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

[lirazel]

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?

Comments

[larabeckinsale.livejournal.com]

I wince 99% of the times someone is trying to do a "latin" american accent in a USA movie/show. An American trying to talk Spanish is most of the time awful. Specially because it's obvious they do not do even a little of research, seems that every "latin" american is either Mexican or grew up in Miami, you know? And they limit the fake accent to that. America is more rich than that. Of course, USA people can't always know this and it's not their obligation either (and noone can know all of this, unless you're a native or do serious research) but a Mexican accent is very different from an Argentinan accent. In general, to keep it somewhat close to reality, there's like three groups of accents in America, people from the caribean talk a certain way, north South American another and South South America another.

I'm from South South America, I don't sound even close to let's say Cuban, not a little bit. Actually, sometimes it could be a problem to understand them (I have cuban friends) and I'm sure they have a problem understanding me too.

I think for the native, hearing a "foreing" talking their language would most of the time sound funny, or plain wrong. I bet Spanish speakers sound funny too talking in English for you guys -hence the comedic portrayal of us in some shows.

I think it would be nice if when impersonating other cultures one takes the time to research.