American vs British accent

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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:00 pm

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?

Quite funny you should mention that. About 20 years ago I was bussing around Turkey. The long distance buses played videos for the passengers. One showed Universal Soldier dubbed into Turkish. You know, that film made a damn sight more sense in Turkish - a language I cannot understand - than it did in English. I saw the undubbed version after I got home, I couldn't stick it past 15 minutes.

Talking of Turkish TV, some of it was utter tripe, but there were one or two good shows that were quite good. One of which is a comedian. The one that sticks in memory is he was a country bumpkin arrived in Istanbul, meets an old friend who had tried to rob him. They are SOOO bad as criminals everything they do is screwed up except once. However, they have stolen a briefcase of drugs instead. To sell the drugs on, one dresses up as Chinese while the other poses as a toughie. Really funny slapstick humour. Never found who the comedian was, which is a pity.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 7:40 pm

Dominic West fooled me with his American accent. I watched over a season of "The Wire" before I learned he was a Brit.

I agree with others, that Americans can bungle regional (especially southern) accents as easily as British accents. Most times when they try to do a southern accent they go too far over the top (ala Tom Hanks in "Ladykillers".)

Here are some pointers for those of you who do not speak American - Southern.

"All y'all" is the plural of "y'all".

It is not soda, or pop...it is "coke"...As in: "What kind of coke do you want?" "I want a Mt. Dew."

"Fixin' to" can be a quite useful phrase. "We called their house and they said they were fixin to come on over."

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

IM_Dumm wrote:

It is not soda, or pop...it is "coke"...As in: "What kind of coke do you want?" "I want a Mt. Dew."

That depends on where you are in the U.S. For example, in Iowa it's "Pop". It's "Soda" in California and "Coke" here in Texas. Somebody actually did a study and put his findings on a map.

You can see the map here

http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/popvssodamap.gif

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

In Scotland and the rest of the UK there is also a variation in what these drinks are called
the west of Scotland it tends to be "ginger"
here its "fizzy juice"
and elsewhere "pop"

best ask for Irn Bru to be safe

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:41 pm

Gary Oldman was sufficiently convincing as a Detroit drug dealer with dreadlocks in True Romance.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:44 pm

Quote:

That depends on where you are in the U.S.

Agreed. I was referencing southern phrases.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:46 pm

MrFigaro wrote:

That depends on where you are in the U.S. For example, in Iowa it's "Pop". It's "Soda" in California and "Coke" here in Texas. Somebody actually did a study and put his findings on a map.

When I lived in Texas (San Antonio) it was "soda water." My wife grew up in Louisiana where it is "cold drinks."

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:32 am

Gytha, you almost made me wreck my computer...

Quote:

Stephen Hawkins does a good American accent

I thought Stephen Hawking...

Silly funny...

Oh my...

Recover...

Whew...

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:23 am

^^^^ what you said!

windypops wrote:

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

Ahh, I see you've never been to an ex-pat community's Jumble Sale!
Or alternatively, a do at the British Club in Lebanon or similar in honour of Her Maj's birthday. Shocked

Poland doesn't manufacture enough Zubrowka to drown those memories!

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:32 am

Mike Myers and Kevin Kline do English (and other) accents very well, even though they're not 'Mericans. According to an English co-worker, Myers does the English-English better than many English people. Then there's guys like Sean Connery and Billy Connoly, but they probably don't count because they're Scottish.

I'll bet Eddie Murphy can do the English accent, but I wouldn't want to see Jack Nicholson try it.

Of course I'm a Canadian, so I have no accent at all. Some people think we have accents, but they don't know what they're talking aboot, eh.

(Actually, I've never met a Canadian who says "aboot". But it's still funny.)

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:50 am

Russell Crowe's English accent in "Robin Hood" was dire.
Yeah, I know he's Australian and not US but if we're talking movie accents, it's up there with the worst.
In one interview, he was asked why he gave his character an Irish brogue.
He walked out in a huff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr-6ZjlGuBU

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:17 pm

Dick Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins has to be the worst? Unless he was told to do it badly on purpose.

The chap from California did a great job with the West Country accent in Lord of the Rings (playing the fat one)

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:43 pm

Touring England last year, I came across a quaint little village called Birmingham.

Do they have a language all to themselves ? .... I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Confused

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 4:15 pm

Don't get me started on Brummie acents....

'Cup of Tea' = 'Kipper Tie'

I'd forgotten about Russel Crowe taking umbrage to Radio 4 having a go at his accent - what is it about being cast as Robin Hood that makes accent mangling compulsory?

For Brits, more dodgy Northern accent from Cindy Beale from Eastenders, who has turned up in the Rovers Return on Coronation Street. puke

Manuel from Fawlty Towers managed better......

What do you think of Michelle Collins's accent in Coronation Street?

Quote:

She may have one of the least convincing Mancunian accents since Daphne Moon in Frasier but Michelle Collins, newly arrived in Coronation Street, is not alone. Viewers might question her northern tones – yesterday even Freddie Flintoff waded into the fray – but Weatherfield is home to a number of accents that prove more often distracting than engaging.

This Guardian article even mentions Dick Van Dyke - Mary Poppins may have been filmed in 1964, but Britain hasn't forgiven him yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te_Nv3lMUnA

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:33 pm

I did work with a chap from Wolverhampton recently. Even though he sat fairly near to me, I used to ask him to email me with any queries 'cos I couldn't understand a bloody word he said.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:41 pm

An old Northener women started talking at my grandparents house.
My god, i'm glad im an East Anglian boy.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:12 pm

/\/\ Don't worry, iMike and I can translate for you. Meanwhile, aren't you East Anglians all related to the same potato or something?

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:46 pm

^^
We are the master race.

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:30 am

Olly3008 wrote:

An old Northener women started talking at my grandparents house.
My god, i'm glad im an East Anglian boy.

You need to define 'northern'. There's a whole range from the grating whine (scouse, Salford etc) to the completely unintelligible (Yorkshire, Geordie). Wink

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:50 pm

Yorkies im alright with, but Scousers, Geordies and scots, jesus.

Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:01 pm

Rooted wrote:

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.

She is getting another shot. We'll see how it turns out.

Just wondering: aren't there any British actresses capable of doing Lady Thatcher? I know Helen Mirren already did the Queen, but there must be somebody who could do it.

Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:22 am

lakeside77 wrote:

Just wondering: aren't there any British actresses capable of doing Lady Thatcher? I know Helen Mirren already did the Queen, but there must be somebody who could do it.

Chris Barrie (bloke, best known for being Rimmer in Red Dwarf) had it pretty nailed on Spitting Image

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBZ8cH1eVc

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 08 May 2009 Posts: 90

Along these same lines, why do people lose their accent when they sing? The beatles come to mind.

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:34 am

@ psychicbait, I know they exist in the wild really. I go to the opera when funds allow and have had some experience. Wink

The Yanks have it sorted, when it comes to sports commentators. They must have some kind of special breeding program to produce bass-baritones.

I wonder what they would have made of Murray Walker? Laughing

Edited to add some famous Murryisms delivered at 16000 rpm. Wink

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 6:17 pm

bumsnacks wrote:

...why do people lose their accent when they sing?.

Well, certainly in UK, almost all singers try to sound as if they are American.

(Irritates me no end)

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