nowthat

Not that I am a linguistic purist trying to verify the cliche but:

Will the kids 'embrace' the distinctive Australian accent (and lingo) after having started schooling in Oz and lose their 'native' way of speaking the language ?

Your observations pls.
Does this depend on age, anybody whose kids were able to 'preserve' their 'native' way of speaking?

Is the phenomenon i(?) inevitable and just waiting to happen sooner rather than later? At home we speak our 'own' way

Gracias

PS No offence to all Australian English speakers

rabsody

Mine were 4 years old and 18 months old when we got here (8 years ago) - both speak like Aussies! I think it's inevitable after a certain period of time they will gain the accent.

My eldest does the distinctive Aussie high pitched atonation (if that's the word) at the end of every sentence ... and unfortunately I have not been able to beat it out of her yet.

The Woodcutter

I think it is inevitable that kids will pick up the Australian accent. I have a daughter - 10 years old and she already speaks with an Australian twang. My twin boys (aged 6) do not however, but I think it is just a matter of time before they begin to speak with an Oz accent.

yanH

I think it very much depends on age. We have been here 18 months and 3 out of our 4 children have now picked up the Australian accent to varying degrees. Our now 9 year old son is determined to stay English (although he is happy enough living here), but no matter how hard he tries not to he does have a twang now. Now 10 year old daughter adopted the accent and words such as soccer and chips immediately, and now 4 year old has changed gradually subconsciously as he speaks like his friends. However our eldest son was 13 when we arrived, and still sounds as English as ever and I don't think his accent will ever change.

tictac

Yes!

Youngest (12) has become a Fossie (fake ossie) and eldest (15) is heading that way too. I think it comes from the need to fit in and be understood by school pals.

The high-pitched atonation which Rabsody mentions, together with the ubiquitous "good, good, how ya goin'".

even caught myself 'talking that way' too, from time to time

moneypenny20

I think my girls sound Aussie although their friends think they still sound very English. My hubby was on the phone to my sister at Christmas and she was amazed at how Aussie he sounded - he must be the most English sounding out of all of us. We all say wader instead of water, and I hear myself talking very Aussie but I think it's a done deal with kids. They are with Aussies chattering in and around schools far more. Adults tend to talk one on one and maybe are not surrounded by it quite so much.

I think any English person with a strong regional accent, or Scottish, Welsh etc will hang on to their accents, whilst the lighter home counties speakers are more likely to become Aussiefied. I have a friend who came here from Liverpool 50 years ago when she was 5. She sounds like she only got off the plane yesterday

Jacqueline10

Been there many times for a holiday and even during that short time (up to 6 weeks) my little girls picked up a bit of a twang!!

We have some ozzie mates and as soon as we mix with them the kids pick it up. I love the ozzie accent its far better than the Manchester accent.

rabsody

It's funny because everyone in UK invariably thinks you sound "so Australian, can't believe how much your accent has changed" but everyone here thinks you sound "so English"!

lisaroo

yes i agree i dont think our accents changed at all yet whern we came home everyone was saying we sounded like aussies, but jake our 6 year old changed a lot even though he's welsh, but as you said when they are surrounded by the accent all day long they're bound to pick it up, and especially the little ones as they are still learning to pronounce words, but even now that we've been home for 7 months (hell!) he still hasnt lost the see ya! and various other aussie words and the accent creeps in now and again

Vash the Stampede

It's called a rising inflection.

lisaroo

yeah everyone in oz thought i sounded so english as well, but in the end i got sick of explaining i was welsh, and even some people didnt really know where wales was aussies thought i was just a posh english girl

lisaroo

in the salon where i worked we used to have guessing games with the clients, where's the new girl from? most answers were ireland!!! even had one say south africa... we used to have lots of fun taking the *iss out of the lowly little welsh girl from swansea

quoll

Yup, it's a High Rising Terminal and it bugs the heck out of me. One of my BILs does it with almost every sentence.

eddie007

Mine all speak broad 'strine

Dorothy

My kids still have their Canadian accents. Every now and then I hear my son (11) use the odd phrase or word that has a bit of a twang, but we've been told that ours is one of those accents that people tend not to lose.