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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish I had a Welsh accent?

35 replies

imageryyregami · 21/10/2018 19:22

I was brought up in Wales and spoke Welsh at home. So I am throughly Welsh.

I now live in London after going to Cambridge.

I sound ever so slightly Welsh, but people always comment that I do not.

I WISH I had a strong Welsh accent, just so I can identify with my own country/ heritage.

I really dislike having a boring generic English accent.

OP posts:
SilentIsla · 21/10/2018 19:23

Just big up your lilt!

AnneProtheroe · 21/10/2018 19:26

I really dislike having a boring generic English accent

Well that accent can vary depending on where in the country you are! Grin

cucumbergin · 21/10/2018 19:26

It sounds like you might be a bit of a chameleon, accent-wise? Do people comment on your accent after you've been back to Wales for the weekend etc?

BehemothPullsThePeasantsPlough · 21/10/2018 19:27

YANBU. I was talking to a bloke at the Admiral call centre today and he had the most lovely accent (as do they all). I was dead jealous.

Original poster
imageryyregami · 21/10/2018 19:27

It changes loads! I can pick up on anyones.

OP posts:
TubbsAndEdward · 21/10/2018 19:28

I am thoroughly English but my inner voice speaks to me in a welsh accent Grin

I have spent time living in Wales I'm not bonkers honestly !

Elphame · 21/10/2018 19:28

Mine gets stronger as I cross the bridge!

WonderTweek · 21/10/2018 19:37

I’m not even from the UK and I just sound English. I wish I had an exotic accent from my home country (as does my husband 😂) but I just can’t do it. Sometimes people forget that I’m not British and it makes me feel a bit like I’ve lost my roots. Haha. That sounds a tad dramatic but I can’t help myself.

OP, if you listen to Welsh podcasts or radio programmes you might end up sounding more Welsh. 😃

Jezzifishie · 21/10/2018 19:40

I have a friend who sounds like she's from the Midlands usually, but the full Welsh accent comes out when she talks to her Mam. She'll hang up the phone, and instantly be back to Midlands. Accents are funny things!

goose1964 · 21/10/2018 19:43

Mine reappears when ever I go back, or if I'm talking to someone with a Welsh accent,. Otherwise I just speak with a (slightly posh) local accent but with Welsh intonation which my kids take the piss out of me fo

3out · 21/10/2018 19:43

I swear that when I renewed our car insurance (admiral) that it was actually Rob Brydon I was talking to. It wasn’t just the accent, it was just everything he said, his tone etc. They weren’t the cheapest but he was so blinking nice I went ahead and renewed anyway!

I have a chameleon accent too, it’s annoying!

Scottishlass11e · 21/10/2018 19:44

@jezzi am I your friend? Grin born in Ireland, haven't been back home since 2011 yet whenever I talk to Irish family.. boom Irish accent.
My brother is American despite never having visited the country, everyone picks up on it. He is actually English but has never had an English accent.
I do love the Welsh accent though

DogMamma · 21/10/2018 19:45

it depends op, if its a north mid or south welsh accent you want.....yes i am Welsh lol

TroysMammy · 21/10/2018 19:46

If you live in London find other London Welsh. If you hang out with them you'll soon sound like them. There is a Welsh chapel just off Oxford Street run by a lovely very Welsh man with a strong Welsh accent and a rich singing voice.

CookieSwirlC · 21/10/2018 19:46

I went to school with a girl who had an English accent generally but switched to a Scottish one if she talked to her brother at school or was on the phone to her Mum. Used to fascinate me how easily she switched between the two.

JennyOnAPlate · 21/10/2018 19:48

Me too op. I was born and raised in Wales (although not a welsh speaker) and I don't even have a hint of an accent any more. I'm one of those people whose accent changes depending on where I am and who I'm talking to.

donajimena · 21/10/2018 19:49

I'm Welsh. I'm always asked where am I originally from Hmm

TroysMammy · 21/10/2018 19:55

imageryyregamy it's a Church and I've pm'd you more info.

cucumbergin · 21/10/2018 19:59

Maybe you need to find some good audio books narrated by someone with an accent you want to rub off on you? Do that on the commute in to work and your colleagues will soon be saying "you know I've never really noticed before, but you have quite a Welsh accent don't you?"

Alternatively a couple of glasses of Wine may help. Best avoided at work though!

HandbagCrazy · 21/10/2018 20:08

I'm welsh and don't think I sound particularly welsh but English people seem to pick up my accent straight away.

Is a funny thing - years ago I worked for Admiral in Cardiff but when I spoke to colleagues in the Swansea office I found my accent seemed to get stronger and stay that way for a few hours 
I also add the word wee (as in small) to my vocabulary - in my welsh accent - after working closely with a Scottish man. Still use it every now and again even though I know it sounds odd coming from me.

Watch some BBC Wales programmes, you may find your accent picks up.

Amanduh · 21/10/2018 20:15

Well, ‘generic English’ accents don’t exist. I’d rather have an English accent over Welsh, find them so grating, but yanbu if you want one. Go and live in Wales? Maybe that would help?

Amanduh · 21/10/2018 20:17

Oh and people switching between accents fascinates me, that could work too! John Barrowman is full Scottish at home with his parents and really American everywhere else!

mimibunz · 21/10/2018 20:18

I love the Welsh accent from the south. Not sure if I’ve heard the accents in the north.

MicroManaged · 21/10/2018 20:22

I have a friend with a very strong Welsh accent. He now lives in SE England and has been asked kindly, more than one, how long he’s been in the UK Grin

itneverrainsitpours · 21/10/2018 20:39

I'm the same. Born and bred in Wales but moved to England about 10 years ago and now you wouldn't know I'm Welsh from my accent :(