1. Do you know anyone who lived abroad and came back with a different accent? Some people could develop a different accent at university — or children might come home from school speaking with a different accent than their parents.
2. Writing in The Conversation, Jane Setter from the University of Reading says people’s accents are fluid — meaning they can change over time. And she says people who move to a new place will probably modify their accent.
3. They may do this consciously or unconsciously, perhaps because they want to be understood, to be accepted in the community — or to avoid local people making fun of the way they talk!
Do you know anyone who has lived overseas? Has their accent changed?
4. It’s been found that even when we cry as babies, we imitate the intonation we hear around us — and we actually start learning these sounds during the last few months before we’re born. So we’re programmed from a very, very early age to try to sound like we fit in!
5. Your accent can have a real effect on your life. For example, a 2022 study in the UK asked people to listen to job interview responses from people with different accents. While the responses were all the same, participants said people with “BBC English” — or “Queen’s English,” which is used most often in the south of England — were the most suitable for the job.
6. People with different British accents, such as Yorkshire or northern English accents, were seen as less suitable. However, these feelings only came out as participants got older — younger participants saw all the accents as being about equal.
(1)What English-speaking accents do you think sound pleasant?
(2)Have you met any foreigners who are fluent in your language? Did they speak with an accent?
7. But some people’s accents don’t change even if they live abroad. This could be because they are very secure in their identity and feel less need to fit in with others, or because they consciously decide they want to keep sounding different, Setter writes. They may even have an accent others want!
8. For example, a 2016 study found that, in phone interviews, American managers actually received people with British accents better than those who sounded like Americans!
Phonetic Chart
