How long do you have to live in Australia to pick up the accent?
If your going to say it depends on the age, i'm 19. Also, I don't mean the hardcore accent either, not like the Crocodile hunter's...a more soft-core accent. :) Thanks!
Other - Australia - 13 Answers
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1 :
Ive been in Australia for 14 years and Ive never really realised with had an accent lol but I think a few years and by listening to aussies talk then you'll pick it up
2 :
Hardly anyone from overseas ever gets an Australian accent unless they come here as kids - 19 is probably a bit old. Over the years, your existing accent will change so that people from your own country will notice it, but it won't be an Australian accent. I know Americans, Canadians and people from all parts of the UK that have been here for 30+ years and still don't have our accent and I can't think of anyone who came as an adult who sounds like an Aussie, regardless of where they came from.
3 :
you never will have one that will fool a Aussie
4 :
My mother still sounds as Scottish as she did when she arrived here almost fifty years ago.
5 :
It depends on your age i think; im from downunder and spent almost two years in the US and Canada and came home and everyone was like omg you have an accent; even thou it was only with particular words. So yeah i reckon within a year you would start to pick up on things; if you talk to a lot of aussies etc.
6 :
We don't have an accent....Do we?? I have a lot of English friends and when they go back home to visit, their families all tell them they have an Aussie accent, but i still think they have an English one!! FYI No one but the crocodile hunter had that accent!!
7 :
my mum move to australia when she was in her 30's and has been living here now for about 15 or so years. everyone here (australia) says she still has an american accent but when we go back to amercia they all say she has an australian accent. so i reckon it really depends where you will be and who will notice it. also i think wha you meant to say was crocodile dundee not the crocodile hunter/steve irwin. hope i helped =P
8 :
I think you're too old to develop an Aussie accent. You would have need to have moved here when you were a small child. My grandparents moved here when they were in their early 20s....they have been living in Australia for 50 years and still have their british accents. A friend of mine is American. She is 22. She moved here with her parents when she was a baby. Her parents still have an American accent (a stong one too!) but my friend sounds totally Aussie - you cant even tell that she's American. I thought she was an Aussie when I first met her! Anyway - I think its too late for you to develop an Australian accent. Our accent is really hard to imitate too...
9 :
If you are over the age of 10 forget about getting an Australian accent.The younger you are the more easy it is to pick up an accent.
10 :
I don't think you will lose you accent but you might pick up a few words or sounds in a year. As people have pointed out the "locals"will always pick up the foreign sounding bit, while back in your home you will find people commenting on words etc that you sound like an aussie. I find that you drop back into your old accent pretty quickly when you are back on home soil or talking with others from where you are from. I changed my kiwi accent a bit when I lived in the UK ( as a teacher) as I was constantly hassled by the kids about not understanding me or laughing, commenting etc and I made an effort to speak with a more plummby accent. When I visted home for a while my mother told me I spoke with a more clipped accent (and I thought I had dropped it all!!) however depsite how hard I tried to fit in, in the UK and speak more british I was always identified by my accent as a kiwi or foreigner. The younger you are the more quickly you pick up the accent but even long term immigrants can soften their own accent over many years.
11 :
Your whole life. And no one talks like Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan.
12 :
lt depends.....on wether you want to lose your own accent.. Some accents never waver. l once worked with a Scottish lady who had been living here for twenty years and she was as broad as. But the yank accent....l think they would pick up the Aussie lingo and accent ...fairly quick.
13 :
You have to be here from just about the time you start talking, or very soon after. I know an American who moved here in his early 20's. He is now 62 years old and he still has one of strongest American accents I have herd!! He only goes back to America for two weeks each year too!
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