When someone is speaking in a foreign language on the news they usually dub it into English spoken by someone with a really heavy accent. Why is it they do this? I always think it sounds so funny when they do it.
Cuando alguien está hablando en un idioma extranjero en las noticias las doblan generalmente en el inglés hablado por alguien con un realmente pesado acentúan. ¿Por qué es ellos hace esto? Pienso siempre que suena tan divertido cuando lo hacen.
I have no idea what you just said. Just to clarify, my question was about the accent. Why not just have someone speak English in a normal way?
No tengo ninguna idea qué usted acaba de decir. Apenas para clarificar, mi pregunta estaba sobre el acento. ¿Por qué no apenas haga que alguien hable inglés en una manera normal?
I believe it is as simple as the fact that most translators they use have the language they are translating from as their first language and English as their second. That means they have a foreign accent. One reason for this is that English is the most popular second language in the world and American English speakers are not known for learning many other languages, especially the less spoken ones. Additionally, if the translation is coming from another country to be broadcast, it is much easier to find a local translator that speaks English rather than a native English speaker in that country that also is fluent in the local language. It does happen though.
To provide a non-obnoxious answer to the OP: Often, interpreters are not native-speakers of the language to which they are interpreting. E.g., a Spanish interpreter working for an English TV station in the US may come from a Spanish-speaking country. In this case, for obvious reasons, he would be speaking with the Spanish accent.
I recall that some news station was scandalized some time ago for telling an interpreter to really ham up the accent. Anyone remember that incident?
Lo siento.
Interesting, as usually interpreters do a better job when the language they are interpreting to is their native language. The reason being they are not only better at understanding their native language, but also they would be more familiar with recent evolution of their native language.
I don’t see anything bad in this. Imagine the awkwardness if Saddam were interpreted using a US Southern English accent? It would make sense for the interpreter to alter their natural accent to one that seemed more appropriate.
What I’ve heard of some outlets doing is having a translator write out the translation, then having a native English speaker read that translation. Eliminates the accent problem while still enabling a reasonably accurate translation.
Robin
Thinking about this more, I am not sure that the premise of the OP is correct. Obviously I know cases like the OP is referring to but I hear many translations that are done by what sounds like native English speakers.
For those that do have a strong accent, I believe why reasons given above are correct.
An additional reason, is that foreign public officials and heads of state often bring their own (native) speakers with them to public addresses. That is to ensure that what is translated is actually what was meant.
Usted estaba en un rodillo!
Opera’s built-in translator is quite handy btw.
Imagine the total lack of awkwardness if they used any one of the hundreds of broadcasting school graduates, trained in the received “regionless” broadcast standard dialect, that were within cat-swinging distance of them when they decided to pay an actor to sound “swarthy.”