BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Tell us what part of the world you come from

Davina · July 27, 2012 5:24 pm

Good Will Hunting. What a beautiful film! Sigh.

So what about the Canadian accent(s) then eh? When we go to Canada people always think we sound really posh with our English accents.

ancientsgate · July 27, 2012 8:17 pm

Davina wrote:
Good Will Hunting. What a beautiful film! Sigh.

So what about the Canadian accent(s) then eh? When we go to Canada people always think we sound really posh with our English accents.

That "eh?" thing is Ontario. As is saying "hoose" for house. I love Canada, although the French-speaking part of it scares me, lololol.

veecee · July 27, 2012 11:26 pm

My first visit to London (ages ago) we stopped to ask for directions. The man kindly answered us, and we nodded. As we walked away, we all four looked at each other and said, What did he say?" It sounded like "Poh, poh, poh, poh, poh" to us. I do much better now after a lot of British TV and movies and a few more visits to London.

It is funny on British TV that we are so often portrayed as loud Texans. There are so many other regional accents here.

P.S. I'm American, in case you haven't figured out.

ancientsgate · July 28, 2012 12:29 am

veecee wrote:
My first visit to London (ages ago) we stopped to ask for directions. The man kindly answered us, and we nodded. As we walked away, we all four looked at each other and said, What did he say?" It sounded like "Poh, poh, poh, poh, poh" to us. I do much better now after a lot of British TV and movies and a few more visits to London.

It is funny on British TV that we are so often portrayed as loud Texans. There are so many other regional accents here.

P.S. I'm American, in case you haven't figured out.

Thanks for the giggle. poh poh poh poh! too funny. I wonder how much of what you said to him he understood? Everyone speaks their own language much too fast, and that can even be a problem for a native speaker who has a way different accent. Living in TX, if you could hear my weird combo of Down Maine and Boston, you'd laugh until you wet yourself, I'm sure. And we Yankees can be pretty darned blunt, too-- sort of like Sherlock! We don't do softness very well, on any level.

veecee · July 28, 2012 1:45 am

I'm not from Texas. I'm afraid I have a less-than-attractive Northern Cities accent -- nothing you'll ever hear on Sherlock!

So, do you say "ayup" for "yes"? Or is that just a stereotype for Maine?

And you're right, for all we know, the gent was saying, "I can't understand a word you say. It sounds like 'nya, nya, nya' to me."

ancientsgate · July 28, 2012 2:24 am

veecee wrote:
I'm not from Texas. I'm afraid I have a less-than-attractive Northern Cities accent -- nothing you'll ever hear on Sherlock! So, do you say "ayup" for "yes"? Or is that just a stereotype for Maine?

It's ayuh, not ayup. No P. Said more back in the throat as one sound, not two syllables, and believe me, that can be hard (hahd) to do if you don't come from here (hee-ah). We say it in jest, but the oldtimers (say the over 70 crowd?) who live downeast definitely use it in all seriousness. Kind of a stereotype, but like most stereotypes, rooted in some reality, especially back in the day. Ayuh.

veecee · July 28, 2012 5:11 am

Thanks. I'll give it a try next time I'm up there.

Sherlockita · July 29, 2012 7:34 am

Today I watched 'A scandal in Bohemia' (Jeremy Brett). and I was able to easily understand what Sherlock Holmes and other characters were saying without subtitles. But why can't I ever understand Benedict Cumberbatch in one go? Does he have a different kind of english dialect? Or, is it just coz he speaks very fast? Do native British English speakers fully understand what all they say in BBC's Sherlock without any subtitles or re-watch? Just wondering...

Davina · July 29, 2012 8:04 am

I can understand everything. The problem with Benedict's speech in this series is that as Sherlock he speaks extremely fast a lot of the time. I think this is where your problems lie. His accent is received pronunciation.

Mattlocked · July 29, 2012 8:24 am

I usually need subtitles the first time watching a movie in English. (English ones, German texts only cunfuse me. )
Meanwhile it's okay for me to understand, also Ben. (Not when he's starting this "solving thing" - too fast for me. )
I don't understand everything in interviews with him.
I have more problems with actors from the US. Or if they have e.g. an Irish accent.
And I had problems understanding "Wreckers", they are whispering a lot, or shouting.
Cabin Pressure is most easy for me, I still think the reason is that it's a radio show, so everybody speaks up a bit.
Though I hate the dubbed version of Sherlock here meanwhile, I kind of enjoyed watching it on German TV on friday night - it was so relaxing.

Last edited by Mattlocked (July 29, 2012 8:25 am)

tobeornot221b · July 29, 2012 8:48 am

Mattlocked wrote:
Though I hate the dubbed version of Sherlock here meanwhile, I kind of enjoyed watching it on German TV on friday night - it was so relaxing.

It wasn't friday night, it was saturday morning, you crazy girl!
Went to bed at 3 a.m. (like me ), didn't you?

Mattlocked · July 29, 2012 9:21 am

Come on, I already changed it from saturday to friday night. To me it was night, so friday night.

btw: good morning! (11.22 am )

Last edited by Mattlocked (July 29, 2012 9:23 am)

AreYouTryingToDeduceMe · July 29, 2012 12:06 pm

...I'm just going to cut in and say I'm from Australia :D And no, we don't ride kangaroos to work/school/banjo lessons. Emus are all the rage at the moment, plus they can go backwards~

Sherlockita · July 29, 2012 1:57 pm

Davina wrote:
I can understand everything. The problem with Benedict's speech in this series is that as Sherlock he speaks extremely fast a lot of the time. I think this is where your problems lie. His accent is received pronunciation.

Yeah Davina..It's all about the pace, i guess coz I watched Benedict's interviews and also a video where he was narrating a fairy tale.. and found that his English accent is absolutely fine .. i mean, just the way english is meant to be spoken probably...

ancientsgate · July 29, 2012 6:03 pm

monitaa wrote:
Today I watched 'A scandal in Bohemia' (Jeremy Brett). and I was able to easily understand what Sherlock Holmes and other characters were saying without subtitles. But why can't I ever understand Benedict Cumberbatch in one go? Does he have a different kind of english dialect? Or, is it just coz he speaks very fast? Do native British English speakers fully understand what all they say in BBC's Sherlock without any subtitles or re-watch? Just wondering...

Ben is under a lot of pressure to say a whole lot of words as fast as possible. It's a real challenge for him-- I've seen him say in interviews that he actually has to speak faster than he can think. The monologue by the fire in Hound, for instance, where he was under the influence of that drug and started showing off to John about the people across the room? That one bit went on for five pages in the script. Five pages of machine-gun-fire speaking. It's not easy to do that, do it correctly, or pronounce all the words well enough to be understood. I think Ben is a wonder.

When I first starting watching, I had TRF recorded on my DVR in my living-room. I have a huge flat-screen TV with digital picture, which is faboo, but my speakers are old, small and probably nowhere near state-of-the-art. I realized I was missing about half the dialogue, so I waited until no one but me was home, and then I put it on and CRANKED the sound, making it loud enough to wake the dead. Doing that, and watching that episode about 3 times that way, I got about (I'd say) 95% of the words. But it wasn't until I bought the DVDs and put the subtitles on that I got every nuance. I was born at night but it wasn't last night, so I'm certainly pretty familiar with British English, but between my crap speakers, my own slight hearing loss, and the kind of monologues and dialogues the actors are required to deliver, sometimes speaking over each other, Sherlock the show is a challenge to get every word, even for native speakers.

Sherlockita · July 30, 2012 8:26 am

@Ancientsgate..
Oh u did some real hard-work to watch Sherlock.. great to know that !!!!
Now I think I was blessed coz I was gifted the videos along with sub-titles by my ex-boss.. hehehe lucky me
I agree, Benedict has to say so much in so very little time and that is what makes it difficult for me (who's not a native speaker) to understand the nuances. Anyways, never mind.. now as I m watching the episodes again n again, i m getting familiar to the actors' accents...

221B Baker Street · July 30, 2012 9:15 am

Davina wrote:
I can understand everything. The problem with Benedict's speech in this series is that as Sherlock he speaks extremely fast a lot of the time. I think this is where your problems lie. His accent is received pronunciation.

Interesting. Does Ben have received pronunciation in real life? Or it is just for the Sherlock series?
And one more question, is RP still highly appreciated in Britain as it was before?

Davina · July 30, 2012 9:48 am

In real life yes although I can hear that he has modified it somewhat from how he would have spoken at Harrow. It is not as highly prized (if that is the correct phrase) as it once was. To be an announcer or presenter on radio of television, having a regional accent is no longer a hindrance.. It can be a hindrance to speak too poshly 'with a plum in your mouth', 'a plummy accent' etc. that way lies being labelled as a 'Hurrah Henry' or a 'Sloan Ranger'. Equally however it is also socially hindering to speak in an accent, or so poorly, that other people cannot understand you.

221B Baker Street · July 30, 2012 11:17 am

Davina wrote:
In real life yes although I can hear that he has modified it somewhat from how he would have spoken at Harrow. It is not as highly prized (if that is the correct phrase) as it once was. To be an announcer or presenter on radio of television, having a regional accent is no longer a hindrance.. It can be a hindrance to speak too poshly 'with a plum in your mouth', 'a plummy accent' etc. that way lies being labelled as a 'Hurrah Henry' or a 'Sloan Ranger'. Equally however it is also socially hindering to speak in an accent, or so poorly, that other people cannot understand you.

I see. It always strikes me when people speak about the accents within a country, as I never notice any accent among Russians, though the country is huge. I am very inattentive or there is none I wonder ))).

221B Baker Street · July 30, 2012 11:23 am

Mattlocked wrote:
And I had problems understanding "Wreckers", they are whispering a lot, or shouting.

The same is with me. But if I say I had problems in understanding "Wreckers" it would be lies as I had GREAT problems while watching it . In fact I caught only 10% of the characters' dialogues.