Losing your accent

And I know that customer stare as well! When I was working at HMV I would get it all the time. I'd ask someone a question when I was at the till (Would you like a bag? Can I help you with anything else?) and they'd just look at me for a second and say something along the lines of 'That's not a local accent!'. Sometimes I'd joke and say 'Oh! Is it not??' 

I know that stare! The glazed over look in their eyes, you just know they're thinking, 'oh wow, her accent sounds different, how should I ask where she's from?'  The moment I see the stare, I know the question's coming

Ha ha yeah    I don't mind a bit of a stare if it turns into a friendly inquiry / exchange.  It's the stopping in their tracks and mouths hanging open silent stares that bug me.

After 7 years here, I still sound very American.  I've modified it a bit though.  I'm not as loud to start.  I've also softened my R's and flattened certain vowels to be less nasal.  I'm not that keen to lose my accent though, it's who I am, and I'm universally understood here and haven't encountered any problems because of it.  Besides, there are too many Americans in the UK (both living here and on TV) that I hear it constantly and could never isolate myself from hearing Americans in order to lose the accent. 

I have a couple long-term expat friends who have worked on changing their accents, but the results are somewhat affected with a weird artificial Trans-Atlantic thing that isn't consistent. 

When I first moved here, I would often very consciously choose British expressions and words (pavement, worktop, car boot, etc.) simply to avoid confusing my British friends when we spoke, because it made me feel less self conscious to not have to explain Americanisms to confused Brits in every conversation. So, that was deliberate and then it stuck.

I changed all of my spellcheckers to UK English in a fit of paranoia some years back when hunting jobs, afraid that naive employers would mistake my acceptable alternative US spellings for errors and think I was dumb. So, British spelling is pretty natural to me now, too, and I say things like neighbour and flavour without even noticing.

But my accent has also changed markedly since coming here four years ago, and that was entirely unintentional. I hear it a lot, and you know, the first time I caught myself saying "bazzil" instead of "bay-zil" at the grocery store, I really did feel pretty bewildered by it, like I wanted to go home and check to see if I'd lost myself. Who am I today?, I always think. But I've come to accept it.

And in the end, every new person I meet here always asks me where I'm from in the first five minutes of conversation - I still sound very American to British ears. My US people all think I sound like an RAF pilot, to hear them talk, and tease me about my Madonna Accent, which can be a little hurtful because I really don't mean it. But we joke about it and it's fine.

Generally, I don't want to lose touch with my roots and heritage, but I also do my best to accept that hopefully in the end, I will have spent more time in England than I ever did in the states, and in that light, I don't mind becoming British. This is my home, too.

My "American" accent is gone.

The brits think I sound british, and the americans I talk to think I sound british!

My accent's gone a bit- fuzzy, over the years. It seems to be more confusing to Americans rather than the English, who just say that I have a 'nice' American accent or that I sound transatlantic. But Americans can't seem to place me anymore. I was at my new job for 3 months before one of my co-workers knew that I was American! But I doubt that I will ever lose my accent completely, regardless how unconventional it becomes.

I've lived here for a little over a year and work at a supermarket at the moment. I often have customers say to me 'wow you're very irish' or 'what part of scotland are you from?' When I tell them I'm from Texas, they look so confused and say I don't have a Texas accent. All I've got to say is, Lizzard Lick Towing, Duck Dynasty, and any other southern american TV shows aren't helping! hahaha
My friends and family don't say anything about me losing my accent but people I work with say that I sound more and more British as time goes on. I think what happens is when you are talking to someone with a different accent, you can, without even realizing,  sometimes change they way you talk to make sure they understand you properly. I've found myself saying words I wouldn't normally say (like trousers, etc.) or saying words that are the same but pronouced differently here (tomatoes, bananas, garage, fillet, alluminum and more!)
I'm in an inbetween phase and I'm guessing this will last a very long time! One man told me, 'Don't lose your passport because neither country would recongnize you.'

I've had all kinds of reactions to my accent.  Both British and American friends have commented that my accent now sounds:

- still very American
- American, but softer
- more British
- Irish
- Australian
- a half British half American hybrid
- definitely British
- beyond recognition of any known accent now
- Canadian

 

I will sometimes use a Brit pronunciation in jest (like banana or garage) but I can never bring myself to say "vit-a-min" instead of "vite-a-min".   

DH and I decided that either of us can use whatever pronunciation comes out of our mouth at home. Nice to not have to think about it when we were growing tomatoes and basil in our garden.

Luckily, I work with a lot of Aussies, a few North Americans and a handful of non-British folks and we've got offices in the US and Australia so no one is too bothered about pronunciation as long as it's clear what you mean. I had to Google what 'arvo' was (Aussie for afternoon) when my Australian manager kept using it.

This is from the other side but my British accent was mild to begin with but my wife is always letting me know that I'm rolling my R's a lot more now and she's very alarmed about it as she doesn't want me to lose what little accent I have. I watch British TV and talk to British people a lot so I don't think I'll lose it completely.

I still sound Australian to most Americans. Haha!

I live in South Yorkshire and I've seemed to have picked up a northern twang. It confuses some people to the point where they'll say things like, 'your accent is so weird.'

Although when I return from a visit from Seattle, my colleagues always say I 'sound soooo American.'

I have to admit though, I've picked up a lot of English vernacular and words, but I speak with a very odd inflection.

I am fascinated by accents, but I've muddled mine up!

Although when I return from a visit from Seattle, my colleagues always say I 'sound soooo American.'

hahaha

I forgot about this - DH says I sound more American after I've met up with American friends here in London.

This is from the other side but my British accent was mild to begin with but my wife is always letting me know that I'm rolling my R's a lot more now and she's very alarmed about it as she doesn't want me to lose what little accent I have.

But isn't it a bit different the other way round? As annoying as it may be to be British in America at times, I am sure you have recognised that the British accent holds a certain cachet in the States.

But isn't it a bit different the other way round? As annoying as it may be to be British in America at times, I am sure you have recognised that the British accent holds a certain cachet in the States.

Well, it depends on the accent (of course).  Remember Daphne's brothers on Frazier?  They were totally incomprehensible and a lot of Americans react like that.  DH's Midlands-cum-Yorkshire is usually taken for Australian.  If it's a public school plus Oxbridge accent -- well, that's a horse of another color/colour.

But isn't it a bit different the other way round? As annoying as it may be to be British in America at times, I am sure you have recognised that the British accent holds a certain cachet in the States.

Only on a very few occasions have I noticed people, particularly of the female variety, paying closer attention to what I was saying. At the grocery store one of the checkout girls said to another as I was leaving that I sounded like Benedict Cumberbatch. Then there was an odd experience I had at Wendy's where the girl taking my order started mimicking my accent. She got flustered and started apologising insisting she wasn't making fun of me and that she just "naturally picks up accents". In the end she was so embarrassed she got a guy to serve me while she ran and hid somewhere. I wasn't offended at all and It was funny to me.

Another time was when I was ordering food in a restaurant and when I told the waitress that I didn't want a Tomato on my chicken sandwich she repeated it back like I had said it, realised what she had done and instantly went red. Not unlike the colour/color of a Tomato actually!