Nailing a foreign accent
June 17, 2013 10:42 AM Subscribe
Do you know of any videos that feature dead on imitations of foreign accents? I'm looking for things along the lines of this one, but not necessarily part of a stand up comedy routine. Not interested in anything that is mean-spirited. Also interested to know how people can nail a foreign accent so accurately (whether for comedy, making a movie, etc.).
Are feature films ok? Kenneth Branagh does a darn good American accent in "Dead Again".
People tell me that Meryl Streep does an excellent Polish accent in "Sophie's Choice." She is well known for being able to do foreign accents.
posted by Melismata at 10:57 AM on June 17, 2013
People tell me that Meryl Streep does an excellent Polish accent in "Sophie's Choice." She is well known for being able to do foreign accents.
posted by Melismata at 10:57 AM on June 17, 2013
There are a lot of accent videos on YT
Yeah, the first thing I thought of was this one.
posted by various at 11:10 AM on June 17, 2013
Yeah, the first thing I thought of was this one.
posted by various at 11:10 AM on June 17, 2013
Sorry, too lazy to do HTML, but check out Arie Spears. His accents are spot on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nK6SYDOTnE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBX5F49bOs8
The second one is uncannily accurate, and I say this as an African woman.
posted by Enchanting Grasshopper at 11:12 AM on June 17, 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nK6SYDOTnE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBX5F49bOs8
The second one is uncannily accurate, and I say this as an African woman.
posted by Enchanting Grasshopper at 11:12 AM on June 17, 2013
I happened to catch a few minutes of the movie Alice in Wonderland, the horrible 2010 one, and there's a few scenes in which Johnny Depp does a Glaswegian accent that is probably the best one I've ever heard an American do. You can hear some of it here.
Also interested to know how people can nail a foreign accent so accurately (whether for comedy, making a movie, etc.).
Immersion. You spend time around people from the area and listen to them (or get videos or whatever). Weirdly, it can also be a big help to hear someone from a different area trying to do the accent you're trying to do; it helps you catch little things you might not have noticed. For example, in Arrested Development, when Charlize Theron says, "I hate when they cast Americans as British people, you can always tell," she says the word "always" the way an American would, and it jumped out at me.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 11:15 AM on June 17, 2013
Also interested to know how people can nail a foreign accent so accurately (whether for comedy, making a movie, etc.).
Immersion. You spend time around people from the area and listen to them (or get videos or whatever). Weirdly, it can also be a big help to hear someone from a different area trying to do the accent you're trying to do; it helps you catch little things you might not have noticed. For example, in Arrested Development, when Charlize Theron says, "I hate when they cast Americans as British people, you can always tell," she says the word "always" the way an American would, and it jumped out at me.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 11:15 AM on June 17, 2013
I think a lot of the British folks working here in America do a damn good job of nailing the accent.
Hugh Laurie in House for example. I mean, he has a 'nowhere' accent, but I do too, and the back story of being a military brat sort of explains it.
The scene in Inglorious Basterds where they're outed by the British guy's German accent is pretty funny, right before it gets violent.
Being American, I have no idea if Renee Zellweger's accent in Bridget Jones's Diary is any good, but it sounded pretty decent to me. (It didn't seem to have any of the markers of class or education that I hear in the accents of the folks in our London office, but it didn't sound bad.)
Petra Mede a Swedish comedian who hosted the Eurovision Song Contest this year did a hilarious send up of a British journalist with her character, Lynda Woodruff.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:18 AM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hugh Laurie in House for example. I mean, he has a 'nowhere' accent, but I do too, and the back story of being a military brat sort of explains it.
The scene in Inglorious Basterds where they're outed by the British guy's German accent is pretty funny, right before it gets violent.
Being American, I have no idea if Renee Zellweger's accent in Bridget Jones's Diary is any good, but it sounded pretty decent to me. (It didn't seem to have any of the markers of class or education that I hear in the accents of the folks in our London office, but it didn't sound bad.)
Petra Mede a Swedish comedian who hosted the Eurovision Song Contest this year did a hilarious send up of a British journalist with her character, Lynda Woodruff.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:18 AM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh! And as for how or why they can nail the accent, they may have an ear for such things. Having perfect pitch helps a LOT.
And dialect coaches. The folks on the Sopranos had dialect coaches to nail that awful Jersey patois.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:31 AM on June 17, 2013
And dialect coaches. The folks on the Sopranos had dialect coaches to nail that awful Jersey patois.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:31 AM on June 17, 2013
When Shakespeare in Love came out, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't very well known at the time. I remember reading that a lot of UKers were surprised to learn she was American.
I think Sam Palladio (British) and Clare Bowen (Australian) use amazing southern accents in the ABC show Nashville.
posted by cecic at 11:39 AM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think Sam Palladio (British) and Clare Bowen (Australian) use amazing southern accents in the ABC show Nashville.
posted by cecic at 11:39 AM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think Sam Palladio (British) and Clare Bowen (Australian) use amazing southern accents in the ABC show Nashville.
As a person living in the south, I CRINGE when I hear some "Southern" accents.
The Southern accent is incredibly distinct for each area in the south. New Orleans/Louisiana's accent is a cross between magnoias and Brooklyn. Atlanta's is way different than a Carolina accent.
And Florida...yeah, that's a whole other thing. I was watching an old Law and Order, and there was a guy who claimed to be from Miami, and he was sporting an accent the likes of which Foghorn Leghorn would blush about.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:04 PM on June 17, 2013
As a person living in the south, I CRINGE when I hear some "Southern" accents.
The Southern accent is incredibly distinct for each area in the south. New Orleans/Louisiana's accent is a cross between magnoias and Brooklyn. Atlanta's is way different than a Carolina accent.
And Florida...yeah, that's a whole other thing. I was watching an old Law and Order, and there was a guy who claimed to be from Miami, and he was sporting an accent the likes of which Foghorn Leghorn would blush about.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:04 PM on June 17, 2013
Agreed about British actors nailing American accents. When I first watched The Wire I had no idea Idris Elba (Stinger Bell) and Dominic West (McNulty) were not Americans.
posted by meta87 at 12:35 PM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by meta87 at 12:35 PM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Kevin Kline's RP in A Fish Called Wanda was spot on, to point of parody.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2013
Well, it's wildly not accurate, but you gotta love Peter Sellars as French-ish Inspector Clouseau!
posted by thinkpiece at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by thinkpiece at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2013
When I first saw Damian Lewis after watching "Band of Brothers," my mind was blown.
Now, his accent may not have been perfect, but it was good enough that I never questioned him. My not having recognized him ahead of time may be part of the reason that his accent worked.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:41 PM on June 17, 2013
Now, his accent may not have been perfect, but it was good enough that I never questioned him. My not having recognized him ahead of time may be part of the reason that his accent worked.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:41 PM on June 17, 2013
NIDA, the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Arts, is basically a university for actors and they do voice and accent training there. Since I've moved to the US, I am surprised at the number of Aussie actors that pop up in all sorts of US shows, my husband never believes me when I call them out on it.
posted by wwax at 1:04 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by wwax at 1:04 PM on June 17, 2013
I got these CDs for my nephew who is into accents and acting and gave them to him at Christmas. They are hysterical to listen to (we were falling about and crying we were laughing so hard), but also did break down accents into essential components. At least they could get you started.
posted by agatha_magatha at 1:14 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by agatha_magatha at 1:14 PM on June 17, 2013
I think this one is great and it cracks me up so much. 24 accents by a British teen boy on YouTube.
(That first Arie Spears video that Enchanting Grasshopper linked above also made me laugh so hard...)
posted by cairdeas at 1:20 PM on June 17, 2013
(That first Arie Spears video that Enchanting Grasshopper linked above also made me laugh so hard...)
posted by cairdeas at 1:20 PM on June 17, 2013
The scene in Inglorious Basterds where they're outed by the British guy's German accent is pretty funny, right before it gets violent.
The accent made the SS offer curious, but the tell was the visual way he ordered three whiskies.
however Inglorius Basterds has several scenes where actors slip in and out of German, French, and English. the opening sequence in the French farmhouse for example.
posted by Gungho at 1:31 PM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
The accent made the SS offer curious, but the tell was the visual way he ordered three whiskies.
however Inglorius Basterds has several scenes where actors slip in and out of German, French, and English. the opening sequence in the French farmhouse for example.
posted by Gungho at 1:31 PM on June 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Andrew Lincoln (Rick Crimes on The Walking Dead) does a pretty good Atlanta accent, although I knew something was not quite right enough to check it out. Same with Brody on Homeland.
posted by PSB at 1:34 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by PSB at 1:34 PM on June 17, 2013
Seconding "immersion" as an answer to "how can people nail an accent so well". The best accent I can do by far is an Irish one, and that is predominantly due to having an Irish friend and chatting with her in person and by phone now and then; I'm not so much doing "an Irish accent" so much as I'm "talking like C". (It's rubbed off so well, in fact, that the last time another Irish Gaelic speaker heard me try to say a few things in that language, she noted that I even speak Irish with my friend's County Cork accent!)
But adding that another means people can use, particularly performers, are dialect coaches. There are whole systems in place designed to analyze all different accents and teach actors and performers how to produce them, and there are even established standards for what exactly constitutes an "generic English accent" or "generic American accent" for the stage or for film. Teachers and dialect coaches use everything from phonetic alphabets to immersion to practice drills to get actors up to speed with a particular accent.
Finally, there's the approach that I heard Danny Thomas used - he was Lebanese, but wanted to pass himself off as a sort of Jewish-borscht-belt comedian when he was starting his career, so he wanted a little bit of that sort of accent. So - instead of seeing a dialect coach, he tried teaching himself a little bit of Hebrew and Yiddish. His thinking was, accents "happen" when people who naturally speak another language try applying those unique sounds to English. So he was trying the same thing. I actually tried learning a little Irish Gaelic for that same purpose, and it's probably another part of why an Irish accent is the only one I'm at least competent in.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:48 PM on June 17, 2013
But adding that another means people can use, particularly performers, are dialect coaches. There are whole systems in place designed to analyze all different accents and teach actors and performers how to produce them, and there are even established standards for what exactly constitutes an "generic English accent" or "generic American accent" for the stage or for film. Teachers and dialect coaches use everything from phonetic alphabets to immersion to practice drills to get actors up to speed with a particular accent.
Finally, there's the approach that I heard Danny Thomas used - he was Lebanese, but wanted to pass himself off as a sort of Jewish-borscht-belt comedian when he was starting his career, so he wanted a little bit of that sort of accent. So - instead of seeing a dialect coach, he tried teaching himself a little bit of Hebrew and Yiddish. His thinking was, accents "happen" when people who naturally speak another language try applying those unique sounds to English. So he was trying the same thing. I actually tried learning a little Irish Gaelic for that same purpose, and it's probably another part of why an Irish accent is the only one I'm at least competent in.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:48 PM on June 17, 2013
I use the Speech Accent Archive in addition to watching other actors in youtube clips or movies.
posted by rakaidan at 3:22 PM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by rakaidan at 3:22 PM on June 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I haven't seen any of his (several) videos or film performances, but in person Danny Hoch's work can be truly astonishing. (The content extends well beyond the accents. But the accents are often pitch perfect as well, at least to my ear.)
posted by eotvos at 8:30 PM on June 17, 2013
posted by eotvos at 8:30 PM on June 17, 2013
I haven't had time to explore this yet, but The Mimic Method is intruiging!
posted by 4midori at 1:25 PM on June 21, 2013
posted by 4midori at 1:25 PM on June 21, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are a lot of accent videos on YT. I think they generally sound pretty close if you don't personally know the accent, in which case they sound pretty off!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 10:56 AM on June 17, 2013