Accent
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Anna Friel
lee3171 — 19 years ago(May 05, 2006 05:49 AM)
I have heard her accent quite recently, and I have noticed that she has been trying to speak with a southern English accent rather than the Rochdale accent she has had for most of her career. It is quite sad when people try to disguise their accent, unfortunately she now sounds just like the majority of English actresses.
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sirclancelot — 19 years ago(June 21, 2006 10:03 AM)
Oh, no I don't think she sounds owt like a Rochdalian, hardly any more. It was one of the reasons I wasn't keen on her. However, I shouldn't have judged before I'd seen her act. I saw LAND GIRLS last night and she was flipping amazing. Sometimes you can lose your accent by living away from home too long. she might not have done it deliberately. I know when I went to university, thought I didn't lose my accent, I suddenly stopped droppin' letters from the beginnin' and end o' words and it weren't deliberate.
Anyone Rochdalian find it interesting she called her little girl Gracie, though?
Gracie Fields was another Rochdale actress. -
Mymessages74 — 19 years ago(July 14, 2006 05:36 PM)
I agree totally. Her accent on the Pantene shampoo ads is so false. All that 'a little lighter. A little brighter" stuff. Oh dear. It's so pathetic when people do that. Other offenders are Madonna and Kylie Minogue (although I think she's recently reverted back to her native accent - maybe someone told her it's ridiculous). The truly vile Naomi Campbell flips between a cod American accent and a mixed up English accent depending on where she is. Catherine Zeta Jones flips does a similiar thing with her Welsh accent and an unconvincing American one - sometimes within the same film - "Ocean's Twelve" being a good example. Do these people really think that no-one will notice?
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lee3171 — 19 years ago(July 31, 2006 06:26 AM)
After watc1ebching those annoying Pantene adverts it is a really bad attempt at a posh accent. She did have an accent, her natural accent is the same as the character she played in Brookside, which is a Manchester based accent, not a Rochdale accent which is what Lisa Stansfield has. I just object to the falseness of the accent, which isn't Southern English but just a poor attempt to sound posh.
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Dan2108 — 19 years ago(August 23, 2006 12:50 AM)
I'm not American, but it's fair to say my English is. I live in London now and who knows, maybe I'll develop an ear for regional accents with time.
To clarify (and maybe qualify) my previous statement, most "coastal" Americans are able to pinpoint an Irish accent or a Scottish brogue. The same may be true about Cockney (not just an accent, but you know what I mean) and a thick Geordie accent. We get lost when it comes to the finer distinctions beyond those.
Concerning those who speak English as a second language in Northern Europe, it's easier to tell them apart (again, for coastal Americans with a modicum of education or exposure to the world). I've heard the term "Dunglish" often when someone in the US referred to Dutch people speaking English; Germans are in a category of their own, Danes sprinkle their English with industrial-strength antiseptic, etc.
Regional accents in the US are less pervasive due to horizontal social mobility, and increasingly limited to rural areas. Most coastal Americans can't tell the difference between the parlance of rural Tennessee and rural Kentucky, yet the local denizens insist it's there. Then again, who would spend enough time voluntarily in those hellholes to gain this type of knowledge? -
Barry974 — 19 years ago(August 26, 2006 11:38 PM)
I watched Mad Cows last night and her Aussie accent I found to be very authentic. It's only now by checking Anna on IMDB that I see she's English. It's a great thing as an actress to be able to speak with a variety of accents and I'm sure sh'll land some major roles because of it.
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ramzilba — 18 years ago(October 10, 2007 07:08 PM)
I take a bit of offense at reading your comments. I'm a born-and-bred, well-traveled Midwesterner with a solid education, and I can most definitely tell the difference between Welsh, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish, East London, and Yorkshire accents (not to mention the difference between the accents of any Northern Europeans speaking English). My (well-educated) family can, too. I know we don't represent all "non-coastal" Americans, and I'm not getting all bent out of shape over this, but now you know that we're not all uneducated, tractor-driving dolts. Perhaps no one ever bothered to tell you.
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cej_cowan — 18 years ago(December 03, 2007 05:11 PM)
I totally agree with you! I know this is a rather old post, however upon reading all of the messages about Annas accent I was really upset. It is VERY hard to make an accent sound real. A lot harder then most people understand. I can't do it and I've been acting for 10 years.
I just think people should give more credit to actors then they are being given. -
indigo_pie — 17 years ago(April 09, 2008 09:42 AM)
Oh of course. the only accents of England are Cockney and Yorkshire!!! Geordie is not a Yorkshire accent BTW. There are a fair few Yorkshire accents, not just the one too.
And would you be able to tell the difference between different Welsh accents, e.g. Valleys, Cardiff, North West etc? The same goes for Scotland and Ireland/Northern Ireland.
My father was in one of the non coastal US States a few year ago, I think it might have been Texas. Long story short, he was asked if he was Australian, to which he replied 'no, I'm British'. Now, I know that that uneducated individual is not representative of all Americans but it does happen on more than one occasion. I've been out there and asked if I was an Australian. My sisters and I went to Boston one year, and the waitress in the restaurant couldn't understand our accent and had to ask for help! I have a 'Southern' accent, whatever the hell that means because there are a heck of a lot of them around here! -
notwitty — 17 years ago(April 09, 2008 03:30 PM)
My father was in one of the non coastal US States a few year ago, I think it might have been Texas. Long story short, he was asked if he was Australian, to which he replied 'no, I'm British'. Now, I know that that uneducated individual is not representative of all Americans but it does happen on more than one occasion. I've been out there and asked if I was an Australian.
No surprise. There are a few people around where I live that can't understand certain regional American accents, let alone "foreign" ones. -
saoirse9 — 18 years ago(October 03, 2007 06:00 PM)
Thousands, actually. NYC alone has at least half a dozen disctinct accents, though they seem to be dying out rather quickly. There used to be even more.
And I strongly disagree witht he statement regarding Americans inability to distinguish accents in "northern germanic europe"; no one would ever mistake a Londoner with a Berliner. Utterly ridiculous to think otherwise.
Now for non-native speakers of Englishthat's an entirely different story.
