Put it this way. Actors from both countries be convincing at times, but never perfect and often there are dead giveaways. Both accents have regional aspects that might fool people from either country (but not the protrayed region) that the actor is doing perfectly well when in fact the accent is sloppy. I suspect that the same is true for natives trying to mimic regional dialects. Dustin Hoffman in Urban Cowboy and his pronunciation of "Florida", for example. It's tough to get something perfect that evolved over hundreds of years.
Can British people pretend to speak like Americans?
>>Put it this way. Actors from both countries be convincing at times, but never perfect and often there are dead giveaways. Both accents have regional aspects that might fool people from either country (but not the protrayed region) that the actor is doing perfectly well when in fact the accent is sloppy. I suspect that the same is true for natives trying to mimic regional dialects. Dustin Hoffman in Urban Cowboy and his pronunciation of "Florida", for example. It's tough to get something perfect that evolved over hundreds of years.<<
A common complaint here is that characters in sitcoms set here in Wisconsin don't really sound like they're from Wisconsin. (Actually, they don't sound like they're from Wisconsin *at all*. In many cases they sound more like they're from, say, California...) However, I am not sure how an actor's going to really acquire a convincing southern or northern Wisconsin accent without actually having lived here for quite a while (or, ideally, having grown up here) - yes, it may be convincing to people from without Wisconsin, but I am skeptical about whether such would actually be convincing to people from here. The thing is also that the dialects here are not particularly well-known in the way that the "New York accent" is or particularly well-documented (make that barely documented at all), so I am not sure how someone could convincingly sound like they are from here without having been from here themself.
A common complaint here is that characters in sitcoms set here in Wisconsin don't really sound like they're from Wisconsin. (Actually, they don't sound like they're from Wisconsin *at all*. In many cases they sound more like they're from, say, California...) However, I am not sure how an actor's going to really acquire a convincing southern or northern Wisconsin accent without actually having lived here for quite a while (or, ideally, having grown up here) - yes, it may be convincing to people from without Wisconsin, but I am skeptical about whether such would actually be convincing to people from here. The thing is also that the dialects here are not particularly well-known in the way that the "New York accent" is or particularly well-documented (make that barely documented at all), so I am not sure how someone could convincingly sound like they are from here without having been from here themself.
I always thought Christian Bale was American because in the majority of movies I've seen with him he speaks in an American accent... He only actually uses his real (Welsh) accent in a couple of movies (1 that I know for sure, Metroland, and maybe Empire of the Sun because he was only like 12 when he made that one).
I know of a British born actress/comedienne, Tracy Ullman, who speaks perfect American English. She's got a lot of regional American accents down pat as well.
I'm a NYer and I was just thinking that Tracy Ullman was the only foreigner who can really sound "organic" NY- but Jewish NY, not Italian, Irish, etc. Anthony LaPaglia fools a lot of people, but I can hear his flaws. Don't know about Tracy Ullman doing other regional accents. I think that she shot her wad on NYC.
Minnie Driver is terrible at her southern accent as is Eddie Izzard (although I still like him as an entertainer) in "The Riches".
The guy from "Band of Brothers" (Damian...) was good, I thought, but I'm not from Pennsy.
Christian Bale sounds American in the most annoyingly generic sense - almost robotic. The pronunciation is there, but there are no people here who actually sound like that. This is the type that I hear when people overseas try to take the piss out of an American accent (although not as well). Just because it's rhotic doesn't make it authentic. And that works the other way for American actors.
Minnie Driver is terrible at her southern accent as is Eddie Izzard (although I still like him as an entertainer) in "The Riches".
The guy from "Band of Brothers" (Damian...) was good, I thought, but I'm not from Pennsy.
Christian Bale sounds American in the most annoyingly generic sense - almost robotic. The pronunciation is there, but there are no people here who actually sound like that. This is the type that I hear when people overseas try to take the piss out of an American accent (although not as well). Just because it's rhotic doesn't make it authentic. And that works the other way for American actors.
Well, speaking of Christian Bale, if you really want good accent amusement, watch The Prestige, where almost no one in the entire movie, with the exception of the one and only Michael Caine, gets to use their real accents!
Piper Perabo (American in real life) plays the English wife of Hugh Jackman (Australian in real life, but playing an American transplanted to London). Christian Bale (who really IS English) puts on an accent that I hope isn't really his own. In the course of the movie, Hugh Jackman visits Colorado (which he insists on calling ColoRADo, not ColoRAHdo like most of us hereabouts) to meet Victor Tesla, who in real life came from what is now Croatia and is played with a thick, if sort of undefinable European accent by (English) David Bowie... who has an American servant -- apparently from New York or New Jersey -- played by (true Brit) Andy Serkis. Still following all this? It's about as hard as trying to follow a magician's hands...deception and misdirection ....which is what the whole rest of the movie is about!
As far as Brits playing Americans on the screen goes, Michael Caine's accent was horrible in Second-Hand Lions, but perfectly plausible in The Weather Man. Christian Bale did a perfectly serviceable job in Batman Begins (I'm afraid I missed him in American Psycho -- not my kind of flick). Kate Winslet did fine in Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, although I really couldn't tell WHAT she was in Titanic. I didn't buy Ewan McGregor for an instant in Big Fish -- but that's a tough accent to pull off even in real life and not sound phoney.
Piper Perabo (American in real life) plays the English wife of Hugh Jackman (Australian in real life, but playing an American transplanted to London). Christian Bale (who really IS English) puts on an accent that I hope isn't really his own. In the course of the movie, Hugh Jackman visits Colorado (which he insists on calling ColoRADo, not ColoRAHdo like most of us hereabouts) to meet Victor Tesla, who in real life came from what is now Croatia and is played with a thick, if sort of undefinable European accent by (English) David Bowie... who has an American servant -- apparently from New York or New Jersey -- played by (true Brit) Andy Serkis. Still following all this? It's about as hard as trying to follow a magician's hands...deception and misdirection ....which is what the whole rest of the movie is about!
As far as Brits playing Americans on the screen goes, Michael Caine's accent was horrible in Second-Hand Lions, but perfectly plausible in The Weather Man. Christian Bale did a perfectly serviceable job in Batman Begins (I'm afraid I missed him in American Psycho -- not my kind of flick). Kate Winslet did fine in Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, although I really couldn't tell WHAT she was in Titanic. I didn't buy Ewan McGregor for an instant in Big Fish -- but that's a tough accent to pull off even in real life and not sound phoney.
<<Kate Winslet's Californian accent is very convincing.>>
I haven't listened to this yet (it's late; I will listen later), but I remember her accent in the Titanic was very good, but she slipped from time to time. The inflections are often wrong; the scene on the boat deck where she says,"I know what you must be thinking.." sounded very English, not American at all.
I haven't listened to this yet (it's late; I will listen later), but I remember her accent in the Titanic was very good, but she slipped from time to time. The inflections are often wrong; the scene on the boat deck where she says,"I know what you must be thinking.." sounded very English, not American at all.
Damian:
<<except when I went to see "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the National Theatre on London's South Bank a couple of years ago. The entire cast drawled in a pretty authentic (to my ears) Deep South American accent - the "y'all" type thing.>>
Unfortunately (in my opinion) that accent is almost extinct; rhoticism is creeping into Southern speech at an alarming rate. You have the interesting enigma of non-rhotic parents with rhotic children. Just about the only non-rhotic Southern accent left is in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
From this point of view, an argument could be made that the accents in ASND aren't authentic at all...
To wit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents
<<except when I went to see "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the National Theatre on London's South Bank a couple of years ago. The entire cast drawled in a pretty authentic (to my ears) Deep South American accent - the "y'all" type thing.>>
Unfortunately (in my opinion) that accent is almost extinct; rhoticism is creeping into Southern speech at an alarming rate. You have the interesting enigma of non-rhotic parents with rhotic children. Just about the only non-rhotic Southern accent left is in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.
From this point of view, an argument could be made that the accents in ASND aren't authentic at all...
To wit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents
>>Unfortunately (in my opinion) that accent is almost extinct; rhoticism is creeping into Southern speech at an alarming rate. You have the interesting enigma of non-rhotic parents with rhotic children. Just about the only non-rhotic Southern accent left is in parts of Mississippi and Louisiana.<<
I have two coworkers from North Carolina who are about my age who are non-rhotic; many people at my work actually initially thought they were from the UK...
I have two coworkers from North Carolina who are about my age who are non-rhotic; many people at my work actually initially thought they were from the UK...
Travis:
Oh, my goodness, I'd love to hear them speak. From what I understand, North and South Carolina Tidewater, in particular, really is becoming extinct. I betcha they are from small towns that haven't been too heavily influenced yet.
It would be interesting to compare the Virginia Tidewater (with which I'm familiar) to North and South Carolina Tidewater (with which I'm not), from a dialectitian's point of view. What features are different, etc..
Oh, my goodness, I'd love to hear them speak. From what I understand, North and South Carolina Tidewater, in particular, really is becoming extinct. I betcha they are from small towns that haven't been too heavily influenced yet.
It would be interesting to compare the Virginia Tidewater (with which I'm familiar) to North and South Carolina Tidewater (with which I'm not), from a dialectitian's point of view. What features are different, etc..
The thing that surprises me is how *young* they are (they're definitely in their 20s) for a dialect group that is supposed to be on the a wane - usually dialects that are dying out are limited to older people rather than being spoken by younger people.
I am surprised that no-one has mentioned that very 'English' of actors Hugh Laurie and his accent in the telly programme House. I have only seen clips myself, but what I have seen/heard I think is astonishing.
Surely that bloke can do an American accent?? Not sure what American accent he is doing mind, but I remember some of the Americans that I work with saying that could not believe he was a 'Brit'.
Not sure about Christian Bale, his natural accent as heard in the film 'under the sun' seems to have disappeared. In interviews he talks just like he does in the films, I as a Briton can't hear any trace of his English accent (he left Wales as a toddler - I think) any more. Top actor though.
I also saw an American film called Elizabethtown which had Orlando Bloom doing an American accent - it was absolute pants. The feeblest attempt at an American accent that I have ever heard by a British actor is unquestionably the ones performed by Jason Statham - creases me up every time. I recommend that no-one ever watch the film ‘The One’ (with Jet Li) but if they do listen to the geezer talk!!! PATHETIC!!!!!
Surely that bloke can do an American accent?? Not sure what American accent he is doing mind, but I remember some of the Americans that I work with saying that could not believe he was a 'Brit'.
Not sure about Christian Bale, his natural accent as heard in the film 'under the sun' seems to have disappeared. In interviews he talks just like he does in the films, I as a Briton can't hear any trace of his English accent (he left Wales as a toddler - I think) any more. Top actor though.
I also saw an American film called Elizabethtown which had Orlando Bloom doing an American accent - it was absolute pants. The feeblest attempt at an American accent that I have ever heard by a British actor is unquestionably the ones performed by Jason Statham - creases me up every time. I recommend that no-one ever watch the film ‘The One’ (with Jet Li) but if they do listen to the geezer talk!!! PATHETIC!!!!!
HELLO PUB LUNCH!
Jason Statham doing an American accent? LOL! I've never heard it and I don't want to, thank you. :-)
However, you made me curious...was it that bad as Dick van Dyke's Mockney-Cockney in Mary Poppins?
A friend of mine almost in love with Jason Statham, even though she is an American English enthusisast (aaaargh). She says she can even forgive him his British accent. That's funny. I think I'll recommend her to watch "The One". :-) I liked the guy in Snatch, though. What kind of accent does he actually have. It was supposed to be Cockney but to me it sounded closer to Estuary.
TRAVIS:
It's all clear now. You inadvertently wrote "non-rhotic English English accents" instead of "rhotic English accents". That caused confusion. :-)
Jason Statham doing an American accent? LOL! I've never heard it and I don't want to, thank you. :-)
However, you made me curious...was it that bad as Dick van Dyke's Mockney-Cockney in Mary Poppins?
A friend of mine almost in love with Jason Statham, even though she is an American English enthusisast (aaaargh). She says she can even forgive him his British accent. That's funny. I think I'll recommend her to watch "The One". :-) I liked the guy in Snatch, though. What kind of accent does he actually have. It was supposed to be Cockney but to me it sounded closer to Estuary.
TRAVIS:
It's all clear now. You inadvertently wrote "non-rhotic English English accents" instead of "rhotic English accents". That caused confusion. :-)
a friend of mine almost in love = a friend of mine is almost in love
What kind of accent does he actually have. --->"?" instead of "."
What kind of accent does he actually have. --->"?" instead of "."