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KindlyOlPornographer OP t1_it8zlhl wrote

Reply to comment by plebotamus in So I'm listening to Dracula on audiobook, and Van Helsing drives me insane. by KindlyOlPornographer

See now if they said that outright it would make more sense. Now that I know that I won't stop and decipher every sentence.

As it is, it comes off almost Biblical in that sentences are bizarrely constructed with odd grammar that makes you go "wait, what?"

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Griffen_07 t1_it9194h wrote

That does still come off a bit better than the cartoony American.

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David_Umstattd t1_it9lii2 wrote

The thing is Texans are really as cartoony as Quincy is. Right down to our accents being something we can turn on and off when we want to. Which is the kind of little detail that makes it clear Stoker based Quincy off of some real Texan he must have met once.

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N4_foom t1_itb3fmy wrote

A double post, in which both are positive karma? Usually one gets absolutely nuked. This is rare

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winepigsandmush t1_itc362q wrote

It's supposed to be cartoonish. Quincey deliberately lays it on real thick once he realises that it makes Lucy laugh.

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David_Umstattd t1_it9l8ph wrote

Show don’t tell. You show a person with broken English, you don’t just say “he had broken English” gives him a unique voice.

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KindlyOlPornographer OP t1_ita64me wrote

You can have a character mention in an aside that Dr. Van Helsing has a unique way of writing or speaking that takes some getting used to.

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plebotamus t1_it900qu wrote

I imagine it's even worse with an audiobook! Good luck.

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stuckondialup t1_itbevki wrote

The Audible version has Tim Curry as Van Helsing. It’s freaking awesome. The rest of the cast is great too.

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David_Umstattd t1_it9lrm8 wrote

The audio book is actually one of if not the best audio books ever written. It’s an unimaginable achievement given the several different narrators all sound distinct but are consistent for the most part in their voices for shared characters. Honestly it will blow you mind.

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WillSisco t1_it9mhcm wrote

>unimaginable achievement

This is somehow one of the most hyperbolic statements I've ever seen on reddit. You know this is not uncommon in audiobooks, right?

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David_Umstattd t1_itaoem0 wrote

You’re missing my point. It isn’t the multiple narrators. It’s the multi narrators that have consistency yet simultaneous uniqueness to the narrator.

So Mina Murray’s narration does a voice for Van Helsing that is the same cadence and tone as when Jonathan Harker’s narration does a voice for Van Velsing, but not only are both these voices consistant they sound unique to the respective narrators (Harker’s impersonation of Van Helsing vs. Mina’s) but this is also done for Harker’s version of Quincy, Van Gelding’s version of Quincy, Mina’s version of Quincy, Harker’s version of Lord Godalming etc.

It’s really amazing and honestly unnecessary but really adds to the cohesion as the multiple narrators can make the various characters easily get lost in the older English.

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MissTakeElley t1_it9ovxu wrote

Roy Dotrice narrating GOT...think I heard that was the most voices done in a different accent than any other audio book.

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RomeoTrickshot t1_ita93wp wrote

I am big into audiobooks and I think it's okay, probably on the weaker side tbh

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