No, not at your age! I have lived for 15 years in New Zealand and Australia, and sound as Canadian as they come--every one can tell in one second that I am not local. Some people look puzzled and think I am Irish, and many Canadians tell the same story, but most people assume I am American (and I never take offence--how are they to know?? Canadians who take offence at being called American are as silly as Kiwis who freak out at being called Australian when abroad). My English friend here in Australia has been here for 30 years and of course she sounds English. No mistake about it. But I am very taken aback when I hear a Canadian accent on TV, or speak to my family--is that what I sound like??? Shudder.

Hi,
I'm not a regular on this forum, so take me with a pinch of salt!
What the hell would you want to talk like a Canadian for!!!

I'm guilty of that. I do that all the time

That is so true. I've been in England for four years and still wince everytime I hear someone annouce they're going to the toilet. To my Canadian ears, it's like they are relieving themselves at that very moment!

Though I'm in England, I could have written that word for word! Especially the last bit.

This probably has something to do with being away from being surrounded by Canadian accents for a while but I have just recently been able to hear how I say 'house', 'about', 'mouse' etc... and it freaks me out! I could never hear it before and thought that Canadianism was just made-up by Yanks to bug Canadians but to suddenly be able to hear it is quite scary. It just rings in my rings as so dorky sounding. Yeah, shudder!

Glad to hear you have a similar experience, Wasabi Peas. I must admit I sometimes exaggerate the accent thing, making my vowels longer than I would normally, and I do use north american words to refer to things at times, instead of the Australian version (just plain laziness!)--I will say I am going to 'school', when an Australian (and English person) would say 'university' or 'uni', and I still, after 15 years, say 'gas station' at times--as I say, just laziness! I tried living in a non-English speaking country once--hopeless! If I can't remember to say 'petrol', how can I learn a whole new language?!! It'll be very weird to move back to Canada and hear to accent all the time--I am not sure my ears will cope!

whether you change your accent is ENTIRELY up to you.

Pretty large thumbnail!!!! :scared:

I've been in Canada now for 30 years and now I have a problem understandind some British accents.

Movies like the Full Monty & Vera Drake should have subtitles.

Sounds like you've lost complete touch with the UK. Have you seen trainspotting?

Thanks for the absolute ton of replies... One or two have assumed I want to get a Canadian accent, which I never said. I'm not really bothered one way or the other, I was just interested in how likely it was.

Overall, I suspect I will retain my south-east English accent.

Anyway, I arrived in London on Friday, so we'll see what happens....

actually you will never lose your accent, even when you think you have, a Canadian will ask where in the UK are you from, which of course always bursts your bubble. What you will find is that you will get to use their description of things quite fast otherwise you might not end up being able to buy some things as they will not have a clue what you are talking about