Love it, but my god the accents!
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raven1066 — 16 years ago(March 31, 2010 09:39 AM)
Sometimes I had to rewind b/c I was like- what the heck did they just say!? But what really gets me is when they use British slang. That kills me. But in the end, it's a GREAT show.
BTW- I'm from the States
"Time is the fire in which we burn" -
TeOfLeDiKi — 12 years ago(September 16, 2013 05:47 PM)
@schappe1: you're right. L&O:UK is a Brit TV show, made for Brit audiences. It's shown in the States but is not aimed at Yanks. Because it's an L&O franchise, many of the accents seem to be "generic" British/urban/professional, just like most of the accents used by the main characters in the U.S. L&O shows are generic American/urban/professional accents. I'm a native New Yorker and I only hear what we call "newscaster" accents on our L&Os - the kind of accent that has to be affected in order for anyone in the States to be able to understand it.
The L&O mothership was a phenomenon of longevity and creativity - damn, it lasted 20 years before it went off the air. They'vne stopped showing the mothership every-day-for-several-hours-a-day and now it's only on early in the morning on Sundays and Saturdays (sometimes one or two episodes, sometimes all day). Even though I've seen sooooooooooo many of the episodes, I'd rather watch L&O than some of the other drivel on TV.
Now - shows like Broadchurch, where the actors are using more regional British accents, it's harder for Americans to understand the dialogue. But I keep the CC on and open up the Brit slang websites and I'm good
. The thing I have more trouble with on L&O:UK is the slang, rather than the accents.
One more funny item, and I apologize to anyone who already read this in another thread. A year or so ago, BBCAmerica ran a series of ads for L&O:UK. Just snippets of dialogue, but the British-isms were "translated" for the American audience. That's when I learned that "knackered" means "tired" (which I knew) but that "knackers" are "testicles" (which I did not know)
"Law & Order:UK" - it's "Law & Order, with wigs"
neat . . . sweet . . . petite -
i_dont_even_try — 15 years ago(May 26, 2010 04:18 AM)
The problem is the actors are British, which means they're from England, and they're being allowed to run amok with their accents. They should hire Americans for the series, at least for the main parts. There are plenty of Americans with good accents who'd be willing to do the work.
Edit: They could keep Jamie Bamber as long as they forced him to speak with a proper American accent the way he did in BSG. -
SrEditor — 15 years ago(March 25, 2011 06:44 AM)
maris1, you must not be reading the IMDB discussion board for the shows/movies where someone does try to do a Boston accent.
Even most American actors have trouble with it . . . and for those who know, it shows. -
onlyscotia — 15 years ago(November 11, 2010 04:36 AM)
You Americans r a bunch of bloody idiots if u need subtitles for a british show, none of the accents on law and order uk are particularly strong except for the guy playing the older cop. The older prosecutors accent is just Scottish lol, u need to learn how other people speak instead of insisting everyone speak like u do, yes I know greatest country in world and everyone else has to toe the line and act/speak/do exactly as you do.
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Eebs-2 — 15 years ago(November 23, 2010 10:55 AM)
From the good ole USA and my main thing is some of the slang. For example, the use and placement of the term "snap" threw me when I first heard it. The accents sound fairly innocuous to me.
In general I find no cause for complaint since this is L&O:UK. It is for a British audience. The best way to get what they are saying is to keep watching; your ear will properly train to the sound of the accent and various dialects. -
!!!deleted!!! (41638798) — 12 years ago(July 15, 2013 01:40 PM)
Why do folks talk about this? It's a British show. They have natural accents (well Jamie Bamber tried a rather forced East Endbut).
As an American who lives alot of the time in London, even i use the subtitles if only because sometimes they speak fastit's not the accents. But then 'im indoors is from Dartford. So.home field advantage there, ha.
Imagine how the accent-challenged in the US would complain if suddenly Ronnie said:
"Oi. China. Stone the crows!! This barney's doin' me 'ed in. Sling 'ur 'ook cuz if I get another butchers at you 'round 'ere, and 'ave a word in me shell like of yer cobblers again mate, I'm sending the boyos round to your gaff to give you a right kick up yer farmers. Then bob's your mother's brother. Innint??"
So for those who think they have not already sanitized the dialog for international consumption in "the colonies" and other foreign lands, they have! -
MysteryRidah — 12 years ago(September 01, 2013 07:27 PM)
im from the usa and i can understand what they say just fine.
http://www.dailymotion.com/CelebrityGamers
Sub the Celebrity -
tomparis3 — 12 years ago(August 31, 2013 06:55 AM)
I agree. I'm swiss and a couple of years ago I begun to watch TV shows in english, a language that I didn't knew (my mother language is italian and I speak german and french). At first I had to watch them with english subtitles, and look up a lot of words in both regular and urban dictionaries. When I became accustomed with most american accents (even those in True Blood), I had a few problems with british and australian shows, not to mention canadians (I couldn't find subs for "The Border", and I had to stop watching it). Now I'm happy to say that I understand a lot of different accents, and honestly, I can't watch doubled stuff anymore. In regard to british shows, I find women's accents very sexy
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selteab — 13 years ago(February 02, 2013 07:24 PM)
That was just a tad harsh. I've travelled extensively within my own country (44 of the 50 states), throughout the UK, Ireland and Australia. All regions of all countries have their own accents. Some accents are easier to understand than others. Deep South, New Orleans, and some areas of NYC accents take me a while to adjust my "hearing". The only times I've had a really tough time was in the North of England and in the West of Ireland. It was absolutely hilarious. Had a fine and handsome Irishman explain to me that the easiest way to tell where a person was from was to listen to their pronunciation of the "f" word. And yes, when I first started watching "Law and Order UK" I had to switch on the subtitles.