Harry Potter's Accents
After watching those films I drew these conclusions:
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) had a cool accent, I think.
Ron Weasley (Rupert) had somekind of Posh Cockney accent,hahaha.
Emma Watson (Hermione) had a snotty and ultra posh accent.
Questions:
Where are those guys from?
Are those real accents or those guys had to modify their speech so they fit into the American stereotype of "the British accent"?
In your opinion, Are those accents annoying? or they are OK?
Where the hell is Emma's accent from? is that a version or RP English?
Do you think she's hot?
Emma speaks like the Queen of England. For the moment as a 15-year-old girl... she's cute, but in 3 or 4 years, she'll be a really, quite attractive woman.
Daniel sounds like he's from somewhere in the Southeast of England. Well, I liked Ron's accent, quite natural in my opinion.
What are your thoughts?
"RP English?" what does it mean? thanks, and by the way I like Daniel Radcliffe's accent, I think he's from London and Emma Watson is from Manchester. Correct me if I'm wrong!
Their accent isn't annoying for me, I even say I like it very much. It's sounds just... flawless English.
sorry it was in the last post
<<Daniel Radcliffe (Harry)>> London
<<Ron Weasley (Rupert)<< Hertfordshire
<<Emma Watson (Hermione)>> Oxfordshire
They are all part of the same family of South Eastern accents, so there's not going to be a great deal of difference between each.
<<Are those real accents or those guys had to modify their speech so they fit into the American stereotype of "the British accent"?>>
They will speak more clearly because they're on film, but South East English accents are the most familiar British accents to Americans. They are perhaps what Americans consider to be a "British accent".
That kid, Daniel Radcliffe, would one day make a great ventriloquist as his top lip seems to have an uncanny ability to remain in a state of paralysis when he speaks.
<<In your opinion, Are those accents annoying? or they are OK?>>
I think it's important to remember that there are only two types of film made in Britain:
Ones with wealthy people from the South East with dialogue like-
"Crikey! Rupert, Tarquin, come quick and look at this ghastly poor person tending our garden, doesn't he look frightfully awful dressed in those smelly old clothes. Just wait until, mummy comes home with Giles and Quentin. Gosh I'm so excited, I can't wait to tell them!"
And films of Northerners & Scots in socially deprived areas (The Full Monty, Billy Elliot, Trainspotting, Raining Stones etc).
I think Daniel (Harry) had the best accent!
Emma had a totally posh one (like she is) because she is from Oxford
Rupert's was ok
Given that they were little kids when the Harry Potter franchise began, with little acting experience, I doubt that any of those actors modified their accents for anyone -- certainly not for an American audience. Those films aren't made solely for our enjoyment, you know!
Plus many of the other characters have different accents, though I can't place all of them very well -- Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, the kid who says "Cornish pixies!", Cho Chang, Harry's original Quidditch captain (whatever his name is).... Michael Gambon, who stepped in to fill Richard Harris's late shoes, even admitted to putting on a little bit of an Irish accent as an homage to Harris.
I always find it funny when the author refers to Draco Malfoy's accent as a "drawl" -- she and I must have very different definitions of what constitutes a drawl!
"I think Daniel (Harry) had the best accent!" Yeah, I agree with you!
I work with British ESL teachers from all over the UK, as well as Irish, South African, Australian, and other native speakers. It's quite a bewildering variety of accents, although relatively few of them have very distinctive accents. I know which ones have accents that I like, and which ones don't. From what little I know of their origins, it seems that those who have been to good schools or have grown up in places like London are most likely to have accents that please my ear. There are a few who sound rather like Dick Van Dyke in _Mary Poppins_, which is a bit worrisome.
I also know a few teachers who have "drifting" accents as a consequence of having lived in different English-speaking areas. Sometimes their accents sound American, sometimes British, sometimes something else. Very difficult to place … although that can be quite an advantage.
Most encouraging to ESL students, though, are the teachers who have no accent in English, and no accent in French. They are walking, talking proof that it's possible to learn a foreign language and speak it like a native (and no, they didn't all learn English or French when they were ten years old, either). They can teach either language as a native speaker would. One or two are apparently accent-free in more than two languages as well (although I can't personally verify this, as I can hear foreign accents in only English and French).
How does one acquire no accent, Mxsmanic?
<<How does one acquire no accent, Mxsmanic?>>
Hehe. Mxsmanic believes he lives in a world where it is possible to have "no accent" yet still have words come out of the mouth.
If someone doesn't hear an accent when you speak, you don't have an accent.
I find the "no accent" phenomenon to be simply misunderstood.
If an person from, say, Argentina or Perú talks to me and he/she sounds just like a costarican (where I grew up) I would say that he/she has "no accent." Even better, I would say that such a person does not have a FOREIGN accent.
To me, they have an accent. From their perspective, it is I who has an accent.
So what's the big deal?? Well, EVERYBODY has a specific accent. We might say that someone "does not" have an accent when we perceive the individual's way of speaking is "natural" to our ears.
Hey, Kirk! What would the name of that world be? Neitheraccent?? Hehe!