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Random question, do you use an accent at faire? Do you speak in ye olde english? I'm just curious as to who does what...

No -my accent sounds forced and unnatural.

Nope, just can't get it to flow smoothly throughout the day.  I work at it a bit at a time and maybe after another decade or so I'll have it down.

I do use a fairly thick Romanian/Turkish mix accent in my Gypsy role, but I am also beginning performance at our local Faire, so I have to try, at least. As a child I was always fascinated by languages, and the way English sounded being spoken by non-native speakers, and so every time I would hear a pronounced accent I would try to reproduce it until I was at least almost good enough to fool people with it... so I suppose accents are part of who I've been most of my life, not just for Faire.

I am lucky :P I still have my Russian accent - I had been in US for about 5-6 years now so I dont have to fake mine hehe..

I am  going to try and pick up couple of lines  with English accent for Scarby this year.. Wish me luck :)

Unless I'm sure I can do a genuine Scottish brogue, I won't and so I don't.  All it takes is to meet a real Scot to feel embarrassed at butchering his accent like Mel Gibson did in Braveheart.

After using a very strong Irish accent....most people couldn't understand what I was saying. Except one time when I was doing the Irish Faire that use to be at the Santa Anita Racetrack in Pasadena, some people from Ireland actually thought I was from Ireland. I broke their hearts when I broke the accent and started talking in my California gal accent.

As for now, I don't bother really except maybe when I'm writing something.

When I'm working at Faire, I do.  If I'm just attending, I might, but usually don't.

I started with "basic faire accent," then decided I liked Irish better after I used it for a performance in an acting class, so I switched.  I use a rather "soft" accent, both because I'm not that good at it yet, and because the accent tape I got to learn from sounded like Lucky the Leperchaun and I DID NOT want to talk like that (I gave up on the tape and just watched Boondock Saints many many times). :)

I do.  Whether performing or visiting.  The only time I would not would be if I were lucky enough to attend a faire IN England.

Then I would be a visitor from the colonies.

While working my booth, I speak with what's referred to as a "faire" accent.  Essentially, you're just over enunciating everything you say, along with using period terminology, and voila!  You're speaking with an accent.   ;D

Mine is more of a slur ... but that is probably due to the beer ...

 :P last time i attempted to use accents i wound up rambling off random spanish words and making wonder how did spanish leak into old english accents

I don't bother...everytime I have tried accent, it ends up sounding a little bit Scottish with a Texas twang...to funny to be authentic, so I gave up  ;D

Not really an accent but I use certain words and phases to give a little period to my speaking.  If someone
says you don't sound much like a scotsman, I've had people tell me that, I explain I've spend the last 20 years fighting in France, Spain, Low Countries, and Italy and before that spend 10 years in Wales living with me father who is welsh, before returning to be with me mothers people in the highlands.  Which normally confuses them so much they forget that what they were saying about me accent.

I can only say a few words at at time with an accent that sounds somewhat right.  Anytime I go over a few words, my accent changes to bad Russian spy, like Boris and Natasha bad.  I guess that one kinda works as I am a gypsy. 

I do when it comes easy to me.

I mainly try to phrase sentences a little out of the normal to sound different than modern english.

You always convey your meaning better and faster doing what comes natural to you...and conveyance is much more important than accent.

Regards,

CB

Yes I use an accent while at faire but it depends on who I am as to which accent I use.  I am a Baron most of the time so I speak with a noble class accent.  Being on cast at VARF, its a requirement.  When I put on my garb I just drop into it.  I almost can't help it.   ::)  I also use a pirate accent although pretty light one when dressed as a pirate.  If I dress in M'Crack garb I'll sometimes try an Irish accent but it winds up sounding more Scottish (and bad Scottish at that) so I usually give up.  I'll keep working on it though.

I don't bother beyond basic greetings.  I'm horrible at it and spend most of my time chasing my 5 y.o. pirate anyway.  Luckily, be fae most of the time, an accent is not really expected! ;D

Just basic old english, even that not too much. But my native accent is so thick that sounds exotic anyway.

Generally, i pick up whatever accent is being used near me.

I do too, sealclubber!  I find that whatever accent is in the tent at the time I pick up, whether it's Scottish, Old English, Pirate or Gypsy.  Other than that I just try my best not to sound like I'm from Texas!

Yes, always when in garb.  I have an advantage in having been raised for the first few years of my life by my Welsh grandparents, and having been given over 2 years of speech therapy once I started school, in order to teach me how to talk like an American mid-westerner.

I also have an ear for accents, so I tend to fall into the patterns of those around me, which means when I run into a Brit, it mutates rather quickly.

Dayna

As a kid, I learned how to do a pretty good English accent from watching too much PBS and Dr. Who.  I've managed to keep it some.  I actually fooled some people at Dickens once, but at faire, I tend to lay it on a little too thick.  I do try and will keep trying. 

Lawrence does a good Scottish accent and has an excellent English one, if his persona ever allows.

No, but I giggle in French.

And Scotsman, I've heard that accent. When you were talking to Mad Jack.  ;)

I try to do a very proper English accent, but I can do Cockney very easily. Once had a guy from England tell me I did a damn good English accent with a twinge of Scottish thrown in. He was quite impressed. I'd love to do a French Accent but HAY forget that idea... me French? Yeah right

Quote from: Taffy Saltwater on February 05, 2009, 11:34:01 AM
No -my accent sounds forced and unnatural.

Me too!

To be truthful, no slam to the general performing populations, I find most ren-actors speak with a forced accent.  I find the "fair" accent DB spoke of much more "real".  When I hear a bad accent it takes me away from the "play" and I find myself thinking "What does this guy do in his day job?".  But if the costume is there, and the actor has a "playful mood", I find a "fair" accent does nothing to detract from the experience.

I can do a passable rendition of a few different accents ('generic' british, My-Fair-Lady Cockney, 'hollywood Irish'), but I can't hold one for long without really concentrating. Usually I find that just being careful with my diction, trying to lessen the Texas drawl, and using slightly more formal 'King James version' language is sufficient.

I've never been able to speak with a faire accent.  I always sound like a dork when I try, so I gave up years ago. 

I started in my early teens catching late night Monty Python... so when I started working at fair, I was already armed with a BFA.

Fast forward 20 years, and I can fool some Brits, but not every one of them. At this point, I don't even have to concentrate on whether I'm in accent or not.

But in the past couple of years I've been trying to incorporate a Northern Irish accent into my BFA - I fell in love with the dipthongs and a lot of the vowel sounds of the Northern (or, Ulster, if you will) dialect.

So it's repeated watchings of 'Divorcing Jack' and listening really close to Barry Fitzgerald from Ghost Hunters International for me (BTW, if you've never seen Divorcing Jack, give it a shot... it's a bit like Boondock Saints, dirty and gritty, and not very nice, but a good story).

It's coming along... I can do pretty much all the four letter words quite well.  ;D

Quote from: wyckdblyss on February 05, 2009, 01:36:40 PM
I don't bother...everytime I have tried accent, it ends up sounding a little bit Scottish with a Texas twang...to funny to be authentic, so I gave up  ;D

Like, "Hout mon, ya'll"?  This would me, too, I think.

Quote from: knarlyknot on February 05, 2009, 03:16:08 PM
I do too, sealclubber!  I find that whatever accent is in the tent at the time I pick up, whether it's Scottish, Old English, Pirate or Gypsy.  Other than that I just try my best not to sound like I'm from Texas!

Yep, that's me as well, most of the time.  My drummer character is supposed to be Egyptian/Gypsy, so I usually try to talk with that accent, but I usually can only get a few words at a time.  Hard to stay in it all day when there are so many others around.

hows about vocab? "hey yo sup? this ren faire is totally tubeular" or "good morrow the festival is wonderous is it not?"

For those that work the Texas Ren Fest, I've never heard anyone NOT speak with an accent.  Is it required?

That is pretty much how it ends up, Jack. I get lots of giggles from friends when I try it. So, I find it best to just try not to talk much...that way I am safer...lol

Quote from: Sitara on February 05, 2009, 01:54:00 PM
I can only say a few words at at time with an accent that sounds somewhat right.  Anytime I go over a few words, my accent changes to bad Russian spy, like Boris and Natasha bad.  I guess that one kinda works as I am a gypsy. 

Yeah but Boris and Natasha are not bad, they are great, along with BabyFace Braunshwieger.   

Quote from: Welsh Wench on February 05, 2009, 04:41:52 PM
No, but I giggle in French.

So does that mean you are bucking to be a "French Wench"

RPFS participants have mandatory BFA workshops at varying levels of complexity.  Some of us have taken them so frequently that some workshops occasionally turn into a chorus.  The apprentice BFA workshop has a handout in book form that's also sold at the REP booth.

Quote from: Welsh Wench on February 05, 2009, 04:41:52 PM
No, but I giggle in French.

And what a giggle it is!  ;) ;D

Quote from: Welsh Wench on February 05, 2009, 04:41:52 PM
And Scotsman, I've heard that accent. When you were talking to Mad Jack.  ;)

Strangely enough, we manage to understand one another.  It's easy when everything pretty much means "I think we need to drink some more."  :D

My biggest problem is shutting my accent off when I'm at faire.  Once I walk out the gate, it's easy.

Quote from: Katie Bookwench on February 05, 2009, 08:09:03 PM
I can do pretty much all the four letter words quite well.  ;D

Hehe...me too. :)  Though not part of my normal vocabulary, I had to use them for my acting class, so I got them down cold.  Kinda makes the (at least from my faire) standard "break your accent" phrase (nuke the f*ing pop tarts) useless, though... :)

I do a passable Spanish accent....which is quite different from Mexican or South American accents. 
I've actually had people ask me what part of Spain that I'm from.
Of course it helps that I do speak some Spanish.

If I sound dorky, my friends have refrained from laughing so far.  ;D ;D ;D

I use what I call my "fake" Irish accent when performing at Faire. When talking to the Danes I try to remember to use it but I don't always....

Quote from: BLAKDUKE on February 06, 2009, 10:04:56 AM

Quote from: Welsh Wench on February 05, 2009, 04:41:52 PM
No, but I giggle in French.

So does that mean you are bucking to be a "French Wench"

Only in Paris..... ;)

I can't control my accents.  Every now and then, I start talking like a British woman or a Russian woman.  A couple of times I've done an Australian accent.  And once I got stuck as a Scottish boy and couldn't figure out how to stop for about thirty minutes.  My friends couldn't tell if I was just joking or not, but I have little to no control over my accents.  Mostly, when I do have an accent, it's from my mutt heritage, and I can be tricked into an accent when I'm around others speaking like that (I've had people give me glares because they thought I was mocking them).  However, this only works when I'm not thinking about talking.  If you try to teach me an accent or point out that I'm speaking in one, I can rarely hold on to it.

But I'm totally in control of my vocab and do my best to speak Faire Speak when I'm messing around at the faire. :)

Quote from: Scotsman on February 05, 2009, 01:28:14 PM
Mine is more of a slur ... but that is probably due to the beer ...

Heh, that's the extent of my mine as well.  8)

I have a gawdawful English accent, and my persona is Eastern European so it wouldn't apply anyway. Accents from the Balkans I can do, but I just don't feel like it. I'll wear the clothes, and leave the BFA to the cast.  :)

You could dazzle them with your fluent Greek, Athena!

In the beginning of my fair days I tried, then gave up.  Too much pub time cancels out  the accent anyway.  I do, however, speak faire lingo all day:  my lord, my lady, sir, madam, you majesty, ale, privy, rouge, scoundrel, doxy, etc....

they dont really care about your accent in the pub so no. but when im in court or in the lanes talking to cast i use all the faire lingo.

I had a group of Brits in my shoppe this year, who decided to ask me where I was from "across the pond". I was so very flattered about the whole thing!!!

I think my accent is a mixture of three things- Rossalyn Russel from Auntie Mame, Elizabeth Hurley from Bedazzled, and a little bit of AbFab thrown in for good measure. I think it sounds ok, but you really can never be sure. When I fit headpieces, I always tend to say, "Allright love, I'm going to put this onto your head and tie it shut. It will be tight, but I promise, if your brains leak out of your ears, I'll collect them in a bucket and sell them on eBay." I know, sick sense of humor LOL.

Oh, and my BFA sticks horribly, I can't ever get rid of it until Monday morning. The others at the shoppe HATE that LOL.  The best way to rid yourself of it is to say, in your best redneck accent- THE BEER IS IN THE TRUCK WITH THE DAWG!!! Lather, rinse, repeat till BFA is gone :P

Quote from: blue66669 on February 09, 2009, 09:00:27 AM
Oh, and my BFA sticks horribly, I can't ever get rid of it until Monday morning. The others at the shoppe HATE that LOL.  The best way to rid yourself of it is to say, in your best redneck accent- THE BEER IS IN THE TRUCK WITH THE DAWG!!! Lather, rinse, repeat till BFA is gone :P

Oh I can drop the accent just fine.  I just can't lose the vernacular.  I still use thee and thou and say yea instead of yes and reverse my sentence syntax for nearly a week after the faire ends!

Can do standard BFA, always a good fall back.
Although I prefer what is called the 'Southern English' style.
(This is the type you hear on CNN)
Northern English style (ever seen 'Calendar Girls'?) this has a Yorkish twang to it
and then there is the Welsh
(Watch 'Englishman who climbed up a hill, but, came down a mountain' lotsa good Welsh in that one)

 I do a Scots accent. Hard to get out of it after faire is done. It sort of comes with my garb!

I used to do a fantastic British accent in my theatre days in high school.  I once got so stuck on the accent, I spoke with it for a year, but then, so did many of my friends from the same play lol.  These days, though, I can't seem to get it right.  It sounds fake and forced most of the time, so I don't usually use it.  I do use the vernacular, though, and once in a while, a bit of accent will pop up on it's own.

I can do it at home, but I can't do it at faire!  I think I'm intimidated by all the professionals (meaning...those who do it well). 

Quote from: NicoleBridget on February 13, 2009, 09:24:09 AM
I can do it at home, but I can't do it at faire!  I think I'm intimidated by all the professionals (meaning...those who do it well). 

It comes with practice. :)

I use what ever accent hits me at the time. Depending on who I was speaking to at the time. I got a good kick one year these teenagers working the lanes during Italian weekend were doing a horrible job of it.  The wife and I were eating breakfast and they stopped to entertain us for a short time. I of course slipped into my Italian accent and they learned I could do it better than them. They started asking for pointers. Same thing happened the year before with a Scottish brogue and a lane actor that was pretty new. But depending on who I'm with or what not depends on if I do an accent, but an accent always seems to come to me fairly easy. The wife hates it when I slip into it for too long though.

Quote from: Queen Bonnie on February 12, 2009, 02:47:17 PM
I do a Scots accent. Hard to get out of it after faire is done. It sort of comes with my garb!

Same with me.  Developed it years ago when I was table-top RPGing back in high school, for my dwarf character (yes, I spoken in it at the table, when he was in conversation).  Used to be milder, but when I developed his brogue over the years in text chat for various games, so too did the accent, for some reason.  At least I'm more understandable in person than I am over the computer with it.   :o

And yes, ordering food after I've made the drive home from the faire is... unique, if I forget to drop the accent.   :D

Depends if sarcasm is involved ;D

Since my noble  character is  suppose  to be both Irish and  English, I have tried  to learn Gaelic, but very hard  to learn.     Forget my  English accent.   I feel like  Eliza  Doolittle  in "  My  Fair Lady ".i just stick  to knowing the  proper faire vocabulary  for  now.

My husband   does  an excellent Scottish accent , and   people have  stopped him and  asked him if  he  was  from Scotland. 

I  can  do a pirate  accent  though ..LOL.  Not hard  to say " where is  the  rum ? " ;D

I am attempting to perfect my Irish accent, but since I have been doing English for so long, I slip alot. The way I practice my accent is at work, I work at Wal Mart and I have all my customers convinced that I was born in England and raised there until four due to the fact that my father was in the service, (was actually born in Germany lol for same reason) So my english accent is great, the others....I am working on.

I've heard my accent described as Cockney when I try to do English. But my Italian accent is believable I hear. I'm not exactly a fan of the Shakespearean dialect that seems to be a steriotype of fair speak. When I have more time this summer I hope to do some English Renaissance literary reading to find a more proper use of language to apply at fair.

I study to many languages though and find myself slipping into other languages when I talk to begin with so now that fair season is on I've added that to the mix.

This fair I had a hard time doing an accent when I focused on it, I'd tried to do Cockney and do Italian instead and then when some one asked me to do the Italian I'd do the Cockney.

Buggers!

My British accent meanders all over the place, slipping into everything from German to Spanish to southern-US to Apu from the Simpsons. It's awful. As such, I adopted a French persona since at least my semi-outrageous French accent is fairly stable. However my wife and kids are too shy to interact with anybody and I'm not really all that adept at ad-libbing, so the end-result is that we walk around and look at stuff and eat stuff all day and don't really talk to anyone except each other. Without accents.  ;D

Being Irish, I don't even try any other accents.  It's just a disaster.  Over the last twenty years though I've gotten pretty confident with my American (thanks to several years of accent reduction speech therapy). 

It always amazes me how Brit / Irish / Aussie actors pop in and out of their native / and other accents so fluidly.

On the subject of actors using accents I would like to note I feel that the old "Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" with DeCaprio could really have done with the use of accents. It was on TV recently and as I was thinking of the idea of accents and fair speak it seems that if one speaks in a Shakespearean tongue but with an American accent it simply sounds horrid. I'll have to listen closely at fair now to see if applies to people in live theater. Maybe it was just that movie.

Quote from: Magister on June 12, 2009, 03:15:42 PM
Being Irish, I don't even try any other accents.  It's just a disaster.  Over the last twenty years though I've gotten pretty confident with my American (thanks to several years of accent reduction speech therapy). 

Was it the Northern dialect?

If so I'll take the shreds of it that you might have left....I've been trying, but I haven't quite picked it up yet.

Those crazy dipthongs have me flummoxed.  :D 

Kate .. no, sorry .. I'm from a small village north of Cork (southern coast). 

John Barrowman is certainly one of them .. Hugh Laurie from House.. the guy who played on Life - Damian something or another, I think is another.  The blond girl on Fringe is from the UK (see her in Mistresses a show on the BBC, wow!).  Of course for me is Colin Farrell (he's from Dublin), and Ciaran Hinds (from Belfast or somewhere near).  When you see them in American movies it just seems odd.  Especially if you've seen their Irish work (Rent: Intermission).

Speaking of Doctor Who though, David Tennet is another Scot.  You'd never guess hearing him on the show.  I watched him doing an interview recently, and it was just eerie.

There is an article in the UK Times today saying how with the financial crunch in the UK many more actors from there are making their way to Hollywood to try to follow in Hugh Laurie's footsteps.  I expect we'll see many more give it a go here soon.

As for faire accents, I think it's hard for people who are from the UK, Ireland, Germany, etc. to go and hear people here at faire try it out.  At least it was for me the first few years. 

I have a friend from the UK (Bristol Beach area) that has been in NY forever that I took to a faire once.  He actually pulled me aside and asked if the performers were intentionally making fun of him (and Brits in general).  He said it would be like if Southerners went up to NY and visited a park where the actors were all trying to talk in Georgia accents (Ya'll reckon you'd like ta get'ya'sum chitlin's and greens with dat?)  I just had to laugh.

Maybe it's just me, but I still prefer it when the actors and patrons at faire just speak with their regular voice without trying to hard.  Too many times it just gets pushed to a caricature of what they are hoping to achieve.  Unless that was their intention, of course.

Besides the American accent is just an evolution of the accents of the people who made this country.  You can still hear the Irish and Scot in the South, the German in Pennsylvania, the Dutch / Netherlands in Wisconsin and Minnesota .. and then there's Texas ;)

Anyways ...

Quote from: Magister on June 12, 2009, 08:36:18 PM

As for faire accents, I think it's hard for people who are from the UK, Ireland, Germany, etc. to go and hear people here at faire try it out.  At least it was for me the first few years. 

I have a friend from the UK (Bristol Beach area) that has been in NY forever that I took to a faire once.  He actually pulled me aside and asked if the performers were intentionally making fun of him (and Brits in general).  He said it would be like if Southerners went up to NY and visited a park where the actors were all trying to talk in Georgia accents (Ya'll reckon you'd like ta get'ya'sum chitlin's and greens with dat?)  I just had to laugh.

Maybe it's just me, but I still prefer it when the actors and patrons at faire just speak with their regular voice without trying to hard.  Too many times it just gets pushed to a caricature of what they are hoping to achieve.  Unless that was their intention, of course.

That is exactly why I have never tried to talk with an accent, I think I would just insult those I love.  I do like to try to use Ren phrases ... g'day, huzzah, and of course, who has Loki???

Yeah, Tennant is remarkable.  I was shocked when I heard him on BBC radio with Catherine Tate a couple months ago.  First time I'd heard him speaking normally.  But now that I know he's Scots, I can hear it leak through every once in a while when he's playing the Doctor.

Quote from: Magister on June 12, 2009, 08:36:18 PM
Kate .. no, sorry .. I'm from a small village north of Cork (southern coast). 

John Barrowman is certainly one of them .. Hugh Laurie from House.. the guy who played on Life - Damian something or another, I think is another.  The blond girl on Fringe is from the UK (see her in Mistresses a show on the BBC, wow!).  Of course for me is Colin Farrell (he's from Dublin), and Ciaran Hinds (from Belfast or somewhere near).  When you see them in American movies it just seems odd.  Especially if you've seen their Irish work (Rent: Intermission).

Speaking of Doctor Who though, David Tennet is another Scot.  You'd never guess hearing him on the show.  I watched him doing an interview recently, and it was just eerie.

There is an article in the UK Times today saying how with the financial crunch in the UK many more actors from there are making their way to Hollywood to try to follow in Hugh Laurie's footsteps.  I expect we'll see many more give it a go here soon.

As for faire accents, I think it's hard for people who are from the UK, Ireland, Germany, etc. to go and hear people here at faire try it out.  At least it was for me the first few years. 

I have a friend from the UK (Bristol Beach area) that has been in NY forever that I took to a faire once.  He actually pulled me aside and asked if the performers were intentionally making fun of him (and Brits in general).  He said it would be like if Southerners went up to NY and visited a park where the actors were all trying to talk in Georgia accents (Ya'll reckon you'd like ta get'ya'sum chitlin's and greens with dat?)  I just had to laugh.

Maybe it's just me, but I still prefer it when the actors and patrons at faire just speak with their regular voice without trying to hard.  Too many times it just gets pushed to a caricature of what they are hoping to achieve.  Unless that was their intention, of course.

Besides the American accent is just an evolution of the accents of the people who made this country.  You can still hear the Irish and Scot in the South, the German in Pennsylvania, the Dutch / Netherlands in Wisconsin and Minnesota .. and then there's Texas ;)

Anyways ...

And then there is Texas....what sir? ;P

Texas..........it's like a whole other country.  ;)

Quote from: DonaCatalina on June 13, 2009, 03:33:56 PM
Texas..........it's like a whole other country.  ;)

Bingo!  The Republic of Texas, indeed.

.....  It was either TRF or Scarby when I first heard the Southern ("Ye Olde, Ya'll") Shakespeare accent.

I always think it's funny when you watch an actor on a show that speaks with his/her native accent and then later they make a guest appearance on another show and they try to hide it!

I used to accent but for the most part I found I really couldn't keep up with it so now I don't really try. ;)

If pistols are the equalizer in a fight ... then Rum is the equalizer in accents.
Everyone starts to sound the same if given enough Rum.
Unless they are a nasty drunk ... and then, may I refer back to the pistols?
I vote to import more native Irish and Scottish to our festivals.  :)

  Rum, Guinness, Meade ... Water? - who cares what you're drinking.  In the end, it doesn't matter where you're from, or where you are, so long as you're having fun with friends.

 

Quote from: Magister on June 14, 2009, 08:28:33 PM
  Rum, Guinness, Meade ... Water? - who cares what you're drinking.  In the end, it doesn't matter where you're from, or where you are, so long as you're having fun with friends.

 

I'll drink to that!  ;D


...I don't really use an accent at Faire, but I do use the vocabulary...and the narrator in my head has a lovely accent ~ does that count?  ;)

I'd like to use an accent and talk the way a rennie should, but I don't feel confident enough for that just yet.

I usually use a bit of a faire accent when hawking and kind of start out conversations in it, but a lot of times I slip out of it as a conversation progresses. I've kind of started to give up on it a bit the last couple of years, especially cause I am horrible at talking like a pirate. :(

I'll second that.  My attempts at an accent are terrible, especially since the only time I get the guts to attempt it is when I've had too much to drink  ;D

I may start with a nice "Good Morrow", but it quickly dissolves into regular speech.

Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on June 24, 2009, 12:27:13 PM
I usually use a bit of a faire accent when hawking and kind of start out conversations in it, but a lot of times I slip out of it as a conversation progresses. I've kind of started to give up on it a bit the last couple of years, especially cause I am horrible at talking like a pirate. :(

I have the opposite problem, I'll be going on with a conversation and suddenly find that I am speaking in an accent that can be passed off as English. Mind you this is in my regular life seeing as how it's very hard to do an accent when you are too shy to talk to anyone at faire.

I'm another that tends to start out using accent then slip into normal speech if its a drawn out conversation. Especially since I switch accesnts depending upon attire theme (Italian noble, Scottish, Gypsy (slavic), or Pirate [which is still mostly Scottish sounding]).

My Spanish accent puzzles a lot of people so I tend not to use it.
They don't understand why I don't sound like a Mexican.

I've tried...and failed. I just can't keep it up...I'll come across something I want to say and just won't be able to figure out how it would work in an accent so i give up. I have discovered I speak differently tho...normally when I speak i'm loud obnoxious and don't sound very feminine at all...but I tend to kind of drift into this airy voice (think luna lovegood for you harry potter fans)...maybe thats just what I sound like when I'm happy....hrm

me=wallflower

I have a funny story about why I dont, for one thing Im from MinnesOOOOOta.  That combined with anything is just wrong, matter of fact its wrong on its own eh?

Anyhoo, I was attending a riding school north of london in Hertfordshire in the early 90's when I hurt my back really badly.  My friend David spent forever trying to make me sound british so I could take advantage of their free healthcare system.  I repeated the word Cornwall about a thousand times and "I can't Im smoking a fag"  Which is very silly in retrospect because had I tried to visit the doctor in cognito I doubt I would have occasion to use the word Cornwall, OR to mention that I was smoking a fag.  (which is not a derogatory term, it just means cigarrette across the pond in case someone didnt know that)

I also dont hawk.  I need someone who does that....

I no,  As I am not able to pull off an accent I try not to.  I am a mercenary so I am loud and put  more gruffness in my voice insomuch that by the end of the day my voice is almost gone.  ;D

I would love to use a proper accent at faire, but not only can't I decide on one... I've noticed that I tend to start mimicking (rather badly I'm afraid) the accent of whomever I'm talking to. Other than that, my excuse for lack of a proper accent? The speech classes I went through in school to talk like a normal Texan, not like a northerner.  ::)

I used to use an English accent, which I developed as a youngster by watching countless hours of BBC television documentaries and old Tarzan movies.  Then, when I developed a French cavalier persona, I began using a light French accent, aided by the fact that I took two years of French language in school.  Now, I don't really use an accent so much as I simply articulate my words a little more precisely and speak more as though I were delivering lines on stage, which in a way I am.  Not stilted, but just...more from the diaphragm than I do in day-to-day speaking.

However...

I have been thinking that I would like to start developing an accent again and using it, at least at the beginning and towards the end of a conversation with faire patrons, if not also in the middle.  The one I'd like to develop, though, is more of an Scots and Irish accent.  Hmmm...I think that might merit a thread of it's own....

~Ken

My accent comes and goes!  Overall, no I don't, though.  It tends to depend on who I'm speaking with- if they speak in accent than I do as well, if they don't I tend not to either.  When I was pregnant with my second daughter I was asked what I was having quite often- I had a prepared speech about a soothesayer predicting another girl-child within my womb and blah blah blah, yeah, that got old really quickly!  Of course so did the "M'lady!  Didst you swallow a watermelon?"  "Oh no," I'd say, "Just merely the seed!"

I've noticed that I tend not to for the most part, when I do however, its almost a faint French accent... at least that's what I was told I sounded like at TRF. When I go to play, not so much, unless they are speaking to me in accent. I'm not too confident in it yet. I always have this feeling that it sounds forced and cruddy. Of course, living in a house full of rennies, there are nights when all of us slip into accent without meaning too... and it lasts for some time too :)

I want to accent, but I can't decide which one I should use. I don't really have a "faire persona" yet - no name, or background or anything like that. And as soon as I get a sewing machine, I'll be making myself new garb, too. I think with my current garb, a Scottish accent would work best, but I don't feel confident in it yet. So then it's sort of between RP and cockney, but I'm middle class-ish.

And when I go with friends to the faire, I try to get them to accent with me, but then no one ever wants to, so I feel awkward.

So all in all, I'm just confused and undecided. Someone tell me what to do!

I can do any British Isles accent (apparently when I worked at TRF my scottish was perfect enough to fool a Scottish lady). No matter what, if I'm in my pirate garb I accent in a Northern English/watered down scots. No middle english though.....but my pirates set in the 1750's...so it doesn't have to be too antiquated.

My friends son sounds just like John Lennon..  Its hilarous.

I do an accent about 75% of the time, most especially around cast. I'd like to see more people attempt role playing and using an accent. I think it can be a lot of fun and add to the illusion of being a different person.

Sigh. I dont, I couldnt do an accent to save my life probably...

Quote from: Mairte on February 11, 2011, 03:28:09 PM
Sigh. I dont, I couldnt do an accent to save my life probably...

Let me know if you visit Scarby and I promise you that within 30 minutes at a table, I can get you into some kind of an accent. :)

If I'm around an accent for a few days straight I will start to pick it up. Not necessarily well, mind you! I  spent two days in Canada and came back with a lot of "Dontcha know, eh?" in my conversation. The waitress at our local hangout said I sounded like Sarah Palin, LOL. I need to go up for a week at the end of the month so there's no telling what I'll come back with!

But BFA...not so much. It's not so constant that I can pick it up. I wish I could tho!

What does BFA stand for?

Basic Faire Accent...I think...rudimentary Olde English for Faire, as I understand it anyway.

lys1022, its a deal! Hopefully someday I will make it to Scarby.

From my experience, a lot of people who say "I cant do an accent, I sound silly" just haven't pushed themselves far enough. To some extent, you have to sound silly before you can sound good - it doesn't just happen. Its like quitting learning to walk the first time you fall down. There are basic changes from our English to any English-with-an-accent that you just need to practice until they become second nature. I was British Country, then Irish, then British Upper Class before I became a Swede on cast last year and I was definitely heavy on the Swedish Chef dialect while I was teaching myself that dialect - it still comes out when I'm trying to figure out how to say something!

Just keep practicing if you want to use a dialect or accent, it'll come. Vocabulary changes alone help, but those need practice too so they come out instead of the modern words or phrases.

I was born in Ireland, grew up there until I was 6, and spent every summer there until I was 17 and have no accent whatsoever and cannot fake one to save my life. I can pick a fake out in less than a second though, lol.

I do a decent German, but sometimes ends up sounding a bit  "Sprockets", if anyone remembers that.

I miss Sprockets
I normally do an Irish accent(county Cork from what my mum said).

Quote from: lys1022 on February 11, 2011, 06:42:52 PM

Quote from: Mairte on February 11, 2011, 03:28:09 PM
Sigh. I dont, I couldnt do an accent to save my life probably...

Let me know if you visit Scarby and I promise you that within 30 minutes at a table, I can get you into some kind of an accent. :)

Hey! I will take you up on that. If it's ok??

Quote from: BagPipeBabe on February 14, 2011, 10:57:25 PM
Hey! I will take you up on that. If it's ok??

You are totally on.  Though if you want a Scots, we'll have to have my hubby there.  He does a much better job with that than I do.   :)

Quote from: lys1022 on February 14, 2011, 11:20:01 PM

Quote from: BagPipeBabe on February 14, 2011, 10:57:25 PM
Hey! I will take you up on that. If it's ok??

You are totally on.  Though if you want a Scots, we'll have to have my hubby there.  He does a much better job with that than I do.   :)

I would be happy with a BFA.

I may have a slight unfair advantage, having close British family, but I actually give more credit to Monty Python, Are You Being Served, BlackAdder, etc.  Listen, repeat, listen, repeat.

I usually do a lower class British with a slight scots edge every so often, as my character is originally from Scotland but has left home many many years ago.

I've done accents for years as mentioned directly above, I grew up on all the British Comedies. I've even fooled several brits and one old scottish lady. My one problem, when to stop. Apparently, I continued to talk in it even when fairs over....and especially when highly inebriated. My friends tell me that its my natural accent and my american accent was forced on me as a child, LOL.

I'm Scottish... my great grandmother had a thick accent but we have Texanized so much that it's lost. On simple sentences..I can pull off a good accent but in general..I do not because if you can't do the accent well...it comes across.... just bad.

So in short... I donnae uz tha oxcent often.

Estuary, these days.  Also known as "Mockney".  Goes with the suit and the screwdriver.  And the TARDIS, best not forget that!  ;D

It's amazing how one can get rid of, then pick up an accent so quickly.  Long ago, I worked with a guy who talked in a typical "American" accent.  He went on vacation for a few weeks and came back speaking a thick Scottish brogue.  I wondered, "what's with the accent?"  I didn't know he had gone visiting family in Scotland for a month! 

As far as faire accent, couldn't do it to save my life. I've tried and failed miserably, sounding like an idiot. Not even a properly sounding idiot.

Oh you probably sound better than you think.
And I do believe that it gets easier with practice.

  Indeed!  At more than a few faires I have noticed that the royalty and court don't really bother with a pronounced 'accent' so to speak; All they really do is avoid the use of contractions like can't, won't, didn't etc.  and modern names and terms for common items and events.   A Lady or gentleman in garb can speak unaccented US English using the above rules, and the majority of patrons will register what they are saying in BFA.
   An example of this:  If you watch old movies from the 1930's and 40's carefully, you may notice that the American actors and actresses who are cast as foreigners (Chinese, Indian, Arab and even medieval England) and some actually sounded like they came from New Jersey.  Remember Errol Flynn?  Elizabeth Taylor?  Joan Fontaine?  Most moviegoers never noticed the lack of an even remotely accurate accent. In fact most of the American actors sounded alike... 
  A fun tutorial here if you want to go the extra mile... :D
  http://abagond.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/transatlantic-accent/


 

Errol Flynn was Australian raised for almost 30 years and trained in england, so I can't imagine him sounding like he was from jersey..........while elizabeth taylor was british she was raised in american since the age of 3 so, her accent might have been off.

One of my issues is, I watch so much british films and do an accent so much, I have a hard time actually HEARING a british accent unless it's incredibly thick. My brain just accepts it as normal, lol.

Rowen, you mean, like that totally awesome period accent Kevin Costner used in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?  ...the same accent he's used in every movie he's ever done? LOL!

  knightofistari-I remember Liz doing the title roll in Cleopatra-I don't recall her sounding middle eastern in that one, but I loved the costumes.  I think Liz had the 'transatlantic accent' down to a science.

  @Merlin-Costner! *cringe* I should have remembered ''Prince of Thieves'; I must have blocked it out. 
  However, I think Alan Rickman was great in that movie...LMAO. 


We should have a thread for the worst period movies ever made....

Alan Rickman is great in everything! See him in Bottleshock?

Any accent I do is a mix of at least a half-dozen dialects from all over the UK. Over the years, I've been around a lot of musicians from all over the area. Bits and pieces from Edinburgh to Dublin, to London, and no clue how to differentiate.

Quote from: Merlin the Elder on March 14, 2012, 05:50:13 PM
Alan Rickman is great in everything! See him in Bottleshock?

Any accent I do is a mix of at least a half-dozen dialects from all over the UK. Over the years, I've been around a lot of musicians from all over the area. Bits and pieces from Edinburgh to Dublin, to London, and no clue how to differentiate.

  Well, legend has it that Merlin was well traveled.  You could make up a language and pass it off  ;D

   Haven't seen Bottleshock yet,  but as a Napa wine lover (and native Californian) you bet I will!

Quote from: Rowen MacD on March 14, 2012, 01:23:13 PM
  Indeed!  At more than a few faires I have noticed that the royalty and court don't really bother with a pronounced 'accent' so to speak; All they really do is avoid the use of contractions like can't, won't, didn't etc.  and modern names and terms for common items and events.   A Lady or gentleman in garb can speak unaccented US English using the above rules, and the majority of patrons will register what they are saying in BFA.    

This is pretty much what I do. I'm comfortable with the period words and phrases--just can't do the accent.

   I do the same.  Sometimes a particularly good accent can lead to some really interesting situations, particularly when it is a language other than English. 
   We have a young man here who does a really good french accent which he is justifiably proud of, even though he doesn't speak a word of french beyond 'oui' and 'Pardonne-moi'. 
   This worked for quite a few seasons..until last year when a French-Canadian lady started chatting him up, and he was finally forced to drop character (blushing furiously) to explain himself.   Much amusement was had by all, and the young man has sworn to learn some rudimentary french by this faire season.  :D
 

I don't usually speak in anything but English. One of our former cast members who played a Spanish character didn't speak a word of Spanish beyond si and buenos dias. I inadvertently flustered him out of character one day by speaking to him in Spanish. So I try not to repeat that faux pas.

   Actually, one of his fellow cast members put the Canadian lady up to it, so that she was not embarrassed by catching him out.  Fun was had by all at his expense, because he was such a stickler for staying in character(which is not a bad thing).