I can't stand it when people suddenly adopt a new accent after they've been in another country for a while (think Joss Stone at the Brit awards!). Equally as bad is when people don't realise they are adopting the local drone and end up with a crossover sort of accent. Just get one authentic accent or another - not both - and no phony ones!

I've been living in oz for a year now and my OH and I take the p*** out of each other if we accidentally slip an unecessary 'd' into the middle of any words, eg. 'warda', 'beeyoodiful', etc, cos we just sound so silly. My Dad listens to me very carefully on Skype too just to try and catch me out!

So do any of you have different accents now you've been living abroad for a while? What do you your friends and family have to say about it?!

We've been out here since July 2007 and a couple of friends say that I sound like an Aussie, although Aussies say I sound like a Pom

My Mum claims that my husbands Aussie accent is now so strong she can hardly understand him! I haven't noticed that at all.

Regards,
Karen

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Some people just natually drift toward the accent that they hear around them. Why does it bother you?

Well it's not exactly keeping me awake at nights.

We Brits like to make fun of each other, and a person with a silly accent is just begging to be ridiculed.

I am an Aussie who has lived in Japan for several years, and yes my accent has softened. I don't speak with a Japanese-english accent though, haha! One of my friends from back home was over last month and laughed at the way I said a few words like "yeah, hi, nah" etc, as she reckoned it was American sounding. I think it is only natural that my accent and the way I speak would change. My boyfriend and most of my friends are not native English speakers.

I teach English as a second language and I noticed that students who have a good ear for sound, ie. musicians, are extremely good and fast at picking up correct pronunciation and intonation. Then there are those students who, no matter how hard they try, cannot distinguish between V/B and R/L sounds and cannot drop their katakana pronunciation (ie. They have an extremely heavy Japanese accent when speaking English).

The same goes for native english speakers speaking Japanese. Some people's Japanese sound atrocious. You can clearly hear their Australian/American/English/etc accent. But those who come from a musical background have beautiful Japanese.

My ex-boyfriend and also a couple of my friends are involved with music in one way or another, and I noticed that they are more adept to mimicking sounds around them. For example, while walking along the street they will quietly copy whatever sounds they hear like shop assistants announcing their shop's discounts or whatever. And all of these musical people have lovely pronunciation of their second language and/or their own native language's accent has changed.

It's gotta be a survival instinct or something, the ability to quickly assimilate into the native population. Clearly it's beneficial to fit in as part of a group. very.. Darwinist.

I know sometimes I'll start copying people. If I watch too much tv then go talk to someone they'll tell me I sound American. One time at the shops I was serving an English bloke who decided he didn't want some bread. In an unwitting Eliza Doolittle impersonation I asked "is that because you squashed it?". The real difficult thing to impersonate for me is the strong Aussie accent, because it's just what sounds normal :P

I do that with mannerisms as well. I was having this face to face conversation with someone who nodded their head a lot and suddenly I noticed that I was doing the same thing! I was worried that they would think that I was taking the mick out of them.

I'm just never going to speak to PominNoosa if I'm going to get ridiculed

Regards,
Karen

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Money-Magnets: The Blog - How to get your money to work for YOU

awww - go on - gis a larf

I have only been here in England for 3 years, and I still sound as American as the day I arrived. I do used the British words and terms for most things, as I want to be understood when speaking to people. Also, I don't want to confuse my daughter as she is British. She even corrects me when I say things wrong...LOL

I do have a very good fellow Amer. expat friend who has been here going on 7years, and she really doesn't sound American anymore. My hubby says she sounds more Irish (mixture of a midwestern (Ohio) accent and Devon accent). She honestly did not realize she had picked up the accent. She believed she still sounded 100% American.

I agree that mannerisms are also easy to acquire. I once stopped another western woman in Japan to ask for directions. We started to chat, and as we were finishing our conversation, we found ourselves bowing! I can also do that Indian indeterminate head bob thing.