Moving to Scotland in a few months - will my children lose their accent

[HumanDemands]

As the title says - moving to Scotland (Glasgow) in a few months from South West England with my 2 children age 8 and 3. I know my 3 year old will end up speaking with a Glaswegian accent but my 8 year old? Not bothered either way but curious to know :-)

Not necessarily. I've lived in multiple countries as a child without losing my accent. As an adult, I've lived in Scotland for a long time now and still sound like I moved last week!

Some people lose accents easily and some don't.

Yes, they both will.
yours May temper theirs a little but they’ll be Weegee! I say this as a
parent of kids who sound like BBC new readers despite having two ‘foreign’ accents at home. Though they do use some of our words for certain things…

I reckon 50/50, ex husbands little sister moved to Ireland from England when she was 8. As an adult she has a mix of both

Yes, yes I think so, if that’s where they choose to live their lives. I say that as a Swedish woman who has a stronger Bristolian accent than people born and bred here. 😂 😂

Probably. My neighbours children at 6 and 9 arrived in Scotland with cockney accents and within a few years were as broad as the rest of us. I do love hearing my colleagues with English accents saying Scottish words automatically.

My US cousins moved to Ireland aged 10 and 12 and lost their accents within months. My cousins who lived in L’Pool til they were your kids ages have no trace of their scouse accents any more ( took about a year for them)z

Moved to Aberdeenshire with similar aged kids (2, 6, 8). The elder two have two different accents, speaking with a more Scottish accent to their friends. The words they use can often be different.

Their friends however still think they sound English after 16 years. Younger one is more Scottish sounding.

My Dad I'd 80 he moved from Cork to Manchester when he was eleven I would say say his accent is quite northern but on meeting him most people ask if he's Irish to my mind it's very subtle but maybe not?

Have you heard Gillian Anderson’s bidialectual accent? In RhwnUS she speaks like an American and over here with an English accent.
it’s not an affectation - it’s genuine. She was born in US, moved to London then back to US as a teen so depending on which country she’s in that’s how she speaks…

They will have their school voice and their everything-else voice. Mine were completely bi-ligual.

Maybe not real, broad, Glaswegian. Might get the Glasgow Uni accent depending on where you are living and who they go to school with.

That's worse.

I had a west London accent as a small child. I was 5 and my sister was 4 when we moved to Edinburgh. I have a half and half accent now and my sister has a Scottish accent. Randomly my brother was born in Edinburgh but ended up at York university. He also got his first job in York and moved back to Edinburgh five years later. My brother also speaks with a half and half accent.

My DP moved to the Glasgow area from England when he was a child. He was 12 at the time and had 4 younger sisters. One of them was 8 at the time of the move and didn’t develop a Glasgow accent. Only the youngest sister grew up with a Glasgow accent cause her speech was developing at the time. The rest of them kept their English accent.

It’s impossible to say for sure, but probably, yes.

DH moved from Ireland to London aged 14/15 and lost his accent, save for the odd vowel / ‘r’ in words, if you listen carefully enough.

We moved up 8 years ago. They were 9 and 11. They still have very strong English accents.
I can’t see it changing. It wouldn’t upset me
if they did, we all live Scottish accents.

It's likely but if both parents are speaking with a southern English accent, the English accent might be reinforced.
However - a Glasgow accent is nice and distinctive, so .....win, win. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

My neighbour moved to London at 18 for 6 months, moved back then and has a London accent ever since. He moved over in 1984.

Yes they will lose English accents to fit in at school in Glasgow

In Glasgow? Pretty much guaranteed. 😃

I moved from South England to West Coast of Scotland when I was 9 (I'm now early thirties). I didn't lose my English accent at all despite my best attempts. Even now I couldn't do a proper Scottish accent to save my life.

My sister is two years younger than me and also still sounds pretty English, but she's lived all over and managed to pick up an American accent when she lived in Boston for two years as an adult (she thankfully dropped it fairly soon after returning to Glasgow).

My older brother picked up the local accent to fit in at school and now sounds very Scottish when he is with his pals, slightly less so when just with family.

It must vary from child to child.

Ah it varies so much.
Wait and see!

I don’t think you can predict it. Mine switched from Scottish to English a couple of times when we moved about, and according to my parents it was Scottish around them at home and English in public for 3 years! (Not at all intentionally I may add and I was aged 6-9 at the time)

This. Speaking with a Glasgow accent is almost impossible to resist and you will all likely be speaking weegie within the year

I moves from South to North at 14 and have a fully northern accent now took about 2 years 😳

Bi-lingual with English dad & Spanish mum here. Grew up between Newcastle and Palma. Speaking English you’d never think I’d left Newcastle and speaking Catalan/mallorquí you’d think I’d never left Mallorca. Kids on the other hand… full on geordies 😂