Slightly cringey question about foreign [EU] accents in Scotland

[Dutchwithflowers]

I am from the Netherlands originally. Although I have lived in England for over 15 years I have not been able to, and probably will never, loose my native accent.

Dp and I are considering a move to Scotland, probably Glasgow, Edinburgh or St Andrews. People here in England have made comments about my accent in the past and I must say I am getting a bit self-conscious about it.

My question is how easy is it to adapt to local accents in the places I have listed, at least to a degree, and how tolerant are the Scots in general about foreign accents. I speak very fluently it's just that you can detect I am one of those from the EU and therefore not terribly popular here at the moment.

I appreciate it is a bit of a silly question but any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Dutchwithflowers - now you're opening up a can of worms!

Not sure if there's a book, but we can start by getting into the Glasgow ("would you like some tea?") and Edinburgh ("you'll have had your tea") pseudo differences (I'm a Weegie )

....the jokes about Aberdonians being tight, where in reality they're generous just careful with their money

....the not so positive "I kent yer faither" attitude ("I knew your father, so don't get above yourself")

.....I've already mentioned the quickness to strike up conversations. When I lived in England (near London) after I graduated, my boyfriend used to despair that I would go up to lost-looking tourists to see if I could help. Apparently that just "wasn't done", yet it is a very Scottish thing to do.

Ds was into youth cycle racing for a while (sore topic: he gave up this year, not long after we'd bought him a very expensive new road bike ) and I loved going all over Scotland and meeting so many friendly people

prettybird your post reminded me of this book that my Grannie bought me when I left Edinburgh for Glasgow! OP it's a good buy, translates a lot of Edinburgh/Glasgow isms and is very funny to boot. I have to say I've lived in both cities and love them both, for very different reasons.

This is the link to the book:
www.amazon.com/Edingbuggers-vs-Weegies-Edingburgh-Slightly/dp/1902927923

Scottish people will ask where are you from in a nosey chatty we ime we love asking that but as for accents we really dont bother, foreign accents are almost everywhere in Scotland even in smaller towns and villages I really wouldn't worry op. Oh and scotland voted remain

Half of Britain voted in during the EU referendum (including me). For those that voted out many are very vocal that it's not due to immigration. Regardless, I'm sorry you've had that experience with two people out of the 53M population in England. From my perspective, I can say that I've only really had a hard time about my (English) nationality from Irish and Scottish people but it hadn't stopped me living / visiting those countries and I assume that the whole population doesn't feel that way. We don't choose where we're born and we don't take on the misdeeds of our ancestors. It's all a bit exhausting really,

Way not we sorry,

Edingbuggers vs. Weegies looks great, thanks for the recommendation.

I remember that book - but wasn't sure if it was still in print.

Iirc, it reads differently depending on which end you open it up

Dutchwithflowers it's very tongue in cheek, although the vast majority of the words/phrases are widely used day to day. My personal favourite is "heid the baw" referring to somebody a bit daft (imply they've been hit in the head too often)

I'm English with (so I'm told) a very strong accent and I have lived in Glasgow for 5 years, I've never had any bother at all apart from the usual banter during sports events but I do genuinely class that as banter. I live on the Southside and you're more likely to hear a foreign language than a foreign accent. I love it here and plan to stay

Hi OP

I've not read all the comments, but couldn't read and run!!
I'm South African and have lived in Scotland for 24 years. Lived various areas including Shetland Islands, but now settled in Edinburgh.
I seem to have not lost my accent, although I have been told I can go from a very strong South African accent to a very strong Scottish accent.
You will be absolutely fine here, but just learn the meaning of the word 'ken' before you arrive as you will be wondering who the hell he is!!
The Scottish folk are generally an easy going and lovely lot, good luck with the move xxx

Well depending where the op settles if they need to Ken ken

Even moving from east to west I had to learn the lingo, people laugh at me because I still refer to my kids as bairns despite being here 9 years! I just acquired a ginger cat called Hector and apparently that's the local name for a glass bottle of Irn Bru which I'd never heard before!

Sorry OP I should explain that here, Irn Bru is referred to as ginger, otherwise my previous message makes no sense!

Oogie - after 50+ years I'm told that my Dad still has a South African accent I can't hear it My mum was more a mimic so ended up with a posh Glaswegian accent (I sound like her).

We emigrated to Scotland when I was 3 and then to NZ when I was in my teens but emigrated back to Scotland within a few years as my parents were homesick .

Lots of good words to learn: eg "dreich" - which unfortunately you'll probably use too often to describe the weather; and one of my favourites, to "thole" [something] which means to "bear [something] with reluctance".

Oh yes I forgot about the great Scottish sayings. My old work colleagues used to educate me with gems such as:
'I hope you're next shite is a hedgehog.' Usually said to someone who you don't particularly like.
'You cannae make the shape of your erse in wet sand.' Usually said to someone who is not the brightest.

They are very non discriminatory towards beverages. At breakfast be prepared to be offered juice. This will include all types of soft drinks, including fruit juices, Coke, Irn Bru or the delicacy of Red Kola
This took some getting used to for me.
Finally different chippies serve different condiment with their suppers. In Edinburgh we get 'sauce' which is amazing... basically a watered down brown sauce, other areas serve red sauce

"You will be absolutely fine here, but just learn the meaning of the word 'ken' before you arrive as you will be wondering who the hell he is!!"

I LOVE "I hope your next shite is a hedgehog" it's been too long since I had the chance to use it though.
"Away and run up ma ribs" is another gem, meaning "no chance"

Just learn how to pronounce Hawick milngavie Kircudbright scone Kirkcaldy and stathaven and you'll be fine!

My dad's Scottish. I've seen and heard a lot of anti English sentiment. It's daft to pretend it doesn't exist. But I've also seen and heard a lot of friendliness, kindness, humour and welcomingness (I had to make up that word because I cannot for the life of me figure out what the correct one is here!). I've met far more lovely Scots than prejudiced Scots. To be absolutely fair, my dad comes from a fairly awful scheme in Langlees where I'm not surprised there is a lot of hatred and bitterness- people who have been screwed over time and time again are going to be angry, aren't they? And to be even more fair, my Polish dh has never had any of the xenophobic bullshit in Scotland that he gets on a near constant basis in England. Last time we were up we were in St Andrews and we got nothing but friendliness from every single person we met. Scottish humour is fabulous. Scotland is beautiful. I'd love to live there.

If it's any help, one of my friends who is from Germany, sounds like she's from the Scottish Borders. She picked up the accent after a year or two. In my experience Dutch nationals often sound less 'foreign '. I bet your accent isn't as noticeable as you think. Ignore people who sound ignorant. You'd be warmly welcomed, especially in a big metropolis like Edinburgh. Good luck!

Oogie you don't get salt and sauce in the Borders! I prefer Edinburgh chippies tho dh is a salt and vinegar man, possibly because he's English!

Where do you live now, OP? I'd think you'd have no problems at all in any large city in the UK.

ayeokthen I had heard of the school and football team thing, Around here there are RC schools but nobody gives a hoot what religion anyone is. A colleague used to teach in the Central Belt and some kids refused to take a green/blue folder as it was a catholic/protestant colour . I also heard of a Glasgow man living up here who refuses any green veg on his plate as he's a rank Rangers fan. Now that is truly sad!

Danyella I wish I could say I was surprised but sadly your example is all too familiar to me. My Mum took me (Celtic fan but not into the bigotry and bullshit) to Larkhall and I was stunned that the rumours were all true! (Green railings painted black, Subway sandwich store painted black, cages on the green traffic lights) We have both orange walks and whatever the green equivalent is and I hate it, it's just inflammatory and ridiculous.

My iLs are from Glasgow and I remember them saying something like ".....and it was on the 14th of July of all days.....". When I asked further I was told it was the Battle of the Boyne. It had absolutely no significance to me and still doesn't!!