ice cube had a SA accent, lived there 14 years. he goes to the US and it magically disappears. im guessing he got the lead role cause he was producer but he couldnt do a SA accent so he figured it would just go away after a while. stupid
The Dude Abides
When you live somewhere for 14 years (he lived in US for 14 yrs), you pick up the accent. I am half South African and half Costa Rican and both english accents get very confusing when i travel between the two.
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I have a couple friends who left SA when they were around 14 and they are both in their late 20's now and have completely American accents now so it does happen. Just an FYI.
Also on my personal experience I was born in the SF Bay and here until 13.5 then I lived in my mom's country (the Philippines) and when I came back 3.5 years later I had a filipino accent and my drama coach (I was an actor at the time) told me I had to do Speech I & II because I needed to be able to have an American, or Filipino accent at will if I was going to get roles here in the US. So I did and after 4-5 months got my primary mode of speech back to an American accent.
I have heard worst English South African accents, and it is all over the place like that. I should know, my husband is an honest to goodness real English South African from Westville Durban.
Charlize Theron has been living here for less than 14 years and she as completely lost her South African accent. So for Ice Cube's character, it's not too far-fetched either. Jodie Foster has no Anglo-Saxon accent when she speaks French, so it's possible for some people to lose their accent.
shareWhen I speak english, a trace of "souf efrican" remains, even after 8 years away.
OTOH, my french is tinged by a german accent, as german is my mother tongue.
Go figger.
BTW, Charlize Theron had to "unlearn" her accent, but her home language was afrikaans anyway, and not english.
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What really is ridiculous is that Ice Cube HAS made some good movies (Boyz N Da Hood, XXX: State of the Union, Friday), but I have seen MUCH worse than this (Are We There Yet?). The movie was interesting in many aspects (Ice Cube gets scared of a few lame African gangster wannabes, Steven runs away from Ice Cube, Ice Cube gets teased by a fat woman in the strip club), but this movie just plain SUCKED LMAO!
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You lost any credibility with "xxx: state of the union"...
shareOkay, so granted Vusi, lost his South African accent. Fine. But he also seems to have forgotten his entire culture. When it came to the clothing for his father' tribute, the sacrificing of the cow, the fact that when confronted by South African neo nazi and white supremascists members, he did not know the Afrikanns word for ni**er. He didnt realize that driving a BMW through an impovrished area of Johannesburg was not a good idea, or that trying to talk some sense into the carjackers because they are both black just does not make any sense "why they do him like that." And about how they were "brothers." it was as if he was just another tourist who seemed to lack all the essential street smarts of functioning in a country where he supposedly grew up. Also the fact that at the age of 13, he was so radical such a political threat, more than Steven Biko and Nelson Mandella to the Apartheid government that he had to be smuggled out of the country because of death threats. As a 13 year old he really did not appear to be that radical. And it seems as if he really did not continue the struggle in the Bay Area but grew up fairly well off, if he was able to afford to stay in first class accomodations and rent a BMW when he returned "home."
shareThat actually isn't the weird part since you can lose an accent in 14 years. What doesn't make sense is that when Karen used the South African term for a traffic light, Ice Cube didn't understand it even though he lived in South Africa for the first 13 years of his life.
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