If you live om Britain for 2 years can you get a british accent?

Question

Im moving to britain in a few years for two years. I want to know the chances of me getting an accent.

IM NOT SAYING I WONT ONE!!!!!! IM SAYING THAT IM MOVING THERE AND IM WONDERING IF I WILL GET ONE WHETHER I LIKE IT OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

That really depends on you. If you try hard and want to obtain a British accent--which, in reality means dialect because wherever you move, it sounds different; then you could possibly do so. But, if you don't have the ear, then it isn't going to happen.

More than likely, you'll start picking up colloquialisms, but your accent will remain distinctly yours.

I am from Texas. I have lived in North East England (mackam and Geordie land) for awhile now. I say "bairn" and "boot" and "bench" and "beef mince" and "gadgie" and even "tomato" (versus tomayto) but I don't sound British. My "e" sounds like "i" and my "t" sounds like "d". And I still have a drawl. I am from Texas and I'm proud of that. I like fitting in and I have integrated as well as immigrated. But, at the end of the day, I am Texan. And, you can hear it in my voice.

Answer 2

Well, it depends
a) How old are you ? The younger the better.
b )How well you master the language.?

There are people who can imitate accents which is great if you have the flair.
But accents can be very attractive. I have been here for 48 years and I still have an accent, which I am proud of.

The most important thing is to learn all the different ways in which the British express themselves, from the best academics, to the everyday colloquial expressions, which are plentiful and sometimes very colourful.

Accents "including the British ones" are part of ones personality and living experiences, as for instance people you mixed with in other words your environment. Therefore, accents mean nothing if you are articulate, your vocabulary is reasonably good and eventually become acquaintance with the English way of life ..etc etc

Answer 3

susceptibility to acquiring an accent varies from individual to individual -there's no rule. some people seem to pick up accents unconsciously while others never do.

Just go to first generation Irish or Scottish community in North America. some people will have lost their original accents within a couple years while others don't in decades.

You may have to use words simply to be understood i.e. 'petrol' for 'gasoline' or slang words which help you socialize.
i think the older you are too the less likely you'll change .

be warned some regional accents in Britain are difficult to understand at times never mind imitate.

Answer 4

Madonna did.

But hers is fake.

I know an American woman who's been living here in the UK for 4 years and she hasn't got a British accent! She still sounds 100% American to me! When she goes home to the States her friends and family say she sounds British but I can't see how they can say that because she doesn't!!!

An adult wouldn't lose their accent, they might pick upa little bit of the accent of the country they were living in - we had friends who lived in America for 2 years and they had a slight American "twang" to their accents when they came home (they lost it after a year or so or being back home). But you wouldn not get a completely British accent, no.

A child who moved to another country might pick up a different accent.

Answer 5

If you speak English properly you don't have an accent.

If when you speak English you have a regional accent i.e. Geordie or Yorkshire you are still considered to be English just a poor relative of proper English people.

The Derbyshire accent is a poor mans Yorkshire accent, making it only a very distant relative of proper English.

If you speak English with an East Anglian or West country accent it simply means you're simple.

The Black Country accent is a pretend accent because nobody could actually want to speak like that!

The Welsh are not English and should be charged for speaking our glorious language, and for wasting letters on their road signs.

The Scottish don't speak English they just incorporate lots of words that could, if you listen with a squint, possibly be mistaken for English.

People from Liverpool or Manchester have a truely awful accent and are in fact the in-bred offspring of Irish mole farmers living here under false pretences.

London (Cockney) is the accent of former tradesmen who, after Margaret Thatcher's time as queen of this country, turned to crime because buttons were in short supply (see purley kings for an explanation), they rhyme because they can't remember the proper words.
They get all over the place and have exported their accent to virtually every place where common people congregate, especially football stadia.

I hope that helps

Answer 6

Officially, you must submit form number 10972-398, to the office of the department of language modification and acceptance of more Somalians. The wait is about 3 years. You should receive a post about that time, delivered by the postal lorry (perhaps a bit later if the postal lorry driver stops to use the loo) advising you of where you may obtain your chit for reception of your new, official "British Accent" chit.

Good day!

...

As a heads up, I recommend you begin practicing proper pronunciation of the phrase:

"By all means; I'd be quite prepared for that eventuality."

See: "Hard Days Night" the Beatles (they're from Britain, too)

...

Answer 7

There are dozens of accents in Britain , depending where you live. To get an English Queen's English accent you would have to be educated at an English Public school. Having said that, the Queen does not have an accent neither do those who speak like her. Everybody else does.

Answer 8

I was born in Canada and lived there till age 30. 15 years later people still say I have an accent but sometimes they can't guess where I'm from. My neice thinks I sound English and when I visit family in Canada the voices of people on the street sound strange. I have picked up lots of English words like lift and boot and petrol

Answer 9

After two years, you are allowed to get a British accent if you fill out the proper paperwork in triplicate and pay a fee of 50 pounds.

Answer 10

Your accent will probably get MORE British, up to a point - but the chances are very very slim that you'll completely lose your old accent without conscious effort to 'sound British'.

More likely is that you'll pick up British expressions, though you'll probably pick up some very small accentual traits in 2 years.