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Original poster

Well spoken areas - Accents

246 replies

arizonagirl · 30/08/2010 10:21

Hi there,

We currently live in Surrey and I have to admit - the accent is really nice and the children speak so nicely. Always gets comments.

Ok, so we are looking at preps in another home county (probably Hertfordshire/Bucks/Berks). I am going to probably get really slated for this thread but hey...I am intrigued and really do wish to know people's thoughts. Which areas within an hour of London could we go to where people are very well spoken eg. 'yes' instead of 'yeah' etc. Not too impressed with Kent, Essex, Epsom tbh. Looking at Bishops Stortford - any thoughts.

Thanks!

OP posts:
kjxo · 31/01/2011 08:09

Send them to school in Columbus, Ohio. They'll learn the neutral accent all newscasters and actors raised anywhere else spend years mastering as adults.

NL3 · 31/01/2011 08:18

Charlie and Lola on a loop - works without fail!

CrosswordAddict · 31/01/2011 08:46

OP why has this well-worn topic come up again after a four-month break?

eatyourveg · 31/01/2011 19:22

panicmode I am in the next town to you heading north, there are tons of people around here who have a slight saff larndon twinge to their speech. If you wanna talk proper posh - move to Winchester.

freerangeeggs · 31/01/2011 20:10

I'm sorry, op, but I really hope your kids grow up to talk like Bianca from Eastenders/Dizzee Rascal

bitsyandbetty · 31/01/2011 20:12

What about Dudley?

brimfull · 31/01/2011 20:28

Brave OP

But I do cringe at some accents, not the accent so much but the grammar. My sil has awful southampton accent /grammer and it makes her sound thick when she's not.

Actually I grew up in canada and accents there are pretty neutral , well in the area I grew up they are.

clam · 31/01/2011 20:54

baitedbreath if you come from Berko, then you must surely know it's spelt BerkhamSTED!

As you were...

CoraMackenzie · 31/01/2011 21:04

We lived in Surrey, just outside Guildford, then moved to Herts (StA) then to Cheshire and we're now back down South.

The Surrey and Cheshire accent was pretty much the same! Grin I found the St Albans accent very North London/Essex like.

onceamai · 31/01/2011 22:35

Doesn't matter where you live - depends on the parents - must stop sucking this plum!

Nonicknamesleft · 07/05/2011 09:51

Sorry to air an old subject again, but reading this thread has given me a crumb of comfort as am currently in a state of deep mental anguish over the same issue.

We are just at the point of signing the paperwork to move from just outside to Guildford to an area in the Midlands which I will conceal for fear of hate mail. I don't have a problem with regional accents AT ALL - I really really don't - but I do have an almost visceral loathing of the accent where we are moving to. I grew up there, my niece speaks with a much stronger accent than her parents, and when I go back, the accent winds me up rather than filling me with warmth and nostalgia.

I know a lot of you will think I am utterly ridiculous to make this a deal breaker but I seriously don't know what to do. I know that I will cry when the DCs come home from school (state) with their new vowels - they are young enough that I don't see how it's avoidable.

Trouble is, we can't afford to buy a house here in toffee town (actually, it's not at all - there are plenty of people with a strong local accent here). We could do so up there.

What should I do, gentle ladies? My chest and tummy go tight when I think of it. And I repeat, this is not an anti-regional thing so please don't beat me up for being a Surrey snob, because I'm not.

IntotheNittyGritty · 07/05/2011 11:41

I fully understand and appreciate your concerns. My mum speaks Queens English, very proper and no regional accent. I grew up in an area with a strong dialect and I know this upset my mum as we grew up.

I have now moved away and everyone speaks very differently, and my accent sounds really rough in comparison and people are judgemental because of my dialect.

My children have picked up the local dialect and I really struggle at times to understand them. I also now struggle to understand people on TV because my ears have retuned themselves to the way the locals speak - I know this sounds silly!

Sorry but I cant really advise you of how best to deal with this, but I am sure there are pockets on towns/villages where you are going where the accent may not be as strong.

bronze · 07/05/2011 11:54

I'm from Herfordshire (Harpenden) and my Grandmother used to insist I sounded common and as if I came from Luton (Loo- on).
I've since lived in Suffolk where my colleagues assumed I was a snob and wouldn't associate with me and am in Norfolk now where my children, who have pretty much always lived here, were teased for being posh when they started a new school. (DH is a Norfolk boy but went to public school and has southern parents)

Nonicknamesleft · 07/05/2011 12:12

Exactly. Don't want to cause trouble for them at school by (probably unsuccessfully anyway) trying to drill them into maintaining their current way of speaking. They will be entirely state educated, fwiw.

MilliONaire · 07/05/2011 12:49

There are 2 accents that are like nails dragging on a blackboard for me - Liverpool and Essex. My irriational dislike of these accents is eintrely based on the tenuous fact of knowing 2 idiots related to my family with these accents. It is childish and immature of me I know but I just can't stand them. I would HATE for my dd to ever acquire either of these accents.

We live in a rural area and neither myself or is from here, we have both lived in a mumber of places over the course of our and have difficult to place accents (for here) I would probably be perceived as having a 'posh'ish accent. The local accent is very strong and dd is attending a small local primary school so will be interesting to see how she fares in the coming years!

Bue · 07/05/2011 18:19

I'm dying to know where you are moving.

I do get what you are saying. There are a couple of accents I couldn't bear for my children to acquire. Having just moved to the Midlands from London, I actually really like the accents here, though. Many of my colleagues from other parts of the country have FAR worse accents!

Nonicknamesleft · 07/05/2011 21:31

Well, there's Midlands and Midlands..... Perhap's I would mind less if it weren't the area I grew up in, but it got up my nose then and twenty plus years' distance hasn't added to its charm any.

How are you getting on in your new part of the country, Bue?

Nonicknamesleft · 07/05/2011 21:31

Perhap's??

Type more carefully please.

MavisEnderby · 07/05/2011 21:33

DON'T come to Hull.You wouldn't like it,op:o

Bue · 08/05/2011 11:41

It's certainly different, Nonicknames! Bit of a tough adjustment at first but I'm coming to like it now. Beautiful countryside, nice people and I love how central it is.

Yes there's Midlands and then there's Midlands Grin We're in Warwickshire so nothing particularly discernible about the way people talk.

Nonicknamesleft · 08/05/2011 21:01

Ooh, sounds lovely. I wish you all the best there.

campion · 09/05/2011 17:16

FWIW,Nonicknames, we moved to the midlands ( probably the part you're worried about!) when DS1 was 18 months and DS2 was yet to appear. I remember the horrified gasp from a friend - 'but the accent!' - before we moved, and I can't say I wasn't bothered.

Somehow, they've managed to avoid anything discernibly local and I reckon it's partly due to not hearing it at home and being 'pulled up' about it at impressionable ages, usually junior school time < snob emoticon>. Ds2 does a wicked (insert local accent) on demand.

I'm afraid it still makes me wince in its fullest glory.

shashima · 12/07/2011 10:26

Yes, with lots of hard work, practice, and the help of a qualified speech-language pathologist (SLP), you can learn how to change your speech pronunciation. Changing your accent is also known as "accent modification" or "accent reduction.

Dream, Desire and Dominate . Get someone with whom you feel comfortable to help you practice. Ask your friend to pronounce a word carefully and then try to mimic it. Accept any corrections that your friend might have and then try again until you pronounce correctly it in the accent you are wanting to acquire. There is no right way to pronounce English words, just pronunciations specific to different regions and social groups. This might sound silly, but you should watch the movie "My Fair Lady" to see how the characters deal with the problem of accent.

Ref: www.neutralaccent.com/accent.php

bitsyandbetty · 12/07/2011 13:25

You do not necessarily pick up the accents locally. I grew up in Birmingham and still live in Worcestershire and practically had to argue somebody down who thought I was lying when I said I had always lived in the Midlands because I did not have an accent. One of my children has a slight accent, the other nothing at all even though my DH is from the Black Country with a much stronger accent. We all went to state schools but my Mother was Irish and father although from Birmingham had no accent. It is possible and I would never choose against an area purely for the accent.

TalkinPeace2 · 12/07/2011 16:02

What is a Creche ?

Two Range Rovers hitting each other near Cadogan Square