The right decision

Because I'm totally wiped out from some crazy work hours, I decided to watch Gulliver's Travels which was made in the mid-90's, though it was a mini-series back then. Tonight they showed the entire series in one night, which has made me even more fatigued.

Some of the American actors faked British accents, and while they weren't perfect (as is usually the case, though I don't know personally because I'm not British, but can recognize a bad British accent when I hear it), I was glad to see that Ted Danson (who did a great job) did not try to speak with one. I was surprised, since actors always seem to attempt it, but I accepted he was British because that was his character. Which just goes to show that you don't need to speak with a certain type of accent (especially if you're going to butcher it) when you're playing a character from another culture. Well, it'd be good to have an accent, but only if it's convincing. Otherwise, a bad accent is distracting.

Good accents

I've been watching King Kong, which I've never seen before, and it's directed by a New Zealander (Peter Jackson, who did one of my favorites, "The Lord of the Rings"), thus it shouldn't be surprising that he got an international cast. But I can't tell that some of the actors aren't American, and I didn't know who wasn't until I looked up their bios. So I'm impressed.

He's British!

I've never watched an entire episode of House, but I have caught parts of it, and I thought the main character was American. But he's British! In fact, I already knew who he was, but I didn't make the connection: he was on the British show Jeeves and Wooster, which is actually too annoying to watch too often.

Here's a video of him auditioning for House--you can sort of detect a slight British accent in the beginning, but when he's in character, he sounds like an American, and believe me, I'm American, so I should know what an American accent should sound like. Also, here and in the show, he behaves like an American. So it's not just the accent, but his manner. Bottom line: he's convincing!

Traysh

I was on a plane, and after we ate our snacks, one of the flight attendants told us that they were going around to pick up our "traysh." Seriously. It was like she added a "sh" to the word "tray". I'd never heard anyone pronounce "trash" that way before. I even heard someone near me imitate her accent, and I wouldn't be surprised if other people noticed it as well. I wonder if it's common in certain parts of the U.S. (such as the South?) to pronounce "trash" like "traysh."

Melk

Okay, the word for the calcium-filled, white liquid that is produced by cows that we, especially in the Midwest, like to drink is "milk." But some people pronouce it "melk."

I don't know why they do that, and even though I've heard it quite often, I'm tempted to say that it's the "wrong" way to pronounce it and it sounds "funny", but enough people say it that way that I really shouldn't say anything about it. Except to just mention that "variation" and let the world know that I say "milk".

Guessed wrong

I met someone today who didn't sound like they were from Chicago or even the midwest, so I assumed they were from Philadelphia or at least Pennsylvania, since the way they were pronouncing their r's and other consonants was different. Plus, their words didn't sound as "relaxed" as other parts of the country.

Well, I was wrong. They were from New Jersey, and I was disappointed I hadn't guessed their accent, especially because I know people from New Jersey and have heard the accent often. Then I realized that perhaps because they were originally from New Jersey but had been living in Chicago for a while, that perhaps their accent had become softened and not remained as "severe."

I used to be pretty good at guessing accents, and still think I'm okay at it, but maybe because I don't meet as many people as I used to, it's affected my accent-detecting skill level. Oh well.

Speech accent archive

Here's something so extensive, only a strongly supported academic could put it together: The Speech Accent Archive:

The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed...This website allows users to compare the demographic and linguistic backgrounds of the speakers in order to determine which variables are key predictors of each accent. The speech accent archive demonstrates that accents are systematic rather than merely mistaken speech.

There are many accents in there from well-known and more obscure language backgrounds. You can spend a lot of time there listening to all those variations.

Milking the British accent

Toby Young, one of the few famous people I'd like to meet, has an interesting article that refutes the popular belief that Brits "have succeeded in bilking the American entertainment industry out of hundreds of millions of dollars simply by speaking in 'veddy Briddish' accents." He quotes Stephen Fry (some Brit who's probably well-known but whose name I don't recognize) as saying, "I sometimes wonder if Americans aren't fooled by our accent into detecting a brilliance that may not really be there."

Sorry, but Americans aren't so duped, and luckily, Toby agrees:

In my experience, this particular cliche is long past its sell-by date. Planeloads of freeloading British hacks - not to mention the three million British tourists who visit the country every year - have poisoned that well. On first hearing an English accent 50 years ago, Americans might have thought: stately home, private school, good manners. Nowadays, they think: low income, poor diet, alcohol problem.

So according to Toby Young, Brits perhaps can't milk their accent anymore. They actually have to prove themselves.

Keep the Canadian accent!

I saw this letter in a media column:

Just when I thought it was safe to watch TV news again without having to cringe at Canadian accents and mispronunciations, Channel 7 hires Ravi Baichwal. I'm sure he is a nice guy, and I'm willing to give him three months. If he hasn't dropped the Canadian accent by then, I say we call it a day.

I disagree--I like Canadian accents!

Annoying accent

There is something annoying about Debbie Travis' accent. She's originally from England and now lives in Montreal, and has probably traveled around because of her television and modeling work, so her accent has probably been affected by her surroundings, and since Montreal is French-oriented, she probably speaks with people who speak French and English.

The "problem" is that her accent is not totally British, but it's hardly North American. It's way more British than North American, so I'd say it's an altered British accent. On her shows, she seems busy and quite stressed, so that could affect the way she speaks, and also, she's speaking for television, so she's putting on her "performance" voice. It just sounds nasal and the words are blended and flat, but not in a Canadian way nor in an "international" style. I wonder what her accent used to sound like before she left her native country. It was probably more pronounced and grating, but less annoying than whatever blend she has now.

Annoying accent

Sometimes I come across annoying accents, and this is one of those times I can't ignore it: Michele Addey on the show Double Take.

She is "Originally from England...and went on to study painting in Paris." I'm assuming she lives in L.A., since that's where a lot of HGTV shows take place.

I wonder if her accent has changed a lot since she left England. Maybe that's the source of its annoying quality--living in different places has mixed it up. But I think what makes it especially annoying is her need to sound really "up" when narrating the show, because I notice that if she's just talking with people on the show, she sounds less grating and nasal. Maybe someone told her that when she reads the script, she should be more peppy, so she's forced herself to sound really hyper. But it sounds unnatural and whiny.

Does she also talk like this when she's off camera, or is she more subdued? After all, TV requires people to be more outgoing and emotional, and maybe she's stepped out of her comfort zone. It makes it difficult to watch the show without trying to analyze her voice and wonder what's going on.

Brent's accent

I was watching Threshold, which doesn't seem like the best series, because it's just about people being taken over by aliens, and only a couple of characters seem to have an interesting chemistry: Arthur, who's a linguist (!) and seems to be an intelligent character, and Lucas.

As I was half-watching the show (since it lost my interest), I listened to Brent Spiner's accent, and wondered if he's talking like that for the character he plays or because he's from Houston, Texas. I wonder what his true accent is. I've heard him in an interview before, but I forgot what he sounded like. On the show, he has a very slight twang.

Whenever I see actors on TV or in movies, I really pity aspiring actors who haven't made it. I'm so glad I don't want to be an actor--writing is enough of a pipe dream, and there are other disappointments I've had that hardly seem to be as devastating as the pursuit of acting.

An article about Spiner says that "Like many other aspiring thespians, Spiner had dues to pay in the form of taking a job as a cab driver before launching his career off-Broadway."

But despite that hardship, he developed a nice career, but ironically "Spiner claims no particular love for science fiction and was not a big fan of the original Star Trek. He says he mainly took the job because he didn't think the new series would last and because he needed to pay a few bills...the bulk of his fame comes from being Data..."

On Startrek: TNG he doesn't have a Texas accent, and really has no discernable accent at all--it's quite flat, as if he's from Nebraska.

Marina's accent

Because I was either in school or out of the country, I never watched Startrek: The Next Generation when it originally aired. I also wasn't interested in sci-fi until the late 90's, so I never sought TNG out.

Now that I've had more free time this month, I've decided to watch as many episodes I can because everyone says it was a great series. At this point, I feel like I've OD'ed on it, but I'll keep watching until I've seen all the episodes (or at least most of them).

By now, I've heard Marina Sirtis' accent so often, I had to find out what the heck it is. I read that she grew up in London and her parents came from Greece, so I wondered if her accent on the show came from that combination. But a TNG fan friend told me that she has a British accent.

I found out that

In the show, her English accent isn't heard because she uses a combination of accents that she devised. As she puts it, "In the 24th century, geographical or nationalistic barriers are not so evident. The Earth as a planet is your country, your nationality. I didn't want anyone to be able to pin down my accent to any particular country, and being good at accents, the producers trusted me to come up with something appropriate."

In an interview, someone asked her, "How has Troi evolved?" and she said, "Well, she's not foreign anymore. When we started, she had almost this Russian accent, and now she's almost American."

But Wikipedia says that at the end of the horrendous, tripe-filled Enterprise series, "Marina Sirtis' accent as Deanna Troi is less pronounced and more British, which is in keeping with the way she played the character towards the end of the series and into the movies."

During a fan interview, someone asked, "Marina, you were great on Stargate SG-1. Was it easier for you to pick up a Russian accent than a Betazoid accent?" and she said, "Russian was harder, because I had to be accurate. Betazoid I made up and as I was the first Betazoid we'd ever met, who was going to tell me I was doing it wrong?"

So the answer to my query is that she created a unique accent that morphed, a Russian accent is more difficult, and I really need to get a life because I'm becoming a geek.

Arthur's accent

I just heard an interview with Metrofiction guest Arthur Chrenkoff online. He has a strong Australian accent instead of the mixture of Polish and Australian accents I thought he'd have.

The reason why I thought the Polish accent would be more pronounced is because he immigrated when he was a teenager, and usually people don't drop their "native" accents at that age. Perhaps the only hint of the Polish accent was the occasional soft "d" pronunciation for the "th" sound, and he sometimes pronounced his "i" like "ee". These two sounds tend to baffle non-native English speakers, no matter where they're from.

So now you know--Arthur sounds like an Aussie.

Kristan's accent

I was watching Design on a Dime, and was trying to figure out Kristan Cunningham's accent. My guess was that she's a southerner whose accent has morphed because she lives in California.

I was right. She's originally from West Virginia. I don't know what the "true" accent is down there, but I'm guessing that it's more pronounced than her current accent.

I've met southerners whose accents have naturally changed because they've lived in the north for a while, and others who purposely changed their accent to avoid scorn. One time I met someone at a party, and when she told me she that was from Tennessee, I was surprised because she didn't have a southern accent. She said that she'd trained herself to get rid of it because she didn't want people to think she was dumb.

Conversely, I've met northerners who've taken on a southern drawl after living down there for a while. I wonder if accent-snob northerners are as horrified as the ones who've made the Tennessee woman feel like a lesser person, because she dared to speak her true identity.

Update: it seems that Kristan's accent has changed--it seems to have become more "flat." I wonder if she saw this post ;)

NZ in NYC

I just came across A Superficial Guide to New York written by a New Zealander. He warns that his advice is "Based on one visit, this is not to be taken seriously."

What's interesting about it is not only the differences between American and New Zealand(er?--don't know the adjective) English, but also his impressions of New York. Here's some good advice that would never occur to American English speakers:

"You may not be understood if you have a good Niu Zilnd accent. You are in good company; by my reckoning, every third local speaks English as a second language. Speak slowly, loudly, say your Rs. You may be worried about faking an American accent being perceived as taking the piss - in fact, it's an effective way to communicate."

Dawna's accent

I was watching The Life Laundry and was listening to Dawna Walter's accent. It sounded like she was American, but part of her sentences, especially the end of them, sounded British.

So I tried to figure it out: perhaps she was raised in the US, particularly New York because her accent sounds New York-y, but her parents were British. Or maybe she was a Brit who spent a lot of time living in the US. Or she could be an American living in England, and has picked up a bit of that accent. Well, the answer is the last one: she's lived in England for more than a decade.

Spinal Tap gets high marks

This past spring, I rented the special edition DVD of the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap because my book is about a guy who's obsessed with a band. I watched the DVD with and without the commentary five or six times, because it was totally hilarious!

And then, I wondered: what do Brits think of the American actors' accents? So I did some research online at UK sites, and found these assesments.

The Guardian says:

“When Spinal Tap fans meet [Christopher] Guest, especially in Britain, they are often amazed to hear him talking in an American accent because Tufnel's rock star mockney is so pitch-perfect."

From a review:

“The all-American cast grunt and preen their way through the proceedings in a word perfect English accent (a rare thing indeed)...”

And a review in DVD Times says:

“Guest, McKean and Shearer all hold down an English accent brilliantly...”

And finally, I emailed a virtual buddy of mine, a Brit who's living in Germany (and is fluent in German, by the way, which I totally envy) to ask for his opinion. He said:
"The accents in This Is Spinal Tap are absolutely faultless...But I'm often blown away by the phonetic skill of some of your best American actors/actresses. Look at Renee Zellweger (if you will...) I was amazed to find out she's a Texan. When she did Bridget Jones I was convinced she was British."

So there you have it, it's been confirmed by various sources. Congrats Spinal Tap. And Rene Zellweger.