Have you kept your accent?

IvaBigWun

Have you the same accent now as you did when you were ten? Has any long stay in a country inflected it in any way?

I ask because a friend of ours got back from Liverpool yesterday after living over there for a year. Ive just gotten off the phone with him and he sounds like this:

(mildly NSFW)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldXHbzHICxY

phasers

yeah, I've had an American accent since I was about 5

Kiera

I've less of a Dub accent now than when i was younger. It does sneak out when i'm drunk tho.

Tech3

Ive lost my kerry accent a few years ago thank god mainly because I live in limerick and sligo most of the time!! From time to time some words come out in a kerry way of saying things

ironictoaster

No, my balls have dropped since I was 10.

JangoFett

I used to have a really thick MAD Laois accent, being from there and all but I've lived in Waterford for almost 6 years now and my accent is like 85% Waterford now. But the Laois comes out when I get passionate!

Overflow

I know people who have lived in the US for nearly 20 years and still have their irish accent. I think its a matter of choice, some people just decide to change it for whatever reason, maybe to 'fit in' more. For example i know a girl who after a year in London has a thick London accent, i think its just wierd to tbh. I've lived in Norway for the past 3 years and as Americanized as their english is i have not lost my accent one bit and ever plan on doing so.

ironictoaster

Overflow wrote: »

I know people who have lived in the US for nearly 20 years and still have their irish accent. I think its a matter of choice, some people just decide to change it for whatever reason, maybe to 'fit in' more. For example i know a girl who after a year in London has a thick London accent, i think its just wierd to tbh. I've lived in Norway for the past 3 years and as Americanized as their english is i have not lost my accent one bit and ever plan on doing so.

It must be a Scandinavian thing, it was the same when I was in Sweden. My brother recently returned home after living in Sweden for a year and a half and now he's saying words like "candy" and "pants" :rolleyes:

this man has'nt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Y87ZTyFok

liah

I'm from Canada, I lived in Manchester for six months and I've been in Ireland for nearly six months now, and whenever I call home they think I sound incredibly different, whereas when I'm abroad they tell me my accent is very thickly Canadian-- though today a Dub said my accent was really really mellow and he didn't think I sounded Canadian at all, or even North American, and lately when I'm out people can never quite place where I'm from.

It's not an intentional change at all, guess I just subconsciously pick up on it? I'm not sure.

Gordon

I'm not sure I can say that I had one to begin with, I've gone through accents quite a bit in my life which is strange as my parents have always kept their Scottish accents while we were living in different countries. Now people think I'm Irish or American or Scottish, they can't pinpoint it. Someone thought I was Polish a while ago in fact.

PurpleBerry

No.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Latchy

18 years in uk hasn't lost me my Dub accent .

fryup

rarnes1 wrote: »

this man has'nt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96Y87ZTyFok

to be fair to McClaren the dutch accent is contagious

who remembers Sean Kelly (cyclist) in the 80s with his muck-savage meets sophisticated Frenchman accent

IvaBigWun

fryup wrote: »

who remembers Sean Kelly (cyclist) in the 80s with his muck-savage meets sophisticated Frenchman accent

:pac:

video link me someone. Quick!

cute_cow

Originally from wexford, but never had a wexford accent. been in dublin nearly 7 years, and i have to say I have a bit of a dublin twang.

can't hear it myself, but when I go home, everyone notices it. with a few beers, it does tend to become a lot stronger!

Latchy

If I remember from the film IVE , did'nt jack type

No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no

in the weeks and months holed up in the house ?

Piste

I had a very "normal" accent when I was about ten, y'know, just typical Irish, but not culchie, adnc ertainly not Dub. Then I went to secondary school when I was 12 and within weeks had a fairly pronounced D4 accent. My accent is noticable, but not as bad as a lot of D4 accents, and gets way worse the more I drink. With every can my drawl gets even more elongated.

IvaBigWun

latchyco wrote: »

If I remember from the film IVE , did'nt jack type

No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no

in the weeks and months holed up in the house ?

I think you're getting it mixed up with a Fr Ted episode

losojosverdes

I find it so hard to keep my accent I lived in France last year with a bunch of English people and when I came home no one believed I was Irish anymore I had the strongest Northern English accent ever. Now I live in Spain and I still have an english twang but also sound a bit like a Spanish person trying to speak English and I also sound a little American as my roomates from the States. I dont think you can decide to keep it or not, its what you hear for example when I was in France I didnt hear another Irish person for 6 months and I just forgot what Irish people sounded like.

R.D. aka MR.D

yeh mine has definitly changed, i just got sick of people asking me to reapeat myself up to four or five times so when i'm talking in dublin i have a very neutral accent with very pronounced words.

i have a northern accent so i just slowed it down, cut out the normal slang words and pronuced. many foreign friends have commented on how easy i am for them to understand compared to most irish people.

its a shame that people from south dublin need the same treatment as people who english isn't there first language. (i have to admitt its not evryone, just the knobs i was in college with!)

Latchy

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I think you're getting it mixed up with a Fr Ted episode

I aint gonna replace all those no's with ' Ah... 'G'wan 's now

Aidric

I adopt a Polish accent when I'm at the deli.

Crumble Froo

no.

i was always the kind of person who, when having a conversation with someone with a different accent, just sort of fell into their accent. couldnt put on an accent to save my life, but did pick them up.

since i moved to nz, not only have i picked up bits of accent and phrases, but ive also had to tone down my own accent, and learn to speak much slower, cos nobody here could understand me, particularly as i worked with young kids. though my accent isn't 'gone', going to different centres every now and then will have them asking me why i talk funny.

Blush_01

My accent hasn't changed. My parents are from different counties, so I've always had a pretty neutral rural accent. My accent becomes really strong when I'm annoyed though - given my penchant for ranting that's fairly often.

I dont think you can decide to keep it or not, its what you hear for example when I was in France I didnt hear another Irish person for 6 months and I just forgot what Irish people sounded like.

Yep I know what you mean.

I definitely don't have the same accent as when I was 10. It's hilarious to watch old videos from weddings of me speaking in this thick Northern English accent. I suppose that was my 'natural' accent before I'd lived anywhere else. When I was almost 11 we moved to Northern Ireland, so I had the nordie accent within a month (my dad and half my family are from there so it was firmly ingrained in my brain anyway), then moved to Dublin about 7 years later. Lost the nordie accent more and more until it became a sort of southside Dublin one. When I meet people now they usually ask where I went to school, expecting to hear Rathgar or Terenure or whatever. I know I sound much more English when I teach though, because I make a real effort to speak very clearly and with a 'neutral' accent.

Latchy

I still on most days ,use a bit of dublinese slang if I'm acting the goat which goes down well with family and friends alike and I always had a soft south county Dublin accent anyway, which is understood by most English people I'm in contact with .Although I notice I do tend to use more grammer in speech ,if only to explain myself that much better and avoid the ' orish' tag ,which seldom happens now unlike eary years when it happened a lot .But I put that down to the diversity of Irish accents in uk ,some of which are quite heavier than others and lost completely on some English .I never have any problems being understood abroad in other English speaking EU countries .

dlofnep

I have a Waterford accent, and it's sexy. Sometimes I record myself and listen to myself speak. :eek:

silverharp

How about Finnula Sweeney only listen to the first bit she doesnt speak much after but I've never met an Irish person that developed a home counties accent in such a short time

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x751wb_michael-ware-cnn-int-10202008_news

Latchy

silverharp wrote: »

How about Finnula Sweeney only listen to the first bit she doesnt speak much after but I've never met an Irish person that developed a home counties accent in such a short time

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x751wb_michael-ware-cnn-int-10202008_news

I think it happens quite a lot .For instance I have noticed former regional english tv news reporters move to the main national news spots ( ITN ) (BBC ) and they have changed their accents to a slightly more ' posh -er ' English / International dialect .

IvaBigWun

latchyco wrote: »

I think it happens quite a lot .For instance I have noticed former regional english tv news reporters move to the main national news spots ( ITN ) (BBC ) and they have changed their accents to a slightly more ' posh -er ' English / International dialect .

Yummy.

Filthy posh accents on UK wimmens FTW.

Latchy

IvaBigWun wrote: »

Yummy.

Filthy posh accents on UK wimmens FTW.

The ' plumliness' accents do take a bit of getting used to , I must say .:)

Shocking

Hearing a polish bird who has lived in the north is an amazing experience. They ramble on until they mention a cup of "Tae"

IvaBigWun

Shocking wrote: »

Hearing a polish bird who has lived in the north is an amazing experience. They ramble on until they mention a cup of "Tae"

I just got a semi.

Shocking

IvaBigWun wrote: »

I just got a semi.

I hear ya.

knuck

I lived in Manchester for years and my accent is as thick as ever, I don't think I could change it even if wanted. I just had to slow down and punctuate my sentences a bit to give people there a chance to process what i'm actually on about. Whereas my sister could go to the midlands for a week when she was younger and come back with midlands accent without even realising. I guess some people are simply better at doin accents than others

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I still have my neutral accent, although it does change depending on who I am talking to...

Ajos

I've lived in NYC for just over 5 years now, and while I wouldn't say I've lost my accent (middle class Dublin - I wouldn't say it's full on D4, but YMMV) it's definitely softened a bit. My co-workers say I'm a lot easier to understand than I was when I first started here. When I meet new people it sometimes takes them a minute or two to cop that I'm Irish. But when I'm back in Dublin or talking to friends on the phone apparently my accent is the same as ever - I reckon I unconsciously tweak it to suit the listener.

I did a voice over a while back for a promotional web video made by the company I work for - they wanted an Irish guy for a scratch track, but they liked how I sounded and ended up just releasing what I'd done. A minor debate sprung up in a few places on the internet - including here on Boards - as to whether my accent was real or if I was an American putting it on.

I resisted the urge to join in, but it is entertaining to follow a debate about one's own accent. Being the internet, one thing everybody agreed on was that I was gay.

c-note

if i answer the phone and its a fella from cork, by the end of the phone call, i've a cork accent.
btw i'm not from cork

J.S. Pill

silverharp wrote: »

How about Finnula Sweeney only listen to the first bit she doesnt speak much after but I've never met an Irish person that developed a home counties accent in such a short time

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x751wb_michael-ware-cnn-int-10202008_news

CNN made her undergo vocal chord surgery to change her accent to a weird stateless one. CNN is so global and cutting edge that its presenters can't be identified with any one country.

fryup

dlofnep wrote: »

I have a Waterford accent, and it's sexy. Sometimes I record myself and listen to myself speak. :eek:

its kinda onto the dublin accent isn't it?

Phsyche

I've noticed my accent changes when I speak to people from different countries who themselves have an accent. I guess my subconscience adjusts it for ease of communication?

stovelid

Had a Mancunian accent when I was ten. Definitely more Dublin now.

allabouteve

Lived in Ireland for a year and when I moved back to Australia I was told I sounded Irish.:)

I lived in France for a year, and nobody thought I sounded French!:(

kittensoft1984

apparently I sound like im from Kerry even though I have never been and Im from Dublin.....:rolleyes:

fryup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFWsge0IEF0

rainbow kirby

Even after 6 years in UCD, I still sound quite distinctly like I'm from Dublin 24. Accent gets stronger the angrier I get.

kiffer

Phsyche wrote: »

I've noticed my accent changes when I speak to people from different countries who themselves have an accent. I guess my subconscience adjusts it for ease of communication?

I do this too... my accent changes constantly depending on who I'm talking to... People often have difficulty figuring out where I'm from... especially if they've first encountered me in a situation with people of several nationalities.

My default accent has changed by quiet a bit from when I was 10... unless I'm talkin' to me Da.
And even then it's only obvious on some words... or so I'm told, I'm pretty oblivious to it.

congo_90

MY accent is outside on the driveway!
(I hope)

on topic, I've moved to meath and noticed i say a lot of their sayings now

Crumble Froo

at least you notice! ^

i need other people to point out to me when im using kiwi words/phrases/rhythm.