MovieChat Forums > The Book Thief (2013) Discussion > Do they speak English with a German acce...

Do they speak English with a German accent?

posted 10 years ago by elliest_5
9 replies | jump to latest

Just watched the trailer for this movie and, unless I'm wrong and it's only the girl's accent, I got the impression that all the actors spoke English with a German accent. I'm asking because if that's the case, I will have very serious reservations about going to watch this movie.

I can't think of anything more stupid (when making films set in a foreign country) than having the actors speak English in a foreign accent! I find it almost offensive: you either cast actors from the country your story is set in and have the whole script work in the local language or you let your English-speaking actors speak in their normal accents and leave it upon the viewers to suspend the (language-related) disbelief.

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[–] Lagger95 10 years ago

Guess you will have to miss the movie. Too bad as it is a pretty good movie. Not perfect. I had a slight problem with the language but it wasn't overwhelming to me.

[–] FourFiveEight 10 years ago

That isn't necessarily true, even if speaking english with an accent the accent can tell you a bit about the area of the country they come from, it's not essential to a film but it's not a bad choice stylistically.
Valkerie didn't do it but they began the film in German and transitioned to English with a sort of fade effect so it made sense for that film where as in the book thief they aren't just speaking with an accent, they often use german words and even start speaking full sentences in german in some parts.

[–] panteleon2 10 years ago

that was very annoying, hearing english in a german accent. It didn't add to the movie anything

[–] stevenca 10 years ago

I say this with you're best interest in mind: GO WATCH THE MOVIE YOU IDIOT!
I agree with you, there is nothing worse then hearing bad actors with fake accents... But this movie is acted wonderfully!

[–] sandroalgra 10 years ago

Some people prefer a foreign accent to give you some idea of authenticity while others think it only sounds fake. The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, a similiar movie, had British actors portray Germans with British accents. People also complained about that.

I really don't know what I prefer. I guess a German accent is OK as long as it's not being exaggerated. I'd rather have the actors speak actual German but we wouldn't have Geoffrey Rush if they had made that choice.

[–] Yorick_Brown 10 years ago

I can't think of anything more stupid (when making films set in a foreign country) than having the actors speak English in a foreign accent! I find it almost offensive: you either cast actors from the country your story is set in and have the whole script work in the local language...

Now that's just stupid.

...Or you let your English-speaking actors speak in their normal accents and leave it upon the viewers to suspend the (language-related) disbelief.

Now this is more rational.

I'm glad "Valkyrie" and "Swing Kids" did that.

Passenger side, lighting the sky
Always the first star that I find
You're my satellite...

[–] Shalotka 10 years ago

I usually don't like when it is played that way and I agree with you, however this movie kinda works - it makes an illusion that it's in German while really it isn't. Magic of the screen, I guess.

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[–] Icthus381376 10 years ago

The setting is in Germany, so either speak German with English subtitles or just speak English without the German accent (think Valkerie). Inserting actual German words in the dialogue was distracting from what was otherwise an enjoyable movie.

[–] zanzara19 10 years ago

The movie itself is quite well made, but the actors do speak with a fake german accent. Moreover, parts of the dialogues are actually in German, but most of the movie is in English.
I speak both English and German fluently so I had no problems understanding anything but the accent drove me mad! I found it incredibly annoying and sometimes forced, they should have picked one language and stood by it. And it's more the pity because I liked the movie!
I'll consider watching it in a dubbed version (German or Italian, I'm curious as to what they did there!)