Accents v Languages

[lies]

The discussion on dubbing and subbing showed that most people on The Book Forum seem to be in favour of subtitles (which shouldn't come as a surprise, as bookworms usually like to read), but what about languages in movies?

A lot of movies still use (usually, pretty bad) accents when they're trying to show someone speaking a foreign language. I'll admit that recent movies like The Sum of All Fears ornThe Interpreter seem to be willing to give their audience more credit, but quite a few other movies don't.

These fake accents really annoy the hell out of me. Either they let their characters speak English or they let them speak Russian/Chinese/Spanish/etc. Using accents is just lazy, not to mention silly.

Or am I overreacting?

 

[Wolhay]

You're not overreacting. It's bizarre to replace languages with fake accents that often are exaggerated. It doesn't make the whole thing very realistic.

There are exceptions that I can live with when it comes to replacing languages with another. I don't really expect actors to learn dead languages for historical flicks. I'd rather hear them speaking languages that they are capable of speaking rather than results that doesn't sound convincing.

I haven't seen Passion of the Christo but the parts that I've heard didn't sound convincing for example. It seemed that they had a very thick english accent.

 

[lies]

There are exceptions that I can live with when it comes to replacing languages with another. I don't really expect actors to learn dead languages for historical flicks. I'd rather hear them speaking languages that they are capable of speaking rather than results that doesn't sound convincing.

I agree completely. I mean, if a movie takes place in, say, Italy, but it's an American or French movie, I won't mind the actors speaking English or French. It's only when they start speaking English or French with an "Italian" accent that I start getting frustrated.

The worst thing, however, is when one character speaks English (i.e. English) and the other speaks English with an accent (i.e. Russian) and we as viewers are supposed to believe they can't understand eachother.

 

[KristoCat]

I've also noticed that sometimes when a movie is set in France, the characters will speak in English with British accents. I guess to make sure the audience knows its... European? Bizzare.

 

[hay82]

I hate movies where they do that. I don't she what it's good for. I would assume it's annoying to the actors and it's annoying to listen to. I don't think anyone are fooled to think that they speak english with an russian accent i Russia.
I heard in an interview with Harrison Ford, that when they started filming K-19 it was him and a few other actors that decided that they should talk with russian accents. So I guess it isn't always the director who is to blame.

 

[Ice]

This is a pet hate of mine - it can be extremely distracting. I don't mind if the actor has a genuine accent but 'fake' accents are often incredibly noticable.

 

[lies]

I've also noticed that sometimes when a movie is set in France, the characters will speak in English with British accents. I guess to make sure the audience knows its... European? Bizzare.

Hehe... Luckily, I've haven't seen any movies like that (yet).

I heard in an interview with Harrison Ford, that when they started filming K-19 it was him and a few other actors that decided that they should talk with russian accents. So I guess it isn't always the director who is to blame.

I guess he's not the brightest fellow then.

 

[novella]

I think its campy and kinda funny. Eli Wallach doing fake Mexican in that Clint movie is hilarious. Or Robert Shaw doing a Col. Klink-type German. His New England fisherman is funny in Jaws, too. Or all those Italian and Jewish guys who played American Indians in the old Westerns. It's stupid, but it doesn't offend me.

What's also fun is listening to an English actor trying to sound American. They like to lean into the Rs and adopt that lame John Wayne stiltedness or else they take Bugs Bunny as their linguistic model.

Most of the movies that do this kind of thing are dumbass adventure flicks and comedies. I think it's just part of the entertainment.

 

[Martin]

The worst thing, however, is when one character speaks English (i.e. English) and the other speaks English with an accent (i.e. Russian) and we as viewers are supposed to believe they can't understand eachother.

Example?

Cheers

 

[sirmyk]

What's also fun is listening to an English actor trying to sound American. They like to lean into the Rs and adopt that lame John Wayne stiltedness or else they take Bugs Bunny as their linguistic model.

Clive Owen is known for this. Hearing his dialogue in Closer and Sin City gets me laughing. And then you have actors like Hugh Laurie, where you'd swear he was born American.

Anyone see that old movie called 1942? I think that was the name. There's a funny scene (done on purpose) where one person is speaking French, and the other German, and they understand each other perfectly. (It may have been different languages than those (maybe German and Japanese), but you get the point). I'll have to rent that one again.

 

[Kookamoor]

Just curious - what do American's think of Nicole Kidman's accent? It seems pretty convincing to me, but I am not the best judge. If you've ever heard her in an interview, she still sounds Australian, unlike Mel Gibson who has turned Yank through-and-through.

At my Australian university they used to run short, non-credit courses, for such things as art classes, language, singing, acting, musical instruments and car repair. One term they actually ran a course on how to do an American accent, the reasoning being that with the new Fox studios in Sydney there was a huge market for American-sounding extras. Not sure if they got the numbers to run it or not!

Oh, and worst accent in a movie was Brad Pitt's in 7 Years in Tibet. He sounded Irish one moment and South African the next. Hilarious! His attempt in The Jackal (the one where he was an Irish criminal or something - is that the right title?) was not much better.

 

[sirmyk]

Oh, and worst accent in a movie was Brad Pitt's in 7 Years in Tibet. He sounded Irish one moment and South African the next. Hilarious! His attempt in The Jackal (the one where he was an Irish criminal or something - is that the right title?) was not much better.

You're thinky of Snatch. The Jackal was with Bruce Willis and Jack Black.

 

[Wolhay]

Brad Pitt played an Irish IRA terrorist in 'The Devil's Own'.

 

[novella]

Actually I think Pitt did a splendid job when he played the gypsy Irish bareknuckle fighter in Snatch. Everything he said was indecipherable.

The same is true with Troy. I couldn't understand a word he said, and I think he was speaking English. Boy, did that suck.

 

[Stewart]

Ronin did a good job; it just used the language and gave us subtitles where necessary.

 

[leckert]

Clive Owen is known for this. Hearing his dialogue in Closer and Sin City gets me laughing. And then you have actors like Hugh Laurie, where you'd swear he was born American.

Anyone see that old movie called 1942? I think that was the name. There's a funny scene (done on purpose) where one person is speaking French, and the other German, and they understand each other perfectly. (It may have been different languages than those (maybe German and Japanese), but you get the point). I'll have to rent that one again.

1942 - John Belushi! I haven't seen that in a long time.

It was Japanese and German, I think!

When I was a kid, I used to think that everyone spoke Americanish, but that folks in foreign countries spoke with an accent! Amazing the power Hollywood has over a young mind.

 

[leckert]

You're thinky of Snatch. The Jackal was with Bruce Willis and Jack Black.

Might be thinking of "12 Monkeys". I don't think Brad was foreign in that movie, but he was "mentally irregular", and talked kind of funny.?

 

[bobbyburns]

was it true romance?

 

[Kookamoor]

Brad Pitt played an Irish IRA terrorist in 'The Devil's Own'.

That's the one!

I think he did okay in Snatch, more because he was *supposed* to be unintelligable.

 

[lies]

Example?

I don't really have a title ready for you right now, but I'll keep an eye out.

Anyone see that old movie called 1942? I think that was the name. There's a funny scene (done on purpose) where one person is speaking French, and the other German, and they understand each other perfectly. (It may have been different languages than those (maybe German and Japanese), but you get the point). I'll have to rent that one again.

They did the same thing in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, only with French and English.