If so how long does it take?..Does the phenomenon have a name
2007-06-30 08:04:22 · 11 answers · asked by ? 2 in Travel ➔ United Kingdom ➔ Other - United Kingdom
It mostly depends on age and as to whether or not you assimilate and identify with your adopted home.
If you, as an American, moved to the United Kingdom as a child (under the age of 13), you would more than likely pick up the regional accent to some degree. This would come from the English courses in your adopted home and from the people you converse with on a daily basis. However, if you moved there, were home schooled by your American parents, and had very little association with the native population, your accent probably would not change very significantly.
If you move to the United Kingdom as an adult, the results will vary depending on the person. If you strongly identify with your adopted home, associate mostly with natives from the area, and have a good ear for accents, you might pick up a strong variation of the accent or end up with a hybrid accent. However, if you strongly identify with your current accent, converse primarily with friends and family from the United States, and have a great understanding of features in the accent that you do not wish to adopt, your accent could either remain exactly the same or change very insignificantly.
As for how long it takes, that is a different story entirely. I think the general rule is approximately ten years, but that also depends on your current age and how much you identify with your surroundings.
There is another strange side of the situation where your regional accent can become stronger after moving to a different location. I suppose, this sort of thing could happen if you make it a point to be different from your peers and cling to your current accent as if it is a piece of you that cannot be lost.
Acquiring a different accent would be the broad term for what this is called, but if you emulate an English accent while speaking to English people, and speak to Americans with your natural, regional American accent, it is called "code-switching".
2007-06-30 21:30:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You might pick up some of the phonetics by just being around the different sounds / pronunciations all the time ... but you'd probably have to work at it to actually develop the full accent.
How long you stay in the UK would be a factor. Also a possible factor: how strong your own (regional) American accent is to begin with.
Cheerio. :)
2007-06-30 15:12:06 · answer #2 · answered by Zoe M 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would depend on how old you are, how strong your own accent is and how easily you pick up other accents. The younger you are the more easy it would be to pick up another accent. For me I have a very neutral accent and I pick up other accents very easily. Also when you are in a situation where you are surrounded by people who have another accent/dialect you find youself unconsciously imitating it. It doesn't mean that you have adopted that accent and lost your own though.
2007-06-30 16:57:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It all depends on the person. Some people never pick up an accent, and people (like me) who get one in like 5 minutes of talking to a person with an accent!
2007-06-30 15:10:56 · answer #4 · answered by hottiecj *~♥~*~♥~* 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
u wouldnt develop a british accent it would be considered an english accent. The English make it very clear that the Welsh and the Scots are very different if not beneath them.
2007-06-30 15:26:31 · answer #5 · answered by okinaps319 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on the person.
A friend of mine spent 6 months working at a pub in london, and moved back to the U.S. Now every once in a while, an accent comes out. Usually when she's nervous.
A lot of people never do though, but definately learn to mimic it.
2007-06-30 15:12:30 · answer #6 · answered by sweetfix 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, we moved to London from the US last year and my daughter and wife talk with an English accent somewhat without knowing it, whereas me, I'm still stuck with hillbilly american accent......so I guess it depends in the person.
2007-06-30 18:55:40 · answer #7 · answered by Chango encuerado 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not completely. Of course, you would develop the British vocabulary, but your American English pronunciation of a lot of words would remain with you for life.
2007-06-30 15:12:35 · answer #8 · answered by jack of all trades 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe
i have a friend who went to Australia for a year and came back with the accent
2007-07-01 11:38:07 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
some poeple do and some dont, i have a ffriend this spanish and she has lived england for over 10 year and has nether pick up and english sound,
2007-06-30 15:08:23 · answer #10 · answered by Darren R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋