so overseas audiences can understand the show better? I get it that it's some rural part of the UK (WHere is it? around Leeds? Manchester? Birmingham?) But once that's been established, then get on with everyone speaking generic, easy-to-understand English...after all, you're nothing without your audience.
shareNewcastle is in the north and people talk a bit funny, that's just their accent and the show wants to be true to that. I turn on closed captioning because english isn't my first language and it's hard to understand them, so problem solved. By generic english do you mean Oxbridge? That's boring, I enjoy a good thick accent.
Great show btw, thanks pbs.
Vera's location is in Northumberland in North East England, where there is a different accent. I'm watching the show on dvd and have the choice of subtitles if I wish to use them, and I do.
shareI, too, used to have difficulty with programs that took place in northern England. Or Scotland. Then, had a brillian idea: CAPTIONS! Seems I'm following the leads of Meta and Fanaticita. Now, if I only understood the idioms they use!
shareOnce you watch British programmes for a while, I find you do begin to readily understand the accents and even the slang they use.
Some words I've only heard on Vera (i.e. 'bairns') but if you google it, you can usually find the meaning. And I find other shows sometimes use the same slang, too, so you can build your mental 'British Terminology' references.
Any questions regarding the accent I'm your woman, I'm from exactly where Vera is filmed the north east of England and I'm a Geordie with quite a thick accent too! Bairns means kids I say it all the time lol x
shareI am from Norway.
Our word for kids is barn.
The local language in Northumberland has many Scandinavian influences and words due to heavy trading and immigration in the middle ages.
shareThe local language in Northumberland has many Scandinavian influences and words due to heavy trading and immigration in the middle ages.
They say it in Outlander, as well. It takes place in the highlands of Scotland. My first generation American great grandmother says it, too. Her parents were from Ireland.
shareI have never heard them say anyhooo.
shareI also find it hard to understand at times, but would still hate it if they spoke in a generic accent. One of the pleasures of many modern TV series is location shooting and the strong sense of time and place and the accents are an important part of it. How would an American feel if characters in a TV series set in the deep south spoke with a New York accent? it will feel wrong and strange. I also find that after awhile I get into the "music" of the accent and start getting it more. In the same way I HATE dubbed pictures and would always rather listen to the original language with subtitles. In this case I would rather use captions if the regional accent is very thick (Yorkshire for instance).
sharerighto Meira! Bears repeating:
" One of the pleasures of many modern TV series is location shooting and the strong sense of time and place and the accents are an important part of it. How would an American feel if characters in a TV series set in the deep south spoke with a New York accent? it will feel wrong and strange. I also find that after awhile I get into the "music" of the accent and start getting it more. In the same way I HATE dubbed pictures and would always rather listen to the original language with subtitles. In this case I would rather use captions if the regional accent is very thick (Yorkshire for instance)."
Can't imagine a Tennessee Williams play without the regional accent--would hate some generic "Southern accent." Yes, would work like dubbing. And that's horrible.
I know this is an old thread but I see this subject come up time and time again, particularly when talking about North of England and Scottish accents. If all the characters from whichever country all spoke with generic accents then it would somewhat take away from the character of the, well, character. There are around 60 regional accents within the UK with each one having hundreds of small variations to the point that you can pinpoint a person to a particular town or small area just based on their accent and the words and phrases they use. While I appreciate this may sometimes make it more difficult to understand, I think it is important that we don't head back to the days when it was only people who spoke "posh" english that were put on screen. Start a series like this with subtitles and as time goes on, you become used to the accent. That's what I did with the first series of True Detective!
shareI think it is important that we don't head back to the days when it was only people who spoke "posh" english that were put on screen.Absolutely right. it's exactly the same with Irish accents. It's only relatively recently that even the Brits have distinguished between the Northern Ireland accents and those of Eire. Erstwhile the only Irish accent ever used was the Dublin accent.
They've catered to every PC box-tick in this series EXCEPT hardly any of the cast speak in the proper regional accent (which is Geordie). I would have thought, given the high level of unemployment in the acting profession, they could have drummed up a dozen or so actors for each episode that could imitate the proper accent. Even Vera's accent isn't all that accurate. I'm a Geordie (ie, from the North East of England, where the series is set) and I refuse to watch this stupid programme any more because I get so frustrated that the actors don't talk properly. It's downright offensive, in my view.
shareIt must be maddening to hear an accent you know well mangled. To some 'standard southern' casting director, they probably all sounded a) the same, and b)'close enough'. My sympathies.
shareThe accent is part of the charm of this series !!
shareI'm from Australia and I don't find the accent difficult, in fact I love it.
shareIs the OP trolling?
The show is set in a specific part of England and the local characters will have a local accent. If you're genuinely asking why can't they speak proper English then it's a little patronising.