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Just remember that Brad was taught to speak Patois by the legendary Jamaican actor Lois Kelly Miller so he didn't have much time to learn to speak the lang but it IS BETTER than his Italian in Inglorious Basterds 🤣

Excellent video. Exactly the sort of deep dive I’ve been looking for

I thought it was cajun

I don't think I've seen a reaction video that missed the point so clearly. He wasn't trying to sound Jamaican. When I go to Mexico or Germany I don't sound like I'm from Mexico or Germany.... but I am communicating with the local population just fine in a language foreign to me. Joe Black's native language would be Enochian... I wouldn't expect it to sound like native Patois, just as I wouldn't expect you to sound like an Angel.

Is Jamaican a language or an English dialect?

Your analysis was interesting and fair without being condescending of someone trying to do a good job. Thank you for filling in the linguistic blanks for we non Jamaican folks. Your comment about minority languages was interesting because the same lack of accurate vocal coaches happens when people try to learn Scottish regional dialects e.g. Mike Myers Scots accent shifts all over the country which makes it sound false to a native speaker, but still a good attempt.

Do you know the profession called ACTOR? HE WAS ACTING

I've never seen this movie and I saw this scene and laughed. I thought it wasca joke or a comedy. Because even to my totally western southern California ears it sounded like a bad caricature! But after watching again I see it as a very sweet scene, but it threw me at first!

I think you are missing the point. You have a Supernatural Spirit roaming around in the Flesh suit of an American man speaking a language the spirit knows but is not only foreign to his flesh suit but his current flesh suit has never spoke this language. You have death trying his best to manipulate his current flesh suit to speak. Had death been in a fleunt speaker of the language henwouls havebeen able to manipulate better.

If his skin color wasn't white nobody would care.

Minority is equivalent to non white? How? Out of the total global population, about 16% are white. Now that's something you know.

As Southerner (Southern US) I know what you mean about Hollywood and their caricatures. They mess us up all the time. You’d think every astronaut was born in the south.

However it was and still is a wonderful movie

I watched this movie last night. I have a lot of issues with it. And even though I'm not Jamaican, when he started to do the accent I almost turned the movie off. It was just sort of silly. I decided to go ahead and go with it, as it was already established he sounds like the people he's talking to. There are a lot of review on YT saying this movie was very deep but the writers seem to have strived to stay away from deep topics at every turn. There was a lot of potential to this idea and they screwed it up royally, I think they were afraid to speak of God and Christ....

I did realize Jamaica had a language and not an accent. do other Caribbean islands, like say, barbados have a language and not an accent as well?

Does anyone really care how he spoke?! He was understood by everyone watching….which is most important!

But his character is Death, out of this world. So when he speaks English, he also speaks in a weird manner - I think it is supposed to be like that.

I can imagine that they had him working with a dialect coach for months to make it sound good enough for an English speaking audience, but they didn’t focus on making sure what he said made complete sense.

I'd say you're actually being way overcritical. Pitt is not a linguist, or even that educated. He probably only had a few minutes coached by her to fix the mistakes the writers made with the lines. Plus he would still need to be understood by the viewing audience, which means that he couldn't have been TOO authentic. The most important part, there would have been no CAPTIONING for these lines in the original airing. When this movie came out, captioning wasn't common place like it is today. I'd say this: if she gave his lines the nod after coaching him, leave it be.

As a Jamaican he did really good. You’re just nitpicking small things.

You got it girl!!😂

They had a linquist on set to teach him not like he knew beforehand the correct dialect.

Thank God I am not Jamaican and have to worry about his pronounciation. That movie and his performance were one of a kind. Even without subtitles most viewers understood what they spoke about. Probably the pronounciation was 60/40 (Jamaican/English) but a genius way to make all viewers understand. Lady, I'd like to watch you do some ice skating for just two minutes - especially if you never tried it before. So cut it out your critism pls and spare me your facial disapprovals.

As what you say, for us non English speaking but know the language, it doesn't matter how Brat Pit ( the devil) speaks it is the intention of it alright. It was a great film and looking forward to watching again.

Look at all these people telling a black Jamaican doctor who studies language who is from Jamaica that Brad Pitt sounds perfectly passable. I can't take people seriously anymore. Now let this woman been white and Irish and Pitt butchered the language everyone would have agreed.

When you look like Brad Pitt, you can pronounce words any way you wish.

You are to educated to the point that you lost in your translation. Brad Pitt did a wonderful job as a non Jamaican and it terrific that Hollywood futures the Jamaican culture more than any other island. I am speaking as a West Indian who’s not Jamaican. Give the man nuff praise for his roll. Less criticism more praise.

From the point of view that he is an actor and not Jamaican....he did pretty good.imho

Hi. This is my first visit, but I'll be back. I found this show to be wonderful. I thought Brad did a very good job.....but!!!! What do I know? lol Your presentation was very illuminating. Thank you.

My favorite quote on Jamaican language was from Natasha Saad, a Reggae artist: "It's like candy in my mouth"

I really appreciated your explination of what is right and wrong with these 2 sense. A gentle suggestion: Please consider adding to this video or adding a second video. Run the scene again but replace what Pitt says with what should be said. I don't know why but I love hearing this accent/language! It sings to my soul!

Jamaican accent is my favourite in the world!

when you should feel honored that your backwater bollocks culture is even included you decide to criticize it lol i wonder why yall kill each other in record numbers huh

I agree, however this is true for all actors that act in a language that is second to them or they never knew at all before the truth. Some actors pay for their own linguist, and do better.

And in case we need to say it a thousand times and a thousand times more, because we really can't repeat it enough: "Jamaican. Doesn't. Have. INFLECTION." Thank you @YaadPikni.

As much as I admire Denzel and Robert Townsend, watching them in Mighty Quinn was painful. Brad did a much better job.

He did pretty good for a non native speaking celebrity that was only doing it for a roll that demanded him to be obviously not of human origin and supposed to be mysterious with a touch of spooky unease.

I love linguistics and phonology. I feel embarrassment when people I know here in California put on a cartoon-like "reggae accent." They think Jamaica is all about reggae, and many of them only know Bob Marley. They put "mon" and "irie" on everything. I worked with Jamaicans (all of African descent) at my software company, and I have heard at least three dialects of Jamaican English. One woman sounded like she was right out of England. Another spoke with a bit more local rhythm and word and sentences stresses. Neither were in any way associated with Rastafarianism. I've heard others sound more like Desmond Dekker in "Israelites" and the woman in the featured video.

Ok? Just like the way you speak English...you have an accent on almost every word you say. Why would it be any different for an English speaker to try to speak Jamaican? I notice the same thing with other languages. If anyone tries to speak English, it's not polite to mention them having an accent. But when a white person tries to speak any foreign language, people act shocked if it's perfect and laugh and criticize when it's not perfect. How is this not discrimination or racist? I don't understand.

He is a white guy from the Midwest please...

I'm into linguistics as a hobby and I am aware that like 90% of Americans doing accents is FLAWED...lol... Even when they do accents from other American regions, like the South, it's almost always flawed. People think they sound amazing because it just sounds very different but that doesn't make it accurate....lol...lol.... As a rule of thumb, just know that when you're hearing an American doing an accent, it's probably flawed😂

This is the worst video you could do just ignorant. It’s a movie. He is an actor very good actor portraying death. For that scene I think he attempted to make the lady feel more comfortable and spoke with the Jamaican accent. To be honest he sounds more Jamaican than you. Who requested you do this video ? I hope you did this video in comedy fashion, you failed. Not funny. Are you Jamaican or just creating content?

you should react to snow informer

I'll give him this, he was better than a lot of Americans. I'm not saying he was good, at all. I've seen comments where Brad Pitt was praised for his patois, but it was hard to listen to when you actually speak it. Another example is the villian in Cage....very hard to listen to his dialogue without cringing. I mean, when Brad Pitt played the "pikey" in "Snatch", I thought his accent was perfect.

Danggit...makin me want to call a ex just to her that accent 😂

so long to get to the point

Being Irish I have cringed time and time again at how lazy and sloppy Irish accent attempts are in Hollywood. They really dont care, to Americans it sounds ok so they dont see a problem. Most are genuinely offensive charicature and the are ALWAYS red headed, wearing green and acting like superstitious bumpkins and simpletons

Yeah, this isn't the first time Brad gave a spectacularly strange accent performance.

Very funny, because the old lady speaks Papiamento because she comes from Curaçao and Joe Black answers her quite well. So what the .... Jamacia?

Interesting video. Hollywood does it again. lol!