i was given this film to watch for practise for the listening part in the cambridge cpe...i watched abt half an hour and i got a headache!!!!!!its excausting trying to listen to her....in other movies walters speaks normally though...
shareYears of watching Public Television and British movies have tweaked my ears to the different regional accents made it easy for me to understand the banter is this movie even back in 1983 when I first saw it in the theaters. It does take time. Have patience...did you see on a DVD or on TV, or does your TV have subtitles. That helps.
Enrique Sanchez
What specific kind of accent does she have in this movie? I used to watch Changing Rooms and Antiques Roadshow just to listen to their accents but I wouldn't know what part of the country they were from.
shareJulie plays a Liverpudlian (someone from Liverpool for anybody not familiar with the British Isles), hence the strong regional accent. Willy Russell (who wrote both the original play and the screenplay) is a Liverpudlian and 'Educating Rita' is semi-autobiographical (albeit Rita is female and Willy is obviously male).
shareI'm British so I understood her perfectly, but I was thinking that it must be hard for those who aren't.
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I'm NOT British and I always understood her perfectly. Americans are just not very good at listening and understanding the English language (sarcasm intended). Some more than others.
shareEnglish is only my third language (after Dutch and French) and I understood her perfectly too. USAmericans can be so pathetic. I heard in the American release of "Local Hero" local dialogs were dubbed because they thought USAmericans wouldn't understand them. It was plain English, mind you! With a minor, but enjoyable Scottish accent, which I had no trouble with to understand.
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Rome. By all means, Rome.
You have to understand that many Americans come from regions with their own strong accents, so not only would they be used to hearing American, but a thick southern accent on top of it, for example. The spread from that subaccent to Rita's accent would be very broad.
I have a friend who is from east Texas and says pin when he means pen, for example. I am very used to accents, being half European, and also have a great ear for British accents, and can usually pinpoint to the village or neighboring village when I hear a Brit speak English, but there are many times when I just cannot get this friend speaking. I hear a totally different word. So if that person who is used to hearing English spoken that way watched this movie, or a movie with Scottish accents, I am sure he would have a very hard time following it.
Plus most Americans are not exposed to other accents, except for maybe one ethic one in their region, either Mexican-American, Portuguese, or French, perhaps.
If you watch interviews with her, that's how she speaks, (though her voice is more 'refined' after all these years).
Try the subtitles, my friends can never understand her either.
She is speaking with a Liverpool accent (like the Beatles) but that is not her natural accent. She is from the English Midlands and normally speaks with a Birmingham accent. She has a degree in English and Drama, so she would have been trained to adopt a range of accents.
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I speak English with the American accent and understood her just fine. I guess that's just because I've been exposed to many international accents though.
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barelyWhen there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...
I think she's a delight to listen to in this film. But then again, I love the accent.
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They blew up Congress!
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