this is proof of how american i am that i never considered this until i started watching foreign TV

So in watching so much Korean TV, I've noticed that they often have characters who are supposed to be USAmerican, but as soon as the actor opens his mouth (I haven't seen this with any ladies yet), it's very clear from his accent that he is not in fact USAmerican. The American boyfriend on Creating Destiny can barely speak English intelligibly (I cannot for the life of me figure out what his accent is, though. It drives me craaazy because I'm usually halfway decent at least placing what general region people are from), which is funny considering that the main actress's character supposedly grew up in Australia, but said main actress speaks English with a decidedly American accent.

Now, of course this really doesn't matter that much, since they're making the show for Korean viewers. But now whenever I watch an American show or movie that has someone speaking a foreign language, I always wonder if that actor actually sounds like where they're supposed to be from or if it's as ridiculous-sounding to natives of whatever country as these "American" characters are to me. I know we tend to be notoriously bad at depictions of other English-language accents (various British ones, Australian, etc.), so I imagine this is the case for depictions of other languages as well.

So for those of you on my flist (I know there are quite a few!), can you answer? Do you wince when American shows/TV depict your native language? We in the United States have greater diversity than South Korea does and lots of immigrants to boot, so in some ways I imagine it could easier for us to find a halfway decent actor who can speak a language if we really want to. On the other hand, we are sooooo...what's the word for ethnocentric but for nations instead of ethnicities? Whatever that word is, USAmericans are it. I imagine that even if we could find someone with a little effort, we probably don't put for that effort very often. I could be wrong about that, though. I would love to be wrong about that. I doubt I'm wrong about that.

Anyone have any anecdotes?

this is proof of how american i am that i never considered this until i started watching foreign TV

So in watching so much Korean TV, I've noticed that they often have characters who are supposed to be USAmerican, but as soon as the actor opens his mouth (I haven't seen this with any ladies yet), it's very clear from his accent that he is not in fact USAmerican. The American boyfriend on Creating Destiny can barely speak English intelligibly (I cannot for the life of me figure out what his accent is, though. It drives me craaazy because I'm usually halfway decent at least placing what general region people are from), which is funny considering that the main actress's character supposedly grew up in Australia, but said main actress speaks English with a decidedly American accent.

Now, of course this really doesn't matter that much, since they're making the show for Korean viewers. But now whenever I watch an American show or movie that has someone speaking a foreign language, I always wonder if that actor actually sounds like where they're supposed to be from or if it's as ridiculous-sounding to natives of whatever country as these "American" characters are to me. I know we tend to be notoriously bad at depictions of other English-language accents (various British ones, Australian, etc.), so I imagine this is the case for depictions of other languages as well.

So for those of you on my flist (I know there are quite a few!), can you answer? Do you wince when American shows/TV depict your native language? We in the United States have greater diversity than South Korea does and lots of immigrants to boot, so in some ways I imagine it could easier for us to find a halfway decent actor who can speak a language if we really want to. On the other hand, we are sooooo...what's the word for ethnocentric but for nations instead of ethnicities? Whatever that word is, USAmericans are it. I imagine that even if we could find someone with a little effort, we probably don't put for that effort very often. I could be wrong about that, though. I would love to be wrong about that. I doubt I'm wrong about that.

Anyone have any anecdotes?

this is proof of how american i am that i never considered this until i started watching foreign TV

So in watching so much Korean TV, I've noticed that they often have characters who are supposed to be USAmerican, but as soon as the actor opens his mouth (I haven't seen this with any ladies yet), it's very clear from his accent that he is not in fact USAmerican. The American boyfriend on Creating Destiny can barely speak English intelligibly (I cannot for the life of me figure out what his accent is, though. It drives me craaazy because I'm usually halfway decent at least placing what general region people are from), which is funny considering that the main actress's character supposedly grew up in Australia, but said main actress speaks English with a decidedly American accent.

Now, of course this really doesn't matter that much, since they're making the show for Korean viewers. But now whenever I watch an American show or movie that has someone speaking a foreign language, I always wonder if that actor actually sounds like where they're supposed to be from or if it's as ridiculous-sounding to natives of whatever country as these "American" characters are to me. I know we tend to be notoriously bad at depictions of other English-language accents (various British ones, Australian, etc.), so I imagine this is the case for depictions of other languages as well.

So for those of you on my flist (I know there are quite a few!), can you answer? Do you wince when American shows/TV depict your native language? We in the United States have greater diversity than South Korea does and lots of immigrants to boot, so in some ways I imagine it could easier for us to find a halfway decent actor who can speak a language if we really want to. On the other hand, we are sooooo...what's the word for ethnocentric but for nations instead of ethnicities? Whatever that word is, USAmericans are it. I imagine that even if we could find someone with a little effort, we probably don't put for that effort very often. I could be wrong about that, though. I would love to be wrong about that. I doubt I'm wrong about that.

Anyone have any anecdotes?