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?

my children have a mixture of my strong welsh accent, their fathers Lutonian twang and my stepmothers sheffield. poor buggers will be unemployable..there are many people in law courts and banks and politics with strong regional accents. you are being insane.

DH doesn't have a strong accent. He sounds slightly northern, which is fine (believe me I am not against regional accents) but the sheer strength of it is quite - well, it will take some getting used to.

Wigan.

Perhaps I am less worried about the accent - maybe it's more fitting in and adapting. The DCs were treated in a manner I wasn't thrilled with to be honest although very difficult to explain on here. A sort of amused indulgence.

Soon as I read the OP, I assumed Liverpool.
See past the accent, some of us are well-educated you know!

Is it Black Country, OP? Awful accent and I understand your concern.

Oh sorry, Wigan. Not known to be very nasal though.
The novelty will wear off and they'll blend in very easily. How did the TA mock their accent?

Very nasal!

The teacher had an activity which involved choosing something from a bucket and it took a while to know what she meant "book - it"!

Honour - I can see your point but stand by my first comment about prattish judgements.
I also agree with people who say A.
A) make a good effort to speak well at home, your children will pick up on it. I have an Irish friend whose children speak with a bit if an Irish accent dispite being born and raised here in England.
B) correct where necessary, I moved to a county well known for its dreadful accent and it never goes unnoticed if I hear my children "twang" in the slightest!
Good luck with your move.

Wigan!
What's wrong with a Lancashire accent?!?

Nothing is wrong with a Lancashire accent, that is what I'd say DH has.

Wigan isn't a Lancashire accent, or at least not this part of Wigan!

TBH I've never had my (very weird) accent hold me back - I get some funny looks sometimes and that's it :) Both my parents have regional accents from different regions and then I grew up in a completely different region again, so I have a horrible combination of accents. I think it is far less important than it used to be.

I think it's a far old jump to go from not liking a accent to saying they will never be employed in specific areas.

I hope you don't pass this prejudice onto your kids.

I say that as a broad Black Country wench who is a very successful professional

My children have a broad Yorkshire accent and I think it's quite cute! My DS2 says 'ey up mate' to say hello!

Yorkshire accents are said to be a very friendly one :o

I have a Yorkshire accent normally but a posh telephone voice I've been told

If people judge on accents then that says more about them than you.

Get them elecution lessons when they're older. My mum is working class Essex born and bread but had elecution lessons as a teen and now has a lovely neutral accent.

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 would be worried about more than just the accent if the area is as bad as it sounds!

It's called Greater Manchester now but Wigan was Lancashire.

How old are your children, OP, and do you expect to be there for their whole schooling? Most kids are linguistic sponges- they will acquire an accent and lose it again. Did your dh grow up there? Presumably you find his accent acceptable?

The people who have really strong accents, imho, are people who grow with everyone in their life speaking the same way.

Sorry elocution thought it looked wrong!

Are there not courts in Wigan?

You sound snobby.

No I am not from Wigan. My DH has a certain southern accent and it hasn't held him back in his legal profession.

I suppose I'd better join in. I have a RP accent (had Speech Training lessons at school) and some people think I speak like the Queen. NDNs think I'm posh but I'm not. Council accommodation until I married.

My accent did well for me though.

CJ, all I can honestly say is that I just can't for a moment imagine hearing the accents I heard today in a very professional and successful capacity - I'm pleased, in a way, if I'm wrong, but I do think that unfortunately the connotations of such a voice would be detrimental to somebody. Not hold them back completely perhaps but do them no favours.

I also think DD1 was a bit fed up of her name being pronounced 'A-ree-At' while DS2 is now 'EnnRee.'

I am sure we will get used to it!

I moved back to Durham after twenty years down south. Several years later and my oldest daughter still sounds southern while my youngest one sounds more northern than I do. People do comment on it and my oldest daughter is perceived as being 'posh' when in reality it's just another accent. Drives me mad but there's nothing I can do about it. I do correct my youngest daughter when she says 'slang' words but I would not make her feel ashamed to have an accent. Everyone has an accent, whether they realise that or not.

I grew up in south Wales to English parents. Whenever I spoke in the local accent, my mother relentlessly nagged corrected me.

Pissed me off no end. Still does actually. Sounds daft but I think it contributed to me feeling like I lacked an identity to some extent. Accents are a strong part of feeling like you belong somewhere.

Good point missy

Accents are something I've never given much thought to before. But we have been marvelled at everywhere we've been today and one man assured ds1 he'd be 'tah-kin reet in naw time."

Perhaps it is that I'm really worried about - my children sounding different, becoming different.

Well don't move there if you're that bothered? Or move there and either realise it's not a big deal or is a big deal and you can take the strips other posters have outlined re correcting speech when necessary.