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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think you don't change your accent...

119 replies

guiltynetter · 09/03/2015 10:29

in 8 months?

partners sister. went to live in Scotland from the north of England 8-9 months ago. saw her this weekend for the second time since she moved. started chatting to discover she now has a full on, strong, Scottish accent. we're not talking a hint of it, we're talking lived-there-all-your-life scot. I couldn't take her seriously! last time we spoke she was full northern.

am I being unreasonable? there's nothing wrong with the accent I just don't get how you can change so quickly! I'll prepare for a flaming...

OP posts:

Feminine · 09/03/2015 16:17

My husband is American, after 20 years here, people often ask where he is from?
My children used to have American accents, not strong but noticeable.
After three years back in the UK, they are totally English sounding.
My eldest went from an English accent, to mid West American and then back again!

LaLyra · 09/03/2015 17:34

I pick up accents really quickly. It can be embarrassing as I worry someone will think I'm taking the piss. my grandparents sent me to my cousin's in the Highlands one summer and I came back after 4 weeks sounding like I'd lived there all my life.

Also she might not even realise. My brother moved down South (we're borders) about 10 years ago and reckons he still has his accent, but he hasn't. To us he sounds southern, to his friends down south he sounds northern.

drudgetrudy · 09/03/2015 18:14

Wow-I must be different from everyone else.

Thirty-odd years living in a different part of the country and still very strong accent from where I grew up which I wish would soften.
First thing people ask is where I come from.
Not ashamed of my accent but it doesn't lend itself well to professional activities like lecturing.

BikketBikketBikket · 09/03/2015 20:06

John Barrowman is similar to David Tennant, whose natural Scottish accent interchanges with his RP one that he used as The Doctor, Casanova etc - I'm fascinated by both of them, as I can't 'do' accents at all...

MistressDeeCee · 09/03/2015 20:11

Ive been in the UK for 34 years, I still have my accent

Electriclaundryland · 09/03/2015 20:14

Ds was 2 when we moved to Scotland. 4 years later he's not changed his accent.

DownAtFraggleRock · 09/03/2015 20:18

I've been in Canada 9 yrs and still sound veeeery British.

About once a week I get someone, usually strangers, 'doing their British accent' at me....

Every one of them sounds like Dick van Dyke

Pipbin · 09/03/2015 20:26

Paul Whitehouse moved from Wales to London as a boy. He didn't say a word for a few weeks and when he did it was with a full cockney accent.
Gillian Anderson does the same bi-accent thing as John Barrowman. I can see how it looks fake. However people I know who have grown up in the uk speaking English but have parents who speak another language tend to change to a much thicker accent when speaking with family even in English. It is like being bilingual, you have a language for home and another for school.

WingsofNylon · 09/03/2015 20:36

Yes it can and does happen naturally. Mine changed from very strong American to very British in a few months. Tbe funniest bit is that now I can't for the life of me manage to sound at all American!

Libitina · 09/03/2015 20:40

I can pick up a new accent in a couple of minutes if talking tosomeone with a strong regional accent. Due to the armed forces as a child and since married I have moved around the country a LOT! As a child it was easier to fit in if you picked up the accent quickly.

I do think some think I am taking the piss out of their accent but I'm not.

A relative has picked up a strong accent from her best friend and has never lived in the area her friend is from.

ILovePud · 09/03/2015 20:41

This thread is so interesting, I mimic accents when I'm talking to someone, I don't mean to do it, I'd always thought that it was just a weird thing that only I did, it's reassuring to know others do it too. It is a bit embarrassing and I can't really explain it, I think for me it's just like unconscious mirroring of someone's body language when you feel in synch with them.

YouTheCat · 09/03/2015 20:43

My accent can change depending on who I'm talking to. I can go from Geordie to RP in less than 5 minutes.

Libitina, I was also a forces child. I got picked on for my accent every time we moved and so I learned to adapt.

NobodyLivesHere · 09/03/2015 20:53

I had a housemate once who was Welsh but had gone to secondary school in england. When she spoke to Welsh people she had a Welsh accent, when she spoke to English people it was England. It would flip even in the same conversation. I don't think she was even aware she was doing it.

backwardpossom · 09/03/2015 20:53

I pick up accents very easily and quickly. It does get embarrassing as I often pick up the accent of the person I'm speaking to and they must think I'm taking the piss. It's completely unintentional, though.

Part of me wonders if it is because I am a MFL teacher - I speak 4 foreign languages and each language requires me to put on an accent.

plinkin · 09/03/2015 21:02

YANBU. My parents moved up to the wilds of Scotland from the Midlands over 12 years ago and neither have picked up the accent, however, they do use some colloquialisms. My Aunty has been up there for over 35 years with no discernible accent but does use slang etc. perhaps your sister is just trying to fit in?

Jennifersrabbit · 09/03/2015 21:23

DH does this. Remember at uni going to view a flat owned by a Glaswegian mate and hissing at DH 'for gods sake don't copy his accent!'

Also does it in foreign languages - on holiday in Italy he would trot out his six phrase book sentences with so convincing an accent that people assumed he was fluent and promptly let loose a flood of Italian

Kids divide down the middle - DD has the local accent thick enough to slice, DS is stubbornly RP as per the default setting in our household.

TheHobbit · 09/03/2015 21:28

We had an American teacher at school and everytime after his class everyone spoke with an American accent for about half an hour after it finished. Was really funny but it was so easy to pick it up without even thinking.

Bakeoffcake · 09/03/2015 21:29

My brother was speaking in a thick Scottish accent within a couple of weeks of moving up there (he was 14, I was 11). He had to fit in as he was being beaten up because he was English.

So yes, it's very easy to pick up an accent.

PostOfTheDay · 09/03/2015 21:36

Haha, that would make me too. I have moved countries quite a few times and I find it funny when I catch myself mimicking accents. I really tried hard not to do it.

Did you sister revert back to Northern after spending a bit of time with you.
Some children immediately copy accents. I Knew a 7 year old that adopted a strong Afrikaans accent within a very short time of arriving in SA. It used to make everyone cringe but, of course, no one said anything to her.

OTheHugeManatee · 09/03/2015 21:41

Considering how tetchy and rabidly nationalistic some Scots seem to have got since the referendum I'm not at all surprised at someone developing a Scottish accent in 8 months since moving north from England.

Strokethefurrywall · 09/03/2015 21:42

I'm one of those that can pick up accents very quickly. Despite being a London/Home Counties girl, I can go from a Joanna Lumley special to a Sarf Lahndan accent in two seconds depending who I'm talking to.

And for some reason, if I'm talking to anyone Welsh I start sounding Welsh but i'm blaming that on years of getting stoned with my Welsh friend who would slip back into lilting tones for hours on end. She was speaking complete rubbish but it was lovely to listen to!

I now live overseas in an expat community, my accent is mostly British but with an Aussie twang. DH is Scottish with a broad Edinburgh accent which hasn't diminished and bizarrely is an accent I just don't pick up (like with for NZ but I do for South African...)

DS1 has a little plummy English accent (Peppa bloody Pig!) which will no doubt change as he starts school with all the Canadians, Americans and Aussies!

x2boys · 09/03/2015 21:51

My dad has lived in England since he was elevan hes now.72 he still has an.Irish accent !

OnewayoranotherIwill · 09/03/2015 22:02

When younger I met guys with strong accents while on nights out, my sister always said the following morning Cork/Galway guy chatting to you last night. I can't help it I just don't have a strong accent and pick others up at the drop of a hat. Scottish accent is very strong, though lovely!

MsBug · 09/03/2015 22:05

I do this too. I've lived all over the UK but have settled in the south east for over ten years. I sound like a proper southerner now (except I have kept some of my short vowels). However as soon as I go back up north I slip straight back into my old accent. I also pick up accents on holiday or just talking to someone with a different accent. Sometimes I unconsciously copy figures of speech and mannerisms too. I am also good at languages but can't 'do' accents on demand.

mrsfuzzy · 09/03/2015 22:12

where i live the accent is very south london, but i still have my home counties naice accent, some people take the mickey but i'm okay with that, i love accents.

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