Australians and the perfect American accent (1 Viewer)

[Dan Rudolph]

SAE is pretty much the accent of the midwest and most of the western, US, yes?

That's not too difficult for most English speakers, but Creole, Texas and various Northeastern accents are hard.

 

[Claire Panke]

???? Rex, FYI, I grew up in the midwest.

We did quite a bit of traveling during my childhood and since. South, east, west coast, Canada...whatever. naturally, I don't think I have an "accent", although my friends from Wisonsin, Maine, Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina obviously do.

While I don't think SAE is truly comparable to say...British received pronunciation, I do remember a Bell telophone research project during the 1970's. Ma Bell determined that the most "neutral" (?) and easily understood American English was that spoken in the midwestern United States.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Parts of the midwest have their own accents. Wisconsion and Minnesota come to mind, as well some parts of Illinois (Alton, for instance). Plus there are the rural areas, which can also be somewhat different.

 

[Gary->dee]

When I was a kid growing up in Sydney I couldn't wait to get to America to try out words with the emphasis on the R's because that sound is basically missing from the Australian accent. That's essentially the basic premise of an Australian sounding like an American: heavy emphasis on the R's. There are certain similarities between the Australian and American accents. For example, Australians pronounce France like Americans, unlike the British who pronounce it as 'Frahnce'. So in a strange way the Australian accent is closer to the American accent than the British one.

As a side note, while I was travelling around London earlier this year I decided to re-instate my Australian accent even though I hadn't been there since 1978 and had long lost my Aussie accent. It was a challenge but a fun one. Some people pointed out that I didn't sound Australian and I had to explain that I had spent the past few years living in America. D'oh!

Then I met with a man in Stockholm who was able to get me a fake passport and a long range collapsible rifle so I could assassinate Charles de Gaulle. Ok just kidding on the last part. Been watching too much Day of the Jackel on TCM this weekend.

Mel Gibson still sounds remotely fake to me as an American. I can here that Australian accent begging to get out of him. Oi!

 

[James_G]

Speaking of regional US accents, Frances McDormand had a dead-on northern Minnesota accent in Fargo. The only thing that was off were some of the local expressions and such, which were pretty exaggerated (Darn tootin!, etc.). Almost all of the natives got real huffy and offended back when the movie first came out and everyone was poking fun at the accents. "We don't sound like that!" I've lived in this area for all of my life, but who're we kidding? We have funny accents.

BTW, William H. Macy wasn't bad, either.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Being from Houston, I've never really felt that Texas accents are really that hard, as it's a big state with lots of characters who speak in frankly strange and unique ways. If you give it a good try you're usually bound to sound like *someone* who lives there, even if it's just a solitary wacko hitchhiking up and down I-45 trying to start his own religious cult. That said, Michael Caine sounded he was from another planet in Secondhand Lions

 

[Robert Crawford]

Gibson was born in New York state and lived here until he was 12 years old before his father moved the family to Australia due to keeping Mel's older brothers out of the Vietnam war. Since, he's spent a good deal of the last 20 years back in the States, I think his Australian accent has decreased a whole bunch.





Crawdaddy

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Claire Panke wrote (post #22):


Umm, I doubt it, since "SAE" and "SBE" really refer to the classroom English learned in school: the idealized standard ("purist") usage (and pronunciation) of the language for formal spoken or written occasions. No one really "speaks" either of these, that's why they have to be taught in the classroom!

Of course, the terms "Standard American English" (SAE) and "Standard British English" (SBE) refer also to grammatical features and vocabulary usage, not just to pronunciation issues.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i dont know where he grew up, but john ennis from mr show can do a very authentic boston accent, and it isnt one of those ones that sounds awfully forced, either.

i saw naomi watts in mulholland drive and 21 grams and had no reason to think she was not american until i heard her in an interview.

CJ

 

[Gary->dee]

I'm aware of that, but I still think of him as an Australian.

It's like the day when I hear Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts speaking with American accents in real life. It'll sound weird to me and personally I hope that day never comes.

 

[Joe Kamsan]

Quite true. While there is probably also a linguistic aspect to it, mimicking the American accent would seem easier when you're constantly hearing it day and night. Also, don't discount the possiblity of excellent coaching as most Aussie actors know that is the key to making it in Hollywood.

I remember an interview with Russell Crowe where he said he loved the script for Shawshank Redemption and wanted to audition for the part (which eventually went to Gil Bellows IIRC). He never got to audition stage and was basically told by the producer to choose a part of the U.S., learn that regions accent then he'd see more opportunites. Crowe more or less said told them to stuff it and that he couldn't work with anyone he could 'con'.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I don't know where he grew up either, but I would lay odds he's a Boston native. The problem is that those that have not lived here usually do not even know what a real Boston accent sounds like, they just do the ah's and the Erah's and end up sounding like a drunken Ted Kennedy (the Kennedy accent is *not* a Boston accent, it is an Irish Catholic Bostonian trying to sound like a Boston Brahmin and failing...badly - i.e. real Bostonians do not say BAHH-STEN, it's BAW-Stin). It was on this very forum that a poster said "Ben Affleck - Worst Boston accent ever!" He/she was truly shocked to hear that Affleck came from Cambridge and had one of the most authentic Boston accents in Hollywood.

 

[Shane Gralaw]

And speaking of Teaxan accents- I would tend to agree that it is difficult as I taught English in Japan and all my coworkers were shocked that I did not speak in an accent that they expected. But an urban Texan accent, while natural to us, does not meet expectation. See Slacker for a legitimate Texan accent (or Etahan Hawke or Matthew McCounahey when he is not pushing it for effect). It is quite subtle and completely unlike the exageratted version you will hear in a lot of films. I had a student in Japan who studied linguistics and asked me to replicate a Texan accent for a school project. But it was the extreme hick accent that most would expect of us and I could not in good conscious fake it, even though I have some relatives who speak similarly (but still not the same). Sure, we say y'all and whatnot, but the expected accent is so extreme and rare as to be almost non-existent.

 

[Shane Gralaw]

Oh and to Brent Hutto- yeah I was just watching Eternal Sunshine too and thought the same thing- Kate Winslet does a superb US accent. Had I not known better I would have totally pegged her for being from the US.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

very true, most boston accents from people who did not grow up here end up sounding like mayor quimby from the simpsons.

CJ