| When you think of Britain and the British, | | | | prefer to live outside of large cities |
| images of pomp, chivalry, royalty, tradition, | | | | scattered throughout the country. |
| authenticity, and power come to mind. To | | | | |
| some, the UK musters romance, dignity and | | | | The article also reported that a fifth of all |
| prestige, reminiscent of Jane Austen novels | | | | British people who live in the United States |
| or the strength, bluntness and grit of a book | | | | are living in the state of California with |
| by Charles Dickens. For others, perhaps it's | | | | only a slight margin living in metropolitan |
| fashion, cosmopolitan airs, trend setting | | | | Los Angeles and the surrounding area. |
| ways, stoicism, and dry wit. Whatever their | | | | Additionally, most British people living in |
| reasons, thousands of companies in Canada and | | | | America have American spouses. That's quite |
| the US are strategically hiring voices from | | | | a number, which makes even more of a case for |
| across the pond to represent their corporate | | | | British talent in the Americas. People hear |
| images. | | | | their lilting, distinguished accents and find |
| | | | them comforting and pleasing not to mention |
| Why is that? Let's look at some of the | | | | sophisticated. |
| reasons why some companies find British voice | | | | |
| talent more attractive to sell their product | | | | Surely if there are that many people living |
| or service. British voices are in the | | | | in the US and Canada, some of them are |
| mainstream and in most cases are respected | | | | personalities who are in the media or use |
| for their perceived intelligence and vocal | | | | their voice to make a living. Those |
| eloquence. | | | | individuals are seeking work opportunities |
| | | | and promoting their British voices as an |
| North Americans have always had a love affair | | | | asset and differentiator, offering refinement |
| with the British. Starting in the early days | | | | and exotic appeal. |
| of settlement in the New World and | | | | |
| confederation of both the United States of | | | | To sum up, here are the key reasons why |
| America and Canada, the British have played a | | | | people opt to hire British voices in North |
| major role in the development of the land and | | | | America: |
| establishment of policy, culture, government | | | | |
| and education. | | | | - Elevate their company status |
| | | | |
| The British, among other nations, principally | | | | - Help connect with people on an intellectual |
| the French, gave us a heritage and shared | | | | level |
| connections with trading partners. Tens of | | | | |
| thousands of these brave people opted to stay | | | | - Give perceived refinement to a product or |
| in this new found land to nurture, protect, | | | | service |
| and establish their own communities. | | | | |
| | | | - Tap into the sentimentality of people of |
| All loyalties aside, another aspect that | | | | British heritage |
| influences people to hire a British voice | | | | |
| talent is that many high profile celebrities | | | | - Differentiate themselves from standard |
| in Hollywood are from England, Ireland, | | | | North American branding |
| Scotland and Wales. If you stopped to think, | | | | |
| you could likely name at least 20 people who | | | | - Present listeners with subtle yet |
| hail from the UK in the movies. | | | | persuasive marketing |
| | | | |
| To illustrate, Scotland has given us Russell | | | | British voice-overs and what they embody are |
| Waters, Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor, and Dee | | | | very powerful without seeming salesy. They |
| Hepburn. Ireland has yielded Peter O'Toole, | | | | establish and engage. British voice-overs can |
| Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, and Colin | | | | be elegant, heroic, strong, graceful, jovial, |
| Farrell. Wales has given us Catherine | | | | quaint, condescending, posh, school masterly, |
| Zeta-Jones, Ioan Gruffudd, Richard Burton, | | | | didactic, forceful, and influential among |
| Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Christian Bale. | | | | other adjectives. |
| England, perhaps the most generous of them | | | | |
| all for celebrities, produced greats over the | | | | The dialects in Britain are numerous with |
| decades like Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Julie | | | | each nook and cranny possessing their own |
| Andrews, Dame Judi Dench, John Cleese, Helena | | | | twist on the Queen's English. If you went |
| Bonham-Carter, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley | | | | from one end of the nations capital to the |
| and more. | | | | other, you will be exposed to several |
| | | | completely different dialects; such is life |
| A statistic published on January 27th, 2007 | | | | in the bustling city of London. |
| in a British newspaper states that there are | | | | |
| currently 678,000 landed immigrants from | | | | While it is true that other accents embody |
| Britain living in the United States today. | | | | those attributes, somehow (likely due to |
| This is merely a conservative estimate. | | | | shared heritage and the entertainment |
| | | | industry), the British manage to pull them |
| In the most recent US Census (2000), there | | | | off with a more universal style, making them |
| were 824,000 citizens of British birth living | | | | citizens of the world as well as the lands |
| in the United States, the majority of which | | | | from which they came. |