# At what age does an accent become permanent?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 30, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799 "2011-07-30T01:56:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799/81 "2017-05-25T04:18:27Z")

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I’ve known Japanese who lived in various places for a while and picked up their accents. One guy had quite the twang. It was funny listening to him.

My 6-year-old son is worse at learning English pronunciation than my 8-year old daughter is. She’s always had a better ear.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799/82 "2017-05-25T04:30:11Z")

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My daughter has a friend who moved to California from London when she was 6 & her sister was 8. They are now 13 & 15 and have no detectible British accent, but both parents kept their accents.

When identifying a specific age for losing/keeping an accent, I wonder how much difference it makes when the kid first starts speaking. My kids started talking around 1-2, but I have a nephew that didn’t start talking after 4.

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799/83 "2017-05-25T04:56:12Z")

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I grew up in Massachusetts. Age 9, I moved back to Arkansas with a strong accent. My New England accent disappeared within a couple years.

I remember being teased for my accent at school. Losing my accent was a priority.

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**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-an-accent-become-permanent/590799/84 "2017-05-25T05:28:11Z")

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I was born and raised in Brooklyn until age 6. At that time, I had a pretty heavy Brooklyn accent IE I’d pronounce God as Gawd and other such words. At 6, my family moved to a small town in Middle NJ and I was also sent to speech therapy as I had a speech impediment and during the course of the therapy, I lost a large chunk of my accent. My accent became a weird mix of “proper” American English and NY accent which other kids said sounded "British’ and for which I was mocked. So my accent became less and less pronounced. My family moved back to Brooklyn in 2002 and have remained so since. As I’ve gotten older I’ve made a conscious effort to reclaim my original accent. Some words and phrasings never left me. For example, I say “clicka” instead of “remote”; I say “rad-e-ate-er” instead of radiator. I say fus-trated instead of frustrated. I say “whatchmacallit” and refer to my mother as “Ma” and always have. But it’s been an effort reclaiming my original voice.

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