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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage
Dubbing with an accent
"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of the world does not. I remember how well Toshiro Mihune (sometimes transliterated Mi-fune) spoke German in a film I saw in Düsseldorf.
Dubbing films with an accent hinders the understanding of the dia-logue and it is extremely distracting. Why do they do it? Usage ? a convention: in a movie or play speaking with an accent is to be interpreted as if that person were speaking another language (?). No wonder lots of people end up thinking that Italians in Italy speak English with an accent. However, if the film has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.
...
Lately, an increasing number of films and TV programs uses subtitles in the scenes in which people talk in other languages. This adds realism to the work. In the past, as I had already stated, the convention was to use dumb phony accents to signify that the performers were talking other language (Remember the phrase ³Say it with an accent, Ethel, you¹re speaking Spanish...² ? in the I Love Lucy, hacienda/British play episode)."
From the book "America" Misunderstood, available for free at the author's personal page, below.
Personal Page
http://ruhig.0catch.com
ISSUES: Ecology, philosophy, short stories, typesetting, animal rights, environment, cats, men¹s issues: divorce, circumcision, how to solve your problems; Linguistics, subjects in Spanish, Portuguese and German.
Secrecy Breeds Corruption.
Dubbing films with an accent hinders the understanding of the dia-logue and it is extremely distracting. Why do they do it? Usage ? a convention: in a movie or play speaking with an accent is to be interpreted as if that person were speaking another language (?). No wonder lots of people end up thinking that Italians in Italy speak English with an accent. However, if the film has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.
...
Lately, an increasing number of films and TV programs uses subtitles in the scenes in which people talk in other languages. This adds realism to the work. In the past, as I had already stated, the convention was to use dumb phony accents to signify that the performers were talking other language (Remember the phrase ³Say it with an accent, Ethel, you¹re speaking Spanish...² ? in the I Love Lucy, hacienda/British play episode)."
From the book "America" Misunderstood, available for free at the author's personal page, below.
Personal Page
http://ruhig.0catch.com
ISSUES: Ecology, philosophy, short stories, typesetting, animal rights, environment, cats, men¹s issues: divorce, circumcision, how to solve your problems; Linguistics, subjects in Spanish, Portuguese and German.
Secrecy Breeds Corruption.
Top answer
Rolf Ruhig filted: [nq:1]"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of the world does not. I remember how well Toshiro Mihune ...
- Rolf Ruhig filted: [nq:1]"We dub foreign films with an accent.
- The rest of the world does not.
- I remember how well Toshiro Mihune ...
- has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation.
- Kryptonians (except Marlon Brando) speak with British accents as well....
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4 Answers
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Rolf Ruhig filted:
[nq:1]"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of the world does not. I remember how well Toshiro Mihune ... has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.[/nq]
Not just Latin and Greek...Kryptonians (except Marlon Brando) speak with British accents as well....
I recently found some vi
[nq:1]"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of the world does not. I remember how well Toshiro Mihune ... has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.[/nq]
Not just Latin and Greek...Kryptonians (except Marlon Brando) speak with British accents as well....
I recently found some vi
00
[nq:1]Rolf Ruhig filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of ... with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not just Latin and Greek...Kryptonians (except Marlon Brando) speak with British accents as well.... I recently found some viewer comments ... all round, and each apparently able to understand the other fluently without feeli
[nq:2]"We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of ... with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not just Latin and Greek...Kryptonians (except Marlon Brando) speak with British accents as well.... I recently found some viewer comments ... all round, and each apparently able to understand the other fluently without feeli
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John O'Flaherty filted:
[nq:2]In passing, I'll mention that I watched the director's cut ... fluently without feeling any compulsion to speak the other's language..r[/nq]
[nq:1]Obviously, they could all read backwards.[/nq]
Not in the director's cut...the sailors couldn't even read romaji forwards without a cheat-sheet, as evidenced by their attempts to find a sign point to "Hollywood"
[nq:2]In passing, I'll mention that I watched the director's cut ... fluently without feeling any compulsion to speak the other's language..r[/nq]
[nq:1]Obviously, they could all read backwards.[/nq]
Not in the director's cut...the sailors couldn't even read romaji forwards without a cheat-sheet, as evidenced by their attempts to find a sign point to "Hollywood"
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A chapter in Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language by Douglas R. Hofstadter discusses the oddities of accents in movies. I believe one of his examples was Gorkey Park.
Matt
Matt
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