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Teaching kids different accents
Filed under: Development/Milestones: Babies
Irene Nam has recently been talking about the
challenges of raising children to be multilingual. I'm actually facing a similar, yet different, challenge --
that of teaching a child a particular accent.You see, even though ever member of our family was born in a different country, we all speak English. Yet, my British husband, Marcus, speaks with a distinctly English accent. I speak with a hybrid Trinidadian/American accent, and Alex ... well, she's only two. Still, judging from the words she uses and the pronunciations she favours, it's clear that her accent is developing into a considerably Trini one.
Marcus and I were talking the other day, and I remarked at how much he gets away with by having an English accent. He gets better service in restaurants, people fall over themselves to help him in hotels -- heck, he even talked his way out of a speeding ticket once in Texas, just because the cop "loved the way he spoke." He just gets the benefit of the doubt, merely because of the way he speaks. Me? I get no special treatment. None.
So, we were thinking -- perhaps, while Alex is young, we should train her to speak with an English accent. I mean, they're such little sponges at this age, and since her father is English, it's not out of the realm of possibility that she could learn to speak with the accent convincingly. And this way, if we ever move back to the UK, she'll already blend in -- and if we don't, well, she'll have an advantage over her peers because of the way she speaks.
Thing is, I've never actually heard of someone trying to do this before. I assume if we speak to her in an English accent all the time, we have a good shot. And I think there are a couple of children in Alex's school who are British, so that will help. But, since you guys were so helpful with Irene's predicament, I'm hoping someone out there has tried this with their own children -- is there anything else we should do?
(P.S. -- Happy April Fool's Day!)
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-01-2006 @ 12:35PM
Mir said...I recommend feeding her nothing but fish and chips, and filling her sippy cups with nothing but English Breakfast.
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4-01-2006 @ 1:11PM
Tara said...The British accent "special treatment" is so true! It seems, in America if you have a British accent you automatically hold authority and everything you say is more convincing. Strange, but true.
My in-laws are from the UK and my husband was born there, but he came to the states w/ his family in his early teens, hence, lost the British accent. My point being, he lived at home in CA during highschool, then moved away from his parents for college. BUT all he heard at home was a British accent, from his parents. He spoke with a true british accent until he was 12! (b/c he grew up in England) His accent as an adolecsent came from his peers, not his home. I bet Alex will have a hint of British accent, but I don't think she will hold onto it, unless you move to the UK. That doesn't mean she can't force herself to sound British when she gets older. My husband can still sound British to me if I ask him to. But the Brits pick up on his American accent very quickly. So it's only "British" to the untrained ear. His natural adult accent is as American as they come.
Yeah, so...good luck with that.
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4-01-2006 @ 2:18PM
MamaChristy said...I don't know why you are so surprised that people fall all over themselves because of your darling husband's British accent. It worked on you, didn't it? :)
Mir has a great idea, BTW. Lot's of bland British food should help with the accent.
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4-01-2006 @ 4:17PM
Nancy Toby said...If you're asking for directions in the south, it's always convenient to have that "Dukes of Hazzard" southern drawl to trot out iffen you need it.
But be sure not to use it in New York City. They'll take your wallet then.
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4-01-2006 @ 4:18PM
Kim said...I know you're just yanking our chair (right?) but I have pondered something along these lines. My husband is also English (and yes, he could read me the phone book). His sister was horrified that her nephew is going to talk like an American. I reminded her Pittsburgh isn't Texas and she calmed down. And sent us Harry Potter on CD, read by Stephen Fry.
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4-01-2006 @ 5:30PM
Brenda said...I was recently at a party with my husband and a bunch of people he went t highschool with and one of them had an english accent. I wasn't going to ask but someone else said "Its so weird to hear you with an accent now"
It turns out that her parents forced her to speak "proper" (ie British) english at home, and even though she tried not to use it at school it stuck. As an adult she only uses her British accent. Now to my ears her accent is a little flat, however I am used to my step father's (and his family's) rather low class Welsh accent, so I may be misjudging her accent.
So while I can't really tell you how it was done, apparently it can work. Besides what's the wrst that can happen? Attention to proper diction can only be a good thing. Mine keeps getting worse since I moved to a part of town that has awful grammer and mush mouth.
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4-01-2006 @ 5:46PM
Bonnie said...If it makes you all feel better, besides the Native English Speakers of the world, no one else can tell the difference between and American or an English accent. Not to mention that whenever I hear a Spainard immitate an American it's always with a slightly southern accent. Whats that about?
If you think that's funny, how many of you can tell the difference between an English and an Australian accent? I can usually differentiate between the two because I've know loads of Aussies and Brits, but I've insulted many a Canadian by asking them where in the States they were from. Unless they start throwing in a lot of 'eh's' that is.
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4-01-2006 @ 9:01PM
Sheena said...I dunno... I mean, I think it's cool if you want your daughter to speak British English because of cultural connections... But as a way to get favored treatment? That's kinda B.S. to me. I mean, to me, in some stretch, it's kinda like being able to choose our skin color if we could so that our kids could be treated a certain way. I don't like the idea of doing it for some sort of contrived "status".
Besides, with the way globalization is headed, I don't think many countries are rushing to have their citizens learn British over American. Isn't the reverse true?
Finally, I don't know what generation some of the other commenters are from. I imagine they're older than me (I was born in the late 70's). But I seriously don't think most of us born towards the end of generation X think British English is that great. I noticed that at my old job, my supervisor (who was the age of my parents, not to mention, from the former Soviet Union) thought that British English was much more authoritative (it was relevant to a project we were working on). When I spoke to my co-workers of the same age as me, we just didn't care for it all that much.
Basically, do whatever makes you happy - exposing Alex to both American and British, I'm sure she'll be able to code-switch with ease. But to do it cuz you think she'll have some sort of advantage over her peers? I don't see that in American society as some sort of general rule. I think times are changing. Think of future trends. And I suppose if you plan to one day reside in the U.K., then it'll come in handy. But the U.S. or Canada? I personally doubt it...
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4-02-2006 @ 11:42AM
Nancy said...Karen, I love this post because I never thought about this aspect of having an accent before... we have a 2.5 year old daughter and it never occurred to me that she might pick up - or maybe we could teach her to pick up - my husband's accent (Scottish). My in-laws were just over from the UK and the differences I noticed in relation to our daughter was how Grandma was teaching her how to sing little songs, some of the same songs as we sing over here, but with slightly different wording. And, of course, the obvious "nappies" and "pram" words, etc. - although those have crept into mainstream speak over here, too.
I don't think our daughter speaks with any accent, but it would be cute if she did!
It's funny, because since I've been with my husband for some time, I no longer (well, rarely) hear his accent, while others do. If I ask him, he can pour the Scottish brogue on, but since he spent many years in London attending school and working, his accent is much softer and more English-sounding.
I don't think it's a "generation thing" like Sheena hypothesizes. I've found the exact opposite in experiences with my husband and people who like his accent - the younger Gen-X'ers he encounters adore his accent. People here in the US have been traveling abroad for generations now, nothing new there. I think it's more an individual thing... some people like to comment on differences in accents while others either don't care, or don't want to seem like they notice, or care. Not a big deal either way. To embrace or admire little differences in speech, though, is a perfectly fine thing, and can be a gateway to some great interactions and conversations.
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