Picking up on the accent?

Hello!  Umm...I was just wondering something about the English accent.  Say an American was in the U.K. for a few years, and started to pick up on the English accent naturally.  Would people look down on him/her?  I mean, would the British look down on that individual?

Thanks!

**Crassaddict**

Nah.

I've only been here for a few months and have already picked up on a few things. I use their slang, but I don't use their accent. Although my folks say I have a slight English accent now.

I've had a few conversation with some friends about this, they don't see anything wrong with it. They actually find it charming.

Now if you try hard to sound English it's going to be obvious and you might find some ridicule. Just think of Madonna. Who does she think she's kidding?

I wouldn't have thought it would be looked down on.  It may be poked fun of, it depends on how the accent has changed from the original.  I know that Elle hasn't got an English accent, but she gets people asking if it's changed to one yet and she's had people say...."Oh yeah I did notice that your accent was more English!"  But this seemed to me just a wind-up, she sounded no different to any of the other Americans who live in Iowa.

Unless one is an excellent actor with a dialog coach or under the age of 14, it is unlikely that your mother-tongue accent can be eliminated.

There are some cases of people over the age of 14 who manage to eliminate their native accents, but not a lot.  

I would suspect if you did manage to develop a really English accent, it would be appreciated.

depending on which school friends my kids are hangin out with ...they have an english accent, lol.  i find it really cute to hear the southern twang mixed with a lil brit speak.  as for myself...my MIL teases me sometimes bkz ive picked up some of the english slangs.  but im hopin i never lose my american accent.  

Thanks for the replies.  

My aunt had a girl from England stay with her for a while, and I was talking to her.  We were kidding a bit, so I decided to 'do' the English accent thing.  She told me that I sounded pretty good.

I know if I'm around that for long enough, I'll probably pick it up.  I was just concerned, because I didn't know how the English would think of me.  I don't want them thinking that I'm 'false', like....Madonna!!!  

Well...thanks!

**crassaddict**

I think that if it happens naturally that'll be fine, but if you try to force it, and it comes across as phony, then you may find that it is not appreciated, .... at all.  

On the other hand words, phrases, pronunciation (e.g. vowel emphasis in a word like tomayto/ tomarto) and slang are a different matter.  If you pick those up and use them naturally then I'd say that that would be appreciated by friends, coworkers and neighbors.

Also, it may make a difference where in the country you live.  In London and the southeast there are many Americans, but in other towns and cities where there are fewer, you might have to make more of an effort to learn the local lingo to make yourself clearly understood.

In these things though it is often just a matter of opinion and it's whatever you are comfortable with.  

just don't sound like lloyd grossman, an american who has lived here i don't know how long and now has some kind of drawn-out, almost exaggerated accent. that's the one accent friends and family here hope i don't get.

otherwise, most people i meet think american accents are pretty neat.

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otherwise, most people i meet think american accents are pretty neat.

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You've got it right there. I'm constantly complimented on my "accent".

Most people are silly and tell me what a great yorkshire accent I have. Some tell me they wish they had such a great telephone voice. I've even had a couple of people tell me they could listen to me talk all day. I don't think I'd want to give that up. Makes me feel special.  

..... I've even had a couple of people tell me they could listen to me talk all day. I don't think I'd want to give that up. Makes me feel special.

I'll second that Ashley, I get the same here in the US, especially since I left NY and moved south, sorry South!  

I have even had comments from co-workers since I started working in Charlotte last month, which is even wierder than getting comment/compliments from restaurant, hotel, and store staff.  In the course of a serious meeting one woman said "Be quiet! I could listen to Richard talk all day!"

Hahaha!!!

I didn't know the Brits liked the American accent so much :-)  Guess I should try to keep my American accent, then!  

**crassaddict**

Hahaha!!!

I didn't know the Brits liked the American accent so much :-)  Guess I should try to keep my American accent, then!  
**crassaddict**

It worked for me!    My wife is from Virginia and has an accent to die for!  

When she came to London her accent attracted attention because, while there are many Americans in London, there aren't many Southeners.  Her first boss just loved her accent, though he was from Ohio, but he told me that he used to get compliments about her (accent) from other managers and clients alike.  They asked him where he found her (i.e. how he came to hire her) and he had to explain that she just arrived from the recruitment agency just like any other exec assistant!  

unfortunately I DO tend to pick up any accent I'm close to for too long.  Possibly because when I was 8 months old we moved to Germany...surounded by various American/English/German accents.  According to Americans back home...I sound different.  (Dad said I sound like a cross between Southern, Limey, and Midwestern...but this might just be dad lol.)  David's friends (after some thought) said that I sound more normal now.  So who knows.  
wench

They say that picking up an accent quickly is the sign of a good listener.

I have this little internal debate going within me...Is it an accent, or is it a language we're discussing here? When you speak French in France, for instance, you obviously still have your own native accent...witness the French answer you back in English, knowing right away what your native tongue is.

I can say "rubbish" and "lift", and use phrases like "...then Bob's your uncle", etc. Although these words are spoken in general English, the use of them is British English. Now, I may have picked up a British word that I've never ever used before in America, something like "courgette". Does this mean I am speaking British English with an American accent? And what about words that are pronounced so differently that if we don't pronounce them in the British way, we're constantly being asked what we just said. Words like "garage" or "yogurt" or "pizza"

For those who haven't come across the pronunciations...

garage pronounced GARE-udge
yogurt pronounced YAH-gert
pizza pronounced PIT-zah

(yes, I am well aware that the British do understand the Americanized pronunciations...I was hard-pressed to find better examples)

Welllllll...my opinion about accents is that if words are pronounced in a British way of pronouncing them, that is "speaking the language". Your accent of it is going to always be in the background. Maybe less noticeable, the more you practice. But, as far as others hearing you speak, when you slip into saying GARE-edge, I doubt it's noticed. Just as we, as American English speakers, would hardly notice anyone who normally speaks British English say to-MAY-toe as being anything out of the ordinary. We may think "oh, that person's British" by other words in the same sentence, but I doubt seriously anyone would think "uh oh, that person just said "tomato" the American way...unless it was said in a very mocking way. Taking the mickey.  

What is noticeable is when it's forced. I went to school with someone who moved here 17 years ago and wanted so desperately to get away from a dysfunctional family past in America that she forced herself to prounounce everything the British way. To my ears she sounds like a stage character...a Lloyd Grossman type.

Yes, the Brits do like the American accent. Go figure! And here we've been swooning over their sound.

I guess the jist of my random thoughts is to gently ease into saying the words as they come naturally to you. Use the words that British folks are accustomed to, but pronounce them however you feel comfortable. In time you'll find yourself being asked if you're from any other English-speaking country except the US. But I have yet to run into a transplanted American who's always assumed to be British born-and-raised.

(My husband has British relatives who moved to the US decades ago. It's rather interesting to hear them speak American English, using all the American words, in an accent that makes you wonder just where they came from...Canada? New Zealand?...same stuff we get.)

Very interesting, Lisa.

I think that you are so right about the accent v language thing.

It is also intiguing to me that many people can't see the difference between "accent" and "pronunciation".  For example it is quite possible to say "to-may-to" with an English accent, and "to-mar-to" with an American accent.  

To extend the issue slightly, it is quite possible to have a strong accent and still speak good English, whereas many people in the UK who have strong accents also have poor pronunciation and grammar.  Any suggestion that the standard of teaching of English grammar should be improved is taken as an attack on the regional accent.

It is relatively easy to change the words you use, and the way that you pronounce them, to fit in with the local language, but much harder to control whether/ when your accent changes, as it permeates every word that you speak.