Developing Accents

When we finally make the move, my DS will be 5, and will have spent years talking with an American "accent." What is the likelihood that he will develop a British accent? This would be preferable to me, so he'd fit in and grow up feeling like he belongs. Our DD will be just over 2 at the time, so I assume she'll have the accent. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!

I don't have children, but have a solid interest in linguistics and speech development.

Your son and daughter, unless they wear headphones with the American accent constantly playing, will [likely] have British accents. The way we pick up language is by listening and if they attend school with British children and go to shops with British people, they will naturally speak like those around them. It is, however, possible that your children will speak 'American' to you at home (I'm assuming you're American?) but speak 'British' to their friends outside the home.

People, regardless of age, will pick up some impressions. However, usually around ages fourteen or fifteen, it is less likely that one will pick up a full blown accent.

Fascinating - thank you!

I've just been travelling in South America for 2 months with a tour group and one of the girls on the tour was a dual US-UK citizen - her family moved to the UK when she was 9 and her sister was 4/5. She moved back to the US at 16 (so lived in the UK for 7 years) and her sister did the same 4 years later (so she lived in the UK for 11 years).

She sounded completely American, despite living in the UK for so long and when I asked about whether she ever had an English accent, she said she never really picked it up. However, apparently her younger sister grew up with an English accent (mostly due being younger and learning to read and write in England), but at some point during the time she lived there, decided she didn't want to be 'English' anymore and from then on, deliberately spoke with an American accent only!

, but at some point during the time she lived there, decided she didn't want to be 'English' anymore and from then on, deliberately spoke with an American accent only!

What a shame! I'd love to be able to switch back and forth I hated the fakey accent that I sounded like I had after being in the UK for over a year.  I have a lot of sympathy for Madonna.  I found that a lot of the "accent" is actually just emphasis within in a sentence.
For ex: Would you like a cup of tea?
In America I tend to raise my voice on the word tea in that sentence, but people tend to stress the word "cup" in the UK - so when I'm there my voice naturally starts to raise on "cup".  Weird.

Well, there's a real life version of this situation you can actually listen to on youtube if you like.

The writer Frank McCourt (author of Angela's Ashes)was born in the US but at the age of five or so, his parents moved the entire family back to Limerick in Ireland.

You can listen to McCourt doing interviews and reading from his books on various youtube clips.  He definitely spoke with an Irish accent.  My Northern Irish husband thinks though you can hear McCourt's "American-ism" occasionally.  McCourt did return to the US at the age of 19.

 

I'm not picking up too much of an accent here, really, since I'm 33 now, but when I was 15, I moved from Texas to Chicago for a year and came back with the Texas accent mostly gone and a few funny "yankee O's" in it's place.  I then lost most of that Chicago accent after being in Texas again for so long, but never gained back much of the Texas accent I originally lost, so I sound much more neutral now, whereas I must've sounded like the world's biggest hick when I moved to Chicago. I do think being younger and more impressionable makes a big difference in picking up local accents. I didn't try to gain that accent, but I did work on not saying things like "y'all" and then it kind of went from there.

I do notice that certain things I say now have a bit of Geordie accent in them, rather than proper Queen's English, since that is how my husband and everyone else around here speaks. I notice I sometimes say "summit" instead of something and certain other things like that, plus some phrases and slang I have picked up. But overall, I still have a strong American accent. I doubt that will ever change now. But that's ok with me. 

I'm sure your little ones will have British accents since they are so young. It's hard to believe there is anything cuter than tiny people with English accents. It makes me smile every time my stepson says something very English-sounding (or Geordie... he's taken to saying "Awww Man" in a proper Geordie accent when he thinks something is really funny. )

My daughter was 5 when we moved to England.  Within a month, she had picked up a slight English accent, mostly on "English" words and phrases that she was copying from friends and family (like aswell, muddled up, toilet, etc).  We've been in the UK for 6 months now and no one would ever guess she is American...she speaks broad Yorkshire now...even more so than my English husband!

We have been back in the US for about 2 weeks now, visiting family and her accent hasn't changed at all...a lot of people keep asking her to repeat herself because they can't understand her.  She has never switched her accent back and forth.

Before I met my DF, I thought Madonna was faking her accent, I really did. But now three years on in my own relationship, I can see how easy it is to pick up words and phrases. And like someone below correctly pointed out, the inflection on certain words and/or phrases. Especially when the person you speak to most has an accent, isn't it naturally to pick it up a little?

I am also an extremely adaptable person, so I tend to melt into my environment, I fear that after some years living in the UK, I am going to pick up a very garbled English/American accent and I will be razzed by my friends and family back home for sure!! LOL

I've only ever visited the UK, haven't spent more than 3 months here, but I've noticed that I've picked up some English words. Mostly I say things like "Wot?" instead of "What?" And I've turned a lot of "th-ing" words into "fing." For example, "something" becomes "somefing." It takes awhile to get it back once I go home to the States. I wonder what it'll be like once I live here. Makes me smile!

I have a British friend who emigrated to Canada aged eight and her sister was four. She still has a Canadian accent upon returning to the UK when aged 28. Her sister returned at age seventeen and her accent changed back to a British one.

Mine is just a mixture of British Columbian West Coast English (similar to Seattle) and Yorkshire + generic south UK. Just a reflection of where I have lived.  And it changes somewhat depending on who I am around at a given moment. I think it's a subconscious need to be understood for me. And when I lived in the Netherlands, my vocabulary shrunk in English and my word order in English became Dutch - because I was working with people from all over the world with varying levels of English language skills and Dutch was the 'home' language.

I think everyone's different. I have an Australian friend who has been in the UK and the Netherlands combined for a year longer than me and his accent has not changed a stitch. But he lives in London and has many friends from all over the world, but also many Kiwi and Aussie friends.

Before I met my DF, I thought Madonna was faking her accent, I really did.

I think Madonna was faking hers, or at least exaggerating it, because Guy Ritchie doesn't sound a thing like she did. 

Accents are strange beasts, though.  The first time I came to the UK when I was 20, I found it really hard not to adopt the accent.  But when I moved here ten years later, I didn't have any trouble with that, and think probably I won't pick up a British accent, or at least not a very strong one.   

I probably will take on some accent, or at least fake it a bit, because I tend to throw myself completely into things like that. I can't wait And yes - children with a British accent? Cutest thing EVER.

I think Madonna was faking hers, or at least exaggerating it, because Guy Ritchie doesn't sound a thing like she did. 

Is she still living in England or did she move back to the US after she split from Guy Ritchie? I saw her on TV a couple of days ago and she sounded very American - I only heard a sentence or two but I didn't hear any English in there anymore!

I probably will take on some accent, or at least fake it a bit, because I tend to throw myself completely into things like that. I can't wait And yes - children with a British accent? Cutest thing EVER.

It's usually easier for children to pick up accents than adults (just like learning new languages - it's easier to become fluent in a language if you learn it at an early age)... there are a couple of celebrities who moved between the US and UK at an early age and speak both accents perfectly and naturally: John Barrowman (Torchwood) is Scottish but emigrated to the US aged 9, so although he usually speaks with an American accent, he can switch back to his original Scottish accent whenever he likes and Gillian Anderson (X-Files) is American but lived in London from age 2 to 11... she uses either her American accent or her British accent, depending on circumstances.

Is she still living in England or did she move back to the US after she split from Guy Ritchie? I saw her on TV a couple of days ago and she sounded very American - I only heard a sentence or two but I didn't hear any English in there anymore!

I think she's moved back to the US, though last I heard she wanted to make a movie about Wallis Simpson and asked the Queen if she could shoot some scenes at Buckingham Palace. 

(Completely OT, but I enjoy speculating about the immigration status of celebrities who live abroad.  Madonna and Guy Ritchie were married in 2000 (I think) so she must have ILR.  I guess as long as she isn't away for more than 2 years, she can come and go as she pleases.)