MovieChat Forums > The Day of the Jackal (1973) Discussion > Michael Lonsdale's command of English

Michael Lonsdale's command of English

posted 7 years ago by GonzusCH
2 replies | jump to latest

I have read several times about Lonsdale's supposed fluency in English and French. It is even mentioned in IMDB's bio page for him: He's perfectly bilingual (French/English).

My question, particularly for native English speakers (which I am not), is this: does he always have an accent when speaking English, or is he affecting one, and he could pass for a native English speaker?

On every movie I have seen him, he always seems to me to be speaking English with a French accent (or Russian!). Hence my question.

Cheers!

[–] turtletommy 7 years ago

I'm a native English speaker (American English if that qualifies!). I've seen him in a few movies such as this one and RONIN and I think he definitely meets the Cambridge Dictionary definition of a fluent (English) speaker: "When a person is fluent, they can speak a language easily, well, and quickly." Having an accent shouldn't necessarily exclude one from speaking a language easily, well, and quickly- though a heavy accent could undoubtedly make you hard to understand. With all that said the times I've heard Lonsdale speak English he seems to be speaking it with a French accent which is understandable if that is his native tongue, which I believe it is.

[–] GonzusCH 7 years ago

Thank you for your reply. Now I realize I was not very clear in my question, but you answered it anyway. And yes, American English does qualify :-)

I totally agree fluency is possible even in the presence of an accent. I also concur in that everytime I have heard Lonsdale speaking English, he does have an accent. I guess I was curious on the apparent (to me) insistence on his bilingualism. His IMDB biography explicitly talks about it ("He's perfectly bilingual (French/English)"), and I am pretty sure I have seen this mentioned in other places. But there are lots of actors who are fluent in more than one language, so to me stressing that fact means there should be something more than just fluency; hence my focus on his accent.

Thanks for your "expert opinion" (being native in English). Cheers!