Interviews Dubbed in Accented English

[grapefruit]

American news programs often air interviews with persons who do not speak English dubbed in an accented English. I feel that this practice is offensive and stereotyping people. Why does the dubbed voice need to have an accent? The only function that I can think of is to evoke images associated with accents, which are mostly negative.

It is hard to imagine Japanese news programs airing interviews dubbed in an accented Japanese, unless the point of the show is to create the atmosphere of foreignness like in movies, dramas, and other entertainment programs.

I heard someone saying that English actually consists of a wide variety of Englishes so that dubbing with an accent simply reflects the real world.

Do you think this practice offensive? I would like to hear opinions and feelings from both native and non-native speakers of English.

 

[Ashikaga]

It is offensive when the voice over is done by a voice actor who is consciously mimicing the accent. I am seeing less and less of this practice on the big network TV newscasts, though.

There are some instances, however, especially on local newscasts, the person who did the translation is also doing the voice over, and s/he is not a native English speaker, so the accent you hear is real.

I believe that it is done to "give some character" to the person. You see this mostly on human interest stories where the subject matters are very personal/intimate and thus call for dramatic presentations.

 

[bammbamm&pebbles]

I don't think it has ' demeaning ' motive,the programs just want a voice fits the profile.

A random thought,maybe the accented-bilingual is the same person does the translation for the interview.

 

[becki_kanou]

There are some instances, however, especially on local newscasts, the person who did the translation is also doing the voice over, and s/he is not a native English speaker, so the accent you hear is real.

This would be my assumption as well.

 

[Chidoriashi]

Yeah, I agree, my impression is that 9 times out of 10 the accent is authentic. And it makes sense for it to be, why pay two people for a job that one can do?

 

[Mike Cash]

The production crews are probably more likely to hire translators locally, who are natives of the target language, rather than fly in someone who is not. Hence the accents. Not that hard to figure out.

 

[Taiko666]

It is hard to imagine Japanese news programs airing interviews dubbed in an accented Japanese, unless the point of the show is to create the atmosphere of foreignness like in movies, dramas, and other entertainment programs.

I'm not sure about accents, but Japanese TV news and other programmes routinely subtitle non-native Japanese speakers in katakana, regardless of how well they are speaking Japanese.

 

[Ashikaga]

I'm not sure about accents, but Japanese TV news and other programmes routinely subtitle non-native Japanese speakers in katakana, regardless of how well they are speaking Japanese.

hmmmm.....no. They don't. Certainly not during newscasts.

 

[undrentide]

I'm not sure about accents, but Japanese TV news and other programmes routinely subtitle non-native Japanese speakers in katakana, regardless of how well they are speaking Japanese.

Never seen it myself.
Wonder which programme...?

 

[doinkies]

I've never seen a news clip/program where a non-native Japanese speaker's speech was only subtitled in katakana. Even if they had a thick accent it was usually subtitled normally. Not even all variety/talk/etc. shows do that.

There are some shows that have voiceovers for English speakers and other foreign-language speakers but they aren't accented.

 

[Mike Cash]

Never seen it myself.
Wonder which programme...?

Neither have I, but I rarely watch television.

Rendering foreigner's speech in katakana is sort of a convention in at least some sections of the manga industry, though.

 

[undrentide]

Neither have I, but I rarely watch television.

Rendering foreigner's speech in katakana is sort of a convention in at least some sections of the manga industry, though.

I agree with you about manga, sometimes (i.e. not always) they use katakana to show that the foreigners (in the story) speak with accent.

But it is quite another story from "regardless of how well they are speaking Japanese"; in case of manga, they use katakana to emphasize the speech with foreign accent.

*Note: emphasis in my above statement is not addressed to you, Mike.
Well, just in case...

 

[epigene]

I'm not sure about accents, but Japanese TV news and other programmes routinely subtitle non-native Japanese speakers in katakana, regardless of how well they are speaking Japanese.

I've never seen that either.

There might be instances of certain words or phrases written in katakana for emphasis or for some other purpose (such as the non-native speaker making extraordinary (or incorrect) use of the language), but I've rarely seen that either.

Most of all, subtitling in katakana is extremely difficult to read with speed. It is certain to trigger complaints from Japanese viewers. So, using katakana in subtitles is most likely to be reserved for very specific purposes.

Just my two yen!

 

[Taiko666]

hmmmm.....no. They don't. Certainly not during newscasts.

et al...

Wow, this is the first time I've been contradicted so thoroughly on JREF!

When I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and fresh from Narita some 5 years ago I watched hours of Japanese TV. On several occasions during news or variety shows I saw foreigners' Japanese speech subtitled in katakana, so I assumed it was the norm. It may have changed in recent years, but since in the last 3 years or so I doubt if I've watched more than a couple of hours of Japanese TV in total, I wouldn't have noticed.

BTW (off-topic) I do watch TV in Japan... but it's British TV piped to me across the net from my Slingbox in London. Japanese TV to me is just a garish source of irritation in the room, something to be ruthlessly swatted with the 'off' button on my remote. I still watch plenty of Japanese films though- the quality is infinitely higher.

 

[Azuma_Fujin]

I've routinely seen foreigners voices dubbed in a japanese voice on nhk. It's weird. And sometimes you can still hear the foreigner in the background. I'm trying to listen to both people's voices and not getting anywhere.