To change may accent so my kids speak 'properly'

[madchocolatemum48]

My childhood accent isn't awful, just very colloquial really.
I have lived away from 'home' off and on for years so my accent has mellowed.
I have deliberately started 'speaking properly' so my children will have a nicer speaking voice.
If we move back 'home' how will my kids be perceived ??

I mean she probably picked it up in school but ffs who under 50 says dreich instead of overcast/miserable?

My father's accent was mostly public school, my mother's was fairly nondescript southern England somewhere - certainly nothing strong like her sister's, which is more rural Hampshire.

I sound like I stepped out of a Hardy novel. On a daily basis, I tend to modify it (only partially consciously) towards RP, as most of the people I speak to are not native English speakers, and if I were speaking thick Dorset with a load of dialect words, they would have no idea what I'm on about.

When I was first out of school at 18, I had to have someone interpreting between me and a Brummie guy I met (though to be fair, there was also alcohol involved.) I've also had an American interpreting between me and someone based in Hong Kong on a 3am work call (I could understand her, but she couldn't follow me, but as it was 3am for me, I can't be sure I was entirely coherent anyway.) So I know my accent is sometimes a problem, and it's something I've found confusing at times, because I am quite good with other accents (which I think is partly because I was brought up on Radio 4 and listening to lots of different voices.)

I do occasionally slip when I'm wound up about something, and my accent apparently gets stronger when I go back home or when I am talking about Dorset. I can also slip into a Welsh accent quite easily, as I spent a lot of time there as a child - and am currently learning Welsh. I remember my grandfather teaching us how to pronounce the "ll" sound, too. I've learnt other languages, and although I can hear the accents and I don't mine is too bad, though never fluent, I suspect I might speak them all with an underlying hint of Dorset.

Anyway, I do think you're unlikely to have that much influence on your children's accent once they're at school.

I'd love my kids to say 'Ah dinnae ken' but sadly we live in the NE of England so they don't have Scottish accents. My family in Scotland (delightful highlands and islands accent) think they have a 'posh' accent (aka English), my middleclass friends in this region dislike the local accent. I think it's lovely, apart from the ugly dropped 'r' that most non-rhotic accent English speakers have. And I make that point because, of course, in Scotland we have soft 't's which is considered terrible on here but non-existant 'r's is acceptable. Apparently

you know what my son has just been given a diagnosis of autism with leaning disabllityi could not give a flying fxxxx how he speaks even if its inslang just as long as he speaks!!!

stubbs0412
"It's not the accent that's important, it's the talking properly, something some people seem unable to do or they just don't care. I'm not being snobby, I'm no snob at all, however it is worth making the effort to ensure children speak properly."

What does that even mean? "Properly"?
Who is to say that one way of speaking is any better than another? As was said earlier, unpicking dialect from the perception of not speaking properly, is impossible.

Maybe she means not mumbling?

It's funny - lots of people talk about 'sound all the letters in the word' (which would sound ridiculous) or 'enunciating' - but surely speech therapists would be required for millions of us if this were really a problem, and not just snobbery?

LDR if you want to know what sounding all the letters in the word sounds like go to one of the posh parts of Edinburgh, the easiest way to take the piss out of the accent is 'Tooo oohvverrr-ehnnnounnncccciaytte evverree ssillahbbell'.

I have made a conscious effort to change the way I say certain words since having children.

I'm in South Wales...in general I have a fairly 'well spoken' Welsh accent but there are certain words which I say that I've only picked up on how awful they sound since my children have been talking and repeated them.

For example - 'ear'. My natural way to say it sounds like 'year'. The same with 'hear' - if i'm speaking quickly it also comes out 'Hey, come year'.

Ds1 said to me the other day 'Hey mum, can you come year?' and it made me cringe. So now i'm making a conscious effort to say certain words correctly in the hope the kids will copy.

But WHY did it make you cringe? Who is the God of all pronunciation?

I suppose because it sounded common if i'm honest.

I'm far from a snob - but coming out of a 5 year olds mouth just sounded...wrong. I'd rather they said it correctly.

TripTuckerInMyStocking, why would your child have a Yorkshire accent if you live in Teeside?

My brother moved to manc form essex/london in his late twenties/early thirties and when i go to visit I can barely understand a word he says! but after a few days he reverts back to his "natural" accent. I love hearing different accents personally, I am of the TOWIE kind myself....(although I would most certainly say I don't know anybody who speaks like they do in real life, it is massively try hard IMO!)

It will make no difference at all. They'll speak the way their friends do, not the way their parents do. Lots of studies have shown this to be the case.

It's quite sad that you want to get rid of your own accent/dialect. Non-prestigious dialects are almost invariably associated with poorer areas and as such this reflects deeply ingrained class-based prejudices. Again, there's lots of literature to support this.

I get a bit shirty about, "Where's your shoes/gloves?" from my otherwise pedantic mother. Not sure.it counts.as.dialect? Because it's not a general local mistake, afaik. I also pick DP up on 'f' instead of 'th' because we have a toddler to whom we wish to teach the difference and also cos I am an arsey bastard DP cited 'three' and 'free' as homophones in one conversation; and got vexed with me in another when I couldn't follow what he meant because he said 'free' instead of 'three'. He was, of course berated corrected . However the th/f thing is regional, he's from London (where they also add 'r' to 'a' sounds - larf, barf etc. I don't correct this in DS but would the other stuff.

And 'correctly' is the incorrect term to use. Standard English is a very useful tool of communication but it's based on just one particular arbitrary variety of English. It's in no way objectively the 'correct' form, any more than any other dialect. That's not to say that we shouldn't all be able to use Standard English fluently, but there's no reason that can't be done whilst also using other varieties in appropriate situations.

For example, my own dialect is Glaswegian but I'm perfectly capable of teaching English to students in SE England. I can speak both perfectly well (albeit with a Scottish accent).

Am from Barnsley, and despite having lived in the SE for longer than I lived there, I still have a pronounced accent. My kids initially before school, had shorter vowel sounds (like bath instead of barth) but it wasn't that noticable - it wasn't long after starting school that they sounded very home counties, like the rest of their friends - they understand very broad Yorkshire (like my mum) but couldn't sound like they come from Yorkshire to save their lives! - Bless 'em.

I love my accent btw! Mine also gets much stronger when have been back up there. Patients at work say to me "been back oop north this weekend then pix?" after a weekend at my mums

I'm Australian. I have no doubt any children will sound American because they will grow up here. There may be some words that will have an Aussie inflection, but mostly it'll be a MidWest accent.

My main concern isn't accent, it's spelling and using Aussie specific words. There's no way for me to completely cut out Aussie words, and there are times I don't realise I'm saying them. I don't want them picked on because they're using "funny words" or teachers telling them off for spelling something differently.

I plan to meet with teachers BEFORE our kids attend school to ensure they realise I have an accent and don't tell my kids they're "wrong" just gently remind them they're speaking Aussie instead of American (I've read some serious horror stories about expats kids being treated poorly for speaking funny :S)

pandarific you're not alone. I get that all the time. Not feckin American.

My boss told me that Irish people do well in the UK (professionally) because the accent is perceived as classless so no automatic prejudgment. Could be nonsense wrong

Freerangeeggs...I'm not trying to 'get rid' of my accent. Nothing will make me sound 'not Welsh' no matter how I try to pronounce certain words. Nothing sad about it as far as i'm concerned.

I also apologise for my incorrect use of the word 'correctly'. I will try harder in future to ensure no unnecessary nit-picking from pedants.

My mum is a Geordie, my dad is Welsh and my sister and I were raised in Yorkshire. I have a very slight Yorkshire twang, my sister is ridiculously posh. No idea how that happened!

My SE London dwelling 2 year old niece has a cockney twang but doesn't say barth and graaaaaaass

You can't look ahead to see how any accent is going to be received.
Try to concentrate on confidence and clarity for you children.
I have a "southern" accent, because of where I learnt to speak, with irsh/west country parents.
I have lived my adult life in "the north" and have had repeated (ad nauseum)comments about the way I talk.
My dd1 has a similar accent to me, and gets the same. We both smile it off,but this defensive inverted snobbery is horrid.

I absolutely love regional accents. Less keen on RP, just sounds a bit dull. My current favourites are Essex, I'm also quite keen on Brummy and Glaswegian, Geordie, Welsh ....joy to the ears. It's one of the amazing things about living in Britain, let's hope it this uniqueness does disappear and we don't all end up speaking with RP blandness.

I love the varied British accents but am v glad I don't speak with some of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone needs a clear voice for speaking with the rest of the world, not just their local village. That seems obvious to me, of course some people never leave their village.

Problem with trying the speaking properly Accent is it'll get noticed,you'll get het up
My mum had the voice for the priest,the phone!sounded like Brenda fricker doin posh voice
My accent is undeniably weegie,and I've never attempted to change it