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Fake Accents: Do they grid your gears?

RocksteadyDotNet

RocksteadyDotNet

Diamond Member
This is more directed to my American friends, but does it annoy you when foreigners try to do your accent?

I know it pisses me off and I'm not even American. Some people do it better than others, but sometimes it's terrible.

Like Lee Adama from Battlestar. His 'American Accent' drove me nuts.

It's laughable when anyone trys to do an Aussie accent, so I don't understand why they ever cast a non-american in a role where they will need to do an accent.

Or do you guys not even notice?
 
To me, most foreign actors (I only really know of English actors who have done stuff where they have to do American accents) seem to do a good American accent, not distracting at all. When Kate Winslet has to yell or get worked up in a movie, she sometimes lets in her English accent. But it doesn't annoy me. I can imagine Americans suck at doing accents more, though.
 
Lummex said:
To me, most foreign actors (I only really know of English actors who have done stuff where they have to do American accents) seem to do a good American accent, not distracting at all. When Kate Winslet has to yell or get worked up in a movie, she sometimes lets in her English accent. But it doesn't annoy me. I can imagine Americans suck at doing accents more, though.
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In my experience everyone sucks at doing accents. The only exceptions are

Sarah from Chuck and the lead bird from Fringe.

They're both Aussies! I didn't even know until I saw them speaking normally.

Sarah is the best, even after I knew it was hard to tell. I've never heard anyone get close to an Australian accent. Which is weird because it should be easy, we don't speak with an accent, we speak normally. You just need to not lean so hard into your 'A's' and 'R's' and you have us down pat.
 
I heard that since the English care so much about accents (it varies in social status and even in close location) they good actors are good at imitating any accent.

Most movies and telefilms I see are translated, so the various english accents are lost (like in CSI miami the black guy has a different way of talking in the original language). Everyone speaks standard italian.
 
To give you an example, House. He does a terrible American accent. He hits the r's way too hard. He's a great English actor, but doesn't it annoy you when you watch the show?
 
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What about a person who moved to America and has been there for 2 or 3 years already, and starts to catch that accent. Are they considered fake too?
 
RocksteadyDotNet said:
Too give you an example, House. He does a terrible American accent. He hits the r's way too hard. He's a great English actor, but doesn't it annoy you when you watch the show?
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Hugh Laurie's American accent is actually very good.

Is this thread a convoluted troll for "LOLWTF there is no American accent!!11" ?
 
Skitzer said:
What do you think of Mel Gibsons American accent?
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He's been living in the states for ages so it's pretty good now.

I don't think he 'puts on' an accent though. I think he just talks how he talks, but by now it's pretty American. You can still here the ozzy come through though.
 
RocksteadyDotNet said:
No trolling.

There are heaps of different American accents. Where did I say different?
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OK, if this is a serious thread -

No, a "bad" American accent doesn't bother me. Not in the least. Most British/Aussie actors who do one, do it reasonably well. Mel Gibson's is pretty good. I also think Hugh Laurie's is just fine.

Have you been to the US, and if so, what parts? We have regional accents here that have more potential to make my ears bleed than any poorly acted neutral American accent ever will.
 
sjwaste said:
OK, if this is a serious thread -

No, a "bad" American accent doesn't bother me. Not in the least. Most British/Aussie actors who do one, do it reasonably well. Mel Gibson's is pretty good. I also think Hugh Laurie's is just fine.

Have you been to the US, and if so, what parts? We have regional accents here that have more potential to make my ears bleed than any poorly acted neutral American accent ever will.
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Nah, never been.

I know what you means about the 'ear bleedin accents', but that's not what bothers me about fake accents in shows. It's just that they stick out like a sore thumb.

With the exception of Sarah from Chuck, I can instantly tell when someone is faking an American accent, and it just takes me out of the show.

The same is true for our shows when someone puts on a ozzy accent. It annoys every other Aussie I know.

I would have thought it would have annoyed you guys with your tv too, but I guess not. Maybe it's because you do have such a wide variety of accents.
 
RocksteadyDotNet said:
Nah, never been.

I know what you means about the 'ear bleedin accents', but that's not what bothers me about fake accents in shows. It's just that they stick out like a sore thumb.

With the exception of Sarah from Chuck, I can instantly tell when someone is faking an American accent, and it just takes me out of the show.

The same is true for our shows when someone puts on a ozzy accent. It annoys every other Aussie I know.

I would have thought it would have annoyed you guys with your tv too, but I guess not. Maybe it's because you do have such a wide variety of accents.
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Most of the non-American actors doing American accents do it plausibly. You might know it because you're not American, so you can hear hints of their actual voice, but to be quite honest I would never know in most instances unless its really bad. If I didn't know beforehand that the actor wasn't American, I'd probably assume a sight regional accent than something foreign and acted.

Take a trip here sometime. The Boston/Southie accent and the NYC/North Jersey/Long Island pass for American English here. You'll understand what I'm talking about after you hear those. I mean, if those are unmistakably American, then most foreign actors will just come off with a generic Mid-Atlantic accent.

Related to the original question, though, what I can spot and does bother me is a poorly acted regional accent. American actors attempting specific regional accents and butchering them is a lot easier to spot. The Southern accents get hit the worst.
 
Shitty southern accents are annoying. One reason I couldn't get past a couple of episodes of True Blood were the terrible accents of a couple actors.
 
In Australia, i have known some kiwis talk in a stronger accent for attention. Its hard to explain, but we caught them talking in a normal aussie accent
 
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