Changing Accents

preilly79

Pen1987 wrote: »

Bloke I know went to America with a Dublin accent and came home with a Kerry accent. Work that one out.

When he was in america he realised that he had a very middle of the road accent that nobody identified as Irish, and in an effort to be noticed as Irish put on the Kerry accent? That, and american girls love strong Irish accents and he was dying for a shag

I spend an awful lot of time in america and I've only been asked once or twice.

dlofnep

I think it depends on the person.. Some people are very nervous socially and like to fit in, so I think they sub-conciously slowly alter their accent to fit the surroundings.. I mean, that's how you get your original accent anyways.. By just listening.

My uncle moved to London when he was 18 and is about 56 now. He's lived there for nearly 40 years of his life but still has a mucky Waterford accent. At the same respect I've seen people lose their accents in London in a year.

An Fear Aniar

It depends what accent the voices in your head use. You know? The voices....


.

Latchy

My sister ,like me is Irish ,has lived in Hollond over 30 year and even speaks her English with a Dutch accent which to me is always a bit weird

Michellenman

I pick up accents quite easily, quite embarrassing especially when I was younger not so much now.

A girl I went to school with had such an American accent it was unreal. She'd never lived in America, had any close American relatives, she'd never been there even. People used to assume she was American and she'd correct them and wonder where they got the idea from.

There's a Chinese girl I work with who says things like ''What's da story?'' and ''yeah tanks boss'' but I suppose they're colloquialisms more than anything.

chosen1

Ever notice that teachers teaching French often speak English with a French twang. know a good few examples of this

Latchy

i do know of one Liverpool girl who worked in a Dublin bank for several years and I assumed on meeting her she was a dubliner ,she had picked up the accent so well .

dlofnep

Michellenman wrote: »

I pick up accents quite easily, quite embarrassing especially when I was younger not so much now.

A girl I went to school with had such an American accent it was unreal. She'd never lived in America, had any close American relatives, she'd never been there even. People used to assume she was American and she'd correct them and wonder where they got the idea from.

There's a Chinese girl I work with who says things like ''What's da story?'' and ''yeah tanks boss'' but I suppose they're colloquialisms more than anything.

lol i work with a girl who i assumed was american.. i asked her what part of america she was from one night at a staff party.. Bad question!

stovelid

dlofnep wrote: »

lol i work with a girl who i assumed was american.. i asked her what part of america she was from one night at a staff party.. Bad question!

Was she from South Dublin?

Xiney

I'm French Canadian, and French is my first language.

When I was little I went to special classes to get rid of my French accent when I spoke English. It didn't really get rid of my accent - I just learned to imitate the Canadian English accent.

Problem is, if I'm surrounded by another accent, I start to pick that up. Can't tell you how many times I was in a taxi in Montreal with a middle eastern driver and I had to serioiusly work hard to not speak in his accent lest he think I was making fun of him.



Essentially, I'm a parrot.

dlofnep

stovelid wrote: »

Was she from South Dublin?

lol waterford surprisingly.. as soon as i asked if she was american, she put on her strongest possible scanger irish accent. hilarious

miaowchi

I grew up in London... moved back to Waterford about 14yrs ago. Funny now though because i have a mixture of a London, Waterford, Cork (went to college 5yrs down there) and Bray (worked for a short while there).... as you can imagine its a strange accent many have said 'Cant work out where your accent is from' 'Are you Australian' 'Are you German' etc etc..

topper75

Two words:
Self, esteem.

DublinWriter

Blisterman wrote: »

Do people purposefully change their accent? Are some accents easier to keep than others? I've never known an American to lose their accent.

I think unconsciously they do so in an effort to fit in.

A lot of my uncles moved to London in the 60's from Drimnagh in Dublin. These days they sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, I can sort of see the reasoning it in though as to be Irish in London in the 60's was a very unpopular thing.

I bore that in mind when I moved to London myself for a couple of years and made a conscious effort not to affect the accent. I ended up arriving with a reasonably neutral Dublin accent and came back home sounding like an extra from "Darby O'Gill and the Little People".

I struggle even harder with my accent back home in Dublin; I find my accent changes a lot if I'm doing occasional VO work, doing interviews, phoning my dad or shouting at the dog.

entropi

One of the uncles on my mams side has lived in England for over 40 years, yet still speaks like the Tipp man he was, whereas on the other hand, an aunt on my dads side has lived in the U.S. for over 40 years, and speaks like one of them.

Stuff like that just happens i think...some people take to it, others do not.

Xiney

topper75 wrote: »

Two words:
Self, esteem.

I don't think it's a question of self esteem for everyone. Certainly isn't for me.

I lived in Kerry for 10 years but still have a strong Dublin accent. But someone I know who was born in London moved over to Dublin in 2003 and now has a posh Dublin accent. I also know several English people in Kerry who have caught bits of the Kerry accent... "shlow" for example.

I'm not sure what causes it but it certainly didn't affect me.

buynow

I wonder has it anything to do with how much you like someone.

Similar to how people mimic the body language of someone they like when talking to them.

So if you are in England and spend your time talking to English people you like, you get an English accent, but if your friends are Irish and you don't get on with the English people you interact with, you keep your Irish accent.

Jigsaw

I lived in Manchester for 3 and a half years and my accent didn't change a bit. At most I might have used a bit of slang, like making a brew instead of making a cup of tea etc.

midgetflynn

I was born in London and moved over when I was 4,mother has an English accent which I don't really here(prob cos I'm used to it),father has an Irish accent. I lived somewhere that I consider doesn't have a distinct accent (though if I was to give it one it would be Limerick due to it's close proxcimity) and maintained my English accent to a certain degree. I then moved to the West, kept some of English accent but now say things in a 'country' accent, sometimes on purpose, sometimes without realising. I now go to college in Cork and find that I have a few Cork lilts in my voice when I speak. Most people can't place where I'm from,I was in England the other week and someone thought I was American. I think it just depends on the people around you

Dord

dlofnep wrote: »

lol waterford surprisingly.. as soon as i asked if she was american, she put on her strongest possible scanger irish accent. hilarious

Actually, there's a boardsie from Waterford with an American accent.
Not gonna mention their name but they told me that they had elocution (sp?) lessons from an American when they were younger to get rid of the horrible Waterford accent.

dlofnep

Dord wrote: »

Actually, there's a boardsie from Waterford with an American accent.
Not gonna mention their name but they told me that they had elocution (sp?) lessons from an American when they were younger to get rid of the horrible Waterford accent.

Good jaysus.

rainbowtrout

I'm from Limerick but I've been living in Roscommon the last 8 years and the accent has definitely rubbed off a bit. I teach so I'm listening to country kids all day long, so it was bound to happen, having said that when i'm giving out, it's pure limerick that comes out

Had an examiner come to the school a couple of years ago. He was from Cavan but his mother was French and they had spent a couple of years living there, so he had a cavan drawl with a french twang. It was the most bizarre, fvcked up accent I have ever heard.

I pick up accents really easily. Lived in England for 3 years as a kid and my accent was 100% english. Sometimes I'd still say certain words in a really english accent without thinking. Same thing with an american accent when I was there for 2 months.

Blisterman

buynow wrote: »

I wonder has it anything to do with how much you like someone.

Similar to how people mimic the body language of someone they like when talking to them.

So if you are in England and spend your time talking to English people you like, you get an English accent, but if your friends are Irish and you don't get on with the English people you interact with, you keep your Irish accent.

Well, the vast majority of my friends over here are English, and I've never changed my accent, so I don't think that's true.

buynow

Blisterman wrote: »

Well, the vast majority of my friends over here are English, and I've never changed my accent, so I don't think that's true.

Maybe you're the alpha male

oztots

Once upon a time i was an aussie.

I moved to galway when i was 12, had the accent down to a t when i was 15, went to australia after the junior and i came back an aussie again.

Then it was irish, and country galway, i think i did it so that people would understand me. I cant pretend to have an accent, it just changes over time. My 2 brothers aren't half as bad, but they've stayed in Ireland since we moved.

My accent is currently very neutral, people wouldnt know where i was from until i tell them, thats mainly due to being in germany for too long and having to speak slowly and clearly. Whenever im on the phone to parents or friends im straight back to thr west accent.

Funniest i seen was a german girl im living with now, she lived in belfast for a year. First time i met her i thought she was from belfast! After a while talking to her (over months) her accent mellowed to very neutral, then her friends from belfast came over for a week and she was from norn ireland again!

Snowie

latchyco wrote: »

.

Yeah , like remember Jan Molby at liverpool , jeeze ther was no way you would have thought he was a Dane .

Yenowarrameen loike ?

My two kids have mainly scouse accent , not to harsh with a tint of Dublin in it to

I do indeed my scouse/parcell tounge is not what it once was


thats brings back memorys...

scouse/ dublin can you understand them your self ? :P

ashyle

My accent is quite flexible too.. Depends on who I'm talking to. I think its because of the languages i speak - I can quite easily go from french to italian or spanish, and adopting the accent always made it easier to learn them!

Also when I fly, jet lag makes me hoarse and I sound like I'm from Roscommon or something

Latchy

Snow-Monkey wrote: »

I do indeed my scouse/parcell tounge is not what it once was


thats brings back memorys...

scouse/ dublin can you understand them your self ? :P

Well I suppose with both accents ie ( Dublin/Liverpool ) you have variations in the dialect in that you have well spoken Dubs /Scousers and the rougher harsher tones of each .Scousers have saying's very similar to Dubliners and both will have people in their local community who are stingy with their vocalabury and cant string two words of the English language together .Some of course are more understandable than others
ha ha .