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Post by juju on Mar 1, 2015 17:56:10 GMT
I've just watched Angelina Jolie in Maleficent and thought her 'British' accent was really good. These days there seems to be a lot of crossover of roles, with American actors using British accents (especially in fantasy stuff such as Game of Thrones), or British actors doing American accents, like Idris Elba in The Wire.
Most seem to do it really well, although there are exceptions - Peter Dinklage is fantastic in G of T but his accent gets a bit odd at times - but so far no one has hit the cringeworthy low of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
I can't really tell whether Brits doing American (or any other accent) are getting it right though. Anyone stand out as particularly toe curling?
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Post by JoeP on Mar 1, 2015 18:18:00 GMT
Hugh Laurie in House is supposed to be particularly good.
Of course many Brits in Hollywood movies are specifically there for their apparently villainous British accents.
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Post by juju on Mar 1, 2015 19:02:15 GMT
Hugh Laurie in House is supposed to be particularly good. Of course many Brits in Hollywood movies are specifically there for their apparently villainous British accents. Yeah, that whole British accent = villain was getting really tedious. These days though, probably thanks to things like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, most fantasy type series and films are done in British accents (or with British actors) - apparently American accents seem wrong on people wearing tunics and cloaks!
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Post by Miisa on Mar 1, 2015 19:13:38 GMT
I give Game of Thrones a free pass as it is a fictional world.
But it is true that American accents seem wrong in historical stuff, even though it isn't really any further from what the reality would have been than the English ones. The various Robin Hood films leap to mind, where at least one - with Costner's American accent - just felt off. There is even the argument made that US accents might be more historically accurate, as they, like many other colonial traditions, tend to be inherently conservative and thus closer to what was spoken in some parts of England in the 1600's than was is spoken there today.
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Post by Kye on Mar 1, 2015 19:14:33 GMT
Hugh Laurie's American accent was so impeccable that I didn't know that House was him until season 2, and even then I had a hard time believing it.
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Post by Miisa on Mar 1, 2015 19:20:50 GMT
I saw Love Actually several times while also watching The Walking Dead before I realized Andrew Lincoln who plays Rick in TWD is played by a Brit. I assumed he was an American actor, probably really from Georgia, and couldn't connect him at all with Mark from Love Actually. But I don't know how good he sounds to Americans.
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Post by JoeP on Mar 1, 2015 19:37:49 GMT
No Americans have replied to this thread yet. Don't you find that suspicious?
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Accents
Mar 1, 2015 20:10:52 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Mar 1, 2015 20:10:52 GMT
I give Game of Thrones a free pass as it is a fictional world. But it is true that American accents seem wrong in historical stuff, even though it isn't really any further from what the reality would have been than the English ones. The various Robin Hood films leap to mind, where at least one - with Costner's American accent - just felt off. There is even the argument made that US accents might be more historically accurate, as they, like many other colonial traditions, tend to be inherently conservative and thus closer to what was spoken in some parts of England in the 1600's than was is spoken there today. I think you're right. It's quite interesting how the 'colonies' have very different accents though - I wonder where the Aussie accent came from? As for fictional worlds, I think it depends what sort of world it is. If it's meant to be historical in look, then American accents may again feel wrong, even though it's just fantasy and shouldn't make any difference.
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Post by juju on Mar 1, 2015 23:09:47 GMT
Just found this article, which talks about the whole subject: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554816 I wonder about regional accents though. Most Americans are fine at doing RP (Received Pronunciation, i.e. a neutral British or 'posh' accent), but maybe not regional accents. So I wonder what accents British actors have when doing 'American'? House, for example? Idris Elba in The Wire? Andrew Lincoln? Do they sound regional at all?
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Post by Mari on Mar 2, 2015 19:16:35 GMT
Obviously the voice actors in the English method of my school are not the same as the actors in films, but their accents are mostly horrible, especially the American ones. They do a pretty decent British one, though not posh English. That is usually very exaggerated. Actually, the people doing the voices are just English speaking people who live in the Netherlands now.
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Post by Moose on Mar 2, 2015 22:00:07 GMT
To me, various British accents sound as different from one another as do 'foreign' accents. I can only tell about three American accents tho. Question: does, for instance, a Geordie or a brummie accent sound 'British' to foreign ears?
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Post by Mari on Mar 3, 2015 5:41:33 GMT
To me it does.
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Accents
Mar 3, 2015 8:25:40 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Mar 3, 2015 8:25:40 GMT
I could easily tell the difference between a southern US and a northern east coast one. I would also recognise a New York accent, but anywhere else I might struggle a bit.
I used to think a Welsh accent was all the same but now I know it varies a great deal, especially from north to south.
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Post by Kye on Mar 3, 2015 15:11:43 GMT
Unless the USer is from the deep south, American accents and Canadian accents sound much the same. I can tell a Newfoundland accent (in Canada) but except for very subtle difference, we all sound just about the same (and I have a good ear). I know it's not like that in the UK. To me all UK accents sound so British and non-North American that it tends to eclipse the regional differences which as so apparent to the British.
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Post by juju on Mar 4, 2015 9:05:42 GMT
I think this has been posted before, but can non Brits hear the differences in this video? www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mzWkuOxz8Just watched Gwyneth Paltrow in 'Emma' last night. Her accent was impeccable, but once again it was RP (posh) rather than regional. Aussie Toni Collette also sounded great.
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Post by JoeP on Mar 4, 2015 10:24:42 GMT
Welsh people sometimes even sound a bit drunk? Never!
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Post by Alvamiga on Mar 4, 2015 11:50:40 GMT
Sometimes?
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Post by raspberrybullets on Mar 8, 2015 2:35:39 GMT
I rather like that of late Aussies are being allowed to keep their Aussie accents in US TV. In the past they mostly put on American accents. I think some people are just good at doing accents, just as they can be good at doing voices of other poeple. And actors of course, would be the sort of people you'd expect to do good accents.
I've heard Americans do great Aussie accents but I've also heard plenty of shockers. Think Quentin Terrintino in Django Unchained - that was awful! I think the Aussie accent is derived a bit from Cockney British, mixed with Irish and well then I guess it just develops it's own flavour at some point. I find that Brits are usually better at doing an Aussie accent than Amercians in any case.
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Post by spaceflower on Mar 13, 2015 15:55:52 GMT
I'm sometimes not even sure if I see a Brithish or an American police series. Though if I have a hard time to understand the British accent it may be that the series is situtated in Yorkshire.
If someone speaks British in an American film, I suspect he's the villain. And if I hear the southern drawl, I smell evil.
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Post by jayme on Apr 1, 2015 0:27:51 GMT
I think this is as good a place for this as any...
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Apr 13, 2015 10:02:55 GMT
Unless the USer is from the deep south, American accents and Canadian accents sound much the same. I can tell a Newfoundland accent (in Canada) but except for very subtle difference, we all sound just about the same (and I have a good ear). I know it's not like that in the UK. To me all UK accents sound so British and non-North American that it tends to eclipse the regional differences which as so apparent to the British. Except that ... many Canadians have dark, clipped vowels that are quite distinctive from US accents (and wholly unlike the gutterals that abound in Standard Mordorian).
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