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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Accents in TV and movies - All varieties

0 Hi,02br
00there's something I've always liked to know, I'm too curious! When you watch TV or a movie in your own country, what kinds of accents do you hear? This is a very general question, but it involves this important point:01ul
    01li
  • 01b01i00Are movies or programs dubbed?02i02b00 (i.e., British E. --> American E. and vice versa) I don't think so, but if they are not dubbed, that means you sometimes watch movies or programs in another accent. Well, so how much "different English" is there on TV and in movies in your country? And, most importantly, what's the effect of that? Does it bother you a little? Do you always understand? Do you find it perfectly ok, or does it sound strange and you have to strain you ears?02li
    • 02ul
00This question came to my mind thinking about an extremely famous cartoon, The Simpsons. Well, if it's not dubbed into British English, that means that in the UK people watch that series in American English. I don't know how much other American stuff there could be in the UK, or British stuff in the US.02br
02br
00Thank you.0-
  

Top answer

0 No, I've never heard of a movie being dubbed into another dialect. That would seem rather ludicrous to me. ) You have to remember that North Americans usually understand most dialects of British English just fine.

— Marvin A.

  • 0 No, I've never heard of a movie being dubbed into another dialect.
  • That would seem rather ludicrous to me.
  • ) You have to remember that North Americans usually understand most dialects of British English just fine.
  • RP and General American (defined here as any North American dialect that has no stigmatized features) are more similar to each other than some North American dialects are to each other.
  • The differences are very slight--the most noticed difference is usually the presence or absence of final r's.
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32 Answers
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0 No, I've never heard of a movie being dubbed into another dialect. That would seem rather ludicrous to me. (Ok, so I've always wanted to use the word ludicrous.) You have to remember that North Americans usually understand most dialects of British English just fine. RP and General American (defined here as any North American dialect that has no stigmatized features) are more similar to eac
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0 In the U.S. there are a lot of British offerings on PBS (the Public Broadcasting System). They are never dubbed. That would be completely unnecessary. They are not at all bothersome or difficult to understand. I agree with Marvin A.'s observation:02br
01blockquote
00RP [British] and General American ... are more similar to each other than some North American
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0Hi Marvin A,02br
02br
00You wrote:01blockquote
00No, I've never heard of a movie being dubbed into another dialect.12blockquote
10I think some children's cartoon films are dubbed, though.02br
02br
00Englishuser0-
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0 >> I think some children's cartoon films are dubbed, though. 02<<
02br
00Really? I've never heard of that. Which ones? So, you guys on the other side of the puddle really can't understand us then? 0-
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0 This is interesting. Anyway, we haven't get an opinion from a British English speaker yet. But if I get it right, when Americans watch British movies, they watch them in British English (that is, they watch the original movies, as thet were made). And British people watch American movies in American English (the original movies, again).02br
02br
00The purpose of this thread
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0 RP, or what is know to foreigners as "British English", sounds just fine to North Americans. Whereas we can have problems understanding some of the regional accents in Great Britain, we have no trouble understanding RP. In fact, the only 01b00noticeable* differences is that they leave out their r's at the end of words and pronounce /æ/ as [ A ] sometimes. That's *all02b
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0 Your examples are not realistic. Remember, American actors a few decades ago used to put on a RP-sounding accent. 0-
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0Hi Kooyeen,01blockquote
00then American English should sound very natural to British people12blockquote
10Yes, it does. British people can understand mainstream American English very well.01blockquote
00I guess there's less British English in the US than American English in the UK, nevertheless it seems that British English sounds natura
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0Hi Marvin A.,01blockquote
00In fact, the only 11b10noticeable12b10 differences is that they leave out their r's at the end of words and pronounce /æ/ as [ A ] sometimes.12blockquote
10Well, there are some other differences as well, ranging from how the 'dark l' is used to how the vowels and diphthongs are realised. I am sure we could
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0>> with the exception of RP and some other 'less pronounced' British accents. 02<<
02br
00@Kooyeen: but remember, when foreigners learn "British English" they are learning RP.0-
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