This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Ununnilium: This is already a trope, isn't it?
Seven Seals: Although it has a slightly different approach, As Long as It Sounds Foreign seems to cover this completely.
Korodzik: And Poirot Speak.
Paul A: This is representing a foreign language by speaking English in a stupid accent. As Long as It Sounds Foreign is representing a foreign language by speaking vaguely-appropriate gibberish.
Poirot Speak is representing a foreigner speaking English.
Megan Phntm Grl: I'm enough of a geek to have gone out of my way to avoid this with a Romanian-speaking text-based RPG character. While the character does speak with a thick Romanian accent when speaking in English, in the one scene where she was conversing in Romanian, I made it clear that you were reading translated Romanian, and that relative to the other character she therefore had no accent and I didn't write her with one.
Johnny E: I think the description needs a clearer distinction from Poirot Speak, a lot of the examples look like the accented English is actually representing foreigners speaking English, which would be Poirot Speak. Have added the following, but some more clarification might be good.
- However, note that if the characters are meant to be speaking English, an accent is often justified.
Licky Lindsay: in the trailers for The Nativity Story it sounded to me like the actors were putting on a vaguely middle-eastern accent. I haven't seen the film, so I don't know how accurate this impression was.
Romanticide: I can give a free pass to honest mistakes in a translation but for some reason I just don't have patience for stupid accents, the north american edition of the Hellsing manga was ruined for me with silly accents that took out of the seriousness of a situation and made the text almost unreadable to me. I wish people on tv and movies used the services of good profesional translators more though -.-
Butterscotch: The fuck? Some of the stupidest natter I've seen.
- Maybe not so much Made Of Win. A standard way to disguise the use of the same voice actor in multiple parts is to give them different accents so they seem different.
- Yes, how dare Steve Oedekerk use different accents for different characters.
- I don't think that's the point being made here: all the characters are supposed to be Chinese; the inconsistencies are played for a subtle laugh.
