Racist Voiceover

A voiceover recording technique used in documentaries on A&E and the History Channel, in which the voiceover artist imitates the presumed foreign accent of the on-screen person whose words he or she is simultaneously translating. This is racist as well as demeaning and insulting to the person depicted, as much as to the voiceover artist. 1. It assumes that the person speaking would only speak English with a thick "foreign" accent if he or she spoke English at all. 2. It assumes that the viewer, besides being too dumb to read subtitles, is also too dumb to guess the nationality or ethnic origin of the speaker. 3. It assumes that the language spoken is so exotic no English-speaking translator could be found to translate it. 4. It tends to show all foreigners (i.e. non-English speaking individuals) as quaint and ignorant.