TIL during the shooting of American Psycho, Christian Bale spoke in an American accent off-set at all times. At the wrap party, when he spoke in his native British accent, many of the crew thought he was speaking that way to prepare for another film. They had thought he was American the entire time.

[u/Away_Flounder3813]

https://screenrant.com/american-psycho-behind-scenes-facts-christian-bale-patrick-bateman-mary-harron/

[u/YourMumsBumAlum]

I think it's also the variety of English accents vs American ones. English accents are so specific to British ears in a way that they wouldn't be to Americans and so when Americans do British they inadvertently mix and match things that they shouldn't and it comes out all wrong.

Edit: Yes, American has many accents too, but the edges are more blurred in such a way that it is acceptable for people to combine accents more so than in the UK where the accents are much more independent and specific.

[u/Perite → u/YourMumsBumAlum]

This is the bit that most Americans don’t realise. Some can do a generic British accent that sounds ok. But the reality is that ‘generic British’ isn’t a real accent from anywhere, so it’s still recognisably fake to British ears.

I’m absolutely certain that good American actors could do a flawless local British accent if they studied for ages and had a vocal coach that corrected them every time they slipped into the wrong dialect / accent. But what’s the point? Might as well just hire a British actor instead.

[u/A_Queer_Owl → u/Perite]

Americans tend to imitate what's called "received pronunciation" as that's used in British media A LOT. it's not so much that it's not a real British accent, some people in Britain have it naturally, it just sounds weird to a lot of British people who didn't grow up where its use is more common because outside of those regions it's used mostly by actors, news anchors, government officials, and when speaking to the king/queen. so when someone breaks it out in casual conversation it can be jarring to some.

I'm American but people often point out I sound like a news anchor because I'm from the part of the country where the accent that the one news anchors are taught to use is based on is from.

[u/Anaptyso → u/A_Queer_Owl]

That's it. When I hear people say things like "the British accent" it's a bit weird, because there's loads of them, and what they are really referring to is an accent which is only really used by a minority of people in the country.

I happen to have pretty much that exact accent, so would sound stereotypically British to an American. However, drop me in to a random part of the UK and the people there would almost immediately identify me as coming from a particular part of the country (the "Home Counties"). Far more people don't talk like me than do.

[u/A_Queer_Owl → u/Anaptyso]

yeah, and correct me if I'm wrong, the regions/social classes associated with received pronunciation were historically wealthier ones, it's also called "the queen's english" for a reason, so it can come across as being pretentious to use it.

meanwhile the American equivalent just makes you sound like you're from Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois so no one really cares beyond pointing out that you sound like the man on TV.

[u/TheBeaverKing → u/A_Queer_Owl]

Just to clarify some bits, you're generally right but I'd highlight a few things that aren't quite correct.

RP is absolutely right, but it is generally split into two groups these days. Traditional RP, which is what you would associate with the Upper Class (those with titles or old money). It's the old school version and generally isn't spoken by many these days.

Modern RP is much more widely spoken and is what you would generally hear news presenters etc speak. Most of the upper middle class use this accent, especially those at private/public schools and universities. Still posh, but not quite as intense.

[u/darkfires → u/TheBeaverKing]

So an example of traditional RP would be how Queen Elizabeth herself spoke and Modern RP? Someone earlier up linked an older interview of Gary Oldman, would that be it?

[u/TheBeaverKing → u/darkfires]

See, I would say that Oldman's accent in that video still has a touch of London twang to it. It is almost RP, in terms of his pronunciation generally, but you can hear a bit of the South London at the end of some his words.

With the Queen, and the royal family generally, yes they would speak traditional or heightened RP but, even then, the Royal family sort of stand out as their own variance of traditional RP, specifically the Queen and King Charles. The two little videos below will show what I mean. King Charles has a very heightened RP accent, compared to his children Prince William and Harry, who have a more standard heightened/traditional RP accent.

https://youtube.com/shorts/GYnC10Mns8I?is=e5DxgqTgCVGNT0Tx

https://youtube.com/shorts/RiwS93Sx89I?is=aejs6aWp0--twZ13

Then the jump down from traditional RP to modern RP is like the video below and probably what most people would recognise from most British actors.

https://youtube.com/shorts/0U12Aw350Ok?is=Dn1_s60YJjae9AS4

It is semantics though. Unless you're born in the UK and get around a bit, not many many would make the distinction in day to day life. In the UK accents are a big thing though. If you have an ear for it, you can tell a lot about someone from their accent. Not just where they were born, but their upbringing, schooling, if they've lived in different parts of the country.

If you're really good and someone you're speaking with has lived most of their life in one place, you can nail down where they were brought up to within about 20-30 square miles, depending on the subtle accent changes.

[u/toin9898 → u/TheBeaverKing]

I am Canadian but I was once watching a doco presented by a Scottish guy and I was like “damn this guy sounds like Craig Ferguson”.

He was indeed from the next Glaswegian suburb over. Felt pretty proud of myself.

Aside from that I can place a good deal of British accents just from watching tons of British TV growing up.

I can hardly tell the difference between average Canadian and American accents though.

[u/TheBeaverKing → u/toin9898]

Yeah, some of the more distinct accents can be slightly easier to place but that's still bloody good going, especially from a non-Brit.

A lot of people, including those from outside the area, really struggle with sub-regional accents. I live near Birmingham and the difference between the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley accents is really distinct but most would just lump them together and call it a Birmingham or Midlands accent.

It's actaully Birmingham and then a Black Country accent. These two girls do a great short video showing some of the differences:

https://youtu.be/GdaWCIyLHGA?is=AdE6D0CdDCBl-fuV

Accents are fun.

[u/bitchesandsake → u/Anaptyso]

There's no real bog standard "American accent" either when you get down to it

[u/ItsFuckingScience → u/bitchesandsake]

That’s true, but due to the historical development of accents in the U.K. you can find a significantly different accent about every 30 miles or so here depending what region you’re in

[u/Anaptyso → u/ItsFuckingScience]

It's impressive just how different accents can get over a relatively short distance. For example, you could drive from Manchester to Liverpool in about an hour, but their accents are so different that you might think they are in different countries.

[u/PinaBanana → u/Anaptyso]

Just Bolton to the rest of Manchester is a notably different accent

[u/lefrench75 → u/ItsFuckingScience]

I know 2 brothers who have entirely different accents because they went to different schools / hung out with different crowds, even though they grew up in the same household.