Confusion Over Paddington Bear’s Accent Explained

He's covered in fur, looks great in a red hat and loves a marmalade sandwich. We all know and love Paddington Bear, but not everyone knows why he has a British accent.

It would be easy to overlook the matter of Paddington's accent - after all, he starred alongside a range of other Brits in the 2014 film Paddington, meaning his accent allowed him to fit right in. Or at least it would, if he weren't a bear.

Paddington wasn't born and raised in England, though, and in fact only starts causing chaos for the Brown family after travelling to London to start a new life.

This weekend, one Paddington viewer took to Twitter to raise the question of exactly why the bear has a British accent as they point out the creators of the film 'clearly show that he is born and raised in the Peruvian amazon'.

"If anything he should have a spanish accent. the fact that hes a talking bear doesn't bother me [sic]," they wrote, after explaining they had been watching the second film when this question came to mind.

The tweet received a lot of attention from other Twitter users and prompted many to brand the poster as a 'fake fan' as they pointed out the answer to his question is laid out in the first Paddington film.

watching paddington 2 and I can't figure out why paddington has a british accent. they clearly show that he is born and raised in the peruvian amazon. if anything he should have a spanish accent. the fact that hes a talking bear doesn't bother me

— Eric Adams Personal Aura Reader (@KrangTNelson) June 4, 2022

"Someone didn't watch the first Paddington movie," one person responded, while another commented: "Reading this and some of the replies is really exposing the fake paddington fans."

Thankfully one user came to the rescue with a detailed explanation, albeit accompanied with a bit of sass over the original poster's lack of knowledge about the beloved bear.

In their response, the Twitter user pointed out that the first film reveals Paddington's relatives, Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy, are discovered by a British explorer in Peru. The clever bears then learn to speak English from the explorer, resulting in the British accent they end up passing on to Paddington.

This is explained in the first film when Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy learn to speak English from a British explorer, which results in an English accent that is then passed to Paddington! Real PadHeads should know the LORE smh. https://t.co/OleqlgD12Z

— Mike Faist-y (@shelbyboring) June 5, 2022

Following their explanation, the Twitter user added: "Real PadHeads should know the LORE smh."

Of course, if we're going to start breaking down Paddington's accent we really should delve into the query of how the bears learned to speak in the first place.

They might be a new species, but as we currently aren't aware of any other bears who can verbalise their love for marmalade sandwiches, this is arguably the more pressing question.