MovieChat Forums > Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012) Discussion > Arabic in movies!

Arabic in movies!

posted 10 years ago by mms05
2 replies | jump to latest

Definitely the Arabic was completely off. The arabic is in different accents but none seem close to the Yemeni arabic accent. This is the case in all movies I've seen. With so many Arab nationalities in the US, I wonder why they just can't get someone to confirm the accent. To give an idea to none arabic speakers, imagine james bond speaking Tennesse English, or a Surfer speaking British English!!!

The Arab actors including the sheikh seem to have learnt arabic as a third language and sound robotic and stupid. The actor is Egyptian but I'm guessing he left Egypt as a baby, hence his poor Arabic.

[–] mms05 10 years ago

At least the Athan (Islamic call to prayer) was authentic., though it is a copy of the one from Makkah. Also they were praying correctly. In one movie(black hawk down I think), they were praying together but each person far from the other. They were praying Dawn prayer with the sun completely out meaning they actually missed the timing. Also the film was showing them praying towards the sun while they should be praying towards Makkah. Muslims don't pray to the sun but rather to God.

[–] johnston.scot 10 years ago

James Bond speaking with a Southern accent in an Arabic-language movie made in, say, Saudi Arabia?

I doubt anyone would care.

And ... hey: the Potato Bug was a surfer and spoke in British English* (well, kind of) in "Bikini Beach."
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* Someone's nose will no doubt get out of joint over the phrase "British English," but (a) I'm just carrying it over from the prior post, (b) it kind of does make sense in this context, if you consider it to mean English-spoken-with-some-unspecified-one-of-the-accents-common-somewhere-in-Great-Britain and (c) substituting "English English" would sound really silly. In any event, the Potato Bug spoke with an inaccurate and broadly stereotypical English accent and diction (lots of "what ho"s and "chap"s).