I got this movie from Netflix and expected that it be in Russian with Russian actors, but realized it wouldn't be the case the second I recognized the main actor. I recognized quite a few of the actors as English speaking and I'm thinking that the Russian accent must be the easiest one to use. I'm thinking half of the cast of Goldeneye (Famke Janssen, Robbie Coltrane and Izabella Scorupco), Marton Csokas in xXx... and I think even I could pull it off. Seems to be nothing graceful about the accent, like you can be very heavy-handed with it and it will sound okay.
No it is not. I think you are regarding it as the easiest to do since it is the most often used, but this is to do with the world climate of the past few decades.
Many action films, the James Bond films included have Russian baddies, this is mainly because of the cold war and because the majority of english-speaking films are American. America's natural enemy seems to be Russia or the USSR so Russians show up a lot. Despite Pu-239 being a British film most Brit flicks have French baddies or French foes due to the friendly rivalry between Britain and France.
So, yeah, Russians show up more often in movies not because they are easy to impersonate but because they are America's opposite. Even though Pu-239 has nothing to do with the cold war or American rivalry.
In reality the Russian accent is a bastard to muster due to the Russian alphabet having several characters that seem to have the sole purpose of breaking your mouth. Ж (sheh), Х (kuhh) and Щ (shushe) being excellent examples of how to damage your tongue.
Russian accents are nothing like that depicted in movies, Pu-239 included. What we see is a vastly dumbed down english portrayal of how they sound like to outsiders.
Why would the Russian alphabet make it harder for a Russian-speaking person to speak English? I can understand how it would affect an English-speaking person trying to speak Russian, but not the other way around. Regardless, we're talking about simply imitating a Russian-speaking person trying to speak English.
You never said anything about Russians talking english, you spoke of people using Russian accents. In this movie not one of the main stars are Russian, they are all British or foreign. Hence why they all speak english but with a Russian accent. Paddy, Radha, Steven, Jason and Oscar are all excellent actors but none are Russian and all are immitating the accent, very badly.
Any and all accents that are foreign to the speaker are difficult to impersonate, any linguist would tell you that, because a culture has centuries of developed, specific sounds.
Russian accents to outsiders sound the way they do because someone in the 1940's or 30's imitated a Russian on film and it stuck, just like every other accent/stereotype.
I wasn't having a dig at you btw, I was just stating that it is most oft used because it is popular. As I said before, most Brit movies have a frenchman immitated, or even a german.
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground, try this sig with spinach!
Sorry, I was implying, for example, if I (an English-speaking American) were to play the part of a Russian in a James Bond flick, that I think even I could pull-off a Russian accent (at least as good as these actors), while I don't think I could do a Cockney or Australian or French or German accent any sort of justice.
Ahhh, then that goes along with what I was saying also. You could pull off the russian accent because you have seen it more, I can name about 3 dozen American movies that have had a russian baddie (or occasional goodie :P) in them.
I think it is experience. From a British point of view I feel that I could pull off a cockney or geordie accent better than I could an American state-specific accent or Canadian, etc. Just because I am familiar with it.
Hollywood, or more recently all movies tend to use very stereotypical accents in movies, for example it is a widely known fact that to do any east-asian accent you just pronounce R's as L's despite the orient having hundreds of area-specific dialects. I do agree though that russian and german tend to be a favourite in movies, but an example of what I mean by stereotyping is that germans are often portrayed as authoratitive, single-minded macho folk just because the west still see them as we did in 1944. Russians are seen as (and thus act like in movies) as impoverished, west-envying cold war losers.
I have a few buddies from St. Petersburg who study here in Scotland and they sound nothing whatsoever like any of the people in Pu-239. It is another movie made by folks who see russians as we saw them from afar 100 years ago.
As you stated previously though about the russian alphabet, the reason it is important is that russian dialect is heavy with sounds such as 'shsh' and 'kchh' and these are evident in a true russian person speaking english (Olga Kurylenko) but never seen when an english speaker immitates russian.
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground, try this sig with spinach!
I agree. In most Hollywood movies Russian speak with Jewish or Georgian (country) accent with strong "R" and "H" and slow pronunciation. This is not the case with an average Russian. Russians who fluently speak English have an accent which is closer to stereotypical Italian or sometimes German. Actually I'm in 90% of time is taken for German. :) My wife is taken for French in US, Canada and Britain and as British when she's in France. Go figure! Also urban russians tend to speak fast and "eat" consonants.
Actually, a lot of times in American/British movies Russians' accent sounds rather German. :) So, no, I wouldn't say it's that easy. Marton Csokas, the "Eastern Promises" cast, the "Defiance" cast are notable exeptions that come to mind.
"Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression... is our lives!" - Tyler Durden.
Somehow when I fake foreign accents, my Russian, Spanish, and Arabic accents all seem to be the same. These are the 3 accents the most movie villains use- Russian communists or ex-Soviet types, Mexican or Colombian drug cartels, or Islamic terrorists.
I think the ghetto, Italian, Indian, and Nigerian accents the easiest. In fact I think the Indian accent is porbably THE easiest to do. A Chinese accent is also not that difficult. I find the British and German accents to be hard. Its also hard for a non-native Southerner to do a proper Southern accent without sounding like they are mocking it.
Seems to be nothing graceful about the accent, like you can be very heavy-handed with it and it will sound okay
Seriously.....
I am a Russian speaker, and I never understand the 'Russian' they speak in movies. No Russian can, since it is always incredibly incorrect Russian sounding like it is spoken by a lawn-mower.
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