I definitely needed the subtitles. I always use them when watching British movies, because even if I can follow 98% of what's being said, I know a word or term, such as "M.O.T.," asked about in another thread, is bound to pop up and leave me in the dark - not just as to its meaning, but often about how to spell it so I can look it up.
Years ago, I watched an interview with Princess Caroline (then) of Monaco, and admired her flawless English, but was surprised that it sounded "purely" American; i.e., vs British - which I'd expected, I imagine, per proximity - but with NO trace of a regional accent. I've always wondered, as well, how it is that singers who speak with a British (Scottish, Irish?) accent sing without one. (If an explanation of this is included in your post, lansdownehouse, I'm afraid it flew right over my thick Yankee skull!)
I'm old enough (eek!!) to remember when Beatlemania hit the US, and we got a crash course in the boys' Liverpudlian accents vs those considered more "posh" in England - primarily, IIRC, from the Beatles' pointing out and making fun of them, themselves.
And when I first heard Cheryl Cole - or I guess it's just "Cheryl" now? - speak (in a clip from the UK X-Factor) I was sure she was Scottish! (I think her dialect is called "Geordie?")
When reading a British newspaper's comment section under an article about the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton, I couldn't believe all the catty remarks about Kate's having "really poshed it up" (it was evident that people meant she'd faked an upper-crust speaking style) during their first formal interview. (At least I think the word was "poshed," please correct me if I'm wrong.)
American dialects can be *very* different, as well, of course. (And no; I'm not going anywhere NEAR Ebonics!!) I still remember (with great embarrassment!) when a guy came into the (university) office I shared with a co-worker and spoke about three sentences, the last clearly being a question, and the *only* word either of us could make out was the name "Maureen." He repeated himself twice as my co-worker and I just sat there with our faces red and jaws agape. I finally called a friend in another office in the building who spoke seven or eight languages, while my cohort "signaled" (omg . . . ) to the guy to please wait, then ran down the hall to get another co-worker - Maureen. She walked in as my multilingual friend was questioning the poor, very puzzled guy in Spanish, Standard Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, Egyptian Arabic - until Maureen said "You *guys*, this is Tom, our new grad assistant. What's going on?? He's from Louisiana!!"
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frogca
7 years ago
>I've always wondered, as well, how it is that singers who speak with a British (Scottish, Irish?) accent sing without one.
Trained singers learn something called "bel canto" and in this all vowels are simplified to the Italian vowels, but apart from that all the tight and particular vowels are not easy to sing, so even if you are not a trained singer, to sing well you will find yourself simplifying the vowels. As well, trained singers not singing in Italian have something with a few more sounds than bel canto, but I threw that term in so you can google it if you're interested in more of the theory. Basically, North American accents are looser and softer than British ones, and so as far as singing, we are already halfway there, as long as we don't pull a Hank Williams or something. All bets are off for country twang.
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