Why American Actors Suck At British Accents
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- Опубліковано 24 тра 2018
- Lots of British actors have really nailed their American accents, but Americans can't seem to imitate their peers across the pond. We spoke with Erik Singer, a dialect coach based in New York, to find out why British actors appear to be so much more skillful when it comes to accents and dialect on the big screen.
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I'm British, but sometimes when I'm using voice chat in games people think I'm just an American doing a bad British accent. Apparently even I can't do a good British accent.
Often enough, it's because people don't know how normal English people sound and only have very well-spoken English actors to go by like Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Watson, Keira Knightley, Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and Michael Caine.
I like seeing comments about John Boyega (Finn from Stars Wars) normal speaking voice because people really struggle to comprehend he speaks with a normal Urban English accent, one you can find in most cities.
Do you talk in your videos? I kinda wanted to hear your accent, but I clicked on a video and it seemed you don't talk.
British accent is southern to Americans.
You'd be surprise how bad people are at telling accent, sometimes event the accent from their own country. Like aussies accusing Jim Jefferies aussie accent is faked so he can pleased americans because he's living in the U.S. When in fact his accent stayed the same even before he lived here. I've seen his stand up specials in the UK while living in the UK, and even then his accent is the same as it is now. Another one I can name right of the bat are the Canadians saying "we Canadians don't say "eh", I know this because I'm from Canada" meanwhile I watched Highway Thru Hell filmed in British Colombia, Canada, and all those people LOVE saying eh at the end of their sentences, and also oot (btw the oot sounding is not as hard as Americans exaggerated it, it is a lot softer, but we can still hear it). So maybe you don't hear it often in your neighborhood, but people in BC sure as hell do.
I had a similar experience a few years ago. I was chatting to an American girl outside a nightclub in Ottawa and despite using my normal speaking voice was asked to stop speaking in 'that fake British accent'.
I'd been in Canada a few months at that point so maybe that had something to do with it.
Tom Holland sounds like he’s faking it when he does his normal accent
thelilcrunchy omg i’ve always thought this
But then Benedict's American accent as Doctor Strange, opposite Tom Holland, sounds forced. Or maybe I am so used to Benedict's natural voice, thanks to Sherlock.
Not really
Not at all
We had Tom Holland at a local convention and he sounds like he was the product of boarding school so he was probably trained to either speak with a received or high received accent.
I think British actors put a lot of effort to perfect their American accent cause they won’t be employed in Hollywood if they don’t have the right accent. American actors don’t have that added pressure
Also, most Americans aren’t as exposed to British accents as the brits are to Americans. They most exposure they get (especially while growing up) is like peppa pig or something
Tbh you’re right about peppa pig
I think it’s because most American English is very relaxed, we have lazy mouths. I think Brits of all types use more physical structure to speak so it’s easier to relax into speech rather than have to engage more more movement to do so
British actors or directors aspire to have a great American dream and not necessarily vice versa.
@@prash175 Very well put.
I love watching Monty Python, Gordon Ramsay and films from the U.K. I was born in the States but I have English descent, yet kind of taught myself a custom accent because I have had people tell me I sounded like I'm from Britain and that was when I was speaking in my original accent. :)
Luckily I didn't learn my accent from Mary Poppins ;D
When Rick was screaming "Carl". It sounded like he was saying "Coral". Which was a key thing for me the actor wasn't American
Omg I wondered what all the Walking Dead "Coral!" memes were about, thanks!
Bingo. It's always exaggeratedly southern or western.
Even the normal American accent kinda sounds like coral
He was... he REALLY wanted to find some coral in that scene!
@@jones2277 I‘m from Georgia and I‘d say the way I say it sounds more like car-ull like the ull in dull
I worked with a Scottish guy for months in Alaska before I learned he wasn’t American. Another one of our coworkers asked him how and why he had such an American accent. He said “Taco Bell.” We were like “whut?” And he was like “yeah I really like Taco Bell but they could never understand me at the drive through until I started talking like an American.”
I honestly don't know how Scotts understand other Scotts.
Livid Imp because Scots who are around Scots would be speaking in Scots-English so would be able to understand each other. If you don’t speak Scots-English then of course you will have no bloody idea what they are saying as you don’t speak the language.
@@Adv18 Are you familiar with the concept of a "joke"?
Scottish ppl r the best british ppl outa Britain
Livid Imp yes, a joke is something that is usually constructed to be funny. Your “joke” came across as a statement rather than a joke.
I'm Scottish, so Siri never had any idea what I was on about until I developed my Californian accent.
Lol.
You made me cringe
I’m Californian. Didn’t know I had a specific accent 😝
@@everythingfunandcrafty2596 stfu
Everything fun and Crafty so you are confirming there is only a single American accent?
His English accent was superb, but as someone from Wales that was slightly painful.
no who tf says the t in 'that'll'
AlmightyGammon Me
Why
whoop S H it wasn’t very good. Most of his accents are great though
@@AlmightyGammonsayssuckyourmum anyone that knows english
I find that English people tend to hit their Ts very hard and Americans deaden their T pronunciation. So in phrases like "a lot" or "at all", you'd find a lot of Americans may pronounce the T like a D or even not at all, and the words tend to bleed together.
Yes, I think Brits use more calories when the speak. Maybe that's why they're thinner. When I (an American) say, "butter," to me, it seems or sounds more relaxed and fluid, the syllables melt together. But when a Brit like Russell Brand might say it, to me it sounds more choppy, interrupted, like two separate words "butt er" - like the second syllable sounds more forced.
@@user-kr2gq9gv9i you dont say picture phonetically tho? you say "pic-chure" like the rest of the english speaking world. wednesday is "wensday" for american english and you guys have no problem with that but then when it comes to saying tuesday differently than how its spelt, you decide to be different for some reason. American english also says "inneresting" or "innernet" or "twenny" so idk why you think its a british thing to not say the "t"
The "t" in "at all" is a voiced alveolar tap [ɾ], which is an rhotic in multiple languages, such as the "r" in the castilian "caro".
This whole time I thought Christian Bale was American.
Roxanne Gutierrez Lol!! Really? That’s funny! I believe he’s originally from Wales.
In the USA we recently finished a Batman prequel, "Gotham", which featured a Welsh actress, Erin Richards. Beautiful neutral American accent in her performances. Then in an interview, her natural speech came out. What a shock!
Lmao I had mostly seen him playing Americans, and the few times I’d seen him play Brits I thought he was imitating a British accent, it wasn’t until the first time I saw him in an interview or award ceremony or something that I realized he was British
I just learned he wasn’t American. I don’t know anything anymore.
Wait he isn't?
He’s faking an American accent the whole time
He's actually Canadian
Yeah, plot twist. lmfao
He sounds Irish
MaggiePayne916 he doesn’t sound Irish. maybe the “there” a bit, but not so much
Impressive
I feel like when I hear a British actor doing a poor American accent, it’s usually that they’re putting TOO much emphasis on the R’s.
too much emphasis on the Rs or they overcompensate for that problem by narrowing the lips too much. Big example of latter is Martin Freeman. Makes a little funnel with his mouth on every R
emma watson for sure
Yeah, you can tell they're really thinking about it. As one would, obviously.
I had a professor from Vietnam who did the most comically overdone rhotic "r"s possible
It might be because British people don’t know how to pronounce R-colored vowels, and use full-on Rs in places where they should use R-colored vowels. Or maybe it’s because the American R is either bunched or retroflex, whereas the British R is alveolar.
Peter Dinklage, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr, and Gwenyth Paltrow. Great British Accents. Simon Pegg, Rebecca Hall, Clive Owen, James McAvoy, and Alice Eve, British Actors who nailed American Accents
Ehhh Peter Dinklage's accent wasn't that great (speaking as an English person). His vowel sounds were all over the place. He doesn't sound like an American doing an accent but he doesn't sound properly English either. I'd add Renee Zellweger to the good list though, her English accents are always flawless.
Accents in Game of Thrones never bothered me because it's all made up. Westeros and Bravos aren't real place. It's not like Tolkien who made a world to put his fictional languages into. And even then, it's not like there's native speakers for Sindarin.
Wait Depp? I thought he notorious for bad accents
I didn't even notice he switched his accent midway through. Iconic.
How you notice then? 🤔🤣
@@bobcatman0121 Comments, bro. But good try
@@WildWaver I know that's why I put the laughing face
@@bobcatman0121 "It's just a joke, bro!"
Tyler Fulco and I can tell your a rude shitpiece 9 year old tryna get into a fight. Go play with your action figures Tyler. Mom’s gonna get upset
This dude just went from unarguably American to unarguably British in 0.2 seconds flat. Incredible, I'd love to be that talented at accents.
same I wonder how long he's studied accents
British isn't 1 accent so pick one lol
The British accent was really good, one of the best I've ever heard... but whether he intended to or not he skipped through about two or three social classes. But we do that sometimes anyway. For example, in a conflict situation when you want to sound tough it doesn't help if you sound like Benedict Cumberbatch. Unfortunately, in real life posh British blokes don't have wands, superpowers or a private army of minions.
He actually got the 'o' sound right but still a tad inconsistent
Where in the video? All his accents sounded exaggerated
ugh it annoys me when people constantly do British accents with RP most of us don't speak like that
I speak RP....
@@arig8905 I meant like overly exaggerated like the queen. Not like BBC English. If that makes sense. This comment was a while ago.
And not all of us eat hamburgers everyday and weight 500 pounds. Welcome to a stereotype
As an American, it annoys me that many people - including many Americans themselves - think that all poor whites have Southern accents. My grandmother was a poor white from Indiana, and she never sounded like anything other than a Hoosier. But if she'd been a movie character, they'd probably have given her a Tennessee accent.
He switched between American and British accents so easily I didn't even realise
Americans when doing English accents: *pronounces every consonant*
birdspiracy no no, Americans when doing English accents: skips every “t”. Signed, an American.
@@oh_kay2954 Fair do's, that's definitely true when Americans attempt a "non-posh" English accent. Not that I'm trying to be insulting or anything, I'm English and I'm hopeless at doing an American accent!
OH_KAY ••• but when we do say ‘t’, we make sure to make it really sharp
@Dante Alighieri Haha! You've totally got me testing those words out to see which way I pronounce them!
Conclusion: Both... ways? I think? Prolly depends on whether I'm tired. I think I lean more towards the _t's._
Come to Toronto. No-one will notice or care!
@Dante Alighieri I remember when the Loonie came out, and later when the $2 coin was about to be introduced, there was a contest for naming it.
I was all for "dubloon" or "dubloonie" (double loon, double loonie). That'd be so cool! Active pirate treasure! "Ahrrr, matey! Have ye got a dubloon I kin borrow? I've a hankerin' fer a double-double!" (coffee at Tim Horton's, double cream, double sugar)
What'd we get?
"Toonie."
Wtf.
Oh well.
Anyway, I hope you get a chance to visit other parts of Ontario once we can all safely mingle again! I've lived here all my life and I still feel I haven't explored as much as I could.
I think it's partly because of the amount of American media we consume as British people. We are constantly surrounded by american movies and tv shows all our lives so its easier to imitate the accent.
normie twice removed Because I've always wondered what the American accent sounds like to Brits, I like hearing Brits trying to do an American accent. They usually slightly overemphasize certain aspects of our speech, which gives me interesting insight to the way we sound. But you're right. Our exposure to British accents is largely limited to news reporters, Harry Potter, and Top Gear lol.
Exactly... That just isnt the same in the US... We often just hear Americans speak and that's it
Not true because many British actors are good at European, African and Australian accents too and there isn't much of their media in Britain. It is just British has so many accents and many of them difficult to do that doing foreign accents is very easy. Charles Dance is from Yorkshire David Craig is from Liverpool but I never heard either actor speak with their true northern accent because you don't get many movies with Northern English men as the hero. That is why so many British black actors are good at American accents because Black actors don't get work in the British movie industry so learn how to speak American to get work.
Delboy0 what British actors can sound European and Australian and South African its almost like it’s all the same thing.
Maybe that’s why I’m pretty good at a British accent. I watch British television and films religiously
As someone from Wales, that accent was disappointing smh
Cut him some slack. It's hard for people to imitate the accent of a vacuum cleaner sucking up a pile of nails.
Gunslinging Bird oh shit...
Gunslinging Bird oh no 😂😭
Have you heard a welsh accent???
Why is that? Genuinely asking, bc I'm tryna learn how to speak in various accents
I love how the “good british accents” aren’t how a single brit would ever sound
Don't know what you're talking about. The Michael C. Hall was pretty convincing!
@@seeyouchump I wouldn’t be able to notice he wasn’t english.
not all brits speak "bri ish", personally i speak with a very cultivated english accent, Michael c. halls one was really fking convincing ngl
Brad Pitt in snatch with the best pickey accent
@Wid Eye nah. It was good. stop hating.
Well, Sir Savage the 21st nailed both american and british accents
Lmao
😂😂😂😂😂
It's a knoife
Omg
Alvin hah lol
Tbf I struggle to do a welsh accent and I’m welsh
North or south accent, I can't get my head around the North accent
Han Solo I’m north and I can’t do a south
Merthyr/Swansea area accent is more harsh while the northern one is more breathy and soft
oh same. i mean i feel like I'm a fake welsh person because I'm from cardiff but id love to have or be able to do a proper welsh accent
I'm not Welsh but can do a better Welsh accent than the Welsh people I know.
I'm a british born Indonesian currently live in bali. Back when I was in england, I live in Surrey, but since i came from working class family, peoples around me speaks cockney. After I move to Bali, I met lots of foreign tourist from all over the world, but it doesn't matter how cockney I was, people never thought that I am british until I told them, most of them only said "you have a good english", means that among local people (my look is totally southeast asian) my english is the best, sometimes when I meet russian, ukrainian or other tourist from countries that most of the people cannot speak english, they having a hard time to understand me when I spoke.
Then you hear "Corallll!" and suddenly exposed
Tom Hardy and James McAvoy are accent chameleons
Na, Tom Hardy's accent is forced most the time
And they’re both handsome 😍
Yes! They do amazing!!
James McAvoy does an excellent British accent as Professor Charles Xavier. (Yeah, okay. I know.)
He did an awesome job in "Split".
@@thudthud5423 James McAvoy is an amazing actor he needs more recognition
Fun fact, that dude is like 6’7” lol... I got to work with him on an HBO pilot. Nice guy.
Hot, smart, and tall, wow
I knew he was tall by how large his hands are, but not by that much.
Want a cookie?
Edmund Kemper was 6'9 and he killed people
He says on his own channel that he’s taller than Conan O’Brien😂
Bloody hell when he changed accents was like magic
He’s very good, I wouldn’t know that he was American when he was doing the British accent. (I’m a Brit btw)
"There are countless examples of Americans doing bad British accents"
>smash cut to Canadian Keanu Reeves
I KNOW
America is a continent, dear. A Canadian is an American. People from the US are US Americans.
@@gennydz t. jorge ramirez
try telling canadians they're american
@@gennydz Canadians are not considered American. You sound like someone from Europe, its different here
@D49 fan07 that's not how It works man... America it's a continent (the 2nd largest continent). People tend to divide it in north america, central america and south america but they're not different continents.
It's like saying eastern/western europe.
The way he bled into that English accent was beautiful
And they forgave Mr.Van Dyke for that,too!
@ALPHADick Van Dyke did a bad cockney accent,but the british forgave him for such.
@@georgemaster9271 😂🤣
I forgive them, because emma watson's american accent is awful.
I love Emma Watson, but it's like she's not even trying
Great Video! *helpful and interesting*
Tom Holland can do his American accent AMAZINGLY
The first thing I saw him in was that one Mony dick movie with Hemsworth, I don't recall what accent he had there, but his most memorable thing is Spiderman, so I think it anyways sounds funny when he starts speaking normally in an English accent, and even funnier when he slips between the two.
Produce 101 :D YESSS, when I first watched Spiderman Homecoming, I didn’t even know who Tom Holland was(😢), so I didn’t even know he was British. He was THAT good.
Produce 101 :D I didn’t know that Tom Holland was English, cool
i understood that reference
Yeah and he's so young too. But if you have it you just have it...
Find it really odd when people talk about British accents when they specifically mean English accents.
Roaming Adhocrat specifically London accents
Its all just one island, really. I live in a state larger than the whole of Britain. In the distance they drive from London to Cardiff, I have to drive just to go to the airport.
@@barkboingfloom the US is mostly all on one island too. there's a heck of a lot of people, subcultures, and extremely different regional accents between Cardiff and London
Battle Of Trenton For such a small place, the UK has a load of very distinct accents though. I live in China now and the way they talk about accents here covers vast swathes of land. My province in China is much bigger than the UK yet someone in my city meeting someone from the other end of the province wouldn’t know they’re from a different place. Whereas in England, if you met someone from Newcastle, one from Manchester, one from Birmingham, one from Liverpool, you’d know each of them instantly from them just saying “Hello, how are you?”
@@barkboingfloom Yeah but we have 4 distinct cultures, 67 million people and a few thousand years of history. There really isn't anything like it in the US
I love this accent coach! he's so awesome!
James Cromwell is the king of doing British accents. I was genuinely stunned to find out he was American.
I thought you meant the British civil war leader and I was confused, only know as I'm typing I remember it's Oliver Cromwell...
@@Flame1611 He’s getting on a bit, but I don’t think he’s quite that old. Maybe a distant relative?
I thought the same thing about Idris Elba when he does an American accent
The dialect coach talks in a vaugely American-ish accent for most of the video, but he could just be doing that for the video for all we know
Hes American.
Isn't he Canadian?
His English accent slipped a couple of times (or went weirdly posh out of nowhere) and the Welsh was obviously an imitation - clearly not from this side of the pond
he’s american and he’s based in new york. his accent didn’t “slip” into posh for no reason he was showing the different pronunciations in english accents vs. american accents.
I think he's from the new York area
They mentioned Mark Rylance ... great actor. Check out "Wolf Hall" (doing medieval English accents there), I'm hoping there's a part two of that series some time. The show also Claire Foy (Queen Elizabeth II first couple seasons of The Crown), Damian Lewis, other great cast members.
Fun fact: there are actually like 50 accents in Britain so just talk like any one then and ur fine
This may be something too idk but in the UK, we are bombarded with American culture through music and tv shows and games and books etc from a very young age. I learned how to spell certain words the American way or say certain words that I'd heard in american tv shows and I'd have no idea how to pronounce it in my scottish accent. It may be nothing Americans may be have shows from the uk too but here quite a number of our shows are american from an early age
We use the Queen's English in Malaysia (a former British colony), but because of American TV, movies and music influence, people tend to mix them up now. You'd see 'Lift' written on some place and then 'Elevator' on another... LOL
Calvin M are you kidding me peppa pig is british
Clam Chowder Delectable no its English. I never said peppa wasnt an english show? Whats your point
Calvin M lol sorry I didn’t know and I don’t have a point I just wanted to say it’s just the same thing for americans. We get bombarded with english and british media from a young age- like peppa pig.
Clam Chowder Delectable ahh i see yeah its the same for u guys then? Awesome
My default British accent: “ELLO GOVNA”
If I want to speak with a much stronger accent (I'm a Scot) I just say every harsh swear I can think of, mainly bastard, fucker and wanker.
@@theviewer6889 so basically you just use our standard scots daily vocabulary. Your accent must be strong all the time lol.
@@tweetiepie551 I'm actually normally a very civil person. I mean, non-Scots can still hear an accent but it's way less pronounced.
I'm insulted
OI, BRUV, 'AT'S A LOAD A BOLLOCKS, INIT?
For the R thing, perhaps a good tip would be to listen to REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You"-The lead singer really hones in on his R's!
I went to various cities ( I’m from NYC ) and multiple natives said I had a great accent. I practice a lot depending on the towns in various counties. It’s possible once you realize tongue positioning and pronunciation
I'm Scottish and on game chat this guy asked me if I'm from England and I was like....
*_dude, uncool_*
Story of my life
How to make a Scotsman angry 😂
or Irishman, or Welshman, heck some Cornish dislike it too.
same as my Glaswegian accent is very weak.
Everyone that sounds different to Americans are “from England”
Poor Dyck. I’m English and was never bothered about his accent in Mary Poppins. He’s got such great energy in the film and is really likeable.
i know! Im no expert on accents but think of how many English actors there were and no one ever told him he was doing it wrong
@@lilymarie1582 that again comes down to our sense of humour
@@smokyjoe321 Sure but people always act like it was so offensive. And I'm not saying it wasn't but again nobody ever told him while they were making it.
Agree
What? No Johnny Depp mention? The dude does an impeccable English accent.
That's not 'English' that's 'Pirate'
@@pmason6076 LOL Wasn't even talking about those films. Demon Barber or Mortdecai and many others.
@@Derek_The_Magnificent_Bastard LOL... I missed those.. sounds like I didn't miss much then.
Thankkkk you I was looking for this comment
@@pmason6076 ‘Pirate’ is an English accent, it’s an over the top version of the Bristol accent these days, because it’s where Treasure Island is set. So actors would attempt that specific accent.
Find videos on people speaking with a Bristol accent and you’ll hear ‘pirate’.
Great video! I think British actors are generally better at imitating American accents because they have more exposure and more practice. However, it should be noted that British actors often struggle to do other British accents as well. A famous example is Charlie Hunnam (a geordie) who failed to speak with a convincing cockney accent in the film Green Street. Olivia Colman, who speaks with Received Pronunciation, also struggled to produce a convincing cockney accent in the the new Wonka film (although obviously realism is less important in that film). Do Americans also struggle to imitate other American accents?
You didn't touch on northern england accents
Like Karl Pilkington airite
Oh yeah, those are a whole different game entirely. There's so many of them and they differentiate quite a lot. And the really broad varieties have a lot of archaisms that are still used - like using modern pronunciations of "thou, thee, thy" in casual speech
You mean south scotland
YangSing1 I was waiting for that one too
(American here), Northern English accents sound more "normal" to me than the Southern ones.
When he switched to a british accent, that was smooth.
Hassan Khanlopuy
omg what the actual.. 3:27 THAT WAS AMAZING!! the dude literally just switched from American to full-blown English just like that! that was so impressive omg
American actors can’t do british accents
*Rami Malek has left the chat*
That dialect coach is so good
Nice meme isn’t he though! ❤️
Nice meme He's pretty too
His welsh is quite off
+Niphredyl His speciality isn't doing the accents, it's describing them and helping others do them.
yo we've got the same political compass my man
‘British accent’ doesn’t exist. As a foreigner who has lived in the UK I can’t stress enough that there’s is a large variety in accents in the UK. Someone from Liverpool can have trouble understanding someone from Cornwall, while someone from London can have trouble understanding someone from Sunderland. Categorizing an accent as ‘British accent’ is just wrong.
Rowan Melton and I applaud you
Wouldn’t you say a Cornwall accent and a Liverpool accent are two (very) different British accents? It would be weird if we didn’t have an umbrella term for all the different accents found in Britain
Or is the situation in Britain notably different to other places? Where are you from? Is there less of a range of accents?
OMG THANK YOU
‘American accent’ doesn’t exist. As a foreigner who has lived in the US I can’t stress enough that there’s is a large variety in accents in the US. Someone from Texas can have trouble understanding someone from Boston, while someone from Alabama can have trouble understanding someone from New York. Categorizing an accent as ‘American accent’ is just wrong.
I'm learning english, and this was really helpful!
Erik: demonstrates welsh accent
Me: oh, so it sounds like someone’s Irish mother
Peter Dinklage, aka Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones had me totally convinced that he was a fellow Brit. He comes from New Jersey!
@Danny M Honestly, I was so weirded out when I watched one of his interviews. I was convinced he was taking the piss and doing an American accent for a laugh, but no, apparently he's actually American.
Peter Dinklage's accent is really good. Sometimes he sounds more English than Sansa with her weird ass voice
He's not British?!?!?!?!?!
Most Brits find his accent in GoT not quite right, but it’s a fantasy show so whatever
Dinklage's accent can be really inconsistent, the performance is saved by how he emotes and a well written character.
Another thing I've noticed is that when Americans talk about a "British" accent, they are almost always referring to the posh queens English accent. But they never refer to a Scottish accent as a "British" accent. They treat it as it's own thing.
ThatAussieGirl i mean not really, we think it’s dumb that americans don’t realise it’s the same thing. Sure some people want to be independent blah blah but we all still think the americans are just embarrassing themselves
ThatAussieGirl true lmaoo
Right? Half of these British accents I rarely actually hear in Britain and I live in England. Probably because they're always queens English.
CozmicK G a close friend of mine is Scots and if you ever even sub-categorized her accent as British she'd probably cut you with a knife.
Because it's so different. At least to Americans they sound completely different. Not every American uses the term British when they mean English, they say English.
I'm British but my partner is American and I visit the states a lot, and a bit part of it is definitely exposure. We hear American accents ALL the time in the UK, through mainstream media and the internet, but British media is still popular in the US, it's not quite mainstream and they don't have as much exposure to it as we do them. Especially when you visit a non-touristy area, you're usually the only true Brit most Americans ever meet, and it's no surprise that they have trouble envisioning a proper British accent if they simply don't hear one often
1:53 - Knowing that Michael C. Hall starred in David Bowie's musical _Lazarus,_ I can't help hearing Bowie's influence on Hall's English accent.
Erik: *Does the Welsh accent*
Me a Welsh woman: “Why does he sound like a kind of French Mrs Doubtfire?”
Princess of HMV omg 😂
Fropitz Skeeter I agree
YES! 🤣 Even thought it sounded janky as a Scot.
i could tell he was trying to do Welsh, but it was funny how confident he was with it. I am English and even i could tell it wasn't quite right
Wow that was a bit crap wasnt it :/
The kid who plays Jonathan from stranger things can do a great American accent
I had no idea he isn't American until I read this.
Nostalgia nerd same with the girl
He’s briTISH?
Charlie Heaton struggled with it though. They had to overdub him saying Nancy a lot.
what i was thinking and about to comment, also millie
You forgot to mention, in old film it was done on purpose. For Disney's 'Alice in Wonderland' for example they wanted Alice to sound English because that's where the story took place, but not so English that it was off-putting to American audiences.
Yes! The invention of the TransAtlantic accent.
So a little while back we did a musical at my school and it involved doing British accents. We had a... idk what they’re called but she was a professional coach on accents and such. She went over it vaguely with the ensemble but for the leads she practiced a lot with us in doing different ones based on region. But the first time she wanted to hear us do our versions of how we see English accents, one of the leads did his and she was asking us if he was lying and was actually from Britain and not American because his Essex accent was astounding. He’s American, he had just practiced the accent a lot for the role.
By the end I learned to do a pretty convincing accent that I was able to fool some people even one of my friend’s dad who was from Britain. Though the boy always had it perfect, it was awesome.
I remember Emma Watson's Americn accent is Perk of Being a Wallflower was a little wonky at times.
howchildish Emma Watson has one of the worst American accents. Not just in wallflower. She was so awkward in The Circle.
Same with Benedict in 12 Years A Slave
Cumberbatch in 12 Years A Slave had me confused during his small screen time. I couldn't tell if he was talking normally or attempting an American southern accent.
Laura Exactly. And like Eric said, since Cumberbatch was doing an American accent, it was much lower than how he usually speaks. And it felt as if it was caught in his throat. Same with Dr Strange, it's good, but sometimes it's a muddy accent, and can't really be defined.
Emma Watson is just a terrible actress
Whenever I hear Hugh Laurie speaking with his normal accent it seems fake
Up until like two/three years ago I legitimately thought he was American.
It’s strange because as a Brit I associate him primarily with Blackadder as opposed to House 😉😛 so his normal English accent seems more natural to me
Bethany B yeah no kidding. Blows my mind when people think he’s American, but I’ve not seen House.
Sounds like a American on a downer like xanax...😅🤣😅😂
I believe in the height of House he actually started to lose his British accent!! I remember hearing that back in the day on some interview!
“Make sure all the ‘r’s are there when doing an American accent”
*laughs in Massachusetts*
Good choice of music at the end there 😂 very appropriate
me: speaks french
every second word: *has a seizure*
But I love French accent though😂😂 it's sounds very sexy just like Italian accent
Happiness
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frog
I was at a party last week with a guy from Glasgow and I was like "my friend does an amazing Scottish accent" so the guy asked him to show us but he refused because he was too wasted. So I was like "okay I'll try then" and started talking. The Scottish guy turned to me and said "wait you're from Scotland! I just completely missed your accent before!" and I'm never going to let anyone forget that ever.
Pitch is an aspect too. For instance, from personal experience, in the Scottish Borders and the Orkney Islands the male voice is high-pitched (and often speaks very fast) and if you're not prepared for it you could mistake it for a female voice if you're on the phone, say. Also, actual change in sounds e.g. place names; in Northumberland "gh" is a soft sound, much closer to the "je" of the French "je suis", so Whittingham is WhittingJERM (stress on first syllable), though oddly North'd's Ponteland has the second syllable stressed and slightly long. So if you have an American (or even British!) actor doing a Northumbrian or a Geordie accent and they don't pronounce Newcastle correctly, it'll stand out a mile. Btw, Northumbrian and Geordie accents are very different...once you know them.
I love this guy.! I can hear him speaking for hours.
I can do a fantastic British accent! And I'm British!
wow! thanks for all the likes, that's a record!
this channel has been terminated. Good for you 👍
this channel has been terminated. You're doing better than me at least lmao, i've never been to America and lived in England my whole life but for some reason i sound american
·angel · sameeeeeee
this channel has been terminated. Nobody cares about your puny joke
Alpha Fortnite Videos apparently you do since you replied to it
Any American who actually watches British TV knows that many British actors struggle with American accents.
English people trying to do an american accent 99% of the time leads to a Georgian who thinks they're South African
True when they get it wrong they really really get it wrong.
I love doctor who but usually when they want an American accent it’s very painful. Every now and then there’s a good one, but it’s rare.
As an American that watches a lot of British Tv, I can agree with this lol.
@@fancyoil216 the accents in the Rosa Parks episode was u n c o m f o r t a b l e
The Costner/Elwes thing at the beginning is incongruant to the question being presented.
Michael C Hall got criticism for his accent in Safe in the US, but I thought he was ridiculously good at it.
Matthew Rhys's actual thick Welsh accent is hard to swallow when you hear him speak with an American accent so well in most of his roles!
Sean Astin playing Sam in the LOTR has to be the best American doing a British accent. It was regional and just sounded natural.
I'm yet to see an American capable of doing a believable Yorkshire, Scouse or Geordie accent. If one exists I'd be very impressed.
Sean Astin is awesome
@@francoisrd he is awesome
I knew Elijah Wood was American - but I had NO IDEA until recently rewatching LOTR series that Sean Astin was American too..??? ALSO HE WAS IN THE GOONIES?
Anyways, yeah he did quite well.. such a likeable dude.
I'm yet to see those, too (I'm from Yorkshire). But I was pleasantly surprised to hear Sam Niells Irish accent in Peaky Blinders. It's quite strong in places, but overall pretty close.
Well there’s probably an American out there, out in the wild..
Not just British accents but they are EXTREMELY terrible at Australian accents! 😂🤦🏼♀️😬
I’m a disappointment. Period. The problem is they can sound similar to us. I can hear the difference clearly but when I go to speak Australian it comes out funny.
There's only a handful that can do Aussie accents... It's a little sad because so many times people just miss entirely and end up doing American or English depending on where they're from
@@dirtymike3329 mm definitely in some regions! Lol good luck just drown yourself in Aussie actor interviews or something
I tried to do an Australian accent and all my friends tell me it sounds Kiwi lol
I’m gonna say it.... SHRI-
Ebris Elba did a good job w/ his accent in "The Wire" but it was not the Black-Baltimorean accent I grew up hearing in Baltimore.
Fun fact: Louis Hynes, the actor who played Klaus Baudelaire in Netflix's adaption of "A Series of Unfortunate Events", is actually British
I'm always intrigued by accents. Once i worked on a ship for 6 months, which has Eastern Europeans, I didn't realize I (somewhat) picked up their accents. When I return to my native country, my friends pointed that I speak funny, like having a weird foreign accent. It took me maybe a month or 2, before getting back that Singaporean "accent" again. Haha.
I lived with my Aunt in South Wales for 8 months when I was small & came back to London with an accent, it soon went.
+jrgboy I find my accent changes really quickly. My native one is a South Walian accent, but I tend to unconsciously adopt the inflections of whoever I'm talking to. I have a Polish friend who's accent bleeds into mine fairly often. Same if I spend longer than a day or two in France or with French family
+Freya Kinsey *whose
This happens to me too. I pick up the inflections of other ppl's speech. It's a version of code switching. One of my friends returned to the states after living in Sydney for years and she sounded SO WEIRD to us. Without the Australian accent, everything she said just sounded like a question instead!
Yeah, lived in America for a year, came back to Germany with an accent for a month or so without even realizing it. Didn’t take that long with me either. Then people started calling it out and I was like yeah wtf lmao.
English is my mother tongue but I still just adopt the accent or dialect of whoever I’m talking to
3:30 british mode activated
I remember watching a clip of comedian Russell Kane, and I think what he said is quite appilcable: that to do a good English accent you have to move your face as little as possible. Watch any English person talk and you'll notice that they move their faces considerably less than other nationalities (the posher you are, the less you move). I feel this is why some struggle to do an English accent, since their faces move too much.
Is there a video of Eric just doing all the accents cuz ya! I’d watch that.
I, a British man, am sat saying 'goat' now, to see whether I actually say 'goat' like that
depends which part of Britain you're from. I'm from south-west Wales (and bi-lingual Welsh/Eng speaker) so the vowel sound in my accent in "goat" is elongated and with a dip then rising intonation "goh-oat" - i dont know how to type the actual phonemic script on this pc
ME
Sam Talbot-Cross you’re the GOAT man!
I'm from Kent and we have a dropped T in our accent for example I'm pu in the ke oh on instead of I'm putting the kettle on. Also words like Butter is pronounced like Bu uh, Hospital is pronounced Hospi all & of course the most popular one to tell if someone is from Kent Water is pronounced Woh uh
The guy from Mary Poppins would not have been the same person if he had an actual accent
Lake Bell starred in a comedy with Simon Pegg set in Britain. Her British accent was very good.
Have you ever heard Jordan James Gavaris as Felix in Orphan Black? Granted he’s Canadian, but still. It’s such a good accent!!!!
I find it easier to do a british accent while yelling. Guess I watch too much Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon Ramsay is Scottish, not really the same accent that you are thinking of
I didnt even know Ramsey wasn't American....whoa...
THE BEEF WELLINGTON IS RAAAAHHHWWWHHH!!!
Not a bad idea for a comedy skit. The actor that can only speak with a British accent if he’s yelling 🤔
Glitch I always wondered where ramsay got his attitude from ua-cam.com/video/ZXTQ8yTWVWQ/v-deo.html
Americans haven’t had to worry about sounding British since 1776 lol
Chris 389 epic gamer moment
explains that disgraceful performance dick van dyke gave in "Mary poppins"
You still speak English though 😉🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
@@quagsnake i was going to make a sarcastic joke but britain is more superior than america in so many ways. lower cost of medicine because of free healthcare, lower incarceration rates, stricter weapon laws, and better food...the only thing america really has going for it rn is media :(
Chris 389 interesting accent fact, but the modern “standard English accent” (which is technically called Received Pronunciation) didn’t exist in 1776, and the American/Canadian way of speech is closer to the old way of speaking than modern English accents are. So if someone is giving American accents a hard time, just tell them we’re sticking to tradition
I think this is one of the reasons Game of Thrones did so well. If it were done in America with British Accents it would sound like Downton Abbey. They're rich English-type people, right? The Northern accents really made it stand out in a way it wouldn't otherwise. I really hope this leads to more diverse voices in American entertainment. As Fiona Hill explained in Congress, British accents have a whole socio-political aspect. The one you use says something about the character.
Id like to see that coach guy do every accent
But it kinda depends, there is no set “American accent”
People that live in different parts of the country have different accents.
PARTHAMAX that's exactly the same in England. Accents include: Geordie, mackam, scouse, southern, northern, Mancunian. I feel like americans categorise us as posh or cockney which is irritating. Actors should look into our culture deeper.
Literally the case for every country. Some not easily identified to you because you're foreign to them.
PARTHAMAX That could be said for any country though.
PARTHAMAX same here in England
RMK 79 I don’t think anyone is disputing that. I think you’re missing the point. The assumption here is that there is such thing as “The American Accent” which of course there is not.
Imagine how happy his wife must be. Since he masters all accents, role playing must be real fun.
"Oy mate lemme fok u in thee ass, yeh"
TheAquaticCat unless he’s gay
@@daisydennis1943 damn
bradley orozco *arse
@@bradleyorozco1081 errrrr no
I love the scene in "snatch" where jason statham visits brad pit and the pikers. "ey ya like daaags?" even if its a fake accent, still hilarious.
I was listening to the entirety of books 3 and 4 of Harry Potter on cassette when I was in 8th grade and started slipping into an English accent like I had to put effort in to speak in a normal American one
Why does his Welsh accent sound like mrs. Doubtfire
pathways678 I have always found the welsh accent to remind me of a combination of English and Scottish accent. Although I’m sure I’d be offending any Welshman that heard me say that. If you ever have a chance listen to the way Terry Jones of Monty python talked when he’s was not doing a silly speaking voice.🏴
@@maryannlockwood7806 guessing you offended the scottish too
Maryann Lockwood .. Terry Jones never had a Welsh accent. Tom Jones still does.
His Welsh accent suffers from the exact problem he is describing. Sounds like he wasn't really well exposed to what a Welsh person actually sounds like
@@maryannlockwood7806 Nah. You'd be better with watching Torchwood. It is set in Cardiff and half of the cast is Welsh
I was today years old when I found out Rick from The Walking Dead is British in real life
Harry D It’s a joke meaning that she only realised Rick was British after watching this video (today)! Got it? 😉
Dean Wilcox I noticed when he would break his accent and you can here his English accent. Especially when he said Carl
Even though is American accent is notoriously bad.
I shit myself when I found out 21 Savage was British and I don't even listen to him.
Maggie from TWD is British too!
Charlton Heston managed a good British accent as General Gordon in 'Khartoum'. Maggie Gyllenhall and her husband Peter Saarsgard both achieved convincing educated British accents in 'The Honourable Woman' and 'An Education' respectively. I have never heard an American actor attempt the accent of Hull though ('the only place in the World where Perls are people who come from Perland [=Poles / Poland]') but the poor actors would probably give up herp if they had to learn to speak like that.
Actor Eamonn Walker as Chief Wallace Boden on NBC's tv series,"Chicago Fire",is British.Thought he actually is from State of Illinois but him and few of cast were being interviewed for season premier few years back,he spoke in his native London voice.
Robert Pattinson’s English accent came out in Breaking Dawn 1 at the end of the movie when he said “absolute law”.
Mel omg those parts of Twilight make it even more hilarious
Other than that he's got a good grasp on his "America talk" LOL!
Him being a vampire makes that a lot more excusable.