MovieChat Forums > The Grid (2004) Discussion > The worst arabic accents ever !!!

The worst arabic accents ever !!!

posted 19 years ago by gege-6
33 replies | jump to latest

Besides "Lawrence of Arabia", the only Hollywood movie where authentic arabic accents (Bedouin, Iraqui and Kuwaiti) were respected was "Three Kings".
"The Grid" gives the largest range ever of ridiculous and utterly laughable arabic accents ! Some speak in litterary arabic (imagine contemporary english or american guys speaking in Shakespearean english!), some in very americanised Lebanese slang (Piter Fattoush Marek), some in phonetically memorised egyptian slang, and mostly moroccan voices trying to imitate saudi or syrian accents !!!
Imagine President Bush speaking english with a Latino or Chinese accent !
I had a field day laughing and of course couldn't enjoy anything of this cliches-ridden pseudo-thriller, that boils down Islamic terrorism to a banal story of a father leaving mother and son in Chechnia !

Hey Hollywood producers, time to wake up if you're going to show more arabic characters in your movies!!!

[–] Mister_Anderson 19 years ago

Hate to say it, but those who do not speak the languages (99% of us) really do not care. I'm just happy that they used subtitles and didn't speak in English the whole time like most TV shows based in other countries do.

[–] daniel-569 19 years ago

I have to agree with Mr Anderson. I think it is a nice feature when they use actors with a correct accent for the role but nothing that I would demand in a TV series. Its nice that they at least allow foreign languages at all, although I found the swapping between languages quite irritating. In films, it would however be nice if they'd put in a little effort into correct accents.

I myself is a Swedish citizen and whenever the "Swedish bikini team" (is there such a thing, don't think so!) pop up, they rarely speak Swedish. And Hollywood's favorite Swedish name "Helga" is very rare in Sweden, probably more used in Germany.

[–] Dementation 19 years ago

well youre probably an ingorant uneducated american, so no suprise that you dont care

[wake up screaming from the american dream]

[–] zufi86 19 years ago

Thats right. Make with the best you got if your willing to stereotype others.

[–] Mister_Anderson 19 years ago

Hey, pal, you sure got my number. I sure am "ingorant."

In addition, I am a child of the poor American education system. My parents are racist rednecks who carry guns with them at all times. Until recently, I thought "Turkey" only referred to the deli meat. My family is very wealthy and we rob from the poor and give to the rich. I am in favor of using nukes on countries that do not agree with us. I worship the American flag and go to church three times a week. My favorite movie is "Pearl Harbor."

Anything I left out, you stereotypical ham?

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[–] markos-9 19 years ago

Totally agree. In addition to that, I would like to say that I personally don't even care about the English accents as well. The Hollywood movies are seen by a public all over the world that can't really tell a Texan accent by a NY accent. So please stop posting complaints about accents. Nobody really cares...

[–] fredbel6 17 years ago

My native language is Dutch and I can recognize about six types of English : "normal" British, "ugly" British, Scottish, American English, southern accents and Australian.

I find it remarkable that I can hear the difference between the English in Texas and the kind they speak in New York, but not between the variants in New York and in California....

Isn't this a problem? I mean, when shows like NYPD Blue are shot in LA...

Plz visit my profile to take a look at unsolved threads.Plz use relevant title,SOLVED if so.

[–] Electric_Sheep 19 years ago

Thats odd. The movies today are targetted at international crowds worldwide, 99% is a wrong assumption. Being non-arab, I could easily figure out these were really bad arabic accents. This is typical of US movie makers, where mix ups like these only keep the ignorant more ignorant. If Hollywood wants to be precise and be taken as seriously as its movie contents, it needs to learn a bit from world cinema etc. :(

[–] misterious 19 years ago

Thanks for the tip gege-6. I was going to order the DVD but I hate it when they screw up the language. It may not be important to everybody but it makes the movie and characters more believable, for those who can speak the language, when they get the language right.

[–] Mister_Anderson 19 years ago

Unless you actually speak Arabic fluently, you're not going to notice anything wrong. It's more accurate than 90% of the attempts nowadays. I suggest you rent if you're still unsure.

[–] zufi86 19 years ago

I'm not a ham I'm Jewish. Don't judge others and Arabic is not difficult because i'm fluent in it. Take the time to learn others cultures not make stuff up. Masalama

[–] Mister_Anderson 19 years ago

I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to Demanation.

[–] zufi86 19 years ago

Sure you were. Thats why its here for all to see.

[–] BeenThereBefore 19 years ago

Yes, and we all see you are wrong.

Thank you, come again.

[–] os008 19 years ago

ok guys, i'm an Egyptian, what i want to tell Mr. Anderson is that a LOT of people in this world speak Arabic same as English and French, Chinese is more popular if u didn't know ;), and a lot of people see American Movies (although they r lousy most of the time), and GROW UP, y comment on "ingorant", he surely knew it was "ignorant", mistyping, and good directing isn't good if the director left a glitch, the first poster is right 100%, thanks for pointing that out :)

[–] Mister_Anderson 19 years ago

Hey, I like accuracy in films as much as the next guy. I'm just saying, this is about as accurate as you're going to get. Most movies with this type content, the people will only speak English in an Arabic accent. That is just dumb. (Think of K19: the Widowmaker--they were all speaking English with Russian accents--made no sense). At least this movie was realistic and wasn't afraid to make subtitles. If they got some of the accents wrong, boohoo, it was a cheap budgeted TV movie. I don't expect it to be able to get all the accents perfect.

FRESH CONSERVATIVES --> http://freshconservative.blogspot.com

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[–] eustfam 19 years ago

You must still get the DVD...the "wrong" accents do not detract from the action and suspense.

[–] Ohad_gefen 19 years ago

gege - Not that i agree with you people should try and be more accurate but wait till you hear iranians do israeli soldiers... ROFL.

[–] dano40-1 19 years ago

Whats funny? Kevin Costner doing a english accent in Robin Hood now thats funny, accents do matter look at all the English, New Zealand, and Australian actors taking parts in Hollywood these days.

[–] mogens-1 19 years ago

You heard all of these, because that's what they were. Some of the arab voices were dubbed by native speakers, but their dialogue was written by a professor of arabic law in L.A., so that might account for the literary arabic.

Listen to the commentary by the producers/director.
The biggest problem (they claimed) is a lack of trained arab actors who speak both english and arabic, available to work in Canada and the UK.

Pity you found it banal -- I found it interesting and gripping.

[–] revengine 18 years ago

If bad accents are the only things you can find wrong with the series then I think it's doing okay.

[–] garylota 18 years ago

if any of you guys know any arabic there are so many different accents and mixes or arabic with farsi,etc that i think they tried to standardise the accents a little
otherwise it would be even more laughable and ludicrous if one terrorist is speaking in arabic with swahili and another is speaking urdu/farsi mixed.

mistakes happen hell u even got the SAS with american accents in this show

overalll who cares its just a show

[–] newaddress_102 18 years ago

My God you people are retarded. This series tried to educate about the war on terror and present both sides and you idiots are fighting over correct accents. Next time I hear news about the latest suicide bombing from Iraq, I will be sure to spend all my time thinking about how great it is to hear true accents in the background. Boneheads...the lot of you.

[–] jdr72 18 years ago

People, it's just a movie. Of course they didn't get the accents exactly right. Remember, the movie aired on a U.S. cable tv network. Heck, Hollywood can't even get American Southern accents right, but who, outside of the South, is going to notice?

[–] GaelinW 18 years ago

The fact that the makers even attempted to distinguish one Arabic dialect (it's more than a mere "accent" we're talking about here) from another, acknowledging that there are differences in Arabic is a positive step. Especially given that this was a TV movie and the audience it was made for (non-arabic speaking) wouldn't know much less care.

So they weren't perfect. You gotta crawl before you can walk.

"Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh."
Al Swearengen

[–] nenadk 17 years ago

i'm neither english native speaker, nor am i arabic. i watched the series yesterday and didn't notice what all of you are talking about. trust me when i say that the most of the people won't event notice things you are arguing about.
i liked the fact that they were actually trying to give us the scent of the arabic culture and their way of thinking.

[–] Broadsman 15 years ago

For Micky Mouses sake IT'S A FILM!!!!!!!
Watch it as such and not a language tutor.
To get the Actors and I mean actors is difficult enough with out trying to match the right Accent so GROW UP and enjoy the film for what it is.

[–] slouchingpoet 14 years ago

The problem with Middle-Eastern languages and accents is that there are few middle-eastern actors in the West willing to play terrorists. It's the same with Native Americans, etc. We have the same handful of actors playing the same roles.

[–] 14 years ago

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