krog Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6055 days ago 146 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Latin
| Message 1 of 5 14 July 2009 at 6:10pm | IP Logged |
Lately, I've been trying to find audiobooks for myself in German and my girlfriend in
English; and I want something that sounds good, especially if I might try shadowing
it.
For me, three examples of a 'good speaking voice' in English would be Richard Burton,
Derek Jacobi, and Michael York.
My German tutor has recommended Dieter Moor, Frank Hoffmann and Axel Corti to me for
German.
Does anyone have any recommendations/comments? I'd also be interested if anyone could
give me hinters for French - I remember looking at a French audiobook and my cousin
saying straight away, that the narrator speaks 'too correctly', and that I really
wouldn't want to be listening to any of that.
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JS-1 Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5989 days ago 144 posts - 166 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), German, Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic (Written)
| Message 3 of 5 15 July 2009 at 4:47pm | IP Logged |
I have an audiobook with Albert Camus reading L’Étranger, and I love the way he speaks.
Edited by JS-1 on 15 July 2009 at 4:47pm
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krog Diglot Senior Member Austria Joined 6055 days ago 146 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Latin
| Message 4 of 5 16 July 2009 at 4:34am | IP Logged |
turaisiawase wrote:
It is highly subjective what voices you like or dislike.
German:
Gert Westphal (Kafka, anything by him is very good)
Manfred Steffen (Andersen, Grimm, Mann)
English:
Jeremy Irons (Lolita)
Miriam Margolyes (Oliver Twist, Matilda)
Peter Whitman (Catch-22, Breakfast at Tiffany's)
Bonnie Hurren (The Bell Jar)
Cyril Cusack (Monsignor Quixote)
Cora McDonald (Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh)
French:
Anything published by Livraphone is very good, but it's probalbly 'too correct' for
you.
I liked the way Eric Herson-Macarel reads Le grand cahier by Agota Kristof.
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All of my favourites in English were/are 'classically trained actors', they're all
either Welsh or English, and men. Interesting, what processes might stand behind that
choice. Anyway, I'd have thought that they might sound 'too correct' to a lot of
people - but perhaps the real equivalent of what my cousin meant would be someone
still using real 50s RP and enunciating. I presume he meant something like that
about the CD I picked up, but I can't remember anything else about it. The one thing I
have listened to in France is 'Le Parfum', read by François Berland; I liked it, but I
don't know his background and I don't know French well enough to judge how he
sounds.
The only people I know (by name at least) on that list are Jeremy Irons and Miriam
Margolyes. Good call! I'll have to check the others out.
Edited by krog on 16 July 2009 at 4:48am
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tudwell Groupie United States Joined 5832 days ago 41 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Icelandic
| Message 5 of 5 16 July 2009 at 6:57am | IP Logged |
I don't know if he's made any audiobooks, but Morgan Freeman has a killer voice.
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