This is a very naive question from a non native speaker. How good/realistic/authentic is the Welsh accent in this movie? I am a French English teacher, and I love this movie. I was wondering whether to recommend it to some of my students for getting used to some regional, more unusual accents (all they ever get taught is RP).
Thank you for your feedback.
"Sometimes I'm callous and strange."
I'm neither English nor Welsh, but I have a keen interest in the accents of the UK. The Welsh accents here seem pretty authentic to me, and what's particularly funny is the way Miss Elizabeth (Betty) plays a Welsh person trying to imitate an English accent (poorly!). I don't know how she speaks in real life, but the character was really funny.
One accent that confused me was the voice of the grandfather narrating. It sounded almost British-Indian to me. Can anyone comment on the authenticity of that voice?
I wonder how Miss Betty came up with the eastern US society "accent" when she says "Charmed, I'm shew-ah." My only problem with the film, but since it's Tara, I'll let it slide...
"Stalker?"
"Yup, bigtime"
A belated reply to your question on accents: The accents are authentic and many of the actors are actually Welsh. They actually do quite a good attempt to share the same accent (because there are several very distinct Welsh regional accents) and it is quite a soft accent that you would associate with South Wales.
Because it is set 100 years ago, the local villagers would be Welsh language speakers, although there were active attempts by the educationalists of the time to eliminate Welsh as a medium by banning it in schools (ironically, this policy was reversed in the 1970s and now all children educated in Wales have to learn Welsh as a compulsory element of the curriculum, even if they are English and Welsh is not spoken at home).
The red-haired "goat" character is portrayed by an Irishman. His Welsh accent is ok but sometimes the Irish kicks in.
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