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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Changing accent when you move to somewhere else
0 Hi, 02 br
00 this is an important question. 02 br
00 Do people's accents usually change after they move to a different area, state, country? If they usually don't change, is it possible that it happens for some people? 02 br
02 br
00 Examples of what I mean: 02 br
00 A man, 50 years old, who has always lived in Texas, moves to Chicago. Will he still have the same southern accent when he is 70? 02 br
00 A guy, 30 years old, who has always lived in California, moves to Texas. Will he still have the same Californian accent when he is 45? What about when he's 60? 02 br
00 A guy, 20 years old, who has always lived in California, moves to London. Will he still talk with an American accent when he's 40? 02 br
02 br
00 And so on. Those are just examples of what I mean by changing accent. From what I see (the situation here in Italy), people only change their accent if they want to and they are willing to change it. Now you will be wondering why this question is important and why I'm interested in this. Here's the answer: 02 br
02 br
00 Why am I interested in this? 02 br
00 I started to think about this some time ago, when I thought: 01 i 00 "I'm learning American English, I studied some stuff about accent reduction because I'm trying to sound like Americans, I always only listen to American English on the radio... but what if one day I have to move to the UK instead? Or to Australia? I'll be immersed in a variety of English that has always sounded kind of odd to me... will I switch to that accent?" 02 i 02 br
00 I think I would be the kind of person that would change their accent. I don't think if I lived in the UK, after 10 years of "non-tapped t's" everywhere, I would keep tapping t's. But that just my opinion, now I'd like to hear yours. Every opinion will be appreciated (maybe 05 0 00 ) 02 br
00 Thanks in advance 05 1 010id 511id 1
00 this is an important question. 02 br
00 Do people's accents usually change after they move to a different area, state, country? If they usually don't change, is it possible that it happens for some people? 02 br
02 br
00 Examples of what I mean: 02 br
00 A man, 50 years old, who has always lived in Texas, moves to Chicago. Will he still have the same southern accent when he is 70? 02 br
00 A guy, 30 years old, who has always lived in California, moves to Texas. Will he still have the same Californian accent when he is 45? What about when he's 60? 02 br
00 A guy, 20 years old, who has always lived in California, moves to London. Will he still talk with an American accent when he's 40? 02 br
02 br
00 And so on. Those are just examples of what I mean by changing accent. From what I see (the situation here in Italy), people only change their accent if they want to and they are willing to change it. Now you will be wondering why this question is important and why I'm interested in this. Here's the answer: 02 br
02 br
00 Why am I interested in this? 02 br
00 I started to think about this some time ago, when I thought: 01 i 00 "I'm learning American English, I studied some stuff about accent reduction because I'm trying to sound like Americans, I always only listen to American English on the radio... but what if one day I have to move to the UK instead? Or to Australia? I'll be immersed in a variety of English that has always sounded kind of odd to me... will I switch to that accent?" 02 i 02 br
00 I think I would be the kind of person that would change their accent. I don't think if I lived in the UK, after 10 years of "non-tapped t's" everywhere, I would keep tapping t's. But that just my opinion, now I'd like to hear yours. Every opinion will be appreciated (maybe 05 0 00 ) 02 br
00 Thanks in advance 05 1 010id 511id 1
Top answer
0 Well, it depends on a number of factors. If you know phonetics, you can modify or consciously prevent yourself from modifying your accent. It also depends on how much you like the place that you move to.
- 0 Well, it depends on a number of factors.
- If you know phonetics, you can modify or consciously prevent yourself from modifying your accent.
- It also depends on how much you like the place that you move to.
- So, for example, if the 30 year old moved to Texas and loved it, loved the people, and thought of himself as a local, rather than just a Caliornian who moved to Texas, he would readily try to speak with a Texas accent, to differentiate himself from people that just moved moved there from other places.
- However, if he did not completely assimilate the accent, what is most likely would be that he would sound like a "Yankee" to the Texans, and like a Texan to Californians.
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11 Answers
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0 Well, it depends on a number of factors. If you know phonetics, you can modify or consciously prevent yourself from modifying your accent. It also depends on how much you like the place that you move to. So, for example, if the 30 year old moved to Texas and loved it, loved the people, and thought of himself as a local, rather than just a Caliornian who moved to Texas, he would readily try
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0 Now on to the Texan that moved to Chicago. Like I said, Texas is a big state, with a huge accent continuum. The Westernern most part of Texas has a Western or Western-transitional accent, and thus sounds pretty well identical to a New Mexican accent. Eastern Texas has more of a Southern or Southern-transitional accent. In between, their is a unique Texas accent, which has the Southern vowe
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0 Some people will even get a sort of neutral accent that has all of the unusual parts removed. The Western US accent was actually formed like that, because speakers from the North, Midlands, and South, all moved to the West, and their accents intermingled and the Western accent was sort of a neutral spot between them. It still is- 01 del 00 the Northern US is going through a vowel sh
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0 It depends on how easily and willingly a person is influenced by the accent of the people around him. 02 br
00 When I first "went away to college" I encountered for the first time in my life many different people with regional accents. In some conversations it took less than 15 minutes before I would catch myself speaking somewhat more in their accent, completely "automatically
00 When I first "went away to college" I encountered for the first time in my life many different people with regional accents. In some conversations it took less than 15 minutes before I would catch myself speaking somewhat more in their accent, completely "automatically
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0 Thank you very much for all your opinions, I understand 05 0 010id 1
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ya. i went on a trip to DC with a whole group of people who lived in the south. EVERYONE had a (somewhat) southern accent and i was the only one without it (chicago). Within a few days i found myself talking half southern half chicagoan. im positive that if you move somewhere you're accent will adjust with it naturally.
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In my opinion, your age also has to do with how easily you pick up on a new accent. For example, my aunt, uncle, and three cousins moved from Pennsylvania to Texas. My cousins were all under eight, and after just a few months, all of them had adopted a slight Southern accent and used "y'all" and the like. My aunt and uncle, however, were not affected because they lived in the north for so long.
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I have been wondering the same exact thing about being 20 and moving to London, I think it depends on the person... This probably doesnt help ahahah oh well.
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Hi!
Well, I know this post is quite old but I am quite interested on it also.
I will use myself as an example.
I grew up in Brazil speaking portuguese, when I was a teen I started learning american english and I was very good at the accent because I was even surrounded my americans. After that I moved from Brazil and worked in a cruise for 2 years with people from all ov
Well, I know this post is quite old but I am quite interested on it also.
I will use myself as an example.
I grew up in Brazil speaking portuguese, when I was a teen I started learning american english and I was very good at the accent because I was even surrounded my americans. After that I moved from Brazil and worked in a cruise for 2 years with people from all ov
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The first answer recieved was pretty much on par with my own experience but i would like to add that it is also dependant apon weather or not the residents of that area you are moving to are hospitable and friendly towards people from wherever you are coming from.. In my case i moved from northern california to Austin Texas.. to my surprise i was welcomed and accepted to the point where i actuall
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