate? Maybe it's because I know what they sound like speaking normally.

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:43 pm

Christopher Guest and Michael McKean in Spinal Tap do excellent British accents - even giving their characters a bit of regional inflection as well.

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:30 pm

I was in Germany a few weeks ago. I got tired of watching BBC, one of the very few channels in English, so I watched Brave Heart dubbed in German (which I don't speak a word of).. In the regular version, Gibson speaks with an excruciating Scottish brogue. Now I'm wondering if the dubbed version was German with a Scottish accent. Is that even possible?

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 3:57 pm

having travelled trough both countries quite a lot, what do you mean by British or American accent? there are hundreds

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I was very surprised to find out James Doohan wasn't Scottish

hahahahahahaha

Master Baiter Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 128

luckey wrote:

I was in Germany a few weeks ago. I got tired of watching BBC, one of the very few channels in English, so I watched Brave Heart dubbed in German (which I don't speak a word of).. In the regular version, Gibson speaks with an excruciating Scottish brogue. Now I'm wondering if the dubbed version was German with a Scottish accent. Is that even possible?

Hi there Luckey
to be honest, the dubbed version just sound so real to us. no scottish accent as far as I now. (we wouldnt know it anyway, as it is hard to pick an accent in another language)
It is funny, not long ago I have seen "the pelican brief" in english, and the voices sounded so strange. The 'german voice' of Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington sounded much more real then the original ones.. lol....

Another little while ago, I saw a beautifull Swiss movie dubbed in high german. It was 'awful'. Didnt relize before how much difference it makes.

Funny
Orange Rose

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:05 pm

Connie Booth in Fawlty Towers and also in Romance With A Double Bass; would have sworn blind that she was British.

Anyone a fan of Lloyd Grossman's for real accent? Laughing

Have always loved Paul Gambaccini's sexy voice/accent ... drawl/drool Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:39 pm

^ Gillian Anderson can switch seamlessly from one accent to another.
She grew up in north London, but moved to the US in her early teens and managed to retain the English accent.

The problem most US actors have when doing an English accent, is they think, or are trained to speak like we are all dead posh or cockney w**kers. Nobody I know sounds like either of the extremes you hear mimicked. Laughing

The Queen, is another one. Nobody talks like that. Confused

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:40 pm

Meryl Streep can do any accent and I was impressed by her British one in The French Lieutenant's Woman.

Not all of them (British or American) pull it off. I remember Michael Caine was less than convincing as a Southerner in Hurry Sundown. Conversely, I thought Julia Roberts should have worked a little harder on her Irish accent in Michael Collins.

Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:48 pm

Hugh Laurie's American accent is really amazing to me. And honestly I didn't recognize him at first when i saw House, I only had remembered him in Black Adder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

When I had visited a friend in Edinburgh I tried to do my best Scottish accent. He said I sounded like I was from India.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 12:45 am

luckey wrote:

so I watched Brave Heart dubbed in German (which I don't speak a word of).. In the regular version, Gibson speaks with an excruciating Scottish brogue.

Well he fooled you well & good considering he is an aussie!

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:03 am

luckey wrote:

I was in Germany a few weeks ago. I got tired of watching BBC, one of the very few channels in English, so I watched Brave Heart dubbed in German (which I don't speak a word of).. In the regular version, Gibson speaks with an excruciating Scottish brogue. Now I'm wondering if the dubbed version was German with a Scottish accent. Is that even possible?

Sometimes they "emulate" it with regional local accents. To take one example, The Flintstones, all posh characters have a Viennese accent.
And a more graphic example, Hogan´s Heroes, Hogan in the synchronized version speaks normal German like all the others of the "heroes" do, while dumbman Klink speaks a strong Saxonian dialect, Schultz Bavarian dialect (which fits his role) and Burkhalter also Viennese dialect (which is where the actor Leon Askin was born FWIK).
In a feeble attempt of synchronizing Monty Python´s Flying Circus, some also have strong dealects.
All dialect speaking is very strong and exaggerated. Well ok, it´s all comedies that I know and can compare the originals and synchronizations.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:55 am

Always the sucker for a saucy dame with a Brit accent. 'cept maybe Cockney... Laughing

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:07 am

Renee Zellweger has it nailed in Bridget Jones. On the other hand Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was pathetic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXTj5nd2oKQ They could get from Dover to Nottingham before nightfall, and railways, too.

Most attempts are laughable, but I get enough entertainment from soft Southerners trying to do a Northern UK accent, and getting the 't' thing all wrong every time.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:27 am

lakeside77 wrote:

Meryl Streep can do any accent ...

Got to disagree on that one!

Meryl Streep's Aussie accent in 'Evil Angels' was so bad that I couldn't bear to watch her movies for years afterwards.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:31 pm

Roycropper wrote:

Most attempts are laughable, but I get enough entertainment from soft Southerners trying to do a Northern UK accent, and getting the 't' thing all wrong every time.

I think that sort of thing is even more irritating. Like William Hurt's attempt to do some sort of New York (or maybe Southie?) tough guy mobster accent in History of Violence. He came off sounding like he should be playing shuffle board down in Boca. Single handedly turned the movie into a comedy.

@Stoney: Please. Give me some credit. Wink

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:24 pm

English is a second language for me. I learned queen's english when I was 9, but being a yankee all this time, it only comes out when I am seriously drunk Shocked

I think if you live in any place for a while you pick up what the local speak Razz

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:31 pm

^^ Quite right. When I lived in Canada and later worked for a Canadian company in the States, I spoke "Canadianese" quite well. Living all over the US I picked up a bundle of regional dialects but the nasally mid-western accent comes through with my southern expressions and the southerners know I was not born in the Deep South.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 720

How does the accents sound just either side of the US Canada border,
only the welsh sound like scousers just over the border with Chester

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:32 pm

All us Brit's have completely different Accents, I for example have been told i sound like an Australian farmer, and people in my area have the slogan "I Cant read and i cant write, but i can drive a tractor" which how we say it is " i C'nt reeeed n i c'nt Write but i cn Drive a Tra-Errr".

Londoners, about and hour down the road, sound different, and most of the country pronounce Bath and Laugh as "Baff and Laff" while i pronounce it "Barth and Larth".

Many different people also skip words, for example those from yorkshire almost never use the word "The". If you ask them to say "Down the lane" they'll say "Down't Layun"

It's Impossible to sound British, as we all sound bloody different.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:53 pm

It's all Greek to me...

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:55 pm

^^
Would you like me to translate? Wink

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:15 pm

I need someone to translate Newfie (Newfoundland) I worked with a few of them, the accent to see sounded like a combination of Irish, and New Englander after stuffing your mouth with oatmeal. If one of them were talking to me directly I could mostly understand them, but talking amongst themselves, made no sense to me whatsoever.

Really cool guys though, they'd give the shirt off their backs to help ya!!

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Stephen Hawkins does a good American accent

One of the worst Brit accents I heard was Daphne Moon in Frasier, ironic as Jane Leeves is a Brit, and as for Daphne's brother Simons accent???

Mind you I know a family where the 2 eldest have Midlands accents like their mum and then the family moved up to Scotland so the youngest has a Scots accent Wink

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