John Barrowman

[ladsnet]

He's a bit strange though.

When he's in Scotland he talks with a Scottish accent. When he's in the US he talks with an American accent.

[Jwb52z]

It helps that he's an actor, but he does have Scottish family as well, so he should be able to do the accent when he wants and even by 8 years old, he would have developed a natural accent before his family moved to the US.

[Heinrich]

It's called code-switching and we all do it.

[Parsifal]

He's a bit strange though.

When he's in Scotland he talks with a Scottish accent. When he's in the US he talks with an American accent.

I think Americans would like a Scottish accent.

[Kev]

He's a bit strange though.

When he's in Scotland he talks with a Scottish accent. When he's in the US he talks with an American accent.

I think Americans would like a Scottish accent.

It might be hard for an actor looking for work in the US. It would limit the roles he could play.

[Heinrich]

And depending on how thick the accent, whether we could understand a feckin thing.

[Parsifal]

It might be hard for an actor looking for work in the US. It would limit the roles he could play.

I can't think of any names at the moment, but I've seen interviews with actors who on screen had perfectly normal American accents, but in interviews had a very strong foreign accent.  I saw one such interview recently and was surprised at what he sounded like with his normal accent, but can't remember who it was.

And depending on how thick the accent, whether we could understand a feckin thing.

One year I traveled around Scotland quite a lot (south to north, east to west including the island of Skye).  Surprisingly I didn't have much trouble understanding people (unlike in England).  The only major city in Scotland that I missed was Glasgow.  Maybe that's where the troublesome accent is.

Come to think of it, some years ago I saw a film that was filmed in Scotland and had English subtitles.   I must have missed that part of Scotland.

For many years I had a dance coach who was from Scotland (she said the southern part) who had a lovely accent.

[ladsnet]

It's called code-switching and we all do it.

No we don't. Not to that extent anyway.

And I'm not talking about acting. Of course actors can do accents. I mean off-screen.
Its odd.

[Heinrich]

It's called code-switching and we all do it.

No we don't. Not to that extent anyway.

And I'm not talking about acting. Of course actors can do accents. I mean off-screen.
Its odd.

Yeah, and I think Barrowman is the kind of extra that would totally switch accents. Christian Bale did it in interviews for the first Batman because the character is so iconic in America or whatever. I'm not saying it's reasonable but people do it. Some kids who grow up between two split parents of different backgrounds switch accents, too.

[Jwb52z]

I've heard other actors do the switching before, but some of them, like Gillian Anderson, do it depending on who she's talking to in an interview and not just country to country.

[Icart Cruiser]

Can't stand Barrowman, he's so full of his own self importance.