Patrick Stewart's American accent

[Mirren Audax]

If anyone noticed in 'The Battle', when Picard's having a Ferengi-induced reverie in the conference room, he says "Eee, got right caught up in that..."

Right Yorkshire that is, not bad for a Frenchman!

 

[CaptainStoner]

I think I may have a plausible explanation for this. A friend of mine has french-speaking relatives, and when the learned to speak English, they sound like they have more an English accent than a French one.

 

[NiteTrek]

why would Picard be able to do a really credible job on an American accent?

Because as a French Captain, he does a pretty credible job of a British accent.

 

[docclan1]

hmmmmm french.......where does he keep his white flag?????

 

[NiteTrek]

hmmmmm french.......where does he keep his white flag?????

What's funny is that in "Encounter at Farpoint" what's the first thing he does when he encounters a foe (Q) ?

Just like a true Frenchman, he surrenders!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I still want to see Ocean's 11 to hear Don Cheadle's English accent, which I've heard mixed reviews on.

It's not very good, and I think he did it before in Snatch.

lol

 

[Bacl]

hmmmmm french.......where does he keep his white flag?????

What's funny is that in "Encounter at Farpoint" what's the first thing he does when he encounters a foe (Q) ?

Just like a true Frenchman, he surrenders!

I'm glad to see that Star Trek's messages on culture and race were not lost on you. Wanna follow that up with a Chinaman joke? Or something about the Polish, perhaps?

 

[Count Zero]

How could I forget this idiotic gem from the internet!?!?

Just follow her insruction and you'll be as good as Costner in Prince of Thieves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcg-...BBACF6872&index=3&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

What the hell? That woman sounds as British as me (i.e. not at all). I learned English at school and ended up with an odd mix of pronunciations, so my 'dialect' can't really be placed. Often people assumed I was from New Zealand, even though they sound completely different from me. I guess, it's because many people don't know how New Zealnders sound.

 

[Triskelion]

Every New Zealander I met? Sounded like they were asking questions? It could just be coincidence?

 

[CaptainStoner]

hmmmmm french.......where does he keep his white flag?????

What's funny is that in "Encounter at Farpoint" what's the first thing he does when he encounters a foe (Q) ?

Just like a true Frenchman, he surrenders!

I'm glad to see that Star Trek's messages on culture and race were not lost on you. Wanna follow that up with a Chinaman joke? Or something about the Polish, perhaps?

Yeah, I guess good messages hold little water in the face of a decades-old bullshit fallacy racial joke.
Now someone will tell me I'm being too sensitive, or don't have a sense of humor, as if I were that upset.
Jokes like this is when your bigot Uncle farts. It's not that upsetting, and you don't expect him to change, you just move to the next room.
Gotta love it. There is no America without French Revolution. Our spirit is their spirit. But yeah, they keep their white flag rolled up neatly, wrapped in fancy plastic and expertly inserted in the rectums of American tourists who are certain not to drop it, even on vacation. <-- maybe not hilarious, but at least original

Every New Zealander I met? Sounded like they were asking questions? It could just be coincidence?

I don't know, but that had been an American accent illness for a long time. You still see it among the youth, but not as bad. For a long time, everything a middle-high school student said sounded like a question.

Just want to re-iterate the point that French learning English can and do end up speaking it with an English accent. End of mystery. Canon preserved.

 

[garamet]

I think it depends on the individual skills of the actor, personally. Laurence Olivier's American accents were painful to listen to. Hugh Laurie is entirely credible. And Sean Connery sounds like a Scotsman no matter who he's pretending to be.

A few non-Americans who do splendidly: Sam Neill (NI), the LaPaglia brothers (Oz).

Then there's Mel Gibson - born in Upstate New York, raised in Oz, sounds entirely American. In contrast, Patrick McGoohan, another New York boy, specialized in crazies of British origin.

 

[Bacl]

Yeah, I guess good messages hold little water in the face of a decades-old bullshit fallacy racial joke.
Now someone will tell me I'm being too sensitive, or don't have a sense of humor, as if I were that upset.
Jokes like this is when your bigot Uncle farts. It's not that upsetting, and you don't expect him to change, you just move to the next room.
Gotta love it. There is no America without French Revolution. Our spirit is their spirit. But yeah, they keep their white flag rolled up neatly, wrapped in fancy plastic and expertly inserted in the rectums of American tourists who are certain not to drop it, even on vacation. <-- maybe not hilarious, but at least original

I'm just tired of the fact that every time someone says something racist that I either have to sit in silence, or speak up and get blamed as being "too sensitive" or "too PC" or accused of just not having a sense of humor.

I'm tired of hearing this same old racist bullshit again and again, and even more tired of feeling like I have to be silent about it. I want the people who can't evolve past this backwards racist, xenophobic bullshit to be the ones who feel like they can't open their mouths.

 

[WillsBabe]

If anyone noticed in 'The Battle', when Picard's having a Ferengi-induced reverie in the conference room, he says "Eee, got right caught up in that..."

Right Yorkshire that is, not bad for a Frenchman!

I hadn't noticed that. But there are a couple of other examples. In one episode, possibly The Outcast, he answers the hail with a very Yorkshire "Picard 'ere." And I think that I can detect his Northern roots in the "boldly" of "to boldy go".

 

[SRFX]

All this talk of Patrick Stewart's accent makes me want to see Sean Connery play a starfleet captain...just once.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

If anyone noticed in 'The Battle', when Picard's having a Ferengi-induced reverie in the conference room, he says "Eee, got right caught up in that..."

Right Yorkshire that is, not bad for a Frenchman!

I hadn't noticed that. But there are a couple of other examples. In one episode, possibly The Outcast, he answers the hail with a very Yorkshire "Picard 'ere." And I think that I can detect his Northern roots in the "boldly" of "to boldy go".

When he was on Parkinson a few years ago, Stewart did the opening narration in what was apparently his native Yorkshire accent, though it sounded forced and put on.

 

[CaptainStoner]

All this talk of Patrick Stewart's accent makes me want to see Sean Connery play a starfleet captain...just once.

WIN!

 

[JustKate]

If anyone noticed in 'The Battle', when Picard's having a Ferengi-induced reverie in the conference room, he says "Eee, got right caught up in that..."

Right Yorkshire that is, not bad for a Frenchman!

I hadn't noticed that. But there are a couple of other examples. In one episode, possibly The Outcast, he answers the hail with a very Yorkshire "Picard 'ere." And I think that I can detect his Northern roots in the "boldly" of "to boldy go".

When he was on Parkinson a few years ago, Stewart did the opening narration in what was apparently his native Yorkshire accent, though it sounded forced and put on.

As you've indicated here, Kirks_Flying_Wing, Patrick Stewart is from Yorkshire. Which isn't to say he grew up with a strong Yorkshire accent, although I'd be pretty surprised if he couldn't do a good one. (If he couldn't do one, I think he's enough of a craftsman to realize it and he wouldn't even have tried. Could be wrong, though.) I have no idea if everybody who grows up there does/did, or if it kind of depends. I mean, not everybody from Texas sounds like Sam Rayburn (who, for those of you not familiar with Sam, sounded a LOT like Foghorn Leghorn, the the Loony Tunes rooster). And I'm from California, but I don't have and never have had a "Valley" accent.

 

[NiteTrek]

I'm glad to see that Star Trek's messages on culture and race were not lost on you. Wanna follow that up with a Chinaman joke? Or something about the Polish, perhaps?

Sure....any Chinamen or Poles on the Enterprise? Point them out and I'll see what I can do.

 

[LaBarre]

Guys, chill!

And I offer this up in the best Yorkshire/French accent I can muster, which is pretty, damn, good, BTW.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Then there's Mel Gibson - born in Upstate New York, raised in Oz, sounds entirely American.

I believe his Aussie accent was faked (at least at first). This was because kids at his school would tend to beat up on foreign-sounding classmates. He adopted the local accent to blend in. It must have stuck.

He was in his late teens when his family moved to Australia. So he had plenty of time to develop an American accent naturally.