[Familyofmonkeys]

How old are your kids and how fast did they pick up NZ accent? Did you find it different for children of different ages?
Was also wondering if this varied between North Island and South Island. I find people in the South have a much stronger accent that people in the North. Did this make a diffeence?

[katandbob]

haven't noticed any change in any of ours - been here a year - who knows in the future.

but I was talking to a guy at work, and after 3 mins I noticed a slight yorkie accent... it got stronger the more we talked about where we were both from.

He has been in Invercargill 35yrs, now when he rings me his accent is noticable, he recons its because hes talking to a fellow brit, but when he talks to a kiwi its not really noticable!

[wiki]

My kiwi accent apparently gets much stronger when

a) I'm talking to a kiwi
b) I'm talking about NZ
c) I'm watching Filth Files on TV :uhoh

[veronica]

kids who go to school here will pick up the accent really quickly, protective camoflague, and we think the accent in the north island is much stronger than that in the south.

[StevieD]

Louisa (9) started to pick it up so quickly once she started school, literally a couple of days... once she started mixing, Kieran has got traits, but his accent has really softened. They also speak more when they mixing with friends - and we had a housefull last night for his birthday this weekend - 5 mates plus our two, we must be mad!! No wonder we sat in the bedroom all evening :laugh

[nippa&pippa]

For me, I can't pick up accents at all, so it is down to the way they speak ...seem to have similar accents to northern england/scottish to me..is I am right?

Do you ever notice that kiwis talked in short sentence before continue to talk that seem they take long time to talk!! :laugh whereas UK's seem to talk forever chatting away..;)

[marcia]

Emerson (3) has picked up a few words that he says like a kiwi, 'sand pit', is one we really notice- he absolutely refuse to call wellies 'gum boots' though!

The older two haven't really picked up an accent, but they have picked up a lots of strange sayings.

[Kim39]

We have been here close to 2 years now, but no change in accents as far as we are aware, though friends back home have commented on our youngest's accent that there is a slight change and its noticeable. Yes they are picking up the lingo and thats about it.

Hey Stevie, tell K many happy returns from us down the road.


Kim

[willowshouse]

Our 7 year old took about 2/3 weeks to start speaking more like a kiwi .. we've been here 9 months now and she sounds like any other kiwi in the school....most noticeable when we took a visit back to UK. It all starts with "Yis" in my opinion!

Our 12 year old only sounds very slightly kiwi and only when speaking to her friends.

I made myself laugh when I told another Mum "I couldn't get a park" as it's something I would never have said in UK...

[K&CS]

We've been here 18 months and the kids have hardly picked up an accent at all - the inflection has changed slightly but nothing else really. Like Kim said, their accents are stronger when with their friends but they do really sound like little English kids. I'd be surprised if they ever really lose their accent (they came here at 6 and 8). Alex (2 tomorrow) doesn't really speak much yet (except to call his sister b*gger, but that's another story....he's trying to say Rebecca) but I'm pretty sure he'll speak like we do until he starts school. Of all of them, I expect he is the one whose accent will be the most kiwi as he moved here as a baby.

It really varies - some kids pick up the accent wherever they are. Our kids were Yorkshire born and bred before we moved here, but didn't have strong Yorkshire accents either.

Kate

[Familyofmonkeys]

haven't noticed any change in any of ours - been here a year - who knows in the future.

but I was talking to a guy at work, and after 3 mins I noticed a slight yorkie accent... it got stronger the more we talked about where we were both from.

He has been in Invercargill 35yrs, now when he rings me his accent is noticable, he recons its because hes talking to a fellow brit, but when he talks to a kiwi its not really noticable!

Thats alot like my OH. His family all have strong Yorkshire accent, but he only sounds 'northern'. He spent 7 years at uni, and his accent mellowed alot. But when we see his family, strong accent comes back for few hours afterwards and he starts calling everyone 'our kid'. I had no idea what this meant when I first met him, and I still don't always follow which 'our kid' they are talking about some of the time:o

[Sam B]

We have been here 7 months now, and my kids do not have the slightest trace of a kiwi accent. They use some of the words like 'togs' etc, but that's just because no-one would understand them otherwise. My youngest daughter kept talking about "after-school kea" after a month or two, and we thought they had named the after-school club after a bird, but then we realised she was saying 'care' the way her teacher pronounces it. But it wasn't her accent changing, she just thought it was called kea.

[John Z]

Now I understand why they're having so much trouble to get the IKEA company into NZ. :laugh

[Familyofmonkeys]

I am wondering if the way people pick up Kiwi accent depends on type of UK regional accent you had in the first place. Does anyone find that stronger northern accents (e.g. Yorkshire, Lancashire, Liverpool, Newcastle etc) pick up Kiwi accent more than the more 'clipped' southern/midland accents?

[Marie P]

My youngest has a real strong Kiwi accent when she gets home from School or is with her friends .

With us she still has her Northern accent ,Her teacher was most surprised to hear Louise talking to me when I was waiting to ask her a question after school one day.

My 11 year has changed a little but has the upward intonation at the end of a sentence now and my eldest ends everything with "Eh".

Marie x

[Familyofmonkeys]

My 11 year has changed a little but has the upward intonation at the end of a sentence now and my eldest ends everything with "Eh".


I have also noticed that teenage Kiwi's say 'Like this' and 'Like that' all the time......wonder if they will eventually pick that one up too?