Dead Islands "Australian" accents (they're not Australian)

[Ghengis John]

snip

I played world of warcraft with 3 Australians in our late-night guild 2-3 nights a week for two years. And one of them sounded exactly like this guy. So, seriously. This is less an example of "ignorant yanks" as it is a matter of "nitpicky aussie". So the guy's from Queensland? So you wish he had your accent instead? Big whoop. This is tantamount to a southerner hearing a Boston accent and getting upset because "americans do not sound like that". Some do. I don't know if we think they all sound like that, but I know I don't.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Speaking as an Australian, those voice didn't bother me at all. Not necessarily common but at least it wasn't someone doing a really bad impression of an Australian.

 

[No_Remainders]

As an Englishman, I can just say you're getting it easy.

As an Irishman, I can just say you're getting it easy.

I live in England too, so everyone I meet seems to try an Irish accent 'for a laugh'. It is always awful.

As another Irishman, I second this post in its entirety (except I don't live in England, just been there a few times).

 

[legendp]

I have lived in australia my whole life and some of the fake australian accents done by american's, I can not understand. More than half I can barely understand and I live in australia?
so yeah, the fake accents can get annoying, why don't people just speak there native accent rather than stereotyped fake ones

 

[Apprentice88]

Actually the accents are pretty true to life, however the dialogue itself is what's clunky and is probably why the accent seems off;
I believe the problem here is more to do with the writing, American writers tying to write Aussie dialogue is naturally going to come out clunky, stereo-typical, and well colloquially incorrect.

For example in the Trailer one of the female protagonists says: "Time to Step Up Logan. Are you in the game or warming the bench?"

Bench-warming is more of a Yank colloquialism than anything else, and I've never heard anyone use that phrase outside of sports commentary and B-list Action Movie's.

 

[Apprentice88]

That's okay, most Australians and British have no idea what an American accent actually sounds like. Honestly, you'd all think we were from Texas, a really... rural part of Texas.

Trust me. We are flooded with far more than enough of your Media to know that.

 

[LongAndShort]

Yeah, those were some pretty shitty Aussie accents, but its nothing new, and they certainly aren't the worse I've heard. Shit, they probably got a few Aussie actors and told them to ramp up the Aussiness. The lack of swearing tends to remove authenticity as well.

Australians (actual ones) in foreign productions tend to sound weird. We (family and friends) reckon its because they're required to open their mouths, enunciate and talk slower. Seriously Australians don't move mouths more than necessary (keeps the flies out) and talk pretty fuckin quickly.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I do feel your pain since i sometimes can't stand someone putting on an accent they can't really pull off and i suggest just employing voice actors who have those original accents.

 

[SilentCom]

Yes, we "yanks" tend to like to over-emphasize accents. It's stupid and I get annoyed by it sometimes. Just look at the silly Russian accents in Red Alert 3:


On a different note, this is how the Russian language should sound in a video game:

 

[Graffetti]

To be honest, So what? Oh no someones voice isnt acurate, or the same to their birth place that doesnt mean its going to be terrible just deal with it.

 

[similar.squirrel]

I'm probably the only one here who noticed how awful the Hungarian voice-acting was in Halo:Reach. I mean, they got actors who didn't even speak the language to read the lines, and the result was predictably dire.
Doesn't really bother me, though. Games aren't known for their voiceovers.

 

[Mischa87]

Canadian here, you all get off easy on being mis-accented, the stereotypical "Canadian" accent, is actually only present in people from Newfoundland, not Canada wide... Also, Fargo was shot in Minnesota, which has a lot of Swedish people I think, that's THEIR accent, not ours. I've actually had people get violently upset when they hear my voice online, and not touting some ridiculous accent.

 

[lilmcnessy]

it sounds more like Australians imitating other accents.

 

[Dags90]

Also, Fargo was shot in Minnesota, which has a lot of Swedish people I think, that's THEIR accent, not ours.

Uhh, it's supposed to be the accent of Fargo, North Dakota. And the whole area has a fairly similar accent.

The popular conception of the New Jersey accent is in reality, largely restricted to working class Italians from Jersey City. Or guidos from Staten Island.

The accent is at least consistent with broader Australian stereotypes of being rugged outdoorsmen? Bogans are sorta rugged...

 

[Nieroshai]

"Hulloh? Caann yehr hier meh!" I cannot help but imagine that in a thick Scottish brogue. Honestly, OT, I have never heard very accurate accents in any game except American and British. People complain about Ezio's accent in AC2, but honestly Altair's accent makes him sound like he's from California as opposed to a middle eastern religious cult. Also, the accents in that were silly too for the French and Muslim characters. I don't complain about it though, a little cheese makes anything go down easier.

 

[DocMcCray]

Toki Wartooth methinks? (Dethklok)

Nah, but seriously the closest I've heard to any type of scandanavian accent would be from Wisconsin/Minnesota area. Lots of swedish/norse/finnish decent there.

As for an American accent that is usually really overdone, it is the southern accent. TV and movies like to really draw out the twang way too much. Unless you are really backwoods, most southern Americans make only have an accent on certain words. And even that is usually regional.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Next you'll tell me Australia doesn't mandate that "crocodile" be somewhere in a person's name if they become famous outside the country. Case in point:

Crocodile Dundee
Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin
Russell Crowecodile

You forgot Hugh Jacrocodileman, Nicrocodile Kidman, "Yahtzee" Crocodileshaw and undoubtably many others.

Best "Australian" accent I've ever seen in a game was Miranda from Mass Effect 2. Sure, we don't talk like that here in North Queensland, but I've heard Australians speaking like that before for sure.

Like anywhere else, there's a big mix of accents, generally dependent on the average temperature of the location in question.

 

[dls182]

Also, the idea of using the broad Australian accent isn't just an American thing, happens in British television as well. I'm remembering an pretty funny episode of Coupling.

Ha! I don't know anyone else who remembers that show, or that episode.

Hello? Brucie's Bar and Grill"

On topic, I think that the thing to complain about is the lack of balance in what accent is shown. If there is an Australian accent in a game or movie, it has to be the thick okker accent, not the soft more common one. That's what is annoying.

 

[GigaHz]

Reality? In my vidyagames?! Don't be ridiculous.

Seriously.

Now you're going to tell me that the Scottish Black Guy in TF2 doesn't sound like the average Scot, or that the Scout with the Boston Accent doesn't sound like the average person from Boston.

Stereotypes, every culture has them. Not always a representation of reality. Learn to deal with it, learn to love it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

For those of you who haven't been following dead island they released a new trailer in which a life guard with a tattooed face speaks a few words in an "Australian" accent.

Which is really kind of strange because, if memory serves, that face tatt is a Samoan design... and seeing as the guy speaking also looks somewhat Polynesian I'd have expected a more Samoan sounding accent not a Mt Isa cattlefucker accent.