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Worldwide Accents of English

 
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Moe Egan
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Joined: 11 Sep 2006
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Location: Live Free or Die

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:52 am    Post subject: Worldwide Accents of English Reply with quote

I was doing some on line research and came across this website with examples of a bunch of different accents ...thought I'd share it.

http://www.gazzaro.it/accents/files/accents2.html

have fun!

moe
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mcm
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Joined: 10 Dec 2004
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Location: w. MA, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the link Moe! Other good accent sites:

International Dialects of English Archives

Speech Accent Archive

American Dialect Links

The Dialect Resource (this is for purchase of an array of CDs - I have a lot of them and they're really helpful).

I'm always on the lookout for examples of Cajun dialect, which is hard to find. I have a Cajun Dictionary and accompanying CDs but it's really Cajun French for the most part. I may just take a trip to Louisiana sometime and make recordings myself. Hey - it could be a tax deductible trip!!! I wonder if all the boudin would be tax deductible too..... Inoccent

Uh oh, it's true about food-oriented thread jacking around here.

Dialects, dialects, dialects.

There, we're back on track.
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Audiogal
King's Row


Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 1083
Location: Shreveport, LA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting site, Moe. When I checked out the New Orleans sample, it didn't sound anything like what I've heard from the natives. It would be interesting to hear comments from the group about whether the other samples are "true" to familiar ears.
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Rob Ellis
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Joined: 01 Aug 2006
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Location: Detroit

PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have found the following book useful for an introduction to dialects:
http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Manual-Actors-Robert-Blumenfeld/dp/0879102691/ref=dp_return_2/002-3566351-2267204?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Dan O' Day also has a tape on accents that is helpful:
http://danoday.com/uscatalog/usa.cgi?command=listitems&pos=0&type=search
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Bruce
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
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Location: Portland, OR

PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Audiogal wrote:
Interesting site, Moe. When I checked out the New Orleans sample, it didn't sound anything like what I've heard from the natives. It would be interesting to hear comments from the group about whether the other samples are "true" to familiar ears.


I'm not an expert on N.O. accents, but I believe you have several dialects around there including Cajun, Creole, more "traditional" Southern, and of course some African-American dialects particular to that region.

You'll note he's got many dialects from the U.K. but only one for the Southern U.S., and as those from these here parts knows, there at least a couple of dozen varieties of Southern between El Paso, Texas and Richmond, Virginia.

B
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mcm
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Joined: 10 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 7:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rob, I have Blumenfeld's book and CDs and have listened to the CDs. He does all the accents himself, which is remarkable (and also has some drawbacks). It's the most geographically comprehensive collection I've seen so if there's a region that interests you that's hard to find represented elsewhere it's a handy all-in-one resource. You should compare what's on there with native speakers though.
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davidmonteath
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Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 755
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was going to stay kinda quiet on this one, but as you brought up Blumenfeld.....and I apologise if this steps on anyones toes or if anyone is a friend of his.

Wise words MCM, check other native sources.

I was sent (by accident) a copy of his accent guide for Scottish and it is atrocious, not even funny bad, but wrong in many aspect, he makes fundamental errors. I would suggest that no one uses it to help with Scots.

OK, having said that....he is doing it all himself and from what I gather he has done a huge amount of work on other 'English' accented countries throughout the world....but I have heard similar comments about his Australian work..

With the greatest respect, I completely accept that its unlikely that you guys (or girls) are going to be asked to do a Scottish accent for anyone in Scotland....at least as unlikely as me doing an American (generic or regional) for anyone in the US.....so maybe Groundskeeper Willie (or any of Robert Blumenfelds wild approximations) is fine, just wrong!!!

I would be interested to hear anyones thoughs about accent accuracy.
If you are from Brooklyn or L.A. or Charlotte N.C. do you want to hear your own accent accurately reflected..........how much do you think it matters?

Mel Gibson's accent in Braveheart was a pretty good approximation of modern day Glaswegian, but totally wrong for William Wallace and the period. Wallace was a knighted nobleman who would have spoken Latin and Norman French as a matter of course, it would be more surprising if he didn't speak them. It's arguable that there are only 6 million Scots who would get irritated if their accent is badly portrayed, against however many million or billion English speakers who automatically accept the accent and the historical truth of a film.

My point(s) being does credibility of the accent spoil, enhance or change the enjoyment of the end product?

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant. Embarrassed

Also re tax-deducatbility of accent field trips....I succesfully wrote off a major proportion of a stay in Los Angeles as a business expense. cool
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DaveChristi
King's Row


Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Posts: 1033
Location: Bend, OR

PostPosted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

davidmonteath wrote:
My point(s) being does credibility of the accent spoil, enhance or change the enjoyment of the end product?


Take Dick Van Dyke's Cockney in Mary Poppins. To quote IMDB:

IMDB wrote:
In Britain, his attempt at a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins (1964) is so notorious that a "Dick Van Dyke accent" is an accepted slang term for an American's unsuccessful attempt at a British accent. Despite that, he is quite popular in Britain.


Braveheart was an American film aimed primarily at American audiences. We Yanks would not have believed a film that had William Wallace speaking as a nobleman. We need him sounding a bit like Billy Connelly before we believe he's Scottish.

Your sig line mentions Connery. He's only ever had ONE accent. Yet he's played a Spaniard in Highlander, a Russian submarine commander in Hunt for Red October, and I believe 007 was from south of the border. Most folks just accepted that it was Connery and enjoyed the film.

Of course there are situations where the accent should at least TRY to be accurate. Brad Pitt's Oirish in The Devil's Own was more than BAD. Next time hire an Irishman to play the part.

Once upon a time I used to be able to say,

Quote:
Ear all, see all, say nowt.
Eat all, sup all, pay nowt.
And if tha ever does owt fer nowt,
Allus tuen fa thissen.


...and even fool the locals in Doncaster or Leeds. These days my Yorkshire may fall into the ranks of Van Dyke or Pitt, but it still makes me mum laugh.

So to answer your question: YES... and no.

Quote:
'Ere’s to me muther’s son,
Me wife’s ‘usband
And no' forgettin’ missen.

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Rob Ellis
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Joined: 01 Aug 2006
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Location: Detroit

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, with the availability of native speaking voiceover talent through the internet and ISDN, I am beginning to question whether investing time in learning accents is truly worthwhile, unless it is for possible use in developing animation characters or just for the fun of it.
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mcm
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rob, it is worth it.

First of all, studying accents sharpens your ears. Even though I've always paid attention to accents, formal training (I took a Dialects course in the theatre dept. at the local university this past spring) made me notice things in people's speech that I hadn't before, as well as introducing me to a lot of great resources for further study.

For certain kinds of jobs, if you've been hired to do one voice, you may very well find yourself asked to perform other voices - and not just funny ones. I did a bunch of voices for a documentary recently and one of them was a Swedish woman. The director asked me to give the accent a try (I had previously done my homework) and liked what I did. I do get hired fairly often to do accents.

Video games need accents. And arguably the biggest call for them is in audio books. So if you like 'em, further study will be time well spent.
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Rob Ellis
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Joined: 01 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the encouraging words, Mary.

I enjoy studying dialects and with your encouragement will continue to do so. You make some good points about the benefits of it that I had not thought of.
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Diane Maggipinto
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just watched 'Fargo' again last night. 'Nuff said!
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bobsouer
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Diane,

Yah, sure. You betcha! (Since I am a native of Minnesota, I can say stuff like that.) Laugh
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bobbinbeamo
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Diane....THAT'S what I'm talkin' a-boat! "Fargo"- what a juicy example to reference excellent dialect portrayal.
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jrodriguez315
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a page I found that has links to many of these kinds of resources. I hope it is helpful.
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