Accents in place of foreign languages?

Now, I know this is sort of off-topic, but it also sort of goes along with the oft-suggested idea to give NPCs, or even our characters, actual recorded voice-over. It won't happen, obviously, but I'm sure if it did, many people would want to give, say, 5th Column soldiers horrible German accents, like every cartoon which featured Nazi ever did.

This is more a philosophical question, though, and it deals with the various language tropes around. Chiefly, with how non-native speakers will speak with a horrible accent, people supposed to be speaking in a non-English language will actually speak in English with a heavy accent and "fake" a foreign language, and how aliens never seem to have accents at all and often speak the Queen's English like they were born and raised in the UK. The question, to return to the point, is as follows:

How do you feel about English with a horrible accent standing in for a non-English language? That's as opposed to the alternatives, one being just using a foreign language audio, the other being using PROPER English with the handwave that they're speaking another language and it's just rendered in English for our convenience.

The reason I ask is because... Well, it INFURIATES me when I hear decent American actors trying to fake, say, an Italian accent because a game or a movie happens to take place in Italy. Case in point - I just happened upon a review of Assassin's Creed 2 (which is still not out for the PC ), and had an overwhelming urge to punch my monitor every time anyone so much as opened his mouth. I HATE this half-*****, half-way solution where people aren't speaking the language they're supposed to be speaking, but aren't quite speaking English, either. It's like a bad case of Allo' Allo', only it isn't funny. Come to think of it, neither was Allo' Allo'.

Now, I'm really not one to complain about these things. I'm a non-native speaker of English, and coming from a Slav country, I sound like Boris from Red Alert. No joke. But at least mine is a GENUINE accent AND I'm speaking English as a foreign language. The Italians in question were speaking English as though it were their NATIVE language, yet speaking it horribly incorrectly. Now that's just a half-way solution I can't condone.

And again, I CANNOT stress how big a role such a thing would play if we ever got any sort of voice overs. It's the one thing people always forget. And let's actually think about this for a second. Most gangs, like the Skulls, Hellions, Outcasts and even the Warriors would just sound like normal people, though I've no doubt someone's going to want to make the Warriors sound like they're Greek. The Family would be easy, as well - they'd just sound like 1920s gangsters. Baldy out of place in the 21st century, but close enough.

But then we start taking a walk on the wild side. There is NO WAY the Tsoo would avoid sounding like a bad Hong Kong movie dub. The Freakshow would likely get some kind of horribly hip speech to match the AWFUL leet speek someone thought was funny to give them. There is no way Nemesis soldiers will avoid sounding British aristocracy, and I'm sure someone will think it's funny to make Nemesis himself sound like Winston Churchill.

And I hate that. I really dislike how people use accents to denote language and paint people in a certain light. For instance, yes, the 5th Column are nazi, but they're also mostly Americans, and even Requiem would have had enough time to pick up proper English. So why do game developers and movie makers keep using accents in place of foreign languages?

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

While we are at it. Ever heard American Actors Butcher your German, French, Dutch, Russian etc language? Nobody in his right mind would ask me to portray a convincing American citizen the way I will mangle the English Language. So why do they think that an American is able to speak my language convincingly?

Gotta disagree with you on the AC2 point, Sam. Better to be half Italian-half english and accented than the stupid voice that Altair had in AC1. Which was simply freaking American. And they can hand-wave it (and do) as glitches in the Animus software. They are, afterall, working with a guy who does only speak english.

On topic...Voices would be cool. Agree with most of the examples you give, although I think with Council and 5th they would need to make, say, the bosses sound more German/Italian, while the normal rank and file would need to sound more normal and varied. Remember, the 5th and the Council both recruit from Paragon and do so all the time, so the intake would be pretty multi-cultural.

I imagine Nemesis sounding quite quiet, very clipped sylables with a slight echo. A bit like some of the Space Marines with helmets on from Dawn of War 2

Oh, and, on the subject of sound, ambient zone and mission music please.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I'd prefer the use of the actual language and subtitles over horrible accents.
I was very pleasently surprised at Inglourious Basterds for instance.
Horrible accents are horrible. Simple as that really.

[Imagine this read aloud in whatever accent amuses you.]

To Samuel Tow:

You, sir, have dredged up some rather unpleasant Challenge of the Super Friends memories, complete with the awful token "foreign" characters, such as El Dorado and Samurai.

Jerk.

I personally think that substituting an accent for an actual foreign language sets a bad precedent. I can picture someone going to a country like France without learning the language, and turning smugly to his companions. "Watch this, I'll take care of everything. I've seen enough movies to know how this works." *turns to Frenchman* "Excuse me, sir? Aaaah woud laaahhhk to gooh to zee houtel."

Why am I suddenly reminded of this fantastic scene?

Subtitles are my most preferred method. After that, a well-done accent. Then, as a very last resort...don't use those actors!.

Parts of the movie Judgement at Nuremberg would have looked downright silly if it hadn't had been for the seriousness of the content. I know they put a warning at the beginning of the movie, but a constant reminder in the form of an accent wouldn't have hurt. Of course bad accents would have ruined the whole thing. If you haven't seen this movie, you should.

I hate bad accents as much as Samuel. I've got a good ear (for an American), and Val Kilmer in "Ghost and the Darkness" made me want to cry with embarrassment for him. He'd just do the accent of whoever was talking to him...UGH!