Scottish child picking up English accent

[Scotupnorth]

A bit nervous about posting this as I hope it's not taken the wrong way by anyone...

I live in a town in the Scottish Highlands, we moved here not long ago from another town in Highland. We needed to move to a bigger house but since Covid prices have gone wild with so many people moving here and so we couldn't get anything suitable in our price range in our home town and needed to move to another one about an hour away. I love it here although similar to many of the other towns in the Highlands, there has been a huge influx of people moving here from England, particularly post-covid. I have no issue with this however my daughter has started at the local nursery where the majority of staff and very many of the children are now English and she is now starting to say many things with an English accent. She is only there 3 days a week and we are very hands on with her so she hears us speaking to her all the time but as time goes on she's speaking this way more and more and it's starting to make me a bit nervous. Obviously there is nothing wrong with English accents but she has been born and brought up in Scotland and has never set foot in England so it would be weird for her to grow up speaking with an English accent. I was hoping initially that she would lose it as she gets older but I've recently started working in a position with local children and so many of them have English accents, including many children who have been born here, that I'm worried that she won't. When she has been saying things in an English accent we have been repeating it with our accent and she will often repeat it again with a Scottish accent, but as she is speaking this way more and more, I don't want to be correcting her all the time and giving her some kind of complex about it.

Anyone else in a Highland town having issue?

I hope this post is not taken the wrong way, there is no anti-English sentiment to my post or feelings but I just feel it would be weird for her to speak with an English accent when she is Scottish and has been born and raised here to Scottish parents.

Good grief @UnderTheStairs51 you are so bitter. Don't you see anything sad about the loss of a culture ? There are plenty of English people contributing lots to Scotland but when they start to be in the majority in wee villages through a constant churn of house purchases that can't be good. Especially if there are local children who can't afford to stay there to be a mountain rescuer, or a health care worker. This is a real problem in the highlands and people need to find ways to have a balanced community. Look up the second highland clearances on TikTok. There's no point in making a big fuss about it being anti English - housing demographics are literally creating this mess and it needs to be addressed, not mocked.
@Igneococcus I do know some people who couldn't get settled status and also a lot who went back to the EU due to uncertainty. We need them back!!

I really dislike this attitude. Who cares if she sounds English. My children speak with a different accent to me. There absolutely isn't 'something to explain'. People generally speak with an accent that reflects what they hear around them. It really isn't usual to sound different from parents. Generally if you are Scottish and sound a bit English it might make people thing you are a bit posh.
You need to think really deeply about why a Scottish accent is so important to you. Maybe you need to move somewhere where she will never hear an English voice and you can rest easy.
However, despite the deeply distasteful tone of this post, your daughter is young and in all likelihood will sound Scottish. Just be careful that a Scottish accent isn't all she picks up from you.

But @gingerlybread the question is: why are too many English people bad for the Highlands but Europeans aren't?

@Wisenotboring @Scotupnorth Scots is actually a language not an accent. So stick to your guns @Scotupnorth because it's absolutely ridiculous that your daughter is in a minority in her own country.
No one would expect a school full of bilingual children in England to be taught in any language except English. Their home languages would be celebrated and promoted but they would eventually all speak English.
They would also learn English culture as the norm.
This would be the same in any European country, children would be taught in the language of that country.
Why people are suggesting that it's totally fine for Scottish children to lose their language or culture is baffling.

I reckon she will be able to use the accent that fits wherever she is. At my Scottish secondary school, kids from England quickly developed a Scottish accent for school and spoke with their English accent at home. Like being bilingual!! Just make sure your daughter is surrounded by speech at home so she hears you. And make her watch Ballamory!!

@Igneococcus Europeans are not a homogeneous group, they bring diverse cultures and traditions and widen perspectives.
English culture is already the dominant culture in the UK and as pps have said, Scots might see them as "posh" eg more privileged.
This is not a good thing, it's akin to a lot of Spanish people moving to Portugal, or a lot of English people moving to the Costas in Spain. If you can't see the social problems this causes I can't help you.

The "English" are not a homogeneous group either.

@Igneococcus English culture is the dominant uk culture.
If you are Scottish you'll be continually annoyed in England by things like being called a Jock, being asked is this £ legal tender, shite about Haggis hunting, whisky jokes, Nessie etc etc.
if you have an English accent this is not going to happen when you open your mouth.
This is something that unites Scots of all opinions and backgrounds. It's extremely sad that there are so many English children in one village that the opportunity to experience this kind of lovely experience will be lost along with the aspirated ch sound.

But the OP isn't talking about the Scots language, but the accent. I fully recognise the richness of culture that is bound up with both accent and language. However, the world is a more.mixed and diverse place. My children don't sound like me, in part because I couldn't afford to buy a house where I grew up when I was basing my family. I just can't imagine if I started to complain that my children didn't sound English enough because they were beginning to pick up another accent due to local influences.
I really can't imagine any other accent being deemed unsuitable other than English tbh.

@gingerlybread you live in a place where you can buy a massive house for £400k but where your children can't afford anything. And where council housing is so freely available it is attracting people from the north of England? But not available to locals? This is why you sound intolerant.

I work with two Gaelic languages officers. One is English the other is German. They are both passionate about preserving the language and culture.

My kids spent tonight practicing their Burns poems. Although the dialect in that is not the same as the Scots for this area.

My children both have strong Scottish accents but in line with the OP's question, it took until at least mid primary for me to hear them.

Your assumption that all English people move to Scotland to take over a culture and not to be part of it is indeed racist.

Incidentally my niece has more kids in her class (in England) who come from backgrounds that are not English. If she were to object to that it would also sound intolerant.

One is English the other is German.
Is his name Andreas, or is there another German who learned to speak Gaelic fluently?

@Igneococcus no so there must be more than one! I am fascinated by the process of translation they have to do.

Absolutely brilliant Gaelic officer though. Has done so much to get everyone, regardless of where they come from, on board.

The Andreas I know works for BBC Alba @UnderTheStairs51 it's such a difficult language to learn if you start as an adult. dp tried via Duolingo during lockdown and gave up and learned Swahili instead which he absolutely loves.

on TikTok

Ah, yes. That robust evidence-based source...

If you are Scottish you'll be continually annoyed in England by things like being called a Jock, being asked is this £ legal tender, shite about Haggis hunting, whisky jokes, Nessie etc etc

No you won't be. Occasionally, yes. Continually, no. And if you've ever defended anti-English bile as 'just banter' it's useful to remember that it works both ways and to reflect on that.

@UnderTheStairs51 it's great that you work with these people who are supporting a culture. I have also had the privilege of of working with many dedicated individuals who have supported Gaidhlig and Scots.
However I have also known generations of older people who truly knew the meaning of the words describing the land they lived and worked upon.
A culture is not a top down experience. It needs grassroots.
It's never racist to complain about English culture dominating Scotland.
Firstly, we aren't talking about race.
If you think Scots and English people are different races I don't know where to start.
Secondly, England and Britain are completely interchangeable, globally and nationally, in many people's minds. Scotland and Scots languages are different and we should be proud of them and support them, in the same way as we'd champion other languages.
Thirdly, Scotland is a small country with a very large and dominant neighbour. Most of the wealth in the UK is centred in England. A lot of people can sell houses for a lot of money in England and buy more cheaply for them here.

You have a rose tinted view of rural Scotland, but the reality is as I have described it and it's everywhere, from Fortrose to Fortingall. We aren't just sleepwalking into a loss of culture but into the creation of a highland wasteland where land use is split between tourist attractions and retirement villages.

@UnderTheStairs51 there are so many Germans who love Gaidhlig!! It is very strange!!!!

You keep contradicting yourself.

An influx of people is good as long as they are from Europe and not England because that won't dilute Scottish language or culture.

All house prices in the Highlands are lower than England?

Many Scots words are dying out because they are tied to industries we no longer have like fishing, traditional farming methods etc

I think the issues in the Highlands have more to do with second home ownership and air BnB

These are completely different issues to people becoming part of communities and for example, staffing the nursery schools, as in the original post.

how would an influx of differing accents preserve the Scots accent? I would also argue that an accent is not a language...if a proportion of different words are used, you might call it a dialect but language? no.

As an aside, I’ve also met the German Gaelic speaking gent who was interviewing Illeachs (Islay) for a BBC Alba programme. I was very surprised when he broke into expert Gaelic and the Islay people roared with laughter as he spoke with a Barra accent! It wasn’t cruel laughter but rather how pleased they were to hear such a strong Barra brogue as they speak quite differently.

It saddens me to see the decline of our cultural heritage and traditions. The demise of so many churches for example, the Kirk was the heart stone of many communities, the bastardisation of our old rural buildings with Grand Design huge glass windows all lit up like Blackpool. The Anglification of place names. The breaking up of farms and few affordable houses available for locals. Subtle changes but I feel it is important that we teach our children about the history and traditions of our area.

Our glen is 95% English, very few Scots, mostly single occupant retirees and the community is a bit lifeless to be honest. There used to be ceilidhs, regular meet ups, the WRI, etc but that has all gone. There are a few children but they attend private schools mostly.

Im an old woman who has seen a lot of change and sadly, I’ve been on the receiving end of awful racism to the point of bullying. I’ve been told how thick and uneducated we Scots are, how Scotland would be perfect if the Scots were not in it. I’ve been told ‘we English stick together’. It is extremely hurtful but there is a core here who loathe the Scots but love the country and our benefits.
Their loss! My dearest friends here (from Weston and Durham originally) manage a great friendship without any racism but they have heard the same drivel. We ignore it.

I know the thread was concerned about bairns picking up an accent at school but there are a whole lot of problems in and around our society which are not being addressed for fear of being misconstrued as racist.

@UnderTheStairs51 read the post from @RapunzelsSplitEnds.
Why are you defending this? Open your eyes.

@godmum56 @Igneococcus perhaps we could say that Polish was just an accent of German, Flemish/ Walloon merely an accent of Dutch, Creòle just an accent of French.

I think the issues are complex. Decline of Gaelic is tied to the decline of the church.

But the decline of the church is universal and not just an issue for the Highlands and islands. You could ban all the English tomorrow but it wouldn't bring it back. You won't get traditional crofting back because economically it doesn't work.

You won't stop young people seeking a life in big cities because the same opportunities don't exist in small rural communities.

Where I grew up the Band Walks were a major part of my childhood. But they are struggling to keep them going and eventually they'll go.

In past generations every factory has a brass band. Now the factories don't exist let alone the bands.

Unless you want to stop the movement of people entirely (and even in this post the OP has moved an hour away which is a long way when it comes to dialect words - there are eight different Scots words for seagull in 50 miles of this coastline) and force them back into traditional industries then there will be change.

I remember speaking broad Scots to old Frisian farmers and we perfectly understood each other. We laughed at how similar our language was regardless of dialect.

UnderTheStairs51, Gaelic should be part of the curriculum, Scots too (not just for Burns night). The English have nothing to do with the decline of the churches although where I’m from, they had their own church and we all respected each other.
There is land aplenty to Croft but crofting is constrained to certain areas, if it was put into place all over Scotland and the large estates reduced in size to free up land then it could offer more people a home and work but that is a debate for another day.

Lesley Riddoch’s book ‘Blossom’ explains these issues far more eloquently than I can.