Is Capaldi’s Accent Causing Issues?

The Guardian are reporting that Peter Capaldi’s Scottish accent is proving troublesome for some viewers, particularly those overseas.

They cite a number of viewers, mostly American, who say they are having to use subtitles or rewind scenes to understand the latest Doctor.

A US based speech and dialect coach, Patricia Fletcher, gave her opinion on the matter: “I do not believe it is purely the accent that is throwing off the American audience. The actor often speaks very quickly, with a staccato rhythm and without enough attention to articulating through to the end of his thought/line.

“This does promote a character choice of Doctor Who being sharp and quick-thinking, but does not help us understand what the Doctor is actually saying/thinking.”

British linguistics expert Prof David Crystal thinks it is not just isolated to overseas viewers: “There was the odd moment when I struggled to hear exactly what he was saying, so I don’t think this is exclusively a US problem.”

“It’s not just a matter of accent: speed of speech and volume are factors too, especially when there’s a lot of background noise. A mild Scots accent seems to cause no problem (think Sean Connery), but broad accents may need subtitling (as in Trainspotting).”