To worry about DCs picking up very strong regional accent?

[honourinoneeye]

DH has been looking for a job near his elderly father for a while, and secured one last month. The in-laws live in an area that is pretty much synonymous with deprivation and poverty - their home and immediate area (street, estate) is lovely but the area as a whole is pretty dire.

I have been concerned about the effects living somewhere like this may have on children but one thing in particular I'm a bit worried about is the accent. It's very, very thick - even "well spoken" people have what I and most others would consider to be a broad accent.

At any rate, this week we have been in a premier inn to buy a house and find schools and get things sorted for September. My twins will be going into year 2 and their teacher 'mocked' my dd's accent - not nastily, but nonetheless it was there. I also noticed the TA spoke with a strong accent with numerous grammatical errors - "you was staying in a hotel?" complete with dropped 'h's'

I was a teacher pre DC and have worked in some very deprived schools but such an accent would undoubtedly hold people back, I really can't explain how strong it is! I don't mean I'm judging people for it (I do for the bad grammar) but just the same, I can't pretend I'd be happy about my children picking up such a thick accent and I do feel it would be detrimental to their future.

So - any ways around this?

[CoreyTrevorLahey]

When I was doing my PhD, I spoke at a conference which was organised by an academic with the most lovely, sing song Newcastle accent you've ever heard. Hugely successful woman, who made no attempt to hide her accent. She told me she had remembered me from the previous year because of my accent - Glaswegian - and how glad she was to hear another regional accent in the room.

That made me think about how important it was not to try to lose my accent and how little the fact that I didn't speak RP mattered to how people perceived me.

[OnlyLovers]

I think you sound like a horrible snob.

The suggestions of private school are equally snobbish.

The teacher who mocked your child's accent needs pulling up on it.

As for 'I'd not heard anyone with that accent who is well off/successful', that might be because of outdated attitudes to regional accents. Which won't change as long as these attitudes persist.

Although, in the case of the Black Country in particular, there is of course Dudley boy Lenny Henry. Successful and I'd guess well off.

[ModernToss]

Someone said a little way upthread what I've been thinking about re. this thread - this attitude is so damn old-fashioned.

Maybe accent would hold you back in the days when television announcers all spoke in a kind of strangulated RP, but things are very different now.

[MarianneSolong]

One thing that is evidence in favour of the way that people adapt their speech, is that when you meet someone who doesn't adapt you notice it. A man I know with high-functioning autism can't do these adaptations, and it means that in many social contexts his tone sounds inappropriate and oddly mechanical.

[Kittymautz]

Spotted this today, BBC article about 'accentism':

www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/28225710

[drudgetrudy]

If this wasn't (weren't) an issue the thread wouldn't be so long.
Signing out now, sithee.

[rallytog1]

So, itsfab, you've never spoken to someone who isn't a native English speaker and tried to make sure your words are sounded out clearly so they can understand? You've never made the effort to speak especially clearly to a child who's just developing their language skills? In doing so you'll have subconsciously picked out certain vowels and sounds that you think are particularly pertinent.

It is a completely established and irrefutable fact that people unfailingly accommodate to the people they're speaking to. I wouldn't expect you to realise, as it's largely subconscious, but if I got you in a language lab I'd be able to prove it to you (sadly I no longer have such access, but if of did, I'd drag you in )

Slagging off a huge and irrefutable area of linguistic research because you don't like what it says is just lazy.

[trevortrevorslattery]

Accents aside, I'm not sure the OP's children will have a smooth transition into school if they feel their parent(s) regard the people in the area with such contempt.

[Minorchristmascrisis]

Op. I'm not sure which area you are looking at but if you want a less strong accent, I would suggest Standish, Parbold, Upholland, maybe even Winstanley. Still a accent but you will find more people in these areas who are not 'natives' so more chance of a range of accents.
For what it's worth, it's not the most attractive accent in the world but dh and I have a whole circle of family and friends who were born and bred here who have gone on to be successful. We know teachers, accountants, solicitors, actors, an actuary, business managers, managing directors, an aeronautical engineer and quite a few who have been successful in the banking world. Some have stayed in Wigan, some have moved away. Some have retained their accent, some have softened it and some have lost it altogether.
I would be more concerned about people mocking your children's accent than if they will achieve with a Wigan accent.
Ps. It is a Lancashire accent.

Good luck and feel free to pm me if you want any advice on schools/areas etc.

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

Don't be sorry trevor - it's nice we agree

[melika]

I just looked it up on You Tube, called 'U wot m8' and they sound just like Emmerdale people so what's the problem? We can all understand that surely?

[trevortrevorslattery]

ya sorry wibbly I posted without reading the whole thread then realised you had already made the point

[Itsfab]

No, rally, I don't. And you can't say everyone does as you have not listened to everyone in the world.

And I say bollox!

[trevortrevorslattery]

"I aff fut go fut buzz"

Ah greylady I love this! Reminds me of my old housemate who I could understand perfectly despite not being from Leigh

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

Absolutely agree trevor - I made the first point way upthread and don't understand how someone who supposedly lived a couple of miles away couldn't possibly understand what was being spoken about, as the poster who picked up my comment seems to believe.

Lots of double standards on this thread, with an overriding sense that the more southerly accents are 'correct' in some way and the regional, particularly northern accents, are 'incorrect'. The irony being, of course, that unless you speak pure RP and sound like the queen, everyone has an accent of sorts (even if many don't like to acknowledge this).

[trevortrevorslattery]

Bucket pronounced 'book-it' isn't incorrect - just a pronunciation difference.

If you have an accent that means most people people born more than a few miles away can't understand you, then I would say your pronunciation should be called wrong.

Eh? But equally, surely the Wigan-ites might struggle to understand the OP if she said "bakkit" or however she pronounces it! How are they wrong and not her?

PS Book isn't pronounced "buck" round here, nor is it in millions of households

[thegreylady]

Wigan lady foxglove :)

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Beg pardon - 'I goffut goh fut buzz.' Got the wrong variation

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Ladyfoxglove That's classic Wigan Variation being: 'I haffut goh fut buzz.' ('I have to go for the bus', as opposed to 'I've got to go for the bus')

[Ladyfoxglove]

Thegreylady "I aff fut go fut buzz" Where is this accent from?

Reminds me of the accent in Stoke where people say "A gain go up Hanley Duck." Meaning, "I am going to go up to Hanley Duck."

[Ladyfoxglove]

I had to Google 'Wigan accent' on YouTube because I had no idea what it sounded like and I have to say in my opinion, it's one of the better accents.

Do you mean dialect OP? I can understand you not wanting your children to pick up the local dialect and use slang but the accent itself is really rather nice.

I think there is still a prejudice against regional accents in some quarters and certainly in some professions but this is slowly becoming less entrenched as the 'old guard' step down and younger people take their place.

[ScouseBird8364]

Ffs, is it not about a person as opposed to an accent?! The prejudice on this thread is truly shocking

[melika]

I love listening to local accents, even in the west midlands there are big differences from North Birmingham to South and with the Black Country to the East. I think it's great.

My DS2 attends a very multi-cultural school and I hear him speak with an asian twang now and then, it really makes me smile!