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I've heard of the word " Estuary accent " , but have never heard it spoken before. Do you know anyone famous who speaks with Estuary accent ?
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The problem here is that most people associate "English accent" or even "British accent" (despite that England is but one of the constituents of Great Britain) with Received Pronunciation, while in reality even just "English accent" covers a very wide range of dialects, with much more internal variation than the whole of North American English. Consequently, even if some may perceive RP as "crisp", that does not mean that one can apply that at all to the entirety of English English (as shown by the example of Estuary English, and Estuary English is actually not too far from RP, all things considered).
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I think I know what brought you to think that way, Travis. Many people try to link diverse English dialects into two categories, British and American. Partly because the two countries are where English is spoken as a first language. For non-natives of English language, I think it would be hard to know local accents in the two countries when they are learning English at home.
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<<I've heard of the word " Estuary accent " , but have never heard it spoken before. Do you know anyone famous who speaks with Estuary accent ?>>
Jamie Oliver, Mick Jagger, Guy Ritchie, Tony Blair (sometimes...), Katie Price (aka Jordan). At first, these people come into mind.
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Did Rene Zellweger's accent in Bridget Jones count as Estuary? (Even though it's not her own in real life.)
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Well, I don't know... Maybe, somewhat, but not typically. But it's a typical London accent (or at least southern English), a more educated one, though. Rene Zellweger did quite a good job.
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Well, I don't know... Maybe, somewhat, but not typically. But it's a typical London accent (or at least southern English), a more educated one, though. Rene Zellweger did quite a good job.
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Sorry, one post is just enough. I didn't want it to be posted twice. Something's wrong with my computer. :-(
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It happens when the site's being slow. Anyway, I asked that not because I really know Estuary from my back pocket, but because I once read a British review of the flick that criticized poor Rene for fabricating some sort of awful Estuaryish travesty of an accent, which I think was the first time I had ever even heard of Estuary. (Seems like the British just loooove to trash any attempt by an American actor to put on a UK accent, no matter how competent it really is).
How about in Shaun of the Dead? The fat kid who was always giving Shaun a hard time at the electronics store? The one who was always saying "Hello, maaaate," into his phone? And for that matter, what kind of accent was Nick sporting?
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<<How about in Shaun of the Dead? The fat kid who was always giving Shaun a hard time at the electronics store? The one who was always saying "Hello, maaaate,">>
It's a shame - I haven't seen it! Everyone has seen it but me! But I'm going to watch it.
<<(Seems like the British just loooove to trash any attempt by an American actor to put on a UK accent, no matter how competent it really is).>>
It's a kind of rivalry between the British and the Americans: who is better in imitating each other's accents. It's no use hunting for every tiny little mistake or inconsistency in these actors' accents. There'll always be some, since it is hard to pick up another accent all of a sudden. OK, I know they practise a lot but it's not like growing up speaking an accent.
I really say Rene Zellweger was quite good, but there were some attempts with conspicuous inconsistencies. For example, Dick van Dyke's (in)famously bad attempt to imitate Cockney in Mary Poppins. Cockney is a really hard one to imitate perfectly, and that guy was lapsing in and out of it.
You are American, aren't you? So what do you think of Jude Law's accent in Existenz? Have you seen it? The title was spelled in an unusual way, so I'm not sure, but it is pronounced as "existence".
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I am, and I haven't seen it. Is it any good? I can't remember if he did an American accent in A.I. ....
I have to say that most of the time I just go with the flow and don't pay much attention to the quality of a faked accent, unless it's really horrible. I heard Michael Caine's US-speak in The Weather Man, and it was perfectly acceptable to me -- better than the one he did in Second-Hand Lions. But then, Southern accents are the hardest ones to get right, and some of them even sound fake on the people who really have them! Big Fish was a good example -- Ewan McGregor never sounded quite right to me, but I've heard other people who probably really do talk like that, and they sounded odd to me, too. So it may not have been him -- just the accent itself. If that makes sense.
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I'm not sure if any British actors are able to effect an American accent that would sound truly convincing to Americans themselves. Whenever I hear a British actor speak in an accent other than which I know to be his natural one....Ewan MacGregor was quoted, one of our local boys....I haven't much idea how it would sound to people whose accent s/he is taking off.
To me, the affected American accents of Brit actors all sound the same, unless of course it's meant to be a particularly well known American accent, like that of the Deep South. For instance, if a British actress were to play the part of Blanche Du Bois in Streetcar Named Desire, I wonder how it would compare with that of Glenn Close (American) who I saw play the very same part at the Olivier Theatre on London's South Bank.
How well received in America was the American accent of Jude Law (British) as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr Ripley?
Of course, the British whinge about just anything (currently it's an exceptional heatwave!) so why should the British accents of American actors be exempt from one of the national sports?
I have never seen any harsh criticism here of the (to my ears) cool RP English English version of the British accent assumed by Gwyneth Paltrow (American). I know she's married to an English guy and lives here in London, but when I heard her speak in her native American accent it seemed really weird. I found myself wishing she'd go back to her great "Sliding Doors speak". She did not look out of place behind a pint in a pub either!
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Forgive my grammatical if you're mega pedantic!
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I find most accents put on by actors acceptable, unless it is horrid, as Uriel said. I've seen many a film with British actors speaking with American dialects that sounded quite fine to my ears. Kate Beckinsale's accent in Pearl Harbor was very acceptable to me.
I can't remember what Jude Law's accent was like in The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I've heard people say it was very believable.
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"Seems like the British just loooove to trash any attempt by an American actor to put on a UK accent, no matter how competent it really is."
It's not as bad as the Americans who sit and watch a British movie in the cinema and then complain when.....the actors speak with a British accent.
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