Accents in Audio Versions of Books

[LWalshETAL at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 85727

In a message dated 11/22/03 6:02:13 PM, HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com writes:


> > Laura:
> >
> > In the German version of GoF, Rufus Beck gives Rita Skeeter
> > (Rita Kimmkorn) a very broad American accent, with insertions
> > of "Ya know," and an occasional American English word. It has
> > been interesting to me to speculate as to why. ...edited..
> >
> > Laura Walsh
> 
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> I wonder if it isn't just a case of running out of unique voices. With
> so many and such diversified characters, it must be very difficult for
> one reader to come up with distinctive voices for each character.
> 
> Remember, it's a lot easier to imagine a voice in your head than it is
> to vocalize it. I have a mental image of the voices of all character,
> but couldn't speak in any of those voices to save my life.
> 
> bboy_mn
> 
This strikes me as a bit odd.   In England, there are distinct accents
when you travel just a few dozen miles in any direction.   There have
been numerous posts about just how different each accent is.
Germany has this same distinction, if I recall correctly.   There are
plenty of different accents to go around, especially since Rita is
a woman and there aren't exactly THAT many major women
characters in GoF.   And why American?   Is there anything in the
books in English (or American, for that matter) to indicate that
Rita might be an American?   It gives the book a divisive overtone
that is very jarring to me, since I am an American.   If it had
been another German accent, say a Viennese accent or
a Swiss German accent, it would have been more in keeping
with the regional focus of the British/Scottish/Irish/etc. set of
accents.   

No, I couldn't do all of those characters either, but these are
actors, and very expert ones.   I would expect them to be able
to do a wide variety of voices.   

On another note, one of the better changes in translation
that I have found is that Voyages with Vampires is translated
as Abstecher mit Vampiren.   Abstecher is a wonderful pun,
meaning side trips, but also hailing from the root word, stechen,
which means to puncture, like a mosquito or, ta da, a vampire's
fangs.   

Laura Walsh    LWalshETAL at aol.com



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