If a british person moves to america, will they..
Will they lose their accent completely? Was just wondering thanks
| Yes | 2 | |
| No | 31 |
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JellyBeanBandit
Depends on how old they are, maybe if they're 20 or younger they will. It's also possible to be born in a certain country but have the accent of another country because that's the country your parents are from and you learned to talk from them, you just never pick up your home country's accent.
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[Old Memory]
Doubt it. The people I know who were foreigners as children and live here now never lose their accent, no matter how long they’ve been here.
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NickyNeopolitan
I'm originally from Alabama and I never knew I had a country accent until I moved to NC when I was in the 8th grade and someone at school told me. After being here for about 13yrs my accent has changed and whenever I go back home and visit my friend I make fun of her for her country accent lol
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LloydAsher
A fun thing you can submit your child to do is when they are growing up 6months to 6 years old you talk in a british accent. That's when the kid will lock in on the british way of pronunciation.
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Hubbard
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bigbudchonga
It depends on how old they are. One of my friends moved there when we were in primary school, then a couple years later he moved back to England and he sounded 100% American. I also have a cousin who moved to America when he was young too, and then came back when he was around 18; he's close to his thirties now and he sounds completely American.
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Fugazi,again
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McBean
There are ways to lose almost all of it. One common technique is to repeat whatever a news anchor says on television. After a few weeks, you begin to hear your original accent you were unaware of having. Google up "lose an accent" for more info.
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greyhat
Nope, unless they are a very young child or make an effort to lose it. Although I never understood this when people learn another language and still have an accent - yes, some sounds are difficult to pronounce, but why don't people seem to use the proper accent when speaking another language? Do they feel too embarrassed, or like it's racist or something?
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charli.m
Probably largely because different languages habe different sounds that aren't necessarily used in other languages, and as we age we lose the ability to hear those sounds. Instead, we hear them as sounds familiar to our own language. That's one reason why introducing multiple languages at an early age is considered so beneficial.
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greyhat
that kinda makes sense but i think that would still sound better than some people who don't try at all and just read the language as though it were english (or whatever their native language is)
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charli.m
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LornaMae
I think it's less a matter of not hearing those sounds and more a question of having the ability to reproduce them. Glenn Greenwald speaking Portuguese is one of those cases, his heavy accent and choice of words indicate he is American but I'm quite sure he is in no way racist or embarrassed. What a weird conjecture, greyhat...
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greyhat
I understand that, but to give a basic example: for an american trying to speak spanish, they pronounce Gracias as "grassy ass", even though the sounds (something like graw see aus) exist in the american accent thus can be reproduced if they truly wanted to. but yeah something like the rolling R would be more forgiveable (I don't know how to produce that sound myself!!)
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LornaMae
In my experience the people who struggle the most with other languages and accents are the Americans. I always assumed it's because of the lack of exposure to them; while other countries are usually consuming content (music, movies, tv) at least in English, the US is kind of a cultural bubble
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greyhat
Yeah that's true. I just remember there are a lot of Indians out there who can fake a perfect american accent when speaking english (the actor from the big bang theory, and some of the guys in call centers lol), so why don't they do it all the time or why don't more people do that? is it too tiring? I can speak spanish and german at around B2 level so Im sure I have an accent but I try very hard to pronounce the words exactly as I was taught by native speakers whereas i notice some learners do not - it should be a bigger part of the learning process
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charli.m
Yes. I meant to mention that as well - they're somewhat linked iirc. Thanks for adding that. I got the dumb today.
I only speak English, so I genuinely cannot hear the difference between some language sounds...or at least, my brain tells me that they are the equivalent of other sounds...and I definitely can't reproduce them haha.
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RoseIsabella
It probably depends on the person. People are not all the same. I'm technically living in a Northern state, but I'm not trying to lose my Southern accent.
It probably depends on how much the person likes his, or her new home. I'm actually growing quite fond of Delaware, because the people do seem quite friendly, and down to Earth. I do very much miss things like shopping, and restaurants from Las Vegas, and Houston. I've never been to Philadelphia so I guess I might be curious to see it.
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XYXY
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raisinbran