there's a lot more to it than that... ther are so many British and so many American accents. We've had thread on both - but I'm far too lazy to go look for the links... sorry...
Question for Brits...
- Thread starter Mem
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there's a lot more to it than that... ther are so many British and so many American accents. We've had thread on both - but I'm far too lazy to go look for the links... sorry...
- Mem,
I didn't know that Christian Bale wasn't American. Does he always speak in an American accent?
Liz Taylor grew up here as a child, so we own her.
Nicole Kidman is American by birth.
I always heard that Billy Idol was born in NY, he wasn't, but he lived there from the age 3 to 7.
- Mem,
Yeah regional accents are different. In Boston they saw Cahh, for car. (like the first syllable in the word ca-na-py)
in NY they saw caw.
- Mem,
I guess I never heard him talk before. He has a very strong Brit accent, In fact I didn't understand the first few words he said, untill I played it back.
He says " Sir Michael Caine, it'nit. But then he kind of goes in and out of a strong accent, at points certain words sound American.
He is dreamy.
The video is funny. It looks like the interviewer is holding up a quarter (due to the background) Nevermind, that's not even the interviewer that's just a kid in the background poster.
I adore Bette Davis, she was every inch a star, who didn't love her as Baby Jane 
I found her accent quite un-America, at times she almost sounded British, I also find this with Katherine Hepburn, very clipped clear diction.
I just listened to the youtube Christian Bale vid, he's got a very weird accent, it almost has an Australian twang at times.
I found her accent quite un-America, at times she almost sounded British, I also find this with Katherine Hepburn, very clipped clear diction.
I just listened to the youtube Christian Bale vid, he's got a very weird accent, it almost has an Australian twang at times.
It happens when you move around a lot - especially as a kid - you develop a morphing accent that kind of takes on the nuances of the people you are talking with. Also - if you are aware of that, you sometimes try not to do it - which leads to overpronunciations in the other direction - which is sometimes why I think he's sounds quite London there - he's just trying hard not to sound American.
Accents aside - it's the pitch of his voice that I like - having said that it maybe something to do with the fact that there's a big fuck off bass bin under the desk I'm sitting at. RESONANCE!! :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :redface:
- Mem,
I adore Bette Davis, she was every inch a star, who didn't love her as Baby Jane
I found her accent quite un-America, at times she almost sounded British, I also find this with Katherine Hepburn, very clipped clear diction.
th.
Katherine Hepburn grew up in Connecticut (part of the NY, NJ ,CT tri-state area)
Bette Davis was born in Massachusetts. About a 3 to 4 hour drive from NY.
I think thier accents are Hoity-toity. But they made them all there own.
The thing that annoys me most about Bale is his teeth, which I think also affects his pronunciation.
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- Mem,
As far as accents go, I've heard that if you've gone thru puberty speaking a different language than you later speak,you will always keep it.
Of course some people have a good ear and can lose the accent.
As far as British and American accents go they are both English so easier to mimic amongst ourselves.
Of course some people have a good ear and can lose the accent.
As far as British and American accents go they are both English so easier to mimic amongst ourselves.
His teeth aren't that annoying, you should have been on the bus I was on the other week, this man had the most annoying ears I'd ever seen.
- Oz10,
The best American accents by non-Americans would go to Toni Collete in "Sixth Sense" and Emma Thompson in "Angels In America." Not only do they pull off convincing accents, but the do amazing with regional dialects (Philly and NY). Most people doing any accent from Baltimore to Boston can't make it work because they try way too hard and come off doing an impression of an accent.
A side note: I remember a really great making of Mel Gibson's Hamlet on HBO where they had a whole thing about perfecting British dialects and the voice coach said that it is easier for a Brit to do an American Southern accent and vice versa because true southern accents (not cajun influenced) are just slowed down British accents. While the northeast was being filled with every European language on the map thanks to Ellis Island, the South held onto colonial roots and slowed things down. I imagine if you put the Royals in rocking chairs on a porch with no air conditioning and just glasses of sweet tea for a few years, they might devolve into the Clampetts.
A side note: I remember a really great making of Mel Gibson's Hamlet on HBO where they had a whole thing about perfecting British dialects and the voice coach said that it is easier for a Brit to do an American Southern accent and vice versa because true southern accents (not cajun influenced) are just slowed down British accents. While the northeast was being filled with every European language on the map thanks to Ellis Island, the South held onto colonial roots and slowed things down. I imagine if you put the Royals in rocking chairs on a porch with no air conditioning and just glasses of sweet tea for a few years, they might devolve into the Clampetts.
- Mem,
Actually Toni Collete is great in everything she does. I started this thread with her in mind.
I just saw her in Little Miss Sunshine. I also watched a part of 'in her shoes" just to hear her American accent.
She was GREAT in the Night Listener too. (I think she also did a teenage American boy's voice in that movie)
Emma Thompson did a great American accent in Primary Colors. But she is always good.
Yes, their accents (especially Hepburn's) were typical of upper-class northeasterners of the time ... perhaps a bit exaggerated for effect. It sounded quasi-British but wasn't a deliberate imitation of British English. The accent has vanished almost completely. The last people with full-on upper-class accents that I can think of were George Plimpton and William F. Buckley.
ETA: Oops! Buckley is still alive.
As for American accents by foreigners, Australians, as a group, seem to do it the best. In addition to Toni Collette and Russell Crowe, who were mentioned above, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett can all sound convincingly American. Hugh Jackman, too, come to think of it.
To my ear, Hugh Laurie's American accent is perfect. I'd never know he was British if I didn't know he was British.
I think that's a big part of it. We aren't exposed to British accents nearly as often they are to ours.
Christian Bale was raised in multiple countries. He does a different accent for each movie he's in, and does all press interviews for them in the same accent as the role he's promoting. It does get confusing.
I pride myself in being able to spot fake American accents most of the time. I can think of two off the top of my head that surprised me: Guy Pearce in "L.A. Confidential" and Melanie Lynskey, who plays the stalker neighbor on "Two and a Half Men." Until I saw her in another movie, I had no idea she was from New Zealand.
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Since we're talking about accents Bale as Bruce Wayne is the Best american accent by a non american on film I feel. but what region if any is it from or is it a non regional one. I also tend to speak a somewhat non regional accent, like a news caster.
