Regional UK accents.

[Welshbird]

There is much in the news in the UK at the moment regarding ne Cheryl Cole, and whether she ought to appear on the US version of the X factor.

My understanding is that this is purely because it is believed that her north-east ('Geordie') accent is deemed unintelligible to a US audience.

BBc article about UK accents

Any thoughts?

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[KenCunningham]

Why aye man, hinny but. No, not really, but I'm sure the same could be said of many US dialects, none of which seem to get the subtitle treatment as, say, the Trainspotting film (or fillum) did a few years ago (unless of course that's an urban myth).

I've recently been enjoying the various twitterings of 'Cheryl Kerl' should anyone want to join in!

The internet - allowing those who don't know what they're talking about to have their say.

 

[Welshbird]

I like that twitering muchly.



Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[SantaMufasa]

We have our closed captioning going on our TV. Since TV series provide the printed screen play to the captioning service, it would be understandable. The problem comes on real-time captioning where it would make Gordie about as intelligible as Mandarin, I'm afraid.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[strongm]

> deemed unintelligible to a US audience

Trainspotting had subtitles when released in the US ...

 

[KenCunningham]

where it would make Gordie about as intelligible as Mandarin

Unintentional I know Dave, but this actually makes sense if we were talking about our ex-Dear Leader Gordon Brown too!

The internet - allowing those who don't know what they're talking about to have their say.

 

[MCuthill]

I heart the "Geordie" accent.

I don't find it terribly difficult to understand, and I am from the opposite side of the pond from where it originates (Canada).

Let her be on the show I say!



Mike
---------------------------------------------------------------
"To be alive is to revel in the moments, in the sunrise and the sunset, in the sudden and brief episodes of love and adventure,
in the hours of companionship. It is, most of all, to never be paralyzed by your fears of a future that no one can foretell."

 

[hotfusion]

I find most strong accents difficult to understand.
I naturally have a fairly strong west country accent but am quite capable of taming it for the benefit of those not from the area.

I therefore assume that Mrs Cole could do the same if she really wanted, making her accent a bit of a moot point really.

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
My home page

 

[strongm]

> Mrs Cole could do the same if she really wanted

I thought she'd engaged a voice coach

 

[Sympology]

Cheryl Cole....chav with a stylist.

Why don't they have done with it and stick a pc with a copy of Cubase and Autotune running on it.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[strongm]

A voice coach for her accent, not her singing ...

 

[hotfusion]

Quote:
"A voice coach for her accent, not her singing ..."

We have an expression over here:
"You can't polish a turd."

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
My home page

 

[Welshbird]

Andy - I've heard that many times.

You can, however, roll it in glitter.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[2ffat]

"You can't polish a turd."

According to MythBusters, you can!



James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[SamBones]

Back to the topic of accents (and not wanting to imply this is a polished turd comment), I'm still waiting for a version of the book Finnegans Wake to be printed with subtitles. Every time I try to read it, my brain locks up about half way through page 3.