just wondering

[LuvsColdPlay]

how long would it take for an american to get a british accent?

[Wispy68]

I think it may vary from person to person, as two of my aunts, both with Southern English accents, emigrated to Australia (one to Perth, the other to Sydney) in the early '70s. The Perth aunt sounds no different to the day she left, but the Sydney aunt has had a strong local accent since around 1980!

[darth vader]

My brother met his partner shortly after she arrived back from the USA - she was born a yorkshire girl with yorkshire accent, lived in the USA for 4 years and developed an american accent whilst out there. 3 years of living in this country she still has the american accent though the yorkshire accent is starting to come back. Does this help?

[andy hughes]

One of my closest friends is a New Yorker, married to an English guy, and living in London with their two children. This is her second spell of living here, and after a combined total of over five years, she's as 'Noo Yawk' now as the day she arrived - not a trace of a dent in her accent. We speak on the phone two or three times a week, and I find my speech speeds up to match hers, and I start using some of her speech idioms, so if I moved to the U.S. I'd loose my British accent in about three days!