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[YourFunnyUncle]

I remember watching the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's Bleak House about ten years ago and being really surprised by how good Gillian Anderson's RP accent was. I didn't learn about her history until later. To me she was just Scully from the X-Files...

At that time I didn't realise that Bastila from KotOR wasn't voiced by a Brit. Jennifer Hale is very good at her job.

[Serelir]

And here a video of Carlos Leal, he was born in Spain, grew up in Lausanne (Canton Vaud) and lives now in Los Angeles. (he had a role in Casino Royale) You can hear his french accent when he speaks Swiss German and English, but it's there.

That's funny! I can understand his German just fine, but the announcer is more difficult for me.  

[Neuro]

Reviving this thread (if anyone is interested)!

 

Just finished my first playthrough of DA II (playing them all from the start and then re-playing Inquisition-- which was my first Bioware game), and I loved the accents/ had a couple thoughts about accents throughout DA II.

 

- What accent does Fenris have?  I would say a slight Mancunian/Manchester? Interested to hear what others think.  

 

- I was so excited to discover that Terath, in the Dalish camp, has pretty much a dead-on Belfast/County Down accent.  This delighted me.  Loved it.  I could listen to him say "watch your step shem, you don't know how many Dalish arrows are trained on your right now," ALL DAY.  

 

- The bartender at the Hanged Man, Corff, Yorkshire accent?  Can't quite get enough dialogue out of him to figure it out.  The Templar/City Guard with whom you speak after the "Raiders on the Coast" quest, though, he def has a strong Yorkshire accent from what I recall.

 

- Obvs we've got Sebastian, too, with a Northern/Scottish accent, though I don't know my Scottish accents well enough to name a location.  

 

Cheers! Loved how varied and strong the accents were in the game.

[nightscrawl]

There should be some Dalish with Scottish (and maybe Cornish) accents, too...

Interesting that you should mention the Cornish. I was trying to come up with a family name that would be of a similar type to Trevelyan and discovered that it is Cornish. From there I was able to find a nice selection of Cornish surnames to choose from for the character I was creating.
 
 

Did you notice that the hunters in Hissing Wastes have Scottish accents? I was wondering about that.

I adore Hunter Mag's accent.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Interesting that you should mention the Cornish. I was trying to come up with a family name that would be of a similar type to Trevelyan and discovered that it is Cornish. From there I was able to find a nice selection of Cornish surnames to choose from for the character I was creating.

 

I did find it amusing that they gave the human noble a Cornish name, when Cornwall is the only Celtic part of England, so it would've fit better with the the Dalish. Ho-hum.

[BansheeOwnage]

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.)

Can't say I noticed that, since like you said, most American and Canadian accents are almost indistinguishable. Even to me, and I'm Canadian! Though I can detect the slightest trace of Canadian in Mark Meer's accent, but not so much Hale's.

 

I adore Hunter Mag's accent.

Didn't she say she was from Starkhaven? Everyone from Starkhaven has a Scottish accent, though I'm not sure if everyone with a Scottish accent is from Starkhaven. Sebastian, Belinda, Knight-Captain Rylen, Professor Kenric...

[Forsythia77]

Some of those hunters in the Wastes sound American too, even though they are not Dwarves.  Go figure.  What drives me nuts is that people like Varric who grew up in the Free Marches have no accent to reflect that.  He can tell someone is from the Marches because he is from the Marches but you'd never know that.  He just sounds like he grew up in Orzammar with all the rest of the Dwarves. 

 

As for accents, I tend to pick them up.  And I'm not doing it in a mocking way, but if I talk to a southerner long enough I find myself picking up the accent. I lived in Boston for two years and I do a pretty good approximation of the accent.  I can do my cousins in Philly pretty well.  My dad is the same way.  He can fake an accent really well.  My "accent" is blatantly Chicago/ NW Indiana.  In terms of US accents it is pretty mild though unless you are listening to me say certain words.  I do phone work and one of the reasons I'm good at it is that I've got one of those generic "newscaster" accents.  I could be from anywhere.  Or nowhere.. ooo..

 

 

Can't say I noticed that, since like you said, most American and Canadian accents are almost indistinguishable. Even to me, and I'm Canadian! Though I can detect the slightest trace of Canadian in Mark Meer's accent, but not so much Hale's.

 

Didn't she say she was from Starkhaven? Everyone from Starkhaven has a Scottish accent, though I'm not sure if everyone with a Scottish accent is from Starkhaven. Sebastian, Belinda, Knight-Captain Rylen, Professor Kenric...

 

I can tell the Toronto accent pretty well.  There is a lot of the "aboot soory, eh" in Toronto that you don't hear in the PNW or other places like Windsor (those folks and Detroiters all sound the same to me though.  That accent crosses the border and is just unique to that area, IMHO). 

[Ashagar]

I suppose if they want to really mess with people they could have given some of the Olraisians Missouri french accent given its a almost dead accent unlike lets say new England or the several Louisianan french accents or they could have give some of the Fereldens  a Chesapeake Bay Islands accent since it would be basically a almost pure 17th century suffolk English accent.

[Bad King]

- Dalish (as has been discussed at length in other threads) *mostly* seem to have variations on Irish accents, though occasionally some sound somewhat Welsh, too.  I found Briala's accent to be particularly interesting-- there were certain lines she delivered where she sounded specifically Northern Irish (see her greeting to the Inquisitor in the Servants Quarters when you're chasing the Harlequin).  

 

The Dalish appear to have almost overwhelmingly Irish accents in this game, though both Solas and Abelas have Welsh accents - maybe they're moving towards ancient = Welsh and Dalish = Irish?

 

I did find it amusing that they gave the human noble a Cornish name, when Cornwall is the only Celtic part of England, so it would've fit better with the the Dalish. Ho-hum.

 

Not too surprising seeing as Ferelden culture is in large part an amalgamation of both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon influences.

[Ashagar]

Its funny Ferelden has welsh titles like Teryn, a Croatian title, Ban and finally Arl which is a clear take off from the Anglo-saxon and north Germanic title Earl.

[Andraste_Reborn]

- What accent does Fenris have?  I would say a slight Mancunian/Manchester? Interested to hear what others think.  

 

Gideon Emery grew up in South Africa, and I can hear a bit of that in his Fenris voice. (Samson sounds pure London to me, though.)

[nightscrawl]

Some of those hunters in the Wastes sound American too, even though they are not Dwarves.  Go figure.  What drives me nuts is that people like Varric who grew up in the Free Marches have no accent to reflect that.  He can tell someone is from the Marches because he is from the Marches but you'd never know that.  He just sounds like he grew up in Orzammar with all the rest of the Dwarves.

 
One's accent also depends on their household growing up. Being from Miami, I've known several second generation Cuban Americans who grew up in houses where Spanish was the primary language, who then went to school where English is primarily spoken, are completely fluent in both languages, and have an unique accent based on that.

[Evamitchelle]

The Dalish appear to have almost overwhelmingly Irish accents in this game, though both Solas and Abelas have Welsh accents - maybe they're moving towards ancient = Welsh and Dalish = Irish.

Merrill also had a Welsh accent, so it might just be a case of different clans having different accents. But Merrill was only 4 when she was given to Sabrae, which seems a bit young for her to have held on to her original clan's accent. Or maybe it doesn't have an in-game reason, Gaider said he asked for Eve Myles specifically.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Not too surprising seeing as Ferelden culture is in large part an amalgamation of both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon influences.

Well I suppose you don't get a much more Welsh-sounding name for a castle than "Caer Oswin"...

[Forsythia77]

 
One's accent also depends on their household growing up. Being from Miami, I've known several second generation Cuban Americans who grew up in houses where Spanish was the primary language, who then went to school where English is primarily spoken, are completely fluent in both languages, and have an unique accent based on that.

 

Yes, but Varric's accent isn't unique in terms of that.  It's just straight up Orzammar dwarf.  Lots of people here in Chicago are the same way with Native Spanish speakers from Mexico and full on Chicagoeze (I have a friend who sounds both like he's from Des Plaines and Mexico and can go back and forth with perfect accent in such a fluid way).

[vertigomez]

Y'all might appreciate the International Dialects of English Archive. Fascinating stuff.

[nightscrawl]

Y'all might appreciate the International Dialects of English Archive. Fascinating stuff.

Oh wow, this is great. They have a lot of detail on the person whose accent they are using for the sample, which is super interesting.

The only (very minor) problem I have is that the person is reading from a script, rather than speaking naturally. You still get the quirks of the accent -- "gowd" for "gold," and so on -- but it can come across as unnatural or halting.

 

[edit]

I take it back. After the script they do have an unscripted bit where the person is just talking. Quite interesting.

[Gervaise]

I found it amusing that the city elf Inquisition servant who identifies the elven Qun agent talks in a very strong Welsh accent and then is later revealed to be Solas' agent in the Inquisition, so I think I am going to be suspicious of any elves in the future with Welsh accents.     The odd thing about the Qun agent though is that they talk with an Orlesian accent, as would be appropriate for a palace servant, but then Leliana says that background checks show the suspect servants came from Kirkwall and were working for the Inquisition, or may be that was just the ones who sneaked the Gaatlok onto our requisition order.

 

Merrill's original clan was from Nevarra, so that could account for the difference in her accent, although she did leave them at quite a young age.   So leaving Merrill aside, it does seem as though Dalish = Irish and Ancient = Welsh, although the bald head does rather give the latter away as well.    I think city elves would tend to have a similar accent to the area they grew up in; hence Sera having an English dialect (identified as Derbyshire) as she grew up in Ferelden.

 

I don't think there is a problem with having a Cornish name for a Freemarches noble.    Historically Cornwall is part of the Celtic fringe but then so are the western isles of Scotland, Brittany in France and Galicia in Spain.

[Bad King]

Merrill also had a Welsh accent, so it might just be a case of different clans having different accents. But Merrill was only 4 when she was given to Sabrae, which seems a bit young for her to have held on to her original clan's accent. Or maybe it doesn't have an in-game reason, Gaider said he asked for Eve Myles specifically.

 

Yeah, though Merrill was also the elf most interested in the elven past and reclaiming ancient elven glory, so could be a link there. In DA2, a couple of the human NPCs also had Welsh accents such as Emeric (the Templar investigator).

[vertigomez]

Oh wow, this is great. They have a lot of detail on the person whose accent they are using for the sample, which is super interesting.
The only (very minor) problem I have is that the person is reading from a script, rather than speaking naturally. You still get the quirks of the accent -- "gowd" for "gold," and so on -- but it can come across as unnatural or halting.
 
[edit]
I take it back. After the script they do have an unscripted bit where the person is just talking. Quite interesting.

It's a great resource! Also, ridiculously fun to listen to.

I remember DA dwarves were originally supposed to have German accents before they wound up with American ones, so I hope if we ever get to see Kal-Sharok we'll have some German-accented dwarves. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

[Gwydden]

I did find it amusing that they gave the human noble a Cornish name, when Cornwall is the only Celtic part of England, so it would've fit better with the the Dalish. Ho-hum.

I think Trevelyan is also a Cornish name. Ferelden is partly of Celtic inspiration, and is pretty clear that Ostwick is at least somewhat Fereldan in terms of culture. I think they're saving Cornish elements for Ferelden, Scottish for some parts of the Free Marches, and Welsh and Irish for elves.

 

While I like how they try to give each ethnicity their particular accent I just wish they were more consistent and made more sense. City elves should have the same accent as humans from their same nation, and while this is sometimes the case (Zevran, for example) it is very weird how many city elves had American accents in DAO or Welsh/Irish accents in later games.

 

Another thing I just don't get is why Vints and Rivaini have British accents just like Fereldans and Marchers even though they live in the opposite side of the continent and have no common ethnic background that I can think of. I suppose the accent could originate in Tevinter and it spread from there but still... I'd prefer it if Rivaini shared an accent with Antivans and if Vints got their own, like say Greek or something.

[vertigomez]

^I figured city elves often having American/Irish/Welsh accents was supposed to reflect a sort of Thedas version of AAVE versus AE. But you'd think it'd be more effective to give them Sera's working class accent, if they wanted to differentiate alienage elves from the humans... it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Upperclass 'Vints speaking RP English makes sense if you figure they probably had books and tutors and all that. Not sure about Fenris. What's REALLY confusing is why Isabela sounds so... fancy. She's a pirate!

I wonder if Qunari have American accents because they're finicky about speaking "right", and the dwarves are responsible for the Common tongue, so they're trying to mimic them.

[nightscrawl]

I think Trevelyan is also a Cornish name.

The post you quoted was in response to one of mine where I stated that I discovered that it was indeed Cornish after having looked it up as part of a search for other family names that would be appropriate for the region.
 

... it is very weird how many city elves had American accents in DAO or Welsh/Irish accents in later games.

Well they didn't start with the Irish/Welsh thing until DA2. In DAO all elves had American accents, the city as well as the Dalish. And the dwarves of course. But this was the first game and they were still pinning some cultural things down, I think.
 

Another thing I just don't get is why Vints and Rivaini have British accents just like Fereldans and Marchers even though they live in the opposite side of the continent and have no common ethnic background that I can think of. I suppose the accent could originate in Tevinter and it spread from there but still... I'd prefer it if Rivaini shared an accent with Antivans and if Vints got their own, like say Greek or something.

You do raise an interesting point about the Tevinter accent, and to respond I will post what David Gaider said about Ramon Tikaram's choice of accent for Dorian in DAI:
 

We initially had him using more of an East Indian accent, but in the end decided to let him go ahead and use his natural voice — it sounded good, and had a quality all of its own that lended to Dorian's "otherness", which I liked.

I believe the actor for Halward, Dorian's father, IS using such an East Indian British accent. That, and their appearance, leads me to believe that Eastern Tevinter, where Dorian is from, has some more of those elements, whereas Western Tevinter has more of the Alexius/Erimond type and seems a bit more Mediterranean in ethnicity.

 

So in the end, the choice was made to change Dorian's accent to something they felt more fitting for his character rather than something that might be more regionally appropriate. Even if it seems rather off, I actually prefer this method with the strong focus on characters that the series has.