Do accents really fade?

[Naramie]

Australians have a nice accent.

 

[MC3521]

I know two Bosian girls and they have been in this country since 1995. One barely has any type of accent other than an "American" one, while the other girl has a very thick accent. But, one came over when she was 5 or six and the other was about 13. I think that is the difference.

 

[fingercuffs]

my mother is Australian, but has lived in the US for the past 30 years, her accent is gone. She's under the impression that if she stayed in Australia it would immediately come back. I have no idea if it would or not, but it would be a bit of a mindfuck if it did.

My other half's mum left Dublin 45 odd years ago for England and she's still thick with the accent.

 

[blokeybloke]

Mine's a bit confused like Link said, I did a lot of moving around in the army as a kid. Thankfully my 18 month stint in the midlands didn't stick.

Gi up wi barm' owd miner!


I hate my own East Mids accent. I sound like how you would imagine Cro Magnon man too.

 

[Iroh]

Mine's a bit confused like Link said, I did a lot of moving around in the army as a kid. Thankfully my 18 month stint in the midlands didn't stick.

We need to work on your accent, young lady. Your Dutch needs to be ab-so-lut-ly bloody perfect!!

 

[Iroh]

I've taught myself the local accent. I used to speak like Dutch is supposed to be spoken with maybe a slight inluence of the north from my parents. I'm pretty good at pronounciations and accents though, even in languages that I am really limited in like French and Spanish, I always am able to find the correct way to say what I do know. Enough for the locals not to know I'm foreign.

 

[surf fu]

I think so but every now and then it will come through.

I dated a girl from Michigan and every now you can hear an "oh ya" come through like that movie Fargo.

 

[IIIIIIII]

Do you know people who have had distinct accents and fade over time in the new environment they live in? I've seen people from NY with strong accents fade over time from living in California and people from England who have accents also seem to change from living in the US for a long time.

i have friends who grew up around houston. they have been in the san francisco bay area for about three years now, and their texan accent has softened a lot. they are now saying, "dude"...and, "hella" comes up from time to time, lol.

though when they recently invited me to texas, their accent instantly came back when speaking with family and friends.

 

[IIIIIIII]

i am accent-less

everyone has an accent.

 

[seamus1979]

my dad left ireland when he was 16
lived in germany for a few years the settled in england
hes in his late sixties and still has a strong accent
my mum is also irish
i was born and grew up in england but some people question my accent saying i sound slightly australian
my son who is 6 spends alot of time going in my dads dumper truck and some of the things he says now just sounds straight up red neck irish bog trotter

 

[seamus1979]

its funny as fuck going to ireland and hearing the brazilians and the eastern europeans and nigerians developing an irish accent
truly mind blowing

 

[Starck]

It really depends on the person, I think. My grandmother has lived in America for roughly 55 years, yet still has a strong Irish accent.

 

[DrBdan]

I spent 17 days in Ireland and started pronouncing things the Irish way so I would totally believe that accents will change depending on where you live. I work with a few people that had strong Russian accents when they started and they've faded over the years to sound more like a plain Canadian accent.

 

[Sir Galahad]

You can also acquire an accent too.

 

[big perken**]

I hope I never lose my accent completely but who knows. It's cool when someone knows where you are from just because of you're accent.

 

[QTdd**]

They fade by living in areas with different accents, but they don't disappear, unless you work on it.

 

[big perken**]

When I first moved people use to comment on my accent, now its been a little over a year and when I say when I'm from people say weird You don't sound from there.

 

[Joe_Armstrong]

I know Paul Verhoeven can barely speak Dutch anymore.

 

[BEER]

I used to have a pretty thick southern accent. I don't really have one anymore, or so people tell me, but I'm sure if I went up north people would notice.

Same here. If I watch old home videos from when I was a kid, it was about as thick as possible. It's still there, but minimally. Very neutral accent now, otherwise.

 

[Thrawn33]

They fade and reappear.