Originally Posted by Tobias

in any case, I'd kill for an Irish accent...but I dunno if you can simply change your accent...would it be as simple as living in that area for a period of time, or what?

Originally Posted by shiseido_red

Pretty much your accent is determined by the earlier years of your life when you're brain is still developing. So if you're, say, 21 years old and move to Ireland I doubt you'd take on an Irish accent.

Originally Posted by xxawwxsugarxx

No I'm pretty sure it's possible.

I think my dad was older than twenty-one when he went to North Carolina.

Originally Posted by shiseido_red

It probably depends on the person. I have a friend who spent the first 15 years of her life in America. Now, she's been in Australia for 15 years but she still has the American accent.

Originally Posted by shiseido_red

Pretty much your accent is determined by the earlier years of your life when you're brain is still developing. So if you're, say, 21 years old and move to Ireland I doubt you'd take on an Irish accent.

Originally Posted by Janszoon

It probably depends a bit on how old you are when you move there too. It seems like the younger a person is the more fully they pick up an accent of a place they move to.

Originally Posted by xxawwxsugarxx

I'm pretty sure it's subconscious, though.

I don't think you can go somewhere and simply get the accent.

It's more that one spends so much time around people with a certain accent, that they speak like them because it's easier to converse.

Just like when a friend or someone you know well says something all of the time and you just adopt it because you spend so much time around them.

Like, everyone at my school says, "That's legit," when something makes sense.

Although I SAID IT BEFORE ANYONE AT MY SCHOOL and they all stole it.

Rawr.

But yeah.

>.>

Originally Posted by xxawwxsugarxx

No I'm pretty sure it's possible.

I think my dad was older than twenty-one when he went to North Carolina.

Originally Posted by shiseido_red

Pretty much your accent is determined by the earlier years of your life when you're brain is still developing. So if you're, say, 21 years old and move to Ireland I doubt you'd take on an Irish accent.

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

My (American born) friend lived in Germany for 2 1/2 years when he was in his early twenties and came back with a strong German accent. It took him about 6 months to lose it, and he went a second time for a shorter stint. He came back with the same accent.

Believe me, age isn't an issue to develop an accent. It's definitely your surroundings.

Originally Posted by Tobias

in any case, I'd kill for an Irish accent...but I dunno if you can simply change your accent...would it be as simple as living in that area for a period of time, or what?