Accents

[Gemini]

When we went to Canada 6 years ago on a tour of the east and Niagara Falls, our tour guide was Dutch. Lovely and very interesting lady. When we had long stretches of road with only tree to look at on the journey she would tell us interesting facts about Canada. One day none of us could understand what she was saying. We all called out 'Christa, you are speaking Dutch!'

[Plantaholic]

Not many Bucks accents to be heard now, shame. I come from Surrey but when I was first married we lived in Coventry and Staffordshire and when I went home I was told I sounded like a Brummie, a very infectious accent I think.

[Daisy]

Goovergood morvergorniverging Gevergem!

Grauntie - there you are, instantly bi-lingual! "Fanit" must have sounded very funny!

Plant - I found the Scouse accent very infectious, and so does my OH.

Gem - how funny. Perhaps she was tired that day. When I was teaching two different shorthand systems I'd get mixed up when I was very tired.

Oma - I sort of assume that if you learn a second language you learn the 'text book' version of it, but it makes more sense that you pick it up in the local accent. But interesting after all these years she still sometimes speaks German without realising.

[Gemini]

Daisy, the lady was around 70 and had lived in Canada for over 40 years and brought up her family there. She said she still occasionally lapsed into her native tongue however!

[Daisy]

Gem - my FIL was bi-lingual and even when he was very poorly with Altzeimers and had stopped reading papers etc, he could still decipher badly written Welsh, and spell it for me! It's strange how the brain works sometimes.

[Sunshine]

Just after my daughter started school, we moved to Cheshire from Worthing in the South. My daughter learned to read with a northern accent although she spoke with a southern accent. It was so cute.

[Daisy]

Sunshine - that really is cute! Our DS2, born in Bedfordshire, used to switch between northern and southern pronunciations, but when we went to North Wales to visit family he sounded totally Welsh!

[Grauntie Mag]

Does anyone with a regional accent find people unconsciously mimicking them? As a northerner living in the south OH has this happening all the time. He hates it. If we go north I find people trying to talk with a cockney accent to me when they learn where I live.

[Daisy]

Grauntie, I've never noticed anyone trying to mimic my accent, apart from OH who takes the Mickey out of certain words. Haha.

Perhaps I just don't notice!!!

[Gemini]

Grauntie when I lived in London it occasionally happened but not often. My accent isn't broad at all, but may sound so to southerners I suppose!

[Plantaholic]

Gemini, you have a very soft accent.

[Oma]

You do find people try to copy the Geordie accent , they think everyone with a north east accent are Geordies , when in fact we have several accents just in the north east area ,
The best one I have heard although not accurate is when Catherine Tate does her sketches , her Gateshead accent is hysterical , Ant & Dec have modified there Geordie accent for TV as if you hear them talking normally no one would understand them ,

When we were in Richmond a couple of weeks ago , the café we went into the girl who served us sounded so much like Libra Gran so I said are you from Dorset ?
No she said I am from Glasgow but I am a Army Brat and I have picked up several accents over the years and sometimes they all come out jumbled