[jan]

Just had a discussion with the hubby about our accent changing..

He will be working with the kiwi`s so we expect some sort of change. But how much??

The kids 12 & 7 undoubtedly will accomodate the accent. :yes

Myself maybe not.

Any comments??? ( Fantastic accent by the way)


jan xx

[Danpoll]

Its a strange one, kids brains are more seceptabe to lingual changes and language learning a phase that you grow out of. You see and hear people who have lived there 40 years and would tell exactly where they were from yet others have been there 5 and you would have to stop and think of where there accent orginates from. I have a theory that those who are good at impersonating other accents will be able to pick up and fit in quicker. I know just four months in Toronto I was calling it Torono missprouncing tomato,data,aluminium, I find its easier to say sod it and prounounce the words they do it makes life easier.

though it grinds on me when kiwis say Data (dartar) and project (proe---Jeckt)


Dan

[Gran]

We have been out of UK for nearly 40 years, but people can still tell where I have come from. However my kids picked up the kiwi accent within a week, they had too, they had an Aussie accent at the time, did not go down too well at school !!
Kiwis seem to add a bit in the middle of a word, like blou-ers for blouse.

[welsh chic]

For some reason,i keep thinking to my self that i will never have an accent..

when my relations came over to the uk a few years ago,i thought they had a real strong kiwi accent,they had been there 14 years at this time,however ,when we went there 3 years ago,i found their accent was nothink compared to kiwis who had lived there all their lives

Dawn

[Diny]

I lived in Oz for a few years up in 'the territory mate' where everything was proceeded by 'yeeeaaaaahhhhhh' spoken in a very nasal way. I came away without the slightest hint of a twang (thankfully).

I think our boys will pick the accent up very quickly, they have a little 'trace' of it now because their dad is a Kiwi, and when we've been over there for a few weeks holiday they definately take on an NZ lilt.

However .... if there's one thing that just about grates on me more than anything else, is when the word 'yous' is spoken. As in:

Are yous coming to the party?

I don't know if this is said alot or whether I just get abit wound up by it so I tend to notice it more. PB does say it and - believe it or not :uhoh I have been known to suggest he doesn't.

Diny

[MB]

When I visited Oz and NZ for a month or two I picked up the accent almost irresistibly easily. Later we found out that my SE-England accent is historically v.similar.

Here's the thing: I've been in the US for nearly 9 years and, much as I love the people and the accent, don't find it vocally "tempting" to speak with a US accent. But what does change after a few years (even in adults) is vocabulary. I now say "garbage", "sidewalk", etc., and use constructions such as "I have to go to the store" rather than "I've got to go to the corner shop".... and "I need you to come over to the kitchen" rather than "I want you to come over to the kitchen".

I've also started -- albeit a little more deliberately and tongue-in-cheek-affectionately than the above examples -- to use deliciously 'clumsy' constructions such as "It's a mess is what it is". But in what I'm sure is a pretty classic migrant-linguistic pattern, I'm starting to adopt even these kinds of phrases (that I used to notice and intentionally employ as endearingly different) unthinkingly and naturally, despite myself. :laugh

Cheers,
Matt.

[veronica]

for kids picking up the accent is camoflague. I think people who have strong accents in the uk are less likely to pick up the kiwi one but us hibrids from the home counties (and especially us Essex bods) will pick it up quicker.

[Moorf]

I am AWFUL for picking up accents.. to the point where I am sure people think I'm taking the mick! I only had to cross from England to Scotland and I'd be using the lingo.. and it's happened here too, v. slightly.. I notice I now say "same" instead of "me too" and when I started say "trooo" I'll never know but it's slowly replacing "that's right"... :laugh

And I don't even work with Kiwi's yet :uhoh

[sarahw]

Moorf I have a feeling I am the same as you - having moved from up North, to Liverpool, to down South all by the age of 7 I had to learn how to change my accent pretty quickly to avoid kids poking fun at me. So at the age of 19 when I went to Australia, within 2 weeks of arriving I had a strong accent - so much so that Aussies thought I was local.

I have a feeling that it'll be a slower process this time but Ian has already had a laugh at me saying 'yis' instead of yes! :laugh

He won't change his cockney accent much as its too strong but I reckon in a few years he'll have a slight twang!

[mechidna]

Well, I am a bit far from going, but I have noticed little things like the use of "whilst". We don't really use that here in the US.

M

[Annierobrigado]

as long as we take time to understand what the other's saying and not get offended if the person we're talking to would ask us to repeat what we just said because we couldn't understand their accent.

cheers mate!

annie

[Arlevien]

Kiwi accent can easily be adapated. I noticed this myself when we were there 2 yrs ago. We only spent 2 weeks and I began to notice the slight change in my american english accent. This is far better to the liverpool english I get to endure everytime I get to chat with a known bloke from the place. ( no offence though )

[jo b]

Just had a discussion with the hubby about our accent changing..

He will be working with the kiwi`s so we expect some sort of change. But how much??

The kids 12 & 7 undoubtedly will accomodate the accent. :yes

Myself maybe not.

Any comments??? ( Fantastic accent by the way)


jan xx

Jan

My husbands brother lived in Bamfurlong until 17 years ago and although he speaks with a Kiwi slang you can still tell he is from Wigan and his Wigan accent gets stronger when we are there.

So All us Northerners should create our own town and then we won't loose our accents. :cool :nice1

Jo

[jan]

Jo,

oreet. :nice1

Wos want a reet gud chin wag air now and then ???

Tha best get them pur-pl durty curtins washt..afoo the walk off umselves.
:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Sith thee later

Jan xx :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[Slatch]

I had a friend moved to London (darn sarf) a few years ago and when he came back to visit he had picked up a fairly strong cockney accent. But if he were to mention this to his new cockney mates they would say he sounded as Northern as he ever was.

I guess most people who move on to wherever will gain a change in accent as well as the different vocab but won't realise until they go back amongst the people they grew up with.

[foolsgold99]

I'm a total accent slut, 1 week anywhere and I'll be using local phrases for everything. I'm sure in a month my accent will be half way there

I'm pretty sure that my Scottish accent (which isn't that strong anyway), will come back if I ever visit Scotland again.

[Diny]

An accent slut !!!!!!!!! :eek :eek

I love that.

Diny

:nice1

[wilson182]

though it grinds on me when kiwis say Data (dartar) and project (proe---Jeckt)


Dan

And Auction (oction)

[Timbo]

A slight aside here. Any of you Scots wishing to feel at home in NZ could do worse than check out the little town of Waipu on the east coast between Auckland and Whangarei (about half way to Whangarei from Wellsford. They have there own highland games each year, and celebrate their Scottish ancestory in a big way apparently.
You may even be able to get fried Mars bars. :laugh

[KD17]

I've been told that the NZ way of speaking is quite "Americanised" and for some reason I pick up that accent really easy. My friends at junior school were American so I think I picked it up as a kid and just stuck with it. It didn't help when I later went to live in the USA and people kept introducing me as being Australian !!!! and being a Norfolk dumpling and all..... :oops:

Diny, you said...

However .... if there's one thing that just about grates on me more than anything else, is when the word 'yous' is spoken. As in:

Are yous coming to the party?


That's used a lot here on the Island and is a Celtic thing. The Dutch also have a word for the plural of you, I think it makes sense to use it in some instances (although I don't)

My daughter picked up the accent here almost straight away, which is a northern influenced accent (buz and not bus etc.,) I've managed to avoid it but find I now use some of the phrases. My daughter picked the accent up because she didn't want to feel left out (she was 12 at the time of moving here).

The use of the local phrases comes naturally as it's often the only way to be understood :roll: :?

When I was in the USA there was a que of people and I remember asking the woman at the back if she was in the que - she had no idea what I was talking about (although it may have been my accent !!!) and I finally had to ask if she was "standing in line" :?

I come from a very large family and although we all grew up together, in the same neighbourhood, the same schools etc., some of my family have a strong Norfolk accent and others clearly do not, like myself. I've no idea why that would be. :no

In the UK in particular I know an accent can get or loose you a job. Which shouldn't happen - accents are like a finger print of someones life.


Keith & Debby

[Brad77]

Hi all

Found this thread today.

I arrive in NZ on 2 January and I know that I will pick the accent up very very quickly. I lived in London for 3 years and picked up a Kiwi and Aussie (mixed) accent from my friends (not a British one).

How do you think Kiwis will react if I arrive at work in February (after being in NZ for a month) with a Kiwi accent? I dont want people to think I am faking it. I rang NZ Immigration in AKL the other day and by the end of the conversation with a Kiwi I didn't sound South African any longer.

[jubjub]

Hi all

Found this thread today.

I arrive in NZ on 2 January and I know that I will pick the accent up very very quickly. I lived in London for 3 years and picked up a Kiwi and Aussie (mixed) accent from my friends (not a British one).

How do you think Kiwis will react if I arrive at work in February (after being in NZ for a month) with a Kiwi accent? I dont want people to think I am faking it. I rang NZ Immigration in AKL the other day and by the end of the conversation with a Kiwi I didn't sound South African any longer.

I know what you mean about picking accents up, I have a Brummy family, livied in Liverpool for a few years, and have also lived in Scotland for a good length of time, my accent is a mixture of them all, each one pops up more strongly depending on mood or amount of wine I have had!

If I am around any of the above accents I tend to blend in too.

Hubby reckons I am getting a bit Kiwi, but I cant hear it myself...