Shadowing Question for Damien

Badjack   Fri May 30, 2008 12:37 am GMT
I'm a native speaker of Standard American English. I've learned to speak French without an American accent by listening carefully and doing my best to imitate the French speaker. It helped that I lived in Northern France for a year and as a result my French pronunciation leans heavily toward a northern French accent. I've been told by French people that they cannot tell that I didn't grow up in their neighborhood.

My question is: Is what I described above "shadowing"? And do you think I could use the same method for learning to speak with a Scottish accent? I read once that Kenneth Brannagh had to learn an American accent for his role in the film Dead Again and that he went into a department store in New York to try out his accent in real life and that it scared the hell out of him. I think if I had to do that in Scottland it would feel like standing on a high dive 30 feet above the water. Exhilirating because of the fear. What an adrenaline rush. Can anyone relate to that?
Damian in Edinburgh   Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:24 pm GMT
Ooops.....sorry I missed this one and only just found it.......I will respond sometime tomorrow as it's a wee bit late here now and I have to be up with the milkman in the morning.....lucky old him....seriously, I will respond to you, Badjack, but I have to to to bed now and catch up with some sleep as its the start of a very busy week tomorrow.

Good for you on your French speaking ability.

btw: It's Scotland....(only one T required. :-) And Scotland is very exhilarating. As is ANY adrenaline rush. And if you shadow Kenneth Branagh (only one N required) you'll not necessarily be speaking in a Scottish (two Ts required in this one) accent but in a bloody good English English accent. But if you are an American (standard AE speaker) what would your reasons be for wanting to speak with a Scottish accent? This sounds like something out of another thread currently in operation....
Badjack   Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:35 am GMT
Also, I have another question, Damien are you gay ?
KC   Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:29 am GMT
Badjack, this was uncalled for. Damian's just trying to help you out.
Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:22 am GMT
Dinnae fret, KC ....... Badjack is entitled to ask anything he wants, and besides....I've seen and heard it all before........ :-)

This is an open forum and people have every right to say anything they feel like saying (although some - not Badjack I hasten to add - do go Beyond the Fringes of decency now and again, but - hey ho! - this is the internet after all........
Xie   Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:24 am GMT
Our OP has probably been framed.
Damian in Edinburgh   Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:27 am GMT
and yes, I am gay, and i like to take it up the ass, and to suck dirty dicks...I also like to swallow...
Badjack   Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:02 pm GMT
That other poster asking if Damien is gay was not me... it was an imposter. And since anyone can post here without registering, anyone can use whatever name they like. I would not ask Damien a question like that because I consider it bad manners to ask personal questions from people I don't know in a public forum. It's inappropriate.

Damien, thank you for taking time to answer my question.
Badjack   Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:20 pm GMT
I wanted to respond to Damien's question about my motives for learning a Scottish accent. I do voiceovers, radio advertisements, etc. Occasionally a Scottish accent is required and I've always avoided those auditions as I've avoided jobs that require English or Aussie accents.

I subscribed to some podcasts from Scotland (one 't', of course) and burned them to a cd. I think I'm getting the hang of it. There's a cabbie from Edinburgh who has a podcast that I enjoy and I've been shadowing his speech.

By the way, Xie, how did you know I had been framed? You're very good!
Guest   Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:50 pm GMT
It's not about you B. Damian has an enemy here. An enemy that needs an enema.
Guest   Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:56 pm GMT
It's not about you B. Damian has an enemy here. An enemy that needs an enema.

He wants to be his boyfriend in reality.
Guest   Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:04 pm GMT
He wants to be his girlfriend, he just doesn't know it yet.
Flizz   Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:09 pm GMT
<But if you are an American (standard AE speaker) what would your reasons be for wanting to speak with a Scottish accent?>

Probably the same reasons Madonna has to suddenly flip to an English accent. Some people like to reinvent themselves so much that they even reinvent their accents. parrots do that all the time.
Badjack   Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:20 pm GMT
Good job Flizz. I want to walk around my town dressed as Madonna but speaking in the voice of Sean Connerie. You tried to read my mind instead of my earlier post where I actually described my motivation. Thanks for assigning motive to me without knowing me. You're quite the detective. Scroll to my post from 4:20 PM Sherlock. You may see a clue.
Flizz   Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:24 pm GMT
Badjack, that was meant to be just a joke. Sorry! I meant no offense.

But this was even funnier: "I want to walk around my town dressed as Madonna but speaking in the voice of Sean Connerie". I should try that one day here in Rio de janeiro during carnival. Excellent idea.