Developing Accents

I was 6 when we moved to Ireland and after 3 1/2 years there I acquired and Irish accent which I lost when we moved back to the States.  However now that I am in the UK people often ask if I am Irish or if I have lived there as they can all these years later detect that little bit of an accent.

I moved back to England with my family 2 years ago. Both my children were born in the US. They were 4 and 6 when we moved here. They both sound English(cockney) now but my younger child still has a bit of an american twang. My husband is american so they hear him but of course everyone else around them is English!
When my mother-in-law talks to them on the phone she says she can't understand them! lol

(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.)

  I think they have Rich F***er Visas probably and the rules don't apply to them like the rest of us plebs. Money talks!   

Hijack over.

I'm not a kid but here in Yorkshire their o's to me sound like the o's of Minnesotans like if you think of Fargo.  Since my dad and all his family lived in various parts of Minnesota, they do speak with a bit of a Minnesotan twang which I would use when I was up there as a kid.  We can all put on the heavy version for entertainment.  Anyway, point is since they sounded so alike to me, I appear to have picked up that bit of Yorkshire and at Easter some friends from Manchester came over and just laughed and laughed at how I talked.  It was slightly humiliating.  My parents and a friend in the States say I sound British, but I don't think I do.  I think I just sound different because of the different phrases. 

Anyway, my point is, if there is a particular sound that sounds the similar in Britain as it does in part of America, you may find yourself or you children picking that up more easily than some of the other stuff. 

I am just physically incapable of achieving anything resembling a Scottish accent.  I've never been able to roll an "R" to save my life, which was always a problem in German class. I think I'll be one of those who will be pretty resistant to any accent changes. 

Although, I get the train to and from Partick when I'm going to my BF's, and I've had 2 different ticket men ask me if I was from Ireland.  I think I must say Partick with an Irish "R" or something.

I think I am likely to pick up on speech patterns, though.  Like mapleleafegirl mentioned, when I was travelling around Europe and talking to my German and Swiss friends in English, I found I would end up speaking English more in the way that they did. I also think subsonciously it was to make sure they understood me.

We can all put on the heavy version for entertainment.

Hehe... I'd love to hear that. That accent always cracks me up since it's so different from the Texas accents I'm used to. 

I think they have Rich F***er Visas

This made me Laugh so hard! I want a Rich F***er Visa! Would be a heck of alot easier 

I just think when I have kids they are going to be messed up accent wise lol..they will have british accents I am sure of that but they will probably use american phrases or words and have a bit of an american accent..my british husband has started saying some words in an American accent like I do...I don't think I will pick up the accent here..and I honestly think Madonna and Gwyneth faked their accents...and I agree with the person that said she probably had the Rich F****rVisa lol....that would have made my life a lot easier when trying to come over here..but I am happy just being a peasant 

speaking of speech anomolies...John Barrowman was born in Scotland and then moved to the states when he was younger I believe..he talks with an American Accent but he says when he is near people with a Scottish Accent his scottish accent comes back

I was 6 when we moved to Ireland and after 3 1/2 years there I acquired and Irish accent which I lost when we moved back to the States.  However now that I am in the UK people often ask if I am Irish or if I have lived there as they can all these years later detect that little bit of an accent.

Part of that may be that some Irish and some American accents are similar.  Not exactly the same, but both tend to be rhotic and have some other similarities.  Not that you aren't falling back on your old accent, but I sometimes mistake Irish for Americans if I can't hear them perfectly clearly.

As for Madonna, does anyone have a link to her obviously faking an accent?  The Youtube clips I heard were sort of a blend of American and generic London.  Not like Mary Poppins fake or anything.  I don't know.  I am not convinced if she wanted to fake an accent, she couldn't have been coached better.  Incidentalally, I know someone who waited on her in the early noughties in the McDonald's in Victoria Street.  She was without make-up (according to this person) and seemed like the average, harried mum taking her kids to McDonalds on a late weekend morning. (Not a Madonna fan, but in her defence, she really did live here for quite a while doing normal things in addition to her Madonna lifestyle that probably involved Coke bottles and obscure Jewish sects).

Personally, I can't fake the accent to save my life.  I wish I could pick it up just to make communicating easier, but I think what I have naturally picked up just makes me sound like I am from the US south or Appalachia rather than the north east.

I'd hate to think anyone thought I was faking an accent, no matter how messed up mine is! I think it is a reflection of the change in where  I live, IME. For me, it is part of being where I am, but for some people, their accents may not change.

It doesn't make either experience of accent shift disingenious / fake or not, from my perspective.   

Well I moved here to Scotland in 1999 after being born and living in Massachusetts all my life.
In those years my accent has definately changed. My parents,relatives and freinds in the US think i have a scottish accent. Folks here think i have a slight accent but its not a full blown scottish one soooo i must have a accent rofl.. I don't try to make it either scots or american it just is what it tis.. 
Most folks that haven't met me here can't quite figure out where the accent is from they know its not born n bred scots but usually can't quite place it..

Our 4-year-old daughter's accent is English, but she uses many Americanisms in her speech. If a native listens closely enough, they are usually able to determine our child has a foreign parent.

Although I don't think my accent has changed since living here for so long, my sentence structure has, and I do speak differently to relatives when flying back to the US to visit.

In the US, I'm not necessarily more rude, but more direct. In the UK, I have to use 25% more words to express an idea/task than I would in the US. Or at least that's how I perceive the situation.

Recently I attended a London meeting with a group of American ex-pat women. One of them was from Mississippi and had been living in the UK for 20 years, and she is determined not to lose her accent. It was hilarious to hear her speak. She honestly sounded like she just stepped off the plane. Good on her. 

Ultimate fake British accent = Britney Spears

Ultimate fake British accent = Britney Spears

Really??? Do tell, never heard hers before

I told DH if we have kids we have to move out of north Dublin because the accent is BRUTAL! He thinks because we don't talk like (I'm American, he's from Cork) that our kid would be fine, but I think school/friends would rule over any accents at home.