British and/or Non-american accent in voicelines used because ESO is staged in a medieval setting?

Nightowl_74

Northwold wrote: »

Nightowl_74 wrote: »

I don't pay a whole lot of attention but I know I've noticed characters speaking with a "generic" American accent, because that's what I hear every day here on the west coast. I can't say I've ever noticed regional U.S. accents in the game, but that could just be because my ears aren't as attuned to picking them out from among the rest.

Lyranth in the Deadlands says "most" instead of "almost". I like to think she grew up in the Deep South on a farm.

I'm not sure if I've been to the Deadlands, but if I go there I'll have to pay attention to that! The south, pretty much from east Texas on through Mississippi, is the only area I've been in the US where most people might as well be speaking a foreign language. Then somewhere around Alabama I start to understand people again and by Florida I'm good, lol.

Anumaril

Other than Altmer, Dunmer, Bosmer, Khajiit, and Nords, everyone has an American accent in this game. Some individual characters may vary here and there, but that's broadly how it goes in ESO.

If anything it's really distracting how present the American accent is, but maybe that's just because I'm European so it feels weird.

Danikat

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I'm not sure what OP means by an "American Accent" since accents can vary from state to state in the US and sound very different. Heck, where I'm from in the north east, you can have a different accent just by living in a different city, and I'm sure regional variations exist in states across the nation as well. Someone from Mississippi, for example, isn't going to sound a thing like someone from New York, unless they migrated there.

A lot of these regional variations are spread throughout the game- they aren't "accentless" at all.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the parent company Bethesda is actually German based.

This isn't unique to America, I think it's the same all over the world. Maybe some very small countries only have 1 or 2 accents, because there's not enough space for regional variations, but they'd be the exception.

I grew up in a town of about 35,000 people in England and could tell which side of the town someone was from by their accent. It's roughly 30 miles from London and no one there would get mistaken for a Londoner if they went to the city because the accent is different. (There's also multiple different accents just within London.)

Even so, it's fairly common for people to say "an American accent" just like they'd say "a British accent" or "an Indian accent" rather than specifying exactly where someone is from, because that level of detail is often irrelevant and can be confusing since it's unlikely many people will know all the different regions of a foreign country. (Yes, even America. There's a few states I think most people have heard of, but only through TV and movies and things.)

Jamie_Aubrey

Ufretin wrote: »

As a non-native speaker I've always interpreted it like this:

• Bretons, Imperials, Redguards, Argonians, Orcs : American (with some exceptions, like Abnur Tharn, Varen: British, ...)
• Nord: Mix of American and weird German/Scandinavian accents
• Reachmen: Scottish/Irish (?)
• Altmer: British upper class
• Bosmer: British commoner
• Dunmer: in between Altmer and Bosmer
• Khajiit: Cats

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Khajiit I always thought as Russian/Eastern European
And Reachmen is Scottish

Dr_Con

I never knew that actors couldn't change their accents and that ZOS casting directors only hire foreign actors or actors from different periods in history. Wow, just wow.

RaddlemanNumber7

The English accents used and mis-used in the game provide me with constant amusement. My all-time favourites are the male Ashlanders who use "received pronunciation", the poshest of English accents, such as was used by the royal family and the BBC in the 1950's.

When I go to Willowgrove in Reapers march I always make sure to pay a visit to the Bosmer lady with the broken cart. Dear, oh dear, oh dear. What a mouth she has LOL

Jammy420

I heard quite a lot of different accents in places like orsinium, and Hammerfel, but could be misremembering. However, the two accents they usually use are the easiest for english speaking ppl to understand.

Jammy420

Jamie_Aubrey wrote: »

Ufretin wrote: »

As a non-native speaker I've always interpreted it like this:

• Bretons, Imperials, Redguards, Argonians, Orcs : American (with some exceptions, like Abnur Tharn, Varen: British, ...)
• Nord: Mix of American and weird German/Scandinavian accents
• Reachmen: Scottish/Irish (?)
• Altmer: British upper class
• Bosmer: British commoner
• Dunmer: in between Altmer and Bosmer
• Khajiit: Cats

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Khajiit I always thought as Russian/Eastern European
And Reachmen is Scottish

I was thinking this too, i couldve sworn there are more.

Holycannoli

Amottica wrote: »

With the Imperials seemingly modeled somewhat after how we depict ancient Romans it would make sense that European voice actors and actresses would be used heavily. After all, the imperials are at the center of this game.

There are only two acceptable accents for Imperials:





and yes I'm joking lol. I actually picture Imperials looking and sounding like Russel Crowe in Gladiator.



Not at all historic I'm sure but it works.

AvalonRanger

I'm man of far east. Obviously, not English native.
For me, when I see people who speak British or Scottish style,
then I feel something "fantasy" theme. "Oh, they came from Tamriel".

No offence.

By the way, why female dark elf NPC talk like British girl?

Monte_Cristo

AvalonRanger wrote: »

I'm man of far east. Obviously, not English native.
For me, when I see people who speak British or Scottish style,
then I feel something "fantasy" theme. "Oh, they came from Tamriel".

No offence.

By the way, why female dark elf NPC talk like British girl?

A big part of it is because western fantasy is usually based on medievil Europe, so European accents are used for the fictional countries.
Shouldn't redguards have Arabic or North African accents? They seem to be based on old countries from that part of the world. Turkish, maybe, from the Ottoman days? Or Persian?
Probably a latin accent for imperials, while I assume bretons are Normans, due to their English accents but French names.

old_scopie1945

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Kite42 wrote: »

Bosmer are Dick van Dyke cockney
Khajiit are halfway between Slavic like Russian or somewhere in the middle east. Purrrsia maybe?

- I'll get my coat ...

I used to call them Cockney, but I realized I don't notice them dropping Hs.

I was wondering why a lot of people called them cockney when I've always thought most of them sound like Devon colliding with Norfolk via Sydney, but I think it must be the tour guide, because she definitely *is* doing cockney/mockney (along with a few other characters) and it sticks. The others are, well, globe-trotting, and not always in a good way, but maybe the accents shift between the tree-dense wood elf zones and the slightly greener ones.

All I want is a tree somewhere
'igh above the 'igh elf air ...

(For me, right or wrong, the quintessential Cockney accent is the one from the commonly posh Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady. ... And if she'd gotten that film role as she should have, fewer people might have ever been subjected to *** ***'s accent in the film she made instead. )

https://youtu.be/yMNPD0MZD2I?t=47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZx1zKoNBx4

Now that takes me back many years to when I was still in my teens. Thanks for that, I enjoyed it.

Varana

On the other hand, breaking up the cliché associations of accents and cultures might make it clear that we're not on Earth, the the Redguards are not Middle-Eastern, and that the Imperials, while somewhat based on Rome, are definitely not Romans. Tamriel cultures, even the more obvious human ones, all combine traits and clichés of various real-world cultures, mixed with original ideas or fantasy concepts.

As an example, in the context of Tamriel, Imperials are the dominant culture, being at the centre of continent-spanning empires since that became a thing. As such, their speech could be seen as "normal" against which all the others are perceived as "accents". Giving them a noticeably "foreign" real-world accent contradicts their role in the fictional world.

So while it's sometimes hilarious how the Bosmer or Reachmen can be all over the place, sometimes narrowly avoiding caricature, it can emphasise the fact that they're fictional.

Warhawke_80

One thing I will give Zenimax is that in ESO having a British accent doesn't automatically make you evil...that's seriosuley bucking the current trend.

SilverBride

Another thing to consider is that there are multiple American accents. There are East Coast accents and Southern accents. Also Boston accents, Chicago accents etc..

wolfie1.0.

ArchangelIsraphel wrote: »

I'm not sure what OP means by an "American Accent" since accents can vary from state to state in the US and sound very different. Heck, where I'm from in the north east, you can have a different accent just by living in a different city, and I'm sure regional variations exist in states across the nation as well. Someone from Mississippi, for example, isn't going to sound a thing like someone from New York, unless they migrated there.

A lot of these regional variations are spread throughout the game- they aren't "accentless" at all.

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the parent company Bethesda is actually German based.

Bethesda was formed in Bethesda Maryland by americans. so no, its not primarily Germany based.

Xandreia_

Why does it matter?

Mascen

Ok i understand the need for regional consistency to an extent but let me ask our fellow ESO players across the pond in Europe this: If you had to stick with an X flavored accent for each race/region, what would you choose?

Northwold

Mascen wrote: »

Ok i understand the need for regional consistency to an extent but let me ask our fellow ESO players across the pond in Europe this: If you had to stick with an X flavored accent for each race/region, what would you choose?

Doesn't answer the question, but not Scottish, because the accents in that chapter were so astonishingly bad it came close to being unplayable (I ended up turning the sound off because it was like fingers down a blackboard). They need to stop specifying accents that are very, very difficult for non-native actors to do. Scottish accents (there are quite a few different Scottish accents) are among them, and famously so.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Jamie_Aubrey wrote: »

Ufretin wrote: »

As a non-native speaker I've always interpreted it like this:

• Bretons, Imperials, Redguards, Argonians, Orcs : American (with some exceptions, like Abnur Tharn, Varen: British, ...)
• Nord: Mix of American and weird German/Scandinavian accents
• Reachmen: Scottish/Irish (?)
• Altmer: British upper class
• Bosmer: British commoner
• Dunmer: in between Altmer and Bosmer
• Khajiit: Cats

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Khajiit I always thought as Russian/Eastern European
And Reachmen is Scottish

Khajiit generally sound Indian to me. (Minus the ‘this one’ verbal quirk of theirs of course.)

LunaFlora

Mascen wrote: »

Ok i understand the need for regional consistency to an extent but let me ask our fellow ESO players across the pond in Europe this: If you had to stick with an X flavored accent for each race/region, what would you choose?

impossible to choose honestly.
countries have dozens of different accents for their different regions and the tamriellic races dont all live in their homeland nor do they all grow up there.

for bretons from high rock sure you could choose accents from real bretons or brits or even french, all of course can have different accents depending on where they live.

to me it doesn't matter a lot what accent elder scrolls characters have. being consistent with whichever accents are chosen for regions is good though.

p00tx

Fun fact:

https://bbc.com/culture/article/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english

TaSheen

p00tx wrote: »

Fun fact:

https://bbc.com/culture/article/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english

Thanks for that! In our many years of enjoying Shakespeare at a lovely festival in the US desert southwest (every year from 1976 through 2018 - when we just were not able to drive so far any longer) we heard this from the linguists and actors - and while husband was uninterested, I was fascinated.

I miss my Shakespeare fix. But the drive is just too much, and our children haven't the interest (well, my daughter and SIL do - but living 6k miles away causes issues....)

In any case, AWESOME link!

Bethgael

Danikat wrote: »

kaushad wrote: »

This is common in the genre, even if it probably isn't true to medieval Britain, but most Men in ESO, other than Nords and Reachfolk, have American accents anyway.

I'm guessing that's the "accentless" English the OP refered to. A lot of people tend to describe people speaking with their own accent or one from their country without a distinctive regional dialect as 'accentless'. In practice everyone has an accent. Even recieved pronounciation which is the closest British English comes to an 'official' form is an accent, just not one anyone has naturally. (Hence the name - it has to be 'recieved' or learned.)

A lot of British actors will tell stories about auditioning in America and being asked to read lines "with no accent" so they put on the strongest American accent they can manage and then get told that was perfect.

Yes, as an Australian I had to laugh at "accentless". Everyone in the game has an accent to us!

Crown_of_Antlers wrote: »

I've often thought that some of the Bosmers sound Australian. In fact there's a male in Grahtwood who I can't listen to without thinking of Crocodile Dundee.

He's cockney'd. It's a common mistake, especially for US actors.

Re: Khajiit: they're all Puss In Boots, to me. You know, Spanish. They remind me very much of Jon Curry's Zevran from Dragon Age. (Curry actually voices the smexy Breton bloke from the Daggerfall Covenant*, so he's 2 for 2 for me ).

*Darien. I mean Darien. Sigheth.

Elyu

BaalMelqartu wrote: »

Not personally concerned about accents. They could all speak like a kiwi, Nigerian, Dane or Texan or a complete mixture. It's fantasy.

This is a non-answer. Fantasy setting - fantasy rules. Each of the races of Tamriel have their own ethnicity, architecture, clothing, culture, language and more. In order to make the setting MORE believable they should also have distinct accents, and they already do to an extent, see these replies:

Ufretin wrote: »

As a non-native speaker I've always interpreted it like this:

• Bretons, Imperials, Redguards, Argonians, Orcs : American (with some exceptions, like Abnur Tharn, Varen: British, ...)
• Nord: Mix of American and weird German/Scandinavian accents
• Reachmen: Scottish/Irish (?)
• Altmer: British upper class
• Bosmer: British commoner
• Dunmer: in between Altmer and Bosmer
• Khajiit: Cats

Correct me if I'm wrong.

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

BaalMelqartu wrote: »

Not personally concerned about accents. They could all speak like a kiwi, Nigerian, Dane or Texan or a complete mixture. It's fantasy.

My take is something like:

• Breton: Generic American
• Imperial: Ditto, but less likeable
• Redguard: Generic Black American
• Orc: Stereotypical "urban tough guy" White American
• Nord: Stereotypical Scandinavian
• High elf: Generic affluent British
• Dunmer: Generic educated British, a little less affluent
• Wood elf: Stereotypical less educated British
• Khajiit: Based on Russian or other Slavic accents
• Argonian: Based on American accents

Regarding the OP - if they themselves are American and yet don't seem to hear the very obvious American voice actors ('accentless English' LOL), I think that's their problem - although I acknowledge as an actor I am slightly sensitised to accents, I don't hear any voice as 'accentless' even if they are speaking in the same accent I do.

Also, OP - go back and listen to news recordings from the 1950s. "BBC English" (British news accent) and "Transatlantic English" (American news accent) were rather similar.

But ultimately I think this whole post will just confuse people as the OP is mixing up THREE different ideas in one thread:

1. Use of accents as part of Worldbuilding in fantasy
2. Historic American accents
3. The lack of Fantasy stories set in ~1600s America (or a high fantasy world inspired by that time/place)

thorwyn

Sorry for the tangent, but as a non-native speaker I am curious:
Why is everyone using the word accent to describe regional differences? Wouldn't it be more precise to call it dialects?
Someone from Germany might have a german accent, but someone from, let's say Kentucky, would still speak US English, just with a dialect?!

Elyu

thorwyn wrote: »

Sorry for the tangent, but as a non-native speaker I am curious:
Why is everyone using the word accent to describe regional differences? Wouldn't it be more precise to call it dialects?
Someone from Germany might have a german accent, but someone from, let's say Kentucky, would still speak US English, just with a dialect?!

From Google:

Accent
a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, area, or social class.

Dialect
a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

So accent is the way you pronounce words, whereas dialect is a variation of the language itself (e.g. Cockney Rhyming slang, Broad Yorkshire) or just a different way of wording the same commonly used phrase, depending on location.

Northwold

thorwyn wrote: »

Sorry for the tangent, but as a non-native speaker I am curious:
Why is everyone using the word accent to describe regional differences? Wouldn't it be more precise to call it dialects?
Someone from Germany might have a german accent, but someone from, let's say Kentucky, would still speak US English, just with a dialect?!

Dialect is effectively a variant of the language itself, not just a change in how the language sounds. Eg Tuscan is a variant of "standard" Italian with some completely different words and some completely different grammar (Florentine Tuscan became the basis for standard Italian but Italy is a good example of a country where there are a number of true, pronounced regional dialects).

thorwyn

Northwold wrote: »

thorwyn wrote: »

Sorry for the tangent, but as a non-native speaker I am curious:
Why is everyone using the word accent to describe regional differences? Wouldn't it be more precise to call it dialects?
Someone from Germany might have a german accent, but someone from, let's say Kentucky, would still speak US English, just with a dialect?!

Dialect is effectively a variant of the language itself, not just a change in how the language sounds. Eg Tuscan is a variant of "standard" Italian with some completely different words and some completely different grammar (Florentine Tuscan became the basis for standard Italian but Italy is a good example of a country where there are a number of true, pronounced regional dialects).

Yes, that's what I said basically and that's the definition I'm used to.
An American guy speaks French with an american accent, an American from the South speaks English with a southern dialect. But according to the google definition, that's not strictly true.

Also quite intersting, that using English accents (or dialects) works pretty well in Fantasy settings. Trying the same in German would create an epic fail.

Regardless, thanks for the input and sorry again for hijacking the thread.

Varana

Mascen wrote: »

Ok i understand the need for regional consistency to an extent but let me ask our fellow ESO players across the pond in Europe this: If you had to stick with an X flavored accent for each race/region, what would you choose?

An additional problem with that: Perception (and familiarity) with accents differ from place to place.
If you're a British native speaker and hear an NPC speaking with a German accent, your associations and perception of that would probably vary quite a lot from a German-speaker who hears that same NPC.
Non-native speakers might hear an NPC talk and sort that under "yeah, sounds Scottish", while someone familiar with actual Scottish accents would probably die of embarassment.
Or the other way around, a native speaker might hear an NPC and think "yeah, Eastern European", while someone from Eastern Europe gets confused because the accent is neither Polish nor Czech nor Russian but all over the place, or not close to how anyone would actually speak.

So maybe you'll get somewhere by specifying "across the pond in Britain (and Ireland)". But I'd guess that a lot of people - maybe even the majority - play this game in English but aren't native speakers.