to think that if you grow up in UK but have a German parent, when you learn German at school, you will speak it in a better accent because of your heritage?

[vdbfamily]

My DH is half German but grew up in UK speaking English mostly. He did not speak German to our 3 children but they all do well in German and speak it without obvious English accent. I say it is because they are a quarter German but they all laugh at me and say the genetics make no difference. In contrast to this, I know a fair bit of German but they all fall about laughing if I try and speak it. Anyone agree they have an advantage?

Hearing a language when you are young makes a noticeable difference. You retain the ability to make a wider range of sounds if you hear them earlier. You have a better accent because you already know the sounds.

My half Italian ex spoke Italian but not with the GCSE sought after Roman accent. It's going to depend on the quality of the accent and how well practiced, fluent and then how often someone is exposed to a language. Being really immersed helps. I had a visit to France before my GCSEs years back and I went from a predicted D to an A, I actually got a B as I guess some had 'worn off' by the exams.

I don't think there is a genetic component.
However as a Scot I have been told that my accent when speaking German is clearer than an English person.
Many of the sounds in German are common to a Scottish speaker.

Neither of my parents are German yet I have been told by several native speakers that I have a barely noticeable trace of my native British accent when I speak German. However I listen to lots of German music and TV shows so I think that goes quite a long way to helping.

@lazylinguist

I'm a languages teacher and teach several European languages (including German). No, their part-German genes won't make any difference, but having heard properly-pronounced German words even occasionally from family will give them a bit of an advantage.

I teach German at GCSE and A-Level and the 'native' speakers or those who speak it al home have no real advantage.

I've taught French and German up to A Level for over 20 years and am utterly baffled by that statement. It literally makes no sense. How can being able to speak the language fluently or semi-fluently not give you a massive advantage?! A Level obviously requires more than just fluent language, but it's still a huge advantage.

When I did German for Advanced Higher I actually got a better mark than the German twins who were also doing it. They aced the spoken part of the exam but their written German was actually not as good as mine as by this point they'd been living in the UK for several years so had forgotten how to spell a lot of words/when to use commas etc, whereas I had had correct spelling/grammar drilled into to me relatively recently. So being a native speaker is no guarantee of top grades.

My DM was half Dutch. Can't say I've noticed any tendency in me to speak Dutch.

Of course genetics has no influence. Sorry OP but that's ridiculous.

My exh is half Russian and half Czech. No leaning towards either language.

WTF are «German» genes anyway?

@Brot64 What an amazing mixture and what lucky children to have the opportunity to experience so many different cultures. I'm very jealous

My Dad is Scottish, I'm half Scottish and my Scottish (attempted) accent is appalling.
My French accent is/was awesome and I have no links to any native French speakers!

@RainbowRabbit33 thank you. Yes they are very lucky to have the mix of languages and cultures. It does however get very dramatic when disagreements happen especially with oldest DD as she knows the rest of us don't speak Italian

DD is bi-lingual and hears mainly German at home apart from TV. Her German is German, not like an English person will speak German.

I have several colleagues who speak German and they all have an accent, some more than others. It often depends if they only learned it in school or actually lived in Germany or use it actively speaking instead of just reading and writing.

Genetics have nothing to do with how well you speak a language or if you have an accent or not.

@SheWranglesRugRats

WTF are «German» genes anyway?

Most likely a love of sausages, schnitzel and Sauerkraut????

Dirndel and Lederhosen are not worn by all Germans :-)

I ME, most people speak a second language in the accent of the place where they learned it. I have a French friend who speaks perfect English in a heavy Nottingham accent . My neighbour who dresses and looks like an exquisite exotic Pakistani princess.... .. speaks fluent colloquial Glaswegian.

Dh mother is German he put effort in to learn as a teen and worked hard at his German a level. He spent a year of university in Germany he is fluent when we visit Germany people think he is native. . His brother barely speaks a word...depends on the child’s appetite for language and intellectual ability

Native speaking is unquestionably a huge advantage for language GCSE and A Level in my experience but I have found native speakers that are UK educated often struggle with in class tests on grammar because while they could conjugate perfectly they often didn’t have a clue what the tenses were actually called - that said, when I last taught they didn’t ask “write X in Y tense” in the actual exams so it wasn’t an issue for final grades. The other problem was using slang that the examiners wouldn’t accept.

As with anything there were a range of abilities within the native speakers, but it’s a massive advantage.

OP - if your kids have heard German since they were young (and I assume you didn’t), that’s their advantage, not genetics. Even if they weren’t actively being taught, going every year and hearing it is enough to help.

When I did German for Advanced Higher I actually got a better mark than the German twins who were also doing it. They aced the spoken part of the exam but their written German was actually not as good as mine as by this point they'd been living in the UK for several years so had forgotten how to spell a lot of words/when to use commas etc, whereas I had had correct spelling/grammar drilled into to me relatively recently. So being a native speaker is no guarantee of top grades.

Well yes, but the majority of English kids who learn a foreign language don't get very good at the grammar or spelling either, ut they lack the native speaker's other advantages! And native speakers in English schools (many of whom do have at least a half-decent decent grasp of their own grammar) generally have a massive advantage in at least the speaking, listening and reading exams, because their comprehension is usually virtually faultless, they have a much much bigger general vocabulary (though they still need to study the specific vocab for the topucs at A Level)and they can express themselves more fluently, more narurally and with great accent and pronunciation.

I've taught quite a few native speakers at GCSE and A Level. At GCSE the exam is pretty much effortless for them. At A Level they often need to work on their grammar, plus you sometimes get a lazy one who thinks they don't need to study at all and don't learn the topic vocab or brush up on their grammar. They still do much better than a non-native student of similar intelligence and effort level.