It's the way i speak French. Well, it's more Yorkshire French really.

My Daughter came over at 3 years of age, by her 5th Birthday all traces of her common English accent were gone. Hallelujah she now has a beautifully sounding west coast accent and has stopped staying 'sumfink' & 'firty free'.

My Son on the other hand still has traces of his old accent, he was 11 at the time of the move and is now 14. He can turn it off and on when it's needed, usually when teenage girls are around...

;-D OH yes, he is wise on that front! my soon to be 18 yr old uses that to his FULL advantage!!

My 12 yr old still sounds English to me but his friends back in the UK all say he sounds Canadian to them. I guess there is a subtle difference we're not picking up this side of the pond.

My 10 yr old daughter sounds more like a Canadian to me. Well to some extent anyway, although like an earlier poster said, it's not quite there yet, something in-between really. However, when she reads aloud she always uses her English accent.

I don't mind though, we have chosen to leave the UK, don't regret that decision & this is their home now. I infinitely prefer the Canadian accent to the London one they were starting to pick up back in the UK!

So ah sez to me moom "ise going to football yeah, meetin the mates for a few beers yeah, after, goin clubbin yeah, hope to get a f*** yeah, be home sometime yeah.

Reflects UK I think. No different that the NA/Oz use of 'like'.

so just outta curiosity how do the canadians persieve the english accent - do the girlies really like it?? (or should this be a new thread)

Oh they like it!! Well at least the ones my son has been hanging around! Same with the younger 2 their friends (& teachers) all tell them they mustn't lose their accent!!

Also at work all the patients (& colleagues too) say how much they love my accent. Some of them have said it's because it's so soft compared to many Canadians & when they are coming round from surgery it's calming! Mind you I don't have any real dialect, not quite sure how they'd cope with a heavy accent! :-)

A woman at the Pharmacy told me it was a "chick magnet"

I was not at all pleased when the physiotherapist insisted on my getting out of bed very shortly after waking up from my bypass surgery.

I can't imagine what it would have been like if she'd had a thick scouse accent.

Gerrup up on yers feet der droopy drawers?

thats excellent - will please my youngest (12) no end - thats his major worry that the kids wont like him as he's english


that'd be your regular pharmacy then

would've made you move though!

we're originally from hertfordshire so don't say grass or bath its grarss and barth, i would like for son to keep his uk accent but as been mentioned living in a different country where we are now it's expected for us to learn their language so why would it be any different with canada - what difference in language there is seems minimal obviously to learning a completely diff language, but you get my general gest!

An Irishman, George Bernard Shaw.

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

Of course. We may be in Canada but we're not of Canada.

Children are very adaptable in terms of language, in a multi-language household they have no trouble in speaking, say, Italian to their father, Yiddish to their mother, Spanish to the maid. In the case of my chidren they speak French to their mother, spoke joual to the one school teacher who was from Canada, speak slightly American English to random strangers and to Americans (one would not expect, for example "Huif Da" to go over well with cradles), speak in various languages; Spanish, French, Italian, with friends. I don't see why they should not be able to speak to me in English, they do so for the benefit of grandparents and cousins. Accordingly, I'd have no truck with, for example, the unqualified use of "hockey" nor with "soccer".

So are women more shallow than men? I have never heard a man say "Oh, I just love her accent" when talking about a women, but have heard plenty of women say such things about men

It's cos we're too busy staring at her boobs

I said it in 1975 on a training course in Preston.

I am currently trying to convince offspring #1 (age 7, going on 17) to adopt just one english pronunication, just a nod to her dads heritage, and her own dual citizenship..

Tomahtoe. Thats all I want. Tomahtoe.

She can keep her vyeyamins, her soccer and the rest. Tomahtoe, thats all.

My chances of sucess in this project? Slim to none I would estimate.