MovieChat Forums > Under the Skin (2014) Discussion > Scottish accents

Scottish accents

posted 9 years ago by russalex86
23 replies | jump to latest

How did non-Scots cope with the accents in this? English director Glazer said Johansson "was far better than me at understanding a broad Scottish accent. She would be having entire dialogues with people when I didn't understand a word." I thought the hidden camera scenes were great and it made me laugh thinking how little foreigners would understand. It's rare to hear these accents not watered down.

Side note: not all the men are Scottish. The deformed man and the logger are English.

[–] jimmyredd67 9 years ago

I could barely follow what several of the actors were saying. It literally seemed like they were speaking a different language. Very distracting, unfortunately.

It made me wonder if there are any American dialects that a UKer would have as much trouble understanding.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] girldonutz 9 years ago

I'm a North American and had no issue with the "accents"...those in other English speaking countries believe we, as Americans & Canadians, have accents.

[–] russalex86 9 years ago

I don't understand your point. Everywhere produces accents so of course Americans and Canadians have them.

[–] movie_nazi 8 years ago

I'm a North American and had no issue with the "accents"...those in other English speaking countries believe we, as Americans & Canadians, have accents.

lol. Everyone has an accent. It's just you do not think your regionals have an accent because you are so used to hearing it.

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[–] birmy 9 years ago

I'm an American and had some trouble with the accents here, which surprised me since I typically don't; watching enough non-American English-language films allows one to develop an "ear" for that sort of thing, and I don't think it's been an issue since I was a teenager watching Trainspotting in the theatre. I think it was as much the murkiness of the recording and the use of non-actors as it was the accent (I found the man giving Scarlett directions to the highway particularly hard to decipher).

[–] galluslass 9 years ago

The accents were genuine and not watered down like they usually are for the screen. Most people not from the area would struggle to understand at least quite a few of them. Probably some of the strongest Scottish accents I've seen in an international movie.

[–] lynxx55 8 years ago

That strong, incomprehensible Northern accent made me feel that I was hearing exactly the same way that an alien being might perceive it. Similar to the confusing sounds at the mall and at the disco.

[–] connor23695 9 years ago

Birmy that's because the guy said what he wanted to say the way he wanted to say it.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] bluersun 9 years ago

What Polish immigrants?

[–] kya1 9 years ago

I have lived in Scotland my entire life, and even I struggled a bit with the three "hidden camera" guys, particularly the guy with the Celtic scarf. So I really don't know how non-Scots could understand at all.

I'm not sure I believe that the guys weren't made aware that they were being filmed, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAIJ3Rh5Qxs

[–] Martina_Helene 9 years ago

watched with subtitles!

Check out my IMDB page! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4604197/

[–] godzillabird 9 years ago

I've often wondered if Brits watch American films and say to themselves "what the f... did they just say?"

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] movie_nazi 8 years ago

I've often wondered if Brits watch American films and say to themselves "what the f... did they just say?"

Well, the general proper American accent that you would hear let's say a CNN or a Fox anchor speak then no. Brits can understand that just fine. But someone with a very thick southern accent or a deep south getto speak talk then yeah, they could have a hard time understanding.

My Vote history: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1914996/ratings