Are you from a desolate wasteland?

[patman post]

I was born near a desolate wasteland, High Wycombe.

There we are, then...

[T00ts]

In Cairrrdifff's Tiger Bay the locals think me a posh toff.

In Khodif (Cardiffs upper crust suburbs) I'm a valleys layabout.

In the valleys I am an Essex White Van Man and in Essex  I'm a lying thieving Welsh sheep shagger

The only place I think I have an accent is Picardy where when I rewire the babel fish and speak in tbe native language of my French Master.

Don't ask me to do that here, I need to be in a French speaking environment for the switch to throw.

That's really weird isn't it? I used to have to be in Spain 2/3 days before I can suddenly communicate with everyone. I can barely string a Spanish sentence together here. I remember being lost once in the car with husband and kids, and saw an old typical Spanish Senora sweeping her doorstep. Out I got and asked as best I could for directions. Well she launched into a 5 minute explanation none of which I could understand (Southern Spanish is a whole different dialect). I got back in the car with 3 sets of eyes looking expectantly at me and guided husband to our destination without a mistake. I have absolutely no idea how.

[johnofgwent]

In Cairrrdifff's Tiger Bay the locals think me a posh toff. 

In Khodif (Cardiffs upper crust suburbs) I'm a valleys layabout.

In the valleys I am an Essex White Van Man and in Essex  I'm a lying thieving Welsh sheep shagger

The only place I think I have an accent is Picardy where when I rewire the babel fish and speak in tbe native language of my French Master.

Don't ask me to do that here, I need to be in a French speaking environment for the switch to throw.

[patman post]

My mother refused to speak Spanish to me for fear that Dad would feel left out. When I was 11yrs we were in a lift in a dept store in London with a couple of foreigners who I just ignored until Mum launched into their conversation. You could have picked me up off the floor I was so shocked. It was only after that she started to talk about her family. Even later when I took Spanish 'O' level in one year she still wouldn't help. Interestingly the first time I was asked to read a paragraph of Spanish in class the teacher couldn't believe that I hadn't spoken it for years as I apparently had a natural accent. Must be in the genes !

It's strange, but the apparent ability to speak in different languages doesn't seem to happen because of any one cause.

For over a decade and into our late teens, my sister and I mixed with people who spoke Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and a number of other local languages and dialects. And all of us would frequently copy and lapse into whole phrases that weren't our mother tongues. I guess it's because of this that Sis and I never flinched at tackling other languages. We were also helped by having relatives that we often visited, who spoke mostly French.

I smoothed out my Guadeloupe French, but you'd probably shudder at my castellano venezolano...

[papasmurf]

I was born near a desolate wasteland, High Wycombe.

[Nick]

That's interesting. My daughter-in-law is Spanish and speaks to our grandson in Spanish. My son speaks to him in English. So at nearly 7 years old he can read and write both languages fluently, which has to give him a good start in life.

I am from Northamptonshire and have little discernible accent. My grandchildren in Dudley are picking up yamyam which I learned when there. Now living in Kent, many are DFLs so it sounds quite Londonish.

If you say grass to rhyme with ass you're a northerner.

That's called saying it correctly Barry, there's only 1 R in grass, not 2 like you lot think. 

[cromwell]

That's interesting. My daughter-in-law is Spanish and speaks to our grandson in Spanish. My son speaks to him in English. So at nearly 7 years old he can read and write both languages fluently, which has to give him a good start in life.

I am from Northamptonshire and have little discernible accent. My grandchildren in Dudley are picking up yamyam which I learned when there. Now living in Kent, many are DFLs so it sounds quite Londonish.

If you say grass to rhyme with ass you're a northerner.

Aye and it's a castle not carsle,there's no r in castle but there is in a***ole and I was going to say and there's none of them in castles,then I remembered big ears.

[T00ts]

That's interesting. My daughter-in-law is Spanish and speaks to our grandson in Spanish. My son speaks to him in English. So at nearly 7 years old he can read and write both languages fluently, which has to give him a good start in life.

I am from Northamptonshire and have little discernible accent. My grandchildren in Dudley are picking up yamyam which I learned when there. Now living in Kent, many are DFLs so it sounds quite Londonish.

If you say grass to rhyme with ass you're a northerner.

My mother refused to speak Spanish to me for fear that Dad would feel left out. When I was 11yrs we were in a lift in a dept store in London with a couple of foreigners who I just ignored until Mum launched into their conversation. You could have picked me up off the floor I was so shocked. It was only after that she started to talk about her family. Even later when I took Spanish 'O' level in one year she still wouldn't help. Interestingly the first time I was asked to read a paragraph of Spanish in class the teacher couldn't believe that I hadn't spoken it for years as I apparently had a natural accent. Must be in the genes ! 

[Barry]

My Dad was Cheshire and Mum Wales of Spanish parentage so bilingual although I didn't know that for years - it's a wonder that I spoke at all really! I remember Surrey Hills well.

That's interesting. My daughter-in-law is Spanish and speaks to our grandson in Spanish. My son speaks to him in English. So at nearly 7 years old he can read and write both languages fluently, which has to give him a good start in life.

I am from Northamptonshire and have little discernible accent. My grandchildren in Dudley are picking up yamyam which I learned when there. Now living in Kent, many are DFLs so it sounds quite Londonish.

If you say grass to rhyme with ass you're a northerner. 

[srb7677]

Well I have a definite Plymouthian accent which is very westcountry. It is a much mocked and derided accent but since I have never lived anywhere else it hasn't really held me back as such. Am sure it would if I lived outside the area though.

[cromwell]

I used to have a very strong Bowton accent but 4 1/2 years in the states and 18 in Southport has taken the edge of it. When I visit my mates I think OMG did I really used to talk like that, but by no means am I embarrassed. Ollie will tell you that before the invention of Merseyside and Greater Manchester we were Lancastrians, and proud ones at that.

Oh yes the county palatine of Lancashire and the toast the queen the duke of Lancaster.

yes I know it's big ears now. 

[T00ts]

Same as Toots , Sarf London though I do apparently go all Surrey Hills when out with the Mrs .

Funny thing though accents , my dad grew up in north Yorkshire moving to Battersea in his twenties . As far as I could make out he spoke pretty 'normal' till we visited Grandma when his voice changed back to the one of his youth .Me and the brothers didnt have a clue what anyone was saying

 My Dad was Cheshire and Mum Wales of Spanish parentage so bilingual although I didn't know that for years - it's a wonder that I spoke at all really! I remember Surrey Hills well.

[Streetwalker]

Same as Toots , Sarf London though I do apparently go all Surrey Hills when out with the Mrs . 

Funny thing though accents , my dad grew up in north Yorkshire moving to Battersea in his twenties . As far as I could make out he spoke pretty 'normal' till we visited Grandma when his voice changed back to the one of his youth .Me and the brothers didnt have a clue what anyone was saying 

[T00ts]

I have a South London accent but only when I am back there and talking to the locals. My kids were horrified when they first heard me slip into it. I guess the people I have mixed with since I became an adult have rubbed off but then I was mistaken for a New Yorker once when chatting to some Americans so perhaps I just absorb accents easily.  

[Nick]

One northern student was asked on their first day at university another was made to feel as uneducated and stupid for the same reason.

Are you embarrassed by your accent and why do people still think what's now the received or Kings English denotes intelligence?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/stockport-student-asked-are-you-25424715

I used to have a very strong Bowton accent but 4 1/2 years in the states and 18 in Southport has taken the edge of it. When I visit my mates I think OMG did I really used to talk like that, but by no means am I embarrassed. Ollie will tell you that before the invention of Merseyside and Greater Manchester we were Lancastrians, and proud ones at that.