help identifying an accent?
well its an american accent but i cant identify which region it comes from. i dont really have a proper clip with me right now so sorry about that, but if any of you guys have watched 'the perfect score' (it came out last year but im hoping some of you guys have seen it), im wondering which regional accent the asian guy (roy), played by leonardo nam has...you know the stoner asian guy who's always high on pot and wants to be blanka from street fighter 2...like i said i dont have a proper clip with me right now, i do have links to the trailer for the movie and everything and you can hear bits and pieces of it in there, but for now i cant find anything else. so im wondering if any of you guys who saw the movie can help me identify what sort of american accent he has. the link is
http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/99d116c1d45552/1a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02589f25382f668c9329e0375e81787e85abb28970c7aee1d91f95ebd2d92046acf32a60578db4abc21/the_perfect_score_m320.mov
but im not too sure that his voice is distinguishable from that clip. i like his accent and want to try and pick it up. and for those guys who have already watched the movie/have the dvd or w/e, if you could help me identify the more prominent characteristics of his accent (without using all those technical phonetic-words that i see here, i know this is a phonetics board and all but i dont study that so i wont understand a single thing you guys are saying) i'd also really appreciate that. thanks! ~ treysheik
it works fine for me, you need to wait a while before the entire quicktime file loads up if you're directly streaming it from the internet. if not just right click and save target as.
The Asian guy you're talking about doesn't talk as much on the trailer but what he does say sounds vaguely Californian if I had to pick one. His vowels in "dude, that's impossible" sound right at home here.
I did a quick Google search on the actor who plays him (Leonardo Nam) and he's a Korean-Argentine who was born and raised in Buenos Aires till he moved to Sydney when he was 8. He lived there till he went to school in New York. Since he spent formative years in Australia I would assume his natural accent would be Australian, but he does a good job sounding American in the movie.
Yeah, he sounds American, Californian if anything specific.
would it be legal to post a couple of audio recordings (unofficial ones) on here? they're really not even proper recordings, more like the put-the-camera-near-to-the-speaker-and-play-the-movie kind. if its legal i can post a couple clips up, it shouldnt be too hard identifying it after that, seeing that he's the narrator of the movie. thanks ~treysheik
p.s kirk, yeah he's australian and his natural accent is australian, i heard him speak in some video interview i found on the net. i'd really like to know how he managed to pick up that american accent, and i'd really like to learn it too. not just any american accent, but specifically the one he did in the movie. i can't really make any proper distinctions between different regional accents since my ears arent as sharp as some of you phonetically-trained people, but the accent he used in this movie, for some reason, is something i feel i'd like to adapt as my normal way of speaking (or at least something remotely close to it i hope)~treysheik
bump...so is it legal or not?~treysheik
<<i'd really like to know how he managed to pick up that american accent, and i'd really like to learn it too. not just any american accent, but specifically the one he did in the movie.>>
Are you a native or a nonnative English speaker looking to change your accent (especially if you're native--I'd be interesting in knowing why you would want to change it). Anyway, just move here to California and you'll find plenty of people here who sound more or less like that :)
ah what the heck, here they are.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EFVI7YQU
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O440XPAG
if its not legal or something id appreciate it if someone could inform me so i can take them off asap. thanks for all the information so far. to those people that listen to the aforementioned clips, id appreciate it if you could analyse it and, like i said help me to identify the more prominent characteristics of his (californian) accent, without all the phonetical references since i dont study that.
kirk,i know it sounds stupid and too simplistic but im just not comfortable with my own accent (even though i was born with it) and the one used by the asian guy in the movie just really appeals to me and i feel i'd be able to speak better with an accent like that (or anygthing remotely close to it). its a personal decision and (id imagine) for clarity purposes too. especially since i am heading off to the US for college soon, and a lot of people can't get past my accent and i'm not a person who can easily change my accent. i mean i know a lot of people who go to the US and in about 1-2 years they've adapted an american accent, unconsciously without them knowing it. i cant do that, i have to make a conscious decision about it.
ps don't ask me how i can not be comfortable with my natural accent, im just not and ive never been as far as i can remember~treysheik
Well treysheik, the trailer's short and it really is hard to give a comprehensive review of someone's accent with such few examples. Also, you seem to be interested in sounds so it might behoove you to learn some about phonetic transcription (using IPA and/or X-SAMPA)--it can really help you achieve your target sounds and at least understand others' descriptions in an unambiguous way.
I won't ask you why you're not comfortable with your native speech norms, but I do feel compelled to at least comment that since you seem to indicate you're a native speaker of English you shouldn't be ashamed of your accent. But if you're truly bent on acquiring another one and it is true you'll soon be surrounded by Americans, then that should provide fertile ground in terms of what you want to model your speech off of.
Just curious---what part of the US are you going to for college?
i gave 2 longer samples up there^^^you might want to check those out, theyre longer and should give you a better idea of the accent he used. i've applied to several but im currently gunning for northwestern university, so we'll see~treysheik
*sigh*bump... i guess no one can help me out?~treysheik