Any of you expats picked up the accent or do you still sound like you could be living in the UK ?
When you come back and visit do your family and friends comment on the change in your accent ?

This clip is over 9 mins long but i found it quite interesting (but then again that's just me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ9EH...eature=related (its in 5 parts but worth watching IMHO)

I have lost both my accent and my original manner of speaking. I've also lost the limited ability I once had to understand people from the North, yesterday on the radio I heard an interview with a man from Leicester, he was close to being unintelligable to me. otoh I think I'm now quite good at spotting American regional accents and living here has given me gaydar.

Im now somewhere midatlantic...neither fish nor fowl. Far more Brit sounding than Canadian, but the default vocab is now firmy north american, which is a dead giveaway eh! Old friends say I sound a bit american now, new friends thinking I'm English or Australian

As a kid I moved from Surrey to the Wirral and within ten days my "RP" had changed to pseudoscouse. Parents rightly appalled. Got a bit of all sorts now.

There was a brilliant sketch on "Chewin' The Fat" about 2 guys returning to Scotland for the first time after 27 years in Canada...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q7t9AUuVSg

The quality's not good, but the observations are spot on!

After 45 years I still have traces of my English accent but for the most part I am now a fully integrated Canadian.

However 5 minutes back in Liverpool and the scouse all comes flooding back.

never lost my accent even when I stayed in England for 20 years I was always scottish, my sister talks English when sobber and scottish when she is pissed hate it when people do that crap makes them sound stupid. kids will loose their accents but not adults (well that might just be my way of thinking) dont want to upset anyone who has changed their accent

Not really but on the other hand I now................
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6vuPq-2AU

Why does it sound stupid?

Why do you consider it "crap" it's unlikely they do it deliberately?

My wife reckons I'm not as Brit sounding as I was. I moved here 4 years ago.

But I often have to repeat things more than once talking to Canadians.

"John Street" I say. They say "Jones St?"

"No, JOHN ST. J-O-H-N street."

"What?"

Or in the pharmacy I ask for "a month's renewal on this, please" and they still do 2 or 3 months worth.

maybe if they have been abroad since a child or mid teens, but I cant see people loose their accent when in the mid 20s. why is it when they suddenly mix in back home the accent is as broad scottish or English beats me. ok maybe 1-2 words people will pick up over the years but no the full blown accent. as I said I dont want to upset anyone who wishes to change their accent its their choice but not everyone does and there is nothing worse than talking to someone who cant make up their mind if they are Scottish English or Irish and you have to ask where they come from and they say Scotland or where ever. it just sounds daft to me but then thats might just be me I dont know

Dont take this the wrong way Kate.

Why do we need to know where someone has come from? Shouldnt we be more interested in where they are now and where they intend to go?

Like you said accent is a personal choice, most people can with some work modify their accent, most people will alter their vocabulary either to fit in or to be better understood. I dont think my accent per se has changed, however, my speech pattern and vocabulary has adapted to being here.

nah I have not taken anything bad your right and im a classic for opening my big gob

Nah, its just what (sometimes) gets my back is talking to 'canadians' who ask when your going 'home'.

"erm well when I finish work\this drink\shopping"
"no home to the UK"
"NO Calgary\Canada is home"
"Really? But you sound English"
"thats cos I was born there"
"so dont you prefer it in England, it's so......(insert whatever here)"

ffs if I prefered the UK would I be living here???

YOUR MAD

Leicester is not north, you Mockney Fool.

Leicester is the Midlands. Which is like the North but without whippets, flat caps, Kes-type feral children, or outside lavatoires.

R.