Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just saw "Les Miserables". I found the accent (Mid-Atlantic?) a little hard to understand sometimes. I wonder if general Americans, especially those who live in the midwest, have difficulties too.
However English is not my native language so I cannot represent any American. I'm from China and was taught "British English" in school but managed to "transfer" to American English in college.
Peking Opera was also sung in an artificial accent based on a dialect of central China (not Beijing!). However, after the communist revolution, some modern plays have been using standard Mandarin. Anyway, young people don't watch them.
Let me, with due excuse, expand your thread. Why would country, that spent so much effort, trying to liberate itself from Her Majesty Crown rule, spend so much effort, licking Her Majesty you know what years down the road, with all the "king", "royal","imperial" etc, including phony accent? Apotheosis to it being aliens speaking with it. Shinjirarei!
Bettafish, I'm from/in Texas and have a hard time understanding some American English, especially north eastern U.S. But yeah, I frequently have a hard time with the Queen's English and/or bastard variations of it. I did spend some time in a Brit kindergarten near Lisbon but had to re-adapt after returning to the U.S. during my first grade, age 6.
I am from Hawaii and grew up hearing a great many accents. I am also a former Soldier and married another Soldier and we were stationed all over the US; we also spent time in Europe so I have no problem with accents.
I will say that I really hate when an actor uses an accent that is just not believable. For some reason many Brits, Aussies & Kiwis do a great job with an American accent but the same CANNOT be said for Americans trying other accents.
I hate it when screen writers, directors, producers lack imagination or are just lazy so they
'hey we want this guy to seem smart so we'll give him a posh British accent'
or
'hey this is a bad guy so he'll have a german accent'
I don't have a problem with standard British accents - actually, I like them - but I do have difficulties with some northern ones, plus Scotland and Ireland.
And I have problems with Southern accents in America, too, the ones from the Deep South.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
