Japanese with a Western twang, Scottish burr, & Swahili?

[Taro Toporific]

Arrg, the Japan Times doesn't explain how the fcuk this girl with New Mexico twang (accent similar to west Texas) in speaks Japanese so well that she can play Taketsuru’s Scottish wife who spoke Japanese well with a Scottish brogue. :roll:

American actress first non-Japanese tapped for NHK series lead
Japan Times | March 4, 2014
Corlotte Kate Fox was tapped Tuesday to play a lead role in NHK’s upcoming morning drama series “Massan,” based on the true story of Masataka Taketsuru, the founder of Japan’s whiskey industry.
With the selection, Fox becomes the first non-Japanese actress to play one of the main characters in the public broadcaster’s perennial, limited-run "Morning Drama."
Fox will play Taketsuru’s Scottish wife, Rita, in the series, whose 150 15-minute episodes will begin airing in September...more...

p2-massan-a-20140305-870x761.jpg

Corlotte Kate Fox
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5930731/resume?ref_=nm_ov_res
Accents: Scottish, Irish, British, Canadian, Scandinavian, Texan, New York (Brooklyn), Midwest, Southern, Cockney, Polish, French, Russian, South African
Spoken Languages: Swahili

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5930731/?ref_=nmmd_md_nm

Charlotte-Kate-Fox.jpg

[Taro Toporific]

Arrg, the Japan Times doesn't explain how the fcuk this girl with New Mexico twang (accent similar to west Texas) in speaks Japanese so well that she can play Taketsuru’s Scottish wife who spoke Japanese well with a Scottish brogue. :roll:

To answer my own question, CorlotteCharlotte Kate Fox could/will pull off speaking Japanese with Scottish overlay by using her skills with IPA (International PhonemicPhonetic Alphabet), singing ear, and MFA degree.

Resume
SKILLS:
Burp On Command CAVING (Intermediate) Dance (Jazz, Ballet, Modern)-Int/Advanced
Double Jointed (Able to move and make body into Drive Standard Car Horseback Riding (Western-Intermediate)
IPA Literate (Accents) RP, COCKENY, FRENCH, POLISH, REGIONAL AMERICAN Period Style Specialist (Edwardian/Victorian/Early 20th Century) Play Guitar (novice)
Proficient in Hand to Hand Combat (Film) Rockclimbing (Intermediate) Sing (Soprano)
Speak French (novice) Speak Swahilli (Novice)

New-Mex.jpg

[wagyl]

Taro is that Corlotte typo you, or did JT later correct it to Charlotte?


and pssst, Phonetic. And being able to read IPA is not such a useful skill for Japanese anyway, because she already has most of the skills, being used to reading the Latin alphabet.

[Taro Toporific]

Taro is that Corlotte typo you, or did JT later correct it to Charlotte?.

That's an IMDb.com spelling error: I just copy-pasted a header.

and pssst, Phonetic. And being able to read IPA is not such a useful skill for Japanese anyway, because she already has most of the skills, being used to reading the Latin alphabet.

Phonemic "Phonetic" is my brain fart.
IPA helps overcome the problems of pronouncing all the strange in-between sounds of Japanese "F"/"H", "L"/"R", etc. A good ear and solid IPA skills were part of secret to Meryl Streep's Polish in Sophie's Choice. (Streep's German with a Polish accent and English with an "off" German accent perfectly matched the way my grandmother sounded---My grandmother was shocked by how good Streep's accents were.)

[wagyl]

Taro is that Corlotte typo you, or did JT later correct it to Charlotte?.

That's an IMDb.com spelling error: I just copy-pasted a header.

Or was it rather from the body of the text of the article, which I suppose you also copied and pasted? Otherwise it looks like IMDB did a ninja edit on you.

and pssst, Phonetic. And being able to read IPA is not such a useful skill for Japanese anyway, because she already has most of the skills, being used to reading the Latin alphabet.

Phonemic "Phonetic" is my brain fart.
IPA helps overcome the problems of pronouncing all the strange in-between sounds of Japanese "F"/"H", "L"/"R", etc.

Granted being aware that there are a wider range of sounds that the human mouth can make than just what they have back in New Mexico will not go astray, but she will still have to get her head around intonation which is not recorded in standard IPA and also memorise a string of sounds by rote. Good luck there!

[Taro Toporific]

The upcoming NHK soap opera will seem to focus on the early years of Rita....when she arrived speaking no Japanese and was an engrish teacher.
In the aftermath of yesterday's press interview in Tokyo, Japanese bloggers have noted that she cannot/could not speak single word of Japanese.

The Japan Times | 2013/11/19 : For first time, NHK seeks Caucasian actress to star in morning drama
The story will be set in a time when whiskey was little known in Japan. The heroine will meet Massan, the son of a sake brewer, in Scotland, follow him to Japan and marry him at a time when international couples were a rarity. She learns the language and local manners, lives as a Japanese and supports her husband and his employees at the distillery he establishes in Hokkaido.
Spokeswoman Fujieda said NHK is asking domestic and overseas talent agencies to hunt for female candidates aged 25 to 40 who grew up in Western society...Experience won’t be a requirement, but someone confident in her singing is desirable, as Scottish folk songs sung by the couple will be a key element of the drama...more...

The Rita Taketsuru fan-club
Japan Times | 2010/11/28
January 1920, oblivious to the doubts and protests of their families, the couple paid a visit to the local register office and, in a simple civil ceremony, tied the knot. Ten months later -- via New York and Seattle -- Rita arrived in Japan.
The nation in which the newlyweds found themselves was very different from the one her husband had departed just two years before. The Japanese economy was mired in deep recession and Masataka’s managers were more interested in turning a quick profit with cheaply- flavored spirits than the complex process of making bona fide Scotch whisky.
Disillusioned with their change of heart, Masataka resigned from the company. Rita was unfazed by their sudden financial instability and she supported both of them by pursuing that time-honored profession for foreigners in Japan -- teaching English to children and housewives.
More...

Rita-and-beau.jpg

[Coligny]

Arrg, the Japan Times doesn't explain how the fcuk this girl with New Mexico twang (accent similar to west Texas) in speaks Japanese so well that she can play Taketsuru’s Scottish wife who spoke Japanese well with a Scottish brogue. :roll:

To answer my own question, CorlotteCharlotte Kate Fox could/will pull off speaking Japanese with Scottish overlay by using her skills with IPA (International PhonemicPhonetic Alphabet), singing ear, and MFA degree.

Resume
SKILLS:
Burp On Command CAVING (Intermediate) Dance (Jazz, Ballet, Modern)-Int/Advanced
Double Jointed (Able to move and make body into Drive Standard Car Horseback Riding (Western-Intermediate)
IPA Literate (Accents) RP, COCKENY, FRENCH, POLISH, REGIONAL AMERICAN Period Style Specialist (Edwardian/Victorian/Early 20th Century) Play Guitar (novice)
Proficient in Hand to Gland Combat (Film) Rockclimbing (Intermediate) Sing (Soprano)
Speak French (novice) Speak Swahilli (Novice)

My kind of girl...

Does she swallow too ?

[legion]

.Experience won’t be a requirement, but someone confident in her singing is desirable, as Scottish folk songs sung by the couple will be a key element of the drama

I trust they will be singing in Gaelic

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I trust they will be singing in Gaelic

I only hope they subtitle the Engrish