122 réponses à ce sujet

[S.W.]

This is kind of what I mean about Briala being off - it's primarily Dalish elves who have seperate accents, although it wouldn't unforeseeable for city elves, being that they live together as a separate group, to have their own distinct accent somewhere between. I imagine Briala being a royal servant would sound thoroughly Orlesian, but she doesn't.

 

I have a degree in French and Spanish, my dad was a French teacher and I have relatives and friends in France. Believe me, Giselle sounds way off.

 

I'm in the UK. What I mean is that US shows, films and games that feature British accents usually either have someone doing RP or someone who sounds "cockney". I'm aware that the accents one hears in London have changed considerably in recent years.

 

Oh cool, I'll concede happily I'm quite envious, I wish I'd studied French at university but I have absolutely no aptitude for languages.

[Potato Cat]

 

By "Yorkshire" I think you mean "Generic Actorly Non-Specific Northern". Yorkshire accents vary substantially across the county, and people often confuse Lancashire and Yorkshire accents...

 

Personally I've noticed way way more "cockney" than anything northern in TV shows, movies and games that originate from across the Atlantic, at least up until Game of Thrones...

I do equate Yorkshire accents with generic northern accents as far as actors are concerned. Usually in my experience they are generally trying to do a Yorkshire accent. When thinking of Northern accents, most people would probably come up with Scouse, Geordie and Yorkshire first, and Yorkshire's probably the easiest to imitate somewhat convincingly.

 

And you are right, Cockney is still much more popular across the pond, but as you said, with GoT and Downton Abbey, I think more northern accents are cropping up but Yorkshire's dominating. (And they really should both be in quotation marks as far as I'm concerned) I'd definitely like to hear more North East accents myself, but that's probably just because I'm surrounded by southerners right now and afraid I'm starting to sound like them.

[Char]

I do equate Yorkshire accents with generic northern accents as far as actors are concerned. Usually in my experience they are generally trying to do a Yorkshire accent. When thinking of Northern accents, most people would probably come up with Scouse, Geordie and Yorkshire first, and Yorkshire's probably the easiest to imitate somewhat convincingly.
 
And you are right, Cockney is still much more popular across the pond, but as you said, with GoT and Downton Abbey, I think more northern accents are cropping up but Yorkshire's dominating. (And they really should both be in quotation marks as far as I'm concerned) I'd definitely like to hear more North East accents myself, but that's probably just because I'm surrounded by southerners right now and afraid I'm starting to sound like them.

I have the opposite problem I've spent the last 5 years living 'up North'- 4 in Sheffield and one in the East Midlands. Every time I speak to my parents they scrutinise my accent for traces of 'Northern' and it's making me paranoid that I'll wake up one day and not recognise the sound of myself

[Potato Cat]

I have the opposite problem I've spent the last 5 years living 'up North'- 4 in Sheffield and one in the East Midlands. Every time I speak to my parents they scrutinise my accent for traces of 'Northern' and it's making me paranoid that I'll wake up one day and not recognise the sound of myself

Haha, even Sheffield's too southern for me! The way I say words like 'book' is already changing.

[XxPrincess(x)ThreatxX]

Im i the only person who thought Leliana sounded weird in DA:I? really seemed that Corinne Kempa had lost alot of her french accent to me, sounded more english compared to her DA:O voice IMO

[Basement Cat]

Im i the only person who thought Leliana sounded weird in DA:I? really seemed that Corinne Kempa had lost alot of her french accent to me, sounded more english compared to her DA:O voice IMO

The accent is less pronounced this time around, but I think it's because she played it up in Origins. Her voice is also lower than in DAO. Maybe to reflect that she's a decade older?

[Neuro]

When watching a Hollywood movie or syndicated television show, I always inwardly groan in anticipation when any character mentions an upcoming "Irish" character knowing that, at least 9.9 times out of 10, I'm about to suffer an atrociously rendered fake accent.  Luckily Bioware managed to get some actual Irish voice actors to do stuff, although they do come from various corners of the Island and it sounds a bit weird when they're all apparently in one elfy clan.  Not that I'm complaining, really!.  Merril's clan in DA2 had Merril, who was Welsh obviously, then there were a few hunters from Dublin, one from Belfast and a couple from further west.  

 

As for Briala?  No idea where her accent is from.  France?  Definitely not Irish though. (I'm originally from NI btw.)

 

The inquisitors and the Hawkes English accents are all Received Pronunciation.  It might be nice to a have a regional one in a future game although finding one to please everyone could prove problematic.  Dorian's accent is a good example of more heightened RP which fits with him being an upper class mage from Tevinter I suppose.  

 

Dorian's heightened RP is really well done.  The only widely popular location where you can hear the traditional heightened RP really is a show like Downton Abbey, which tries very hard to get all its language/dialect stuff done, and done well.  

 

I really wish that my Dalish inquisitor, second playthrough, could have a "Dalish" accent-- not only for realism purposes (there's no way he'd have the RP of the human noble), but also because I so strongly associate that RP accent of the Inquisitor with a human noble.  

 

Cheers!

 

I'm RP via Essex, but my grandparents are pure genuine East End Cockney London. The fake attempts at cockney accents you get in video games and movies really make me wince a lot of the time, they sound so forced.

 

 

Tell me about it.  One of the funniest iterations of this is the way that the protagonist of the new Assassin's Creed game talks (the one set in London).  He's like half-RP, half-cockney, and not only would those never go together in the same person, but particularly in Victorian-era London, he would sound like neither.  It's absurd.  Cheers

[sagefic]

<snip>

 

- Cullen's accent is pretty standard, though every once in a while I hear a bit of Yorkshire accent in his voice.  Thoughts?  

 

If anyone wants to discuss the Orlesian/Nevarran/Antivan accents, I'm down too, but didn't wanna start off with too much.  

Cheers all!

 

Greg Ellis (Cullen's VA) also voices DA:Awakening Anders. In Awakening, there are a few Anders battle cries that totally sound full-up Yorkshire accent ("Destructive forces of nature, comin' right up" is the one that comes to mind). Considering Ellis is from Lancashire, which is probably where the York-sounding bit comes in for Cullen - you mostly notice it in the yelling/louder lines of dialog.

[Ashagar]

I am admittedly leary about really complaining about accents mainly because I am familar with too many cases of the fake accent turnning about to be the persons real accent and it simply being a less common or well known accent. In general I don't mind game accents as long as they are somewhat consistant though I tend keep in mind how widely accents can vary in just a small region much less a large empire like Orlais.

[synariel]

Ah, my favorite subject!

 

Manchester United!  

 

Of all British dialects Mancunian is definitely my favorite, and I really get a kick out of how many Mancs are VAs. What most people hear as a "Yorkshire" accent is often Mancunian--similar, to American ears, but with some distinct differences and their own set of shibboleths.

 

Greg Ellis, Alastair Parker, and Simon Chadwick (Nathaniel Howe's VA) were all born there. As Sagefic mentioned above, you can really hear Greg Ellis's accent slipping (namely, the distinctive strut-foot merger) when he's doing yelling/emotive lines. His RP also tends toward the nasal, another telling characteristic. There's an unfortunate stigma associated with the Manc accent in the UK, as it was historically equated with being quaint or working-class. As a result, professionals in the UK tend to attempt to disguise it, especially actors after/during acting school.

 

A shame, because I love hearing it! (Blackwall...sigh. God bless.)

[andy6915]

Everyone seems to forget that the elves in DA:O had north american accents. Not that it's odd; I would imagine each clan varies.

 

And the Dalish Inquisitor has an English accent. So yeah, not all Dalish clans have the same accent.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Ah, my favorite subject!

 

Manchester United!  

 

Of all British dialects Mancunian is definitely my favorite, and I really get a kick out of how many Mancs are VAs. What most people hear as a "Yorkshire" accent is often Mancunian--similar, to American ears, but with some distinct differences and their own set of shibboleths.

 

Greg Ellis, Alastair Parker, and Simon Chadwick (Nathaniel Howe's VA) were all born there. As Sagefic mentioned above, you can really hear Greg Ellis's accent slipping (namely, the distinctive strut-foot merger) when he's doing yelling/emotive lines. His RP also tends toward the nasal, another telling characteristic. There's an unfortunate stigma associated with the Manc accent in the UK, as it was historically equated with being quaint or working-class. As a result, professionals in the UK tend to attempt to disguise it, especially actors after/during acting school.

 

A shame, because I love hearing it! (Blackwall...sigh. God bless.)

Yeah as I said people get easily confused between Northern accents, even though there's plenty of variation across Lancashire and Yorkshire. Greg Ellis certainly does let the odd northern vowel creep in now and again.

 

And the Dalish Inquisitor has an English accent. So yeah, not all Dalish clans have the same accent.

 

Er... All the Inquisitiors, Dalish or not, can choose between a North American and RP English accented voice. You can also have an English accented Dwarf if you choose, despite no other dwarves in-game having an English accent.

[andy6915]

Er... All the Inquisitiors, Dalish or not, can choose between a North American and RP English accented voice. You can also have an English accented Dwarf if you choose, despite no other dwarves in-game having an English accent.

 

Irrelevant, canon is canon. If that's the accent a Dalish can have, then it's canon that a Dalish can have that accent. They can also have the American one, if you so choose. The dwarf could have been raised by humans via adoption for all you know, it's still canon that a dwarf can have an English accent. Just because it's unusual and just because it's our own self made character doesn't somehow make their accent not actually real.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Irrelevant, canon is canon. If that's the accent a Dalish can have, then it's canon that a Dalish can have that accent. They can also have the American one, if you so choose. The dwarf could have been raised by humans via adoption for all you know, it's still canon that a dwarf can have an English accent. Just because it's unusual and just because it's our own self made character doesn't somehow make their accent not actually real.

Well I actually gave my Dalish elf a Cornish name as a nod to her English accent, due to the fact that Wales and Ireland are Celtic countries and Cornwall is the Celtic area of England.

 

That said, while they clearly retconned away the "Elves have American accents" thing from the first game, they've equally clearly established now that Dalish have Welsh and Irish accents.

 

The voices that you can choose for one playable character are clearly down to budget restrictions not lore. When we see a Dalish NPC without a Welsh/Irish voice, then we can talk about "canon."

[andy6915]

Well I actually gave my Dalish elf a Cornish name as a nod to her English accent, due to the fact that Wales and Ireland are Celtic countries and Cornwall is the Celtic area of England.

 

That said, while they clearly retconned away the "Elves have American accents" thing from the first game, they've equally clearly established now that Dalish have Welsh and Irish accents.

 

The voices that you can choose for one playable character are clearly down to budget restrictions not lore. When we see a Dalish NPC without a Welsh/Irish voice, then we can talk about "canon."

 

Budget restriction choices aren't rendered not-canon by things outside the canon. Remember that hornless qunari were also because of development/budget restrictions, that didn't stop that from being canon. I'd find it far harder to believe that all Dalish have similar accents when they're so spread out and only connect on one day every 10 years, the more separate a people are the more disparate their accents are going to be. That's how accents work. It's ludicrous to think all city and Dalish elves share the same accent when they're often separated by vast distances and live in totally different regions from each other. Every clan is basically it's own little nation, completely separate from one another to the point where they don't even know for sure where other clans are except for chance passings on the road. If there was any people in Thedas that should have wildly different accents from each other, it's Dalish elves.

[synariel]

Speaking of the Dalish switch from American to Welsh/Irish, did anyone else notice that many of the City Elves in DA:O had Canadian accents? I was a bit excited when I noticed (Pacific NW American and western Canadian English are admittedly almost indistinguishable, so it probably was just me.)

[SharpWalkers]

I like the way they use accents, especially the Irish for the Dalish, just because I like the Irish accent. I wish my elf could've had an Irish accent; maybe that's something they could look into for the next DA --having those race specific accents. I mean they've already got american for the dwarves, I would like Irish for my elf, and whatever the f××× Iron Bull's accent was supposed to be for the Qunari. Though I guess that would be quite an investment --all those voice actors and actresses.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Budget restriction choices aren't rendered not-canon by things outside the canon. Remember that hornless qunari were also because of development/budget restrictions, that didn't stop that from being canon. I'd find it far harder to believe that all Dalish have similar accents when they're so spread out and only connect on one day every 10 years, the more separate a people are the more disparate their accents are going to be. That's how accents work. It's ludicrous to think all city and Dalish elves share the same accent when they're often separated by vast distances and live in totally different regions from each other. Every clan is basically it's own little nation, completely separate from one another to the point where they don't even know for sure where other clans are except for chance passings on the road. If there was any people in Thedas that should have wildly different accents from each other, it's Dalish elves.

So then, is the canonical accent for Clan Lavellan RP English or North American?

And at what point did I say say anything about city elves? I actually said earlier in the thread that it's expected that Briala would have an Orlesian accent.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Oh and as I also mentioned earlier in the thread, the fact that the Dalish have a mix of different Celtic accents is clearly already designed to reflect that Diaspora. The accents are related but different.

[andy6915]

edit

[andy6915]

So then, is the canonical accent for Clan Lavellan RP English or North American?

And at what point did I say say anything about city elves? I actually said earlier in the thread that it's expected that Briala would have an Orlesian accent.

 

I mentioned city elves, you didn't. My point is, city elves of cities from completely different nations should also have very different accents from each other, just like the Dalish do. I don't like how people act like there's one big universal "city elf accent" and "Dalish accent".

[Serelir]

This discussion about what the accents should be (canon or otherwise) in English makes me wonder if there's any consistency to the accents when the game is played in other languages. I'll have to ask my Spanish friend, though he's probably just playing it in English. I couldn't get him to give an opinion about Zevran's accent. He just shrugged in a Galician sort of way.

 

Also, does anyone have a video link to the Lancashire vowels? I have an American friend who lives there and is always posting odd news stories about Lancastrians.

[YourFunnyUncle]

This discussion about what the accents should be (canon or otherwise) in English makes me wonder if there's any consistency to the accents when the game is played in other languages. I'll have to ask my Spanish friend, though he's probably just playing it in English. I couldn't get him to give an opinion about Zevran's accent. He just shrugged in a Galician sort of way.

 

Also, does anyone have a video link to the Lancashire vowels? I have an American friend who lives there and is always posting odd news stories about Lancastrians.

I think it would interesting to see what they do with Spanish accents. They do exist but work in a different way to English, as the vowel sounds are pretty much constant across the Spanish-speaking world. What varies in my experience are how quickly they speak, pronunciation of the soft C/Z sound, the ll/Y sound and the nature and frequency of consonants (usually but not always S) getting dropped completely from words. Of course local slang words also very hugely although that's not really accents, as such.

 

If you want to hear an old-school working class Lancashire accent, you can't get much broader than Fred Dibnah, who was a minor celebrity on British TV because of his work as a steeplejack demolishing old industrial buildings, and his interest in our industrial heritage in general. He's from Bolton.

 

 

There are plenty of famous rock stars from Manchester. I could show you a clip of the Gallaghers from Oasis, but I'll go with Bernard Sumner of New Order of New Order, as that's more my style and he has a Mancunian accent.

 

 

Bolton is only about 10 miles from Manchester and you can still hear that there's a difference in their accents. Accents do vary a lot across the north.

[Phalaenopsis]

This discussion about what the accents should be (canon or otherwise) in English makes me wonder if there's any consistency to the accents when the game is played in other languages.

 

I'm French, but I play in English. I've tried the French voices for a little while just to see what they were like and I was utterly disappointed to hear they ALL had the usual French accent. Not even a little Spanish for Josephine. Nothing at all. Just basic French all over the place...

[YourFunnyUncle]

I'm French, but I play in English. I've tried the French voices for a little while just to see what they were like and I was utterly disappointed to hear they ALL had the usual French accent. Not even a little Spanish for Josephine. Nothing at all. Just basic French all over the place...

That's disappointing indeed. I don't think accents vary quite as much across France as across the UK, but they do clearly change, especially from north to south, and then you have Québécois, North African, Senegalese etc...