lol, you mean the feeesh and cheeeeps you aussies eat? with your eskies and your sweeemers?

The prevalence of Canadians who teach English overseas and are often preferred for their relatively "neutral" accents, tells me that the average Canadian accent is neutral.

I love Canadian accents. Dunno why. Have to say though that 'neutral' to me would be elocution lessons in England. The English language comes from England, so if you're speaking English, then proper English as spoken in England should be neutral... Yes?

In England, I'm guessing that they teach RP (Received Pronunciation) in elocution classes. That's not an actual English dialect that people speak outside of TV, film, or stage, and since English is spoken in many countries, each country has their own "general" dialect of English that actors usually learn for performance (or that elocution classes teach... forgot that those still exist).

I did elocution as part of finishing school, and it had nothing to do with performance or acting (maybe debating, I guess), but I am fairly certain that the way actors are taught to use their voice is different to formal elocution. Think of how actors are trained to say the word "roof", for instance.

Edit: I hope I am not getting off topic. I'd assume that voice actors could be formally trained in how to speak to be easily understood as any other actors are?

Theoretically, yes, but the reality is that most people around the world hear English from American international media, which is often free of regional accents such as southern, Texan, Bostonian, etc. Most Canadians speak in such a fashion naturally, but we spell words correctly, resulting in us being the more "neutral" of the accents.

It's simple, Bethesda is American and in America anything not normal is British because the accent is exotic yet still understandable. It is far away removed from the norm to appear foreign. Dumner are not human, thus the British accent is the preferred voice.

Just look at other examples where America uses the British accent for this reason:

Game of Throwns - Fictional fantasy world
Lord of the Rings - Fiction fantasy world
New Battlestar Galactica series - Lead cylon (blonde female)
Sparticus TV series- The romans used british accents, the gladiators which we associated ourselves with had American accents

American companies use British Accents so that the American audience can feel immersed in a place that is foreign to them, but can still comprehend what they are saying. It has that otherworldliness for them. If they used a more local accent that they realte to everyday then the illusion is lost on them, which is a little saddening to be honest. No other nation has this problem, they can still get themselves immersed into a story without needing their hands being held from start to finish. America might be dominating the global TV screens but it is not the best by anymeans, America should go brave and break it's mould. Local accents can be handled easily by the audience if the script is good.

Wait... If OP goes by the name Maiq the Liar does that mean that the Dunmer are British..?

Project RVD, I think what you're referring to is a mannerism, as apposed to an accent. Those were definitely not 'British' (and again, you all really mean an English accent, there isn't really such a thing as a singular British accent, seeing as how Britain includes Scotland and Wales) accents in any of those shows you mentioned. The difference being a way of speaking against the way it sounds.

No, I mean British accents. Not mannerism. There have even been articles by CNN, BBC etc about the relatively recent rise in popularity of directors using British accents for this reason. Also, in the Game of Thrones they have all the British accents. South Welsh, Northern Welsh, Cornish, South East, Northern East, Midlands, Mancunian, Scottish and Northern Irish.

In Lord of the Rings the used Borders (very far south scotland), Northern Irish and English.

You may be right in saying there is no British Accent but only from one point of view, that you are judding all of Britain have a single accent. Whereas it appears to me and most other people that when somebody says "Why a British Accent?" it could apply to any British regional accent. As such Dwemner do indeed have a British Accent, just one that rarely exists anymore in the real public world. The Dwemner accent is upper class south east england upto the 1800's... or basically, snobby london lol.

I hope from your other post you aren't lumping in Lord of the Rings as an American project with English accents?
One of the conveniences of Game of Thrones is that it's filmed in Ireland to get the good exteriors, so the actors come with the scenery.

No, they have Dunmerish accents, It just happens to sound like our Earthly Australian accent.

It's a poor imitation of a cockney accent. Not a British accent

They actually sound like people this time not somebody who really tries to cough up their lungs and emote at the same time.

Well, it depends on what your elocution teacher was teaching. Any elocution teacher will certainly have to teach a standardized dialect of English, and my assumption is that a British teacher would teach RP.

Actors (well-trained ones, at least) are able to speak in a variety of dialects, but any classically trained actor in America will learn General American as well as Stage Standard (which is kind of like Trans-Atlantic) for Shakespearean work. Likewise, any American actor learning a general British dialect will most likely learn RP, Cockney or Estuary.

Unless it is some type of future, post apocalyptic fantasy world, I don’t want to hear my fantasy characters (in film or video games) saying things like “How all yall doin today?” The problem with using regional dialects from the United States to simulate medieval fantasy fiction is that there is no medieval history in the United States like there is in Europe. How is an audience supposed to feel connected with a story from a mythical past when the characters speak with a dialect that comes from a place that had no people of European descent prior to the invention of firearms?

Again, some of the dialects of the Southern U.S. are actually much closer to a renaissance English than any modern-day British dialect.

That may be true, but it is not a well known fact to most of the people who watch these films or play these games. So, it may not be immersive to most of the audience even if it is historically accurate. Also, most of the fantasy we are talking about is based on ancient or medieval society, not renaissance, which is a relatively modern period of time known for the advancement of science over arcane superstitions.

I would be interested to know, however, which Southern dialects are similar to rennaisance English?

One of the things I really liked about the smoky Dunmer voice from Morrowind was that it seemed totally made up and not necessarily based on any particular regional dialect.

Cockney?! They don't sound in the least bit Cockney

After spending an hour in the Corner club i like the Dunmer voices.

No, not really. The regions in Game of Thrones took inspiration directly from the UK, but I might be misreading into what you meant by scenery. Was it tongue in cheek? Anyway, Game of Thrones started as an American only series, if it failed then it would not have got aired anywhere else.

But here is on article about America using British accents and bear in mind it uses quotes from Americans, it isn't the British speculating the reason for the rise in use of British accents.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554816

I guess the cause of all of this is... Kevin Costner!

American accents, especially those in the South are based a lot on the English West Country accent.

And I read that Bethesda said that Bretons are based on the British.

The Dunmer sound like male versions of Adele, imho

I believe that it's Mountain/Appalachian southern, because Northern English dialects apparently still pretty close, and those dialects share a lot of common sound changes.

And we should all be thankful that fantasy doesn't base its dialects off of actual Medieval English, which would sound more akin to someone grunting while dragging a dog over a washboard.