The Off Topic Topic

[Zanza]

I speak with a proper harsh Northern German accent. 

[crazy canuck]

I supposed if all of her learning of German was done there (which seems unlikely). After all, I don't speak with any sort of English accent.

If you are immersed in an accent, it is difficult to avoid picking some of it up - do you have much contact with American English speakers while you are there?  If so, that probably explains it.

[garbon]

I supposed if all of her learning of German was done there (which seems unlikely). After all, I don't speak with any sort of English accent.

If you are immersed in an accent, it is difficult to avoid picking some of it up - do you have much contact with American English speakers while you are there?  If so, that probably explains it.

No, very little. Apart from say phone conversations with my family back home. However, I'm also not Madonna so my only issue these days is a blending of vocabulary not accent.

But then thanks for explaining to me what it might be like to live for years in a foreign country.

[crazy canuck]

I supposed if all of her learning of German was done there (which seems unlikely). After all, I don't speak with any sort of English accent.

If you are immersed in an accent, it is difficult to avoid picking some of it up - do you have much contact with American English speakers while you are there?  If so, that probably explains it.

No, very little. Apart from say phone conversations with my family back home. However, I'm also not Madonna so my only issue these days is a blending of vocabulary not accent.

But then thanks for explaining to me what it might be like to live for years in a foreign country.

At least you have not lost the art of being a dick 

[garbon]

I supposed if all of her learning of German was done there (which seems unlikely). After all, I don't speak with any sort of English accent.

If you are immersed in an accent, it is difficult to avoid picking some of it up - do you have much contact with American English speakers while you are there?  If so, that probably explains it.

No, very little. Apart from say phone conversations with my family back home. However, I'm also not Madonna so my only issue these days is a blending of vocabulary not accent.

But then thanks for explaining to me what it might be like to live for years in a foreign country.

At least you have not lost the art of being a dick 

And you always act as if you know all. But then at your advanced age, old dogs and new tricks and what not.

[crazy canuck]

Well, in my experience it is unusual for people not to pick up at least some of the accent.  The odd times it has happened is when the person in question keeps up communications that continue to reinforce their own accent - which is why I asked the question.

[garbon]

Or a person is established in their manner of speaking, no?

[crazy canuck]

Or a person is established in their manner of speaking, no?

I am not suggesting that you will come back speaking full Brit, but it is difficult to avoid picking up some of the accent no matter how entrenched your speech patterns might be.

I would be interesting to see if someone you have not spoken to since you left would notice a difference.

[garbon]

Ever the stubborn mind.

[grumbler]

Ever the stubborn mind.

Well, the alternative is to admit that he is wrong.

My experience is like yours, living in London.  I knew plenty of Americans who had lived in England for decades and didn't pick up the accent, as well as Scots who'd lived there for decades and still had the full Scottish accent (ditto Irish, Indian, Pakistani, etc).  As you note, one does pick up the vocabulary. I still say "aluminium," for instance.

[Razgovory]

I thought that "zug" was the German word for "platoon".

I have ancestors named Zug.

In Pennsylvania Dutch it's been corrupted to 'Zook' and there are a lot of Amish surnamed Zook today.

There's an island named Zug Island in Detroit that was owned by one of my great-great-whatever uncles.  Apparently it's a toxic waste dump now.

There was a Union general named Sam Zook.  Died at Gettysburg.

[crazy canuck]

Ever the stubborn mind.

No, just drawing on my experience of being around people who travel a fair amount.  You may well be an outlier.

[crazy canuck]

Here is something of interest regarding mimicking the accents - it has to do with empathy and bonding with those around you.

Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, found the subconscious copying of an accent comes from an inbuilt urge of the brain to "empathise and affiliate"

"This unintentional imitation could serve as social glue, helping us to affiliate and empathise with each other."

So, I guess we have found why this is outside your experience, Garbon and the Grumbles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/7931299/Humans-subconsciously-mimic-other-accents-psychologists-claim.html

[garbon]

Ever the stubborn mind.

Well, the alternative is to admit that he is wrong.

Which isn't possible for him.

[Razgovory]

My dad will be coming home today, minus one leg.  He's going to use a wheel chair for a while.