When you talk to someone with a foreign accent, do you ever have to fight the urge to use a similar accent? AKA when Madonna moved to England and started talking with a British accent.
I can't do accents so I'm able to fight that urge, but I was just talking to some British folks and I kept wanting to say "fancy" - as in, "Would you fancy a lift into town?" Just when I managed to avoid that, I almost ended the conversation with a "cheers!" *facepalm*
clementine / 878 posts
Haha, that's funny but I think it's totally natural to begin to speak like the people around you! It's just easier/faster sometimes. The "cheers" is pretty funny though. 
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I didn't pick up the accent when I lived in the UK, but saying "cheers" has stuck. I still use it all the time!
pineapple / 12566 posts
I don't pick up the accent, but I have incorporated certain things that seem to be a bit more prevalent here like saying we are going on holiday instead of vacation or football instead of soccer.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
I studied abroad in England for 4 months. At the beginning, there were a few instances where I told people I was American, and they looked at me like I was daft and responded along the lines of "Duh, your accent gave it away." So, I got used to NOT mentioning it. Then, towards the end of my stay, there were three separate time when I assumed the other person knew I was American, when in fact they thought I was British.... so I guess I picked it up, at least a bit!
grapefruit / 4819 posts
I've lived overseas (England and Australia) for 9 of the past 11 years but I still sound thoroughly American! I've found that my accent has toned down a bit (I no longer say 'wad-er' in my Chicago accent, but a more enunciated wa-ter like the British, etc) but my accent doesn't change from one conversation to another - it's been a slow evolution.
As for the lingo - yes, I pick that up straightaway. Most of my conversations nowadays are a solid mix of Americanisms and Britishisms. No one seems to know what the hell I'm talking about
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts
@mrbee: my husband and daughter walked around the grocery store talking in an accent (like Peppa Pig) ooooh the stares we got. They had fun but all I could do is laugh and shake my head. So, apparently you can get the urge without chatting with someone who naturally has that accent. 
pomelo / 5257 posts
My ILs have lived in England for around six years and my MIL refers to herself as mum now 
she has also incorporated some British words and spellings into her writing. I think that makes sense, though, because she's in school so I assume they're supposed to use the British spellings (like "favourite," etc.)
eggplant / 11716 posts
Even just crossing the border to Canada, I notice I am automatically saying "washroom" this, and Timmy's that.
I can't say that we really blend in though, as yesterday my husband tried to buy something at Canadian Tire using an Australian 100 bill (haha) and then finally fumbled around and found Canadian money and then tried to find a Canadian penny (they don't exist anymore). Hahahah
coconut / 8234 posts
I spent two weeks in London with friends and family and ended up saying "innit" a lot by the end of it, ha. My daughter mimics the accent because of Peppa Pig.
pomegranate / 3983 posts
Haha, yes this would always happen to us when we were backpacking back in the day.
pomelo / 5257 posts
@Cherrybee: exactly -- I give her a pass on that one! And I don't mind the "mum" thing either, it's cute
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
No matter where I am I have to fight the urge to not take on their accent. I live in Texas and no one here can believe I am from NY, but when I'm in NY I auto-adjust back to a NY accent (except I still use Y'all). Its funny that my brain does that but I'm always a little embarrassed and don't want people to think I'm making fun of their accent!
pomegranate / 3393 posts
Yes! But I resist, haha. In high school I picked up some British spellings like s instead of z, re instead of er, etc but thankfully I grew out of it.
I know someone who's married to an English man and affects that stuff hard. But, like, she's 30-something and lives in Tennessee! It's kind of mortifying to hear her post something online like "we had prawns and aubergine for dinner whilst watching Dr Who on the telly". Dude, you're not British! You've never lived in England!
grapefruit / 4355 posts
I don't have any temptation to pick up the accent but lingo is so easy to fall into. I picked up y'all so quickly after moving to the South (but I still drink pop, not Coke).
pomegranate / 3393 posts
@Cherrybee: I'd say "we had shrimp and eggplant while watching Dr Who on TV"
papaya / 10570 posts
@MoonMoon: Ahh!! 
Mind, if you said you'd eaten that I would wonder if you were pregnant (or up the duff, as we would say!).
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
Well, we just returned to England after six years in Canada and my sisters find my accent hilarious. There is no mistaking I have an English accent, but I guess I picked up some cadences and definitely lingo. When I am talking to someone Welsh, I always find myself copying.
papaya / 10570 posts
@travelgirl1: Me too, only my Welsh accent sounds more like a Pakistani accent!
kiwi / 556 posts
I'm a kiwi but I live in the Midwest with my American husband and my accent has definately evolved. It's absolutely still kiwi but I say a bunch of Americanisms, use more standard vowel sounds and pronounce r's on the ends of words.
I teach and am the first teacher in the school with an accent. The kids are hilarious. I have been asked by more than one student if I speak English or just my accent
pomegranate / 3706 posts
lol no. My sister had a best friend from Tennessee in grade school, and she would come home from a sleepover with a slight accent!
pineapple / 12526 posts
I lived in the UK for 3 years and never attained any kind of accent, but I did pick up a few slang terms and phrases. Mostly gone now, since living back in the U.S.
I had a British friend tell me it was mildly offensive when non-Brits affected an accent. She said it felt kind of like mocking. She was crazy though, so she might just be overly sensitive.
cantaloupe / 6869 posts
My speech is always affected by accents. I subconsciously pick them up wherever I go. People can't often pinpoint what part of the U.S. I'm from because it's all a hodgepodge. My husband makes fun of me whenever we travel abroad because I pick up the accent immediately and without meaning to.
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