The one in which every character is illegible
Woops I coloured Alucard’s eyes wrong last time and forgot to write his accent in. I guess that’s what happens when I make all these things at 3AM.
Anyway yeah, Mirror of fate had a pretty spectacular cast including one Robb Stark as Alucard and Mister Robert Carlyle himself Dracula. And also some other Scottish dude I’ve never heard of as Simon. But it really made me reflect on how we just kind of accept that kind of Queen’s English proper London accent as the all purpose “translated into English” accent if you watch a movie set in a place where the characters would not have any reason to be speaking English, but if they’re speaking any other accent it’s like “hey wait a minute…” Like imagine they all had super thick Texas accents or Brooklyn accents or North Dakota accents or soemthing. When you think about it, really is makes about as much sense for a Wallachian to have as a London one or a Scottish one, even though if that actually happened it would seem even more absurd.
I had a conversation with a friend about this once and she blamed Shakespeare
My dad did used to tell me I had to learn a new thing every day, though.
So much love for the last panel. It reminds me of hanging out with my dad.
Last time i’m hanging out with my dad is when we watched Transformers -Dark of The Moon-. He enjoyed that movie too much he bought the bluray later on, months later.
Ah, that explains.
Junebug is the CUTEST!
Is that her real name, or just a pet name her father has for her?
Her name is June, if i remember right, so Junebug is a pet name
An unforturnate pet name! I hate junebugs.
Indeed! :D
And she just keeps getting more adorable.
He dinna tahk funnah!
I’m not sure why, but the use of accents in today’s comic keeps reminding me of the Scotsman in some of the Samurai Jack cartoon (episodes 11, 17, 45 & 46)…
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/anime/samurai-jack
Do I love the Commander’s kids? Yes. Yes, I do love the Commander’s kids.
(And to be honest, I’m really bad at remembering names. Or remembering where I did hear them before. :|)
Her name is Junebug. All other names are merely nicknames.
Her name is June short for Juniper, Junebug is what her dad calls her.
& what’s her little brother’s name? ^^;;
Sam
Ah, thanx ^_^ I thought his name is Jack or Jake.
I stand by my previous statement.
I think it’s because we revere an English Accent as high class and proper.
We would likewise find it unacceptable if they spoke with a cockney accent, and that’s British.
You’d think so and then they keep casting Michael Caine as high society butlers and socialites. I had an English friend who always took issue with the sorts of roles he would get cast in talking like that.
But yeah, it’s totally because they figure it sounds more proper/menacing/whatever, no question about that. It’s just one of those things that seems kinda silly when you think about it.
I think Michael Caine gets the roles because of the gravity he can put in each performance that people just believe past the accent. Look at the chick that plays Daphne in Frasier, same regional accent but you could never picture her as high society whereas he can just do it.
Then again who am I to talk, I’m a fan of a Scotsman who plays a Russian but sounds like a Scotsman and also plays a Spaniard with a Scottish accent. And then to make it worse, a Frenchman as a Scot. Tis weird.
I was surprised to find the Daphne actor is English, because that’s easily on of the worst accents I’ve ever heard. It puts Russel Crows accent to shame, and that took a tour around the Isles.
I knew she was Brittish because I saw her in her underwear in Benny Hill. Then again, all the women in that show wound up being in just their underwear at one point or twenty.
that is how mancunians speak,
however it does appear that the actress is not from manchester
and it is so long since i watched frasier that it may have been inconsistent.
And back when Sean Connery was still working, we just didn’t give a fuck that he was playing a Russian submarine captain with a Sco’ish acksent.
Do you mean the actress’ own accent or the one for her character in Frasier, because while you could sort of argue that an Essex accent and Cockney are the same region, Mancunian and Cockney are most definitely not and are quite distinct, at least to a native. Both do sound horrible though.
michael caine and the actress that plays daphne have in no way the same regional accent,
they are from different cities at different ends of england.
Well, it doesn’t really seem that silly in Les Mis when they translate gutter french into Cockney. :)
There is a difference? O_o
Gah, I’m trying to find gutter french in youtube, but i keep getting french pluming videos T-T.
Wouldn’t that be more of a ‘french crack’ than ‘gutter french’? O_o
It’s sort of like the difference between Monty Python & Benny Hill: Monty Python is a more “sophisticated” style of humor, compared to Benny Hill’s “schoolboy” adolescent humor.
Well, when we, non-English speakers are learning English, the London-British accent is considered the most proper one. It is kind of a model and everything derives from it. So I understand the confusion.
But then again, I can’t recognize most accents for shit, they all sound too similar for me.
Crazy enough, the English used to talk like Americans did, a few hundred years ago. No one is really sure why they changed it though. Probably something to do with the introduction of the other countries they took over.
Other way around: Americans (as much as they lke to deny it) originated as British Colonists (with a few French and Spanish)
Oh and english now is a mix of older english and old norwegian language:)
Yes, but the language diverged less for the colonists.
the words diverged less for the colonists
but there are no recordings of accents.
reported speech in literature would suggest that accents were very divergent and localised until the age of rail democratised travel.
It depends.
American English may have diverged less than most of the English dialects, but the dialects of Newcastle, Sunderland and Northumberland (and Cumbria to a lesser extent) seem to be closer to Middle-English than other English dialects including American ones.
Actually, we don’t know what accents really sounded like all the way back then, but the English are responsible for today’s ‘Sourthern’ accent.
A lot of the things we associate with speech from Alabama and Georgia got brought over by the English Cavaliers.
How widespread that accent was at the time is anyone’s guess.
I knew she was Brittish because I saw her in her underwear in Benny Hill. Then again, all the women in that show wound up being in just their underwear at one point or twenty.
Sorry, wrong place for this post, my error.
As I understand it, the modern “Upper-class English” accent is derived from German, because that was Queen Victoria’s first language. If you’re a courtier in 1840, are you going to tell the queen she’s speaking wrong? No, you’re going to speak it like she does!
The Commanders kids are the only fictional children I like. They never come off annoying, and always make me chuckle.
A speech class I took a few years back had us watching a video containing some discussion of American English accents and how they appear to be “evaporating” due to a redistribution of populations all over the country and elsewhere, and the desire to “fit in”. I didn’t think of it at the time but that estimation was probably right – particularly because certain manners of speech are somewhat viewed as more intelligent, and so, many feel the desire to impress the people they work with (e.g., their boss) or want to work with (by, say, sounding like other people they work with).
I’m not an expert on the subject, but I think I’d chalk the absurdity factor up to the execution of the performance in which an accent is used, multiplied by our familiarity with the act’s predecessors, and maybe the atmospheric “seriousness” of the performance. A compelling actor can generally deliver accents nearer to their own with more gusto and more charisma than a less-prolific one could, or so the thinking goes. But charisma on stage is a lot like the “intelligent speech habits” thing – it’s a thing we attribute to familiarity. The tone of a voice, the pronunciation, and so on are just components of the performance, and I think we mentally label all that stuff the same way when we’re impressed by a performance – which leads to us continually comparing it to whatever follows it.
I dunno, just some thoughts on that.
I read a series once where a character had this accent. I could understand most of it without a problem, but it took me two books and an afternoon cross-examining uses to figure out what “kin” meant…
Pardon me, it was “ken” that they kept using, not kin.
Ach, how kin ya not ken how to ken? A man cannae ken a thing without having kenned how to ken it fairst, ya ken?
Terry Pratchett fan I presume?
Ya ken rightly. An joost be t’ankful the waird he wus kenning nae started wit a “c”.
German prepared me for “ken” well.
we haven’t seen canada guy in forever, i miss him
Much love for the Junebug in the last panel.
I’m terrible at spoken English but was told that using Plattdeutsch after some beers is as good as Cockney. :D
“British one or a Scottish one”
You meant to type “English”, methinks. A Scottish accent IS a British accent as much as Welsh, English, Manx, etc. are.
You’re right, I did mean that.
Have to say that being interested in how dubbing is made from early age I had to realize (once my English was advanced) how much of this accent thing gets lost in translation.
The only foreign accents that tend to be kept in Polish dubs for cartoons and games seem to be French and Russian. And even through we have a few regional dialects, we rarely try to assign them to English ones, probably cause there aren’t as many.
It’s always interesting to see what accents they assign people in dubs. In the Azumanga Daioh anime, Osaka (who’s from Osaka, surprise!) speaks with a super-southern American accent in the English dub. She has a Kansai accent in the Japanese, but damned if I can distinguish between that and the Tokyo (standard) dialect (besides using different words for certain things). I always did wonder if people learning English had similar problems differentiating accents from one another…
it… took me a minute or two to decypher what they were saying ^^; and even now, I’m not 100% sure.
the book trainspotting is set in my home town
but it took me time to get used to reading it because the accent is phonetically written.
few people are used to seeing accents written down because people tend to write in standard english no matter how they talk.
the film of trainspotting provided no problem at all, as i am used to hearing accented speech.
It’s kind of like how most anime is dubbed with North American accents (specifying the whole continent since so much dubbing happens in Vancouver), even though in many circumstances it makes more sense for them NOT to have a NA accent (historical setting, location, etc). It’s so prevalent that not even the anime *set in Victorian England* has the characters speaking with British accents. North American cartoons in general are like that, though… only bad guys and ‘orrible street urchins get to have British accents, I guess?
Again, weird when you think about it.
Aye but theres a fair bit o difference tween Scottish English an natterin awa in the Mither Tung.
Is it bad that I can read that without blinking?
Nope. I can too. They all sound like Craig Fergusson in my head though.
Also, the dude who played Simon was the archer dude from Dragon Age II. Sebastian.
Lots of planets have a North.
I was waiting for this comment to pop up! Woot!
On a loosely related note, I really liked how the movie Outlander displayed the exact linguistic distance between the modern presumable english of the main character and the old norse that the locals spoke. Since most of the movie the characters would be speaking “old norse” they simply swapped the languages. So the main character speaks old norse to his computer and then gets modern english implanted into his brain.
I ken what you did there.
Reminds me of reading Edwardian translations of ancient Greek texts, and the Athenians speak nice proper English, and the Spartans speak an incomprehensible Scottish brogue to better reflect their rougher, tougher, rustic nature, I guess. All I know is that it’s really annoying.
When I was a kid I used to find it amusing how for the longest time in British broadcasting most Americans were portrayed with a Texan accent.
Not sure if Gabriel is Romanian or raised Romanian as wasn’t both him and Trevor raised by the order of light? And it’s never clearly stated where it was based.
Heh, reminds me of how people complained about the various American accents in “Last Temptation of Christ”. Maybe it was the whole “upper class London is the universal accent” thing you noted, or maybe it’s just a byproduct of the King James Bible sticking around for so long*. Dunno, don’t care: silly and arbitrary either way. Does anyone even know what English with an Aramaic accent would sound like anyway?
*I remember reading somewhere a historical linguist analysis of shakespear that suggested that for that period and location, the correct accent would actually sound more like one of the modern lower-class northern ones, rather than the “proper” upper-class one that’s usually associated with it. In light of that (if true) it’s fun to think how much further off the accurate accent in which to read the King James bible might actually be.
In Dracula’s case though, he actually is supposed to be speaking English with an archaic Romanian accent within the story, so Scottish or British is a bit more straight-up, non-arbitrarilty wrong. According to Wikipedia, Van Helsing is supposed to have a German accent.
Edit: But then again, most of these Dracula-inspired things like Castlevania basically just borrow the names in order to tack a little brand recognition value onto otherwise completely unrelated/original characters anyway, so nitpicking the accents feels a bit missing the point.
No making fun of a world where every Romanian is Scottish
No fun allowed.
As a (second-gen) Romanian, this entire conversation amuses me endlessly.
Also, I’m so glad you finally got around to including Gabriel in the comic.
His wife may not be too happy with him.. but I have to say..
He is a WONDERFULL dad
I’d just like to say not all us Scottish people talk quite like that. I do have to say that is probably one of the best ways I’ve seen someone write it out more or less phonetically though. And as usual the comic had me in stitches.
I watched interviews with Robert Carlyle and Richard Madden to make sure I was basing it on whatever specific breed of Scottish accent they each have instead of just some stereotypical Scottish-dude-voice.
Probably more research than a four panel throwaway joke was worth, but I’m glad it was worth it!
I have a weird accent myself. Probably one of those indecipherable accents unless you’re paying attention. Been accused of sounding Scottish, American Southern, German, and even Peruvian. (That one I don’t get.)
I understand their pain.
Hey! As a North Dakotan, I’ll have you know that we speak, well, a lot like Canadian guy, actually, doncha be knowing de hey.
North Dakotans and Manitobans both have the same bastardized Nordic accent from all those viking farmers who settled in the Prairies, I assume.
I’m lucky if I can even distinguish an American from a Scottish accent, but I do appreciate extra effort like this.
Woot they mentioned us on the internets. I’m a bastardized Manitoba Viking. It is funny though I never thought of myself as having an accent until a couple of year ago, when a friend of mine from Ottawa was laughing at how I pronounce certain words.
Now that is a lesson to live by. But don’t forget laughter.
For me, I can never understand the difference between a British, Australian, or New Zealand accent. Call me “culturally dim-witted” if you will, and I would honestly love to learn the difference between the three, but I can’t.
Oh goodness, Junebug’s eyes in the first panel. Too cute.
You want to see a good fight? Accuse an Ozzie of speaking Kiwi (and vice versa)
One good way to tell the difference is the pronounciation of the number ‘6’: Aussies tend to say ‘sex’, Kiwis say ‘sux’ (Another is ‘fish & chips’: Oz = ‘feesh & cheeps’, kiwi = ‘fush & chups’
Ah, I’ll try to remember that (The pronunciation, that is, not the fight). Thanks.
http://www.dialectsarchive.com/
here is a british dude being interviewed on australian television
provides a good, side by side comparison.
however, since all involved are professional public speaking types
their accents are very controlled and restrained:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Kl1mdscVQ
Now I can tell the difference. Thank goodness for coincidental interviews.
OK, so… two in a row, fantastic! now you have to make a Simon one and I’ll print them to decorate the wall behind my desk at work!
OH, and this guy here is Simon http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0627995/
Now that’s always a good lesson for anyone to teach their kids, but I feel it’s even more significant when your dad can time travel. Sometimes y’gotta fig’gr things out fer yerself and do things th’ hard way.
i remember a time when i cooed to my two-year old looking at prism rainbows: “ooohhh…sweetie do you think those are rocket rainbows?” and she promptly informed me, “no mom, they come from the prism”. guess i learned something!
June is wise beyond her years.
and that’s the price of having a science teacher for a dad!
Years ago I saw Andy Warhol’s “Frankenstein” – in 3D first release, no less. The number of cut-with-a-knife New York accents made it just hilarious.
Can we see Raziel from Soul Reaver?
Oh my goodness gracious that would make my day.
Though awesome, I think his light frame may toss him into the “Non-Manly” category. But Kain makes a few appearances, so he may pop up if there is a funny joke concerning the two.
Speaking of voices, I can’t stop hearing Commander as Brock Samson.
Speaking of which, you should put Brock Samson in one of these comics one day.
It’s funny because I’m pretty sure I address both of these points in the FAQ
That last panel just sold this comic for me.
I still dn’t get why Alucard gets to look way more inhuman and intimidating than Dracula himself. I mean, the events of LoS and all, but still…!
I kept accidentally trying to hit Alucard in the big three-way fight with Simon and Dracula because he just looked more like a bad guy and they all have basically the same figure.
Gotta love Robert Carlyle, I’d play that game just to listen to him!
….Just had a thought…
Both have a gap in their upper teeth, yet both have perfect bite arches in their sandwiches…
Parenting done right!
Hmmm…I wonder. Have you ever considered letting Alucard from Hellsing cameo? He does some pretty badass shit. Also, mind=blown when I found out Alucard was Dracula backwards
They’re all so… reasonable…
Well, Received Pronunciation is kind of treated as the ‘default’ English; even if it does sound a bit posh, pretty much everyone can understand it. As Penelope Keith put it, elocution is simply how to speak and be clearly understood.
Is it my imagination or are you drawing Juniper older since, saaayyyy…the muffins comic?
I’m a bit late but it might be worth mentioning that there’s an entire dialect named on this principle; the “Doric dialect” in Scotland is named after the “Greek Doric” despite having no relation to eachother, since in the eyes of the British at the time, the two were basically similarly rough and backwater to the “proper” way to speaking.
Here in Germany, there’s a town called Dillenburg. They have a *very* weird accent. They seem to add “r” to places in words that shouldn’t have an “r” at all. Also, they roll the r (which is also common in some other areas, but not in that way) in such a way, that it all ends up sounding like a cliche American English accent. The problem is none of them are from the US. They are all German.
So the Commander is raising his daughter like Arya: learn three new things every day. Also Braavosi.
…You know I liked it better when Alucard was just a bishie dampire who could turn into a wolf, a gas cloud, and a bat.
Can we bring back that Alucard? When his name was actually Adrian…? ;.; The powers were so sensible….in an old Vampire kinda way ;.; I’m just…I’m concerned he’s more like a Final Fantasy character these days.
Gonnae no dae that?
How?
Just… gonnae no.
XD
As a Scotsman, ah kin tell ye, yer got it very gud. So thanks fer tha’ lad.