If i go to Australia would i pick up the accent?

Answer 1

It depends on three things:
1 How exposed you are to the accent
2 How long you are exposed to the accent
3 Your age

The first criteria is almost always met whenever you travel overseas. If you travel to a different country, you will be exposed to that country's accent in some way shape or form.
However, if for example you are travelling in a tour group with other people who speak with the same accent as you do, your exposure to the foreign accent will be less than if you were travelling alone or with your family.

The second criteria (how long you are exposed to the accent) is a big factor. If you stay in Australia for say 10 years, even other Australians will probably mistake you for an Australian, but this also depends heavily on your age

The third criteria, (Your age) is probably the most important factor for picking up accents. This is mainly because at a younger age, your brain is still developing and therefore is able to assimilate subconciously very basic things such as phonemes - the sounds languages are made up of. This is also why it is easier to learn a foreign language when you are young than when you are an adult

If you came to Australia and you were 5 years old, chances are that in less than a year you will have an Aussie accent. By age 10, the transition will take two or three years.

By the time you are 20, chances are you will never fully be able to get rid of your native accent, (even if you live here for the rest of your life) because your own accent is too fully engrained and your voice box and jaw and tongue muscles have developed and grown in the way you use them most. The best you may be able to do is a mix between the two.

My uncle is one example. He married an American lady and moved to California and lived there for about 20 years. Because he was an adult when he started living there, his accent began to become more American, but still retained aspects of his own accent very noticably.

About a year ago they and their two children (aged about 12 and 10 at the time) moved to New Zealand. I have noticed by talking to them on the phone that my aunt still sounds 100% American, my uncle's accent still sounds like a mix of his native accent and American, and my two cousins (who have lived their whole life in America and had strong American accents) now say the occasional word in the New Zealand accent.

The odds are that my aunt and uncle will retain the accents they have now but their children will end up speaking with a New Zealand accent.

I hope this helps. If you do come to Australia (and I hope you do because it's a wonderful country) your own accent will often be a topic of interesting and friendly conversation anyway, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Answer 2

I lived in Australia for 6 months when I was 16 and came home with a slight accent, but once you are an adult, you pretty much sound the way your're going to sound. I did pick up local expressions and terms that I still use sometimes today.

Answer 3

I spent two weeks in Melbourne with my cousins when I was thirteen. By the end of the first week, I sounded exactly like they did. I can still (27 years on!) do a proper Aussie accent. If it's all you hear, and you don't become self-conscious about your own accent, you'll probably slide into it - though people back home will notice the changes to your accent before Australians do!

Answer 4

If you are still a child or teenager you will pick up the accent after juat a few years. As an adult you will have to live there for a very long time before you start to sound like them naturally.

Answer 5

No, you will pick up a few sayings but not the accent. I know people who have lived here for 50 years & their accent has barely changed.

Answer 6

If you go for a long time like 1 year than yes it might be possible to devolp an Austrilain accent but I went there for 3 weeks I had a small 1 that lasted for 3 days

Answer 7

You might, but it really depends on how long you're over there for. I lived in North Carolina for a few months but never picked up their "southernish" accent. I stll have my Minnesotan accent. So...it really depends. I guess it also depends on how much interaction you have with the people living there. That can influence on how quickly you may (or may not) pick up the accent.

Answer 8

G'day mate, It's Andy from down unda.

No way you can pick up the accent if you dont spend at least a few years in Oz.

You might try and copy it but with expressions like those found here;

http://mmarts.vu.edu.au/beta/websites/aboehmer/links/default.html

Most of the sayings are pretty countryish and have to do with the drought.

"Drier than a Nun's Nasty"

"Drier than a dead dingo's dong"

"Up at a Sparrow's Fart" - up very early in the morning

etc etc...

Good luck!

Answer 9

not likely...unless you live here for a good while...

The Australian accent is actually one of the hardest to immitate accuratly....but Australian's are very good at picking up and immitating most other accents....

Im Australian and travel a lot. I spent a few months in the UK and Europe and found myself saying words in various accents accidently....

Im moving to Atlanta in less than three weeks and am dreading loosing my Australian accent...Ill just have to pay attention to the way that I enunciate all the time...

Answer 10

You could learn to mimic the accent.

Accents are caused by training vocal muscles as we mature. The typical age beyond which accents do not fix is 10 years old.