How Does This British Accent Sound?
I was just listening to one of Slate’s excellent podcasts, and it opened with a new promo for Land Rovers. The voice-over actor has a British accent which sounds a little peculiar to me. I wouldn’t definitely say it’s fake, because my ear isn’t good enough, but it sounds a little odd.
Does that sound legit to my British readers? Or anybody else who has an ear for accents?
December 10th, 2007 at 7:27 am
I’ve been to the UK a couple times in the last two months and on the second trip, one of my friends felt he’d really hit the nail on the head when he described the British accent as “trying to talk while you’re yawning”. Of course, he also insisted on ending every sentence with “Gov’nor” while we were there so his perspective may not have been the best.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:49 am
i think it sounds irish-ish
December 10th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Fake, not Irish, but not British either.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:57 am
South African?
December 10th, 2007 at 9:14 am
This brit says… bogus. The particularly suspect bits are the “always” and “your local”, which gets pronounced “yer local”. That might sound right in an estuary accent but this guy is clearly going for “RP”. The result sounds like Harry Enfield impersonating a 1940s radio announcer.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Recently we had a discussion with Brits and Aussies and the subject came up about the differences in accent. The Aussies said that Brits sound like “they’re trying to talk with a plum in their mouth.”
It worked for me.
December 10th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Definitely a Fraudy. He trips up on “…always up for any adventure.” Sounds closer to a Japanese accent than a proper British one.
December 10th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
The thing is there is no such thing as a British accent. There is the upper class posh accent which tends to be taken as a British accent but you can travel 100 miles in any direction in the UK and come across wildly differing accents. Brummie, Geordie, Manc, Scouser, Cockney, Glaswegian, Aberdonian, Fifers… Britain is quite amazing in that way. Apparently the best English is spoken in the HIghlands of Scotland, ironically enough.
December 11th, 2007 at 2:38 am
>Apparently the best English is spoken in >the HIghlands of Scotland, ironically >enough
huh?
December 11th, 2007 at 9:28 am
@8 - what you really mean is that there is no *single* British accent. There are lots of accents that are British and you just named some of them. And this guy (in the ad) is not using any of them :)
@1 & @6 - mock if you like, but I get lots of compliments on my accent. You know, from girls.
Cheers
..Mark..
December 12th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
@9 Seriously, although maybe I should have said “clearest” not best. It’s often said of places like Inverness and I believe studies have been done although I can’t be bothered looking for them.
December 16th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Pretty bad, but not the worst I’ve ever heard. Scots is butchered within an inch of its life on a regular basis. Remember the Alexander Keith’s ads?
Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls would have done this ad more justice.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:13 am
I’m away from my home puter and can’t find the URLs, but I think the voice belongs to a Scottish podcaster called Mark. The guy I’m thinking of has a music podcast which I’ve never heard, but he’s been a guest on the Top of the Pods podcast many times.
The “accent butchery” may come from the text being written by an American and read by a Scotsman (I heard it spoken by one of Slate’s own people a few times first).
September 26th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Definitely not a ‘proper’ british accent. Sounds very Asian to me, especially the way he pronounces ‘L’.
I am almost sure, that it is someone who has been to the UK, but is not a native.