Have your kids got Aussie accents ???

[Anne B]

Just curious, but since you've been in Australia, have your children starting speaking with an Australian accent? If so how long did it take? They say children pick up the accents first.

 

My son on our last 2 trips to Australia started speaking with a broad Aussie accent (or at least his version of one) after a couple of days, which cracked us up. Think he was trying to copy his cousins. I kept telling him to stop but he denied he was speaking any differently!. Luckily his English accent came back when we returned, else his classmates at school in England would be giving him some stick.

[Guest Guest75]

They do lose it.

As soon as they mix with Aussie kids they will pick it up.

I'm sure it's also to fit in.

 

It's subtle at first,they come home using words like "Heaps".

 

You might not even notice at first then put the kids on the phone to rellies in the UK and they will notice it.

 

After 9 years Little Tyke talks completely Aussie - I need and interpreter!!!

[Guest UzinOz]

We've been here 18 months and my son had just turned 6 when we arrived and I thought it would go pretty quickly but he still has his Scottish acccent, but I think he is clinging hard to it because after school he sounds different but still Scottish, I think, he does use words like, heaps, awesome and everyone is a dude. I know people here who's kids have lost it almost immediately and older kids who chop and change to suit the company they are in.

 

Jackie

[Guest Nat]

My son (aged 8, now 5 when we arrived) has a bit of both, and slips between London/Aussie.

 

My daughter (aged 4 now, 15 months when we arrived) has an aussie accent with a bit of cockney thrown in. She wasn't speaking when we first arrived so has picked up the accent quite easily, but has obviously picked up a bit of mine along the way. She's always telling me "no worries, mum", which I find hilarious.

[Guest norah battie]

My 9 year old was totally Auussie after a couple of months but after 18 months my 6 year old is hanging onto his Scottish accent....people even say I have a slight twang!!!

[Guest Weez]

HEAPS!!!! i hate that!! after 7 months my 9 year old has just started saying that, i have told him not to say it unless talking about dung or compost;) we don't have strong regional english accents which is a surprise coming from the fens!! my boys have started to get a bit twangy, their T's are turning into D's and they are starting to get the higher raise in their voices at then end of a sentence (think clarinet playing girl from American Pie film "this one time at band camp......")!!!

[Guest sjs]

My 5 yr old says some words with an aussie accent. But I asked him the other day 'I wonder when you will speak Australian' and he said 'I do' and I said 'well you say some words Australian and some words are still Scottish' and he said 'but I feel Australian' !

 

so cute - honestly

 

my 2 yr olds accent is all over the place - poor soul! he hears our Scottish accent and friends various English accents and then the Aussie accent from tv and playgroup etc and he just doesnt know what to sound like - its quite funny.

 

ps we have been here nearly 6 months

[Guest Bakers]

Haha love this post heaps drives me nuts too my 2 are 10 & 6 at the moment the eldest is like a cross between UK,OZ & USA she sounds like the girl from band camp in American Pie cracks us up & you can't tell with 6 yr old but the sayings "what the hell" "heaps good" "sick"(thats means wicked apparently) & thats just a few make us giggle & we've got the little one who's 1 next month so we will see wether his 1st words are spoken in an OZ accent or English or a good mix of both only time will tell Tess x

[Guest Django]

they are starting to get the higher raise in their voices at then end of a sentence

 

This is my one real hate. AQI. or 'Australian Questioning Intonation'. Where statements are spoken as though they are questions. It winds me up something rotten.

 

Pete

[Guest caoimhe]

We have been here 5 months and the kids have been at school for 3 so far they still have their Irish accent, (earlier days yet) but I thought it would have gone from the little ones. My 8 year old is trying his hardest to get an Aussie accent but sounds like a bad impersonation of an Amercian.

My 11 year really does not want to lose his at all as he reckons its a babe magnet:arghh:

[lorluc]

My 3 youngest children were 2, 6 and 10 when we arrived 3.5 years ago...all of them have strong aussie accents....

[Rachiegarlo]

Yes lol. Except someone told me once my daughter has a very English accent hahaha she was born here and didn't see England until she was 13. Her dad has a very mild scouse accent now and it wasn't that either......Must be in the blood.

[Guest nishman]

Kids now 12 and 10 - both are loosing more and more of their Durham twang for the Aussie slang with the upward inflexions:D. It's certainly more noticable if you overhear them talking to their Aussie friends at school.

[Guest donna T]

7 year old is complete Aussie after the 2 years we have been here. He started developing the accent in about 3 weeks! Initially to fit in I guess, but now it is all his!

 

4 year old also couldn't talk much when we arrived and has an Aussie twang on some words, however, she and I have also picked up a Northern twang from all our Pommie friends from' Up North'!

[sue2oz]

my boys crack me up! they dont speak ozzie and they dont speak scouse its so funny.

when the come out of school they dont even sound like me kids anymore, me and their dad stand listening to them when they are sitting watching tv and laugh our heads off by how they sound these days, espeically my 10 yr old, hes got "heaps" of mates here and they are all "hell good" love it!!!!!

 

sue xxx

[Guest KP Nuts]

With my three, the two boys are still the same but with some new words added in, but Emma, I've no idea what she's talking at the moment, apart from the fact that I keep telling here to speak properly, lol..................

[Guest TC for short]

My daughter(6) sounds very Aussie & has only been here 15 months. My son (9) still sounds very Suffolk - "compooter" etc.

 

TC

[Guest Trakki]

Me and Pete have both got London Accents, Jack our oldest has got a Lincolnshire accent as we lived there for 5 years before coming here, SOphie has a bit of london and a bit of lincolnshire, Niamh has picked up Jacks accent!!! Now here Jack and Sophie have the odd Aussie twang now and then but the main thing is what they say, according to Jack everything is 'sick' which he assures me is a good thing. It is defnitely the sayings and words they get first and then the accent follows.

[Guest Weez]

This is my one real hate. AQI. or 'Australian Questioning Intonation'. Where statements are spoken as though they are questions. It winds me up something rotten.

 

Pete

 

I'm so with you on this one, makes me want to slap them!!

[Rachiegarlo]

yes terminology is ...fully sick......

[wizzywozza]

My children were 4 and 5 when we emigrated. Eighteen years on and I don't think they have Australian accents at all. However they do use Australian phrases, terminology and words. What they say and how they say it are two different things entirely.

 

Adelaidians have only a slight accent. It's barely noticeable and is very similar to a Home Counties accent. The Victorian accent is more noticeable, and an ocker NSW bush bunny accent (which some of my rellies-in-law have) is almost incomprehendable.

[lorluc]

Oh, i have to disagree with you....i think your kids do....havent heard your daughter talk much....but your son definitely has!!!

[wizzywozza]

Oh, i have to disagree with you....i think your kids do....havent heard your daughter talk much....but your son definitely has!!!

 

I knew you'd say that

 

I'm surprised you haven't heard Liz much cos once you start her off she doesn't bloody well shut up! :chatterbox:

[Anne B]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I suppose kids are desperate to fit in at school, so they lose their accents quicker. Grown ups are more resistant, although my husband was accused of sounding like a Pom on our last trip back!

 

Although my children are half Australian I somehow can't imagine them talking like an Australian, espeially when they get to be adults (some Adelaide women have a very screechy voice, I hope my daughter doesn't end up sounding like that!). It will be interesting to watch them change.