I wish I didn’t change my Glaswegian Accent

[maraghdhubh]

I grew up in Glasgow to two Scottish parents. One a slightly refined Edinburgh man who went away to school so sounded English. The other, a die hard Scot from the Western Isles who spoke Gaelic. We spoke both languages at home.

I did well at school and won a place at Cambridge. Here I dropped the Glaswegian accent faster than a politician changes his mind. I then moved to London and Singapore to climb the greasy corporate pole. People think I’m English, from the south.

I wish I hadn’t dropped my natural accent. I feel somewhat lost in my identity. I’m not English and never will be. Has anyone else a similar regret?

I’m Scottish and live in London and have never felt my accent held me
back.

I don’t actually know how I would be able to hide it!

Can’t you work on getting it back? Does it return if you’re in Glasgow? I’ve moved around a lot internationally, but DH and I are from the same place and probably reinforce one another’s original accents.

If you back up there for a few days, you might get it back. Even people that are not from there can get an accent after a visit.

Why not just start using it again? If it was easy to drop it'll be easy to reinstate.

If you're not an English person why did you try and sound like one?

Go back for a bit to try and get your accent back. I understand how you feel as I love my Scouse accent and could not lose it.

You must have been very determined - it's hard to truly drop an accent.

Maybe you don't sound as English as you think.

My mum dropped her Irish accent when she moved to England as a teen. She was bullied for her original accent, she still talks about how she wishes she hadn't changed it 60 years later.

I moved from Glasgow to the south as a late teen so lived my whole adult life in England. I still sound Scottish, but much more Edinburgh than my original accent. I agree if you spend time there then you might pick it back up.

It can be a living away from home thing, and wanting to be understood. I moved to China for about six years and ended up sounding like some combination of my polite phone voice and almost American (can't see any videos of myself from that period talking without feeling like I'm turning inside out from embarassment), but after less than a year back in Edinburgh I'm back to where I was.

Nothing wrong with an English accent OP! Is it the RP one? Nothing wrong with a Glasgow, Norfolk or Birmingham one, come to that. Peaky Blinders made me crave to hear more Brummie tones. As long as you can make yourself understood. You're clearly a proud Scot and that won't change, however you say scone.

The only accent that grates on my ears is the veer posh, sloaney one.

You sound like you are naturally one of the people who assimilate accents from where they live. Not everybody can do that naturally.
That is good news for you as you be able to pick it back if you move back to Glasgow.
I have a friend who naturally changes her accent when she speaks to her family over the phone. It is amazing.

It is sad that you feel that by losing your accent you’ve lost your identity. Don’t dwell on it.
Besides, if you work abroad as you say you do, you must know already that to be able to be understood you need to speak in a clear non English regional accent. There are loads of funny TikTok videos about this subject. Some regional accents are very hard to understand even for English speakers like Americans.

I dropped my Irish accent when I moved to the UK, it wasn't deliberate it just happened. I moved back to Ireland and I thought my Irish accent would come back, but it only sort of did. I'm not necessarily unhappy about it, I will correct people if they think I'm English, but it would be nice if it was a conscious choice which accent to use. I'm just saying that it might not have been the decision that you think it was, and it also might not be as easy to change back as other posters might think especially if you're not actually in Scotland.

I do still use quite a bit of Irish words and phrasing and always have, which my have sounded a bit odd in my plummy English accent.

I guess you've never been bullied for having the wrong accent.

I've lived in London for longer than I did in Glasgow. Moved here as a young adult. I've toned it down but it's still there, especially after I've spoken to my Mum on the phone.)

Not exactly - I grew up without an accent - I don't know why, my sister has a strong accent local to the area, but mine is 'RP' - I have always wished I had an accent - any accent!

I totally understand this. When I moved to England and started working with a lot of international clients I couldn’t keep using my strong regional accent. also I got sick of people not understanding me and asking me to repeat myself so over the years I’ve blended into a strange accent which I don’t even recognise myself sometimes. I wish I hadn’t lost it now I’m older but at the time I was young and wanted to fit in and be successful.

But you DO have an accent, just not to your ears

If John Barrowman can do it...

Ive lived in England enow equally as long as I had lived in Glasgow, I still have a Scottish accent but I find when I go "back home" my accent becomes much stronger

So try going back to scotland for a while and your accent should evolve back

I do find sometimes I say things in the regional dialect of where I live now naturally as I am hearing it all the time but my everyday accent now is more softened scottish I would say, it's not too late to embrace it!

Not sure how you can drop an accent. Wouldn't you have to be consciously thinking about every word as you spoke it, like an actor would?

It’s not an overnight process. It just happens over time. Especially with particular words or phrases that people in your new area have trouble understanding. You start saying things differently to avoid having to repeat or explain yourself. And it develops from there.

I lived in Scotland for a few years (born and bred in England) and now have a really strong Glasgow accent. I love it! Get so many compliments on my Glaswegian sultry tone!

I have Scottish mum, grandparents and aunts. When I'm really angry I find myself talking Scottish.....🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Maybe if you spend time with Scottish family your sccent will come back x

I'm 50 but left glasgow aged 11. Got fed up with people not understanding me so I learned to speak in a southern English accent. I still use both accents though. Family in my glaswegian accent, DH, my kids and everyone else in my English accent. People are always shocked when they hear my Scottish accent. My DH nearly fell off his chair when I first introduced him to my mum 🤣