Has your accent changed after starting uni?

I've got a friend who is from Aberdeen but has spent most of her life living in Saudi and the Netherlands, which has inexplicably resulted in a West Country twang. I haven't the heart to tell her as she's convinced she actually sounds Scottish... but she really doesn't!

Well, different languages have different phonemes (e.g. the French T is pronounced further forward in the mouth than in English, i.e. it's dental rather than alveolar), and these are things that are best picked up in youth -- otherwise you generally find it hard to change your mouth's natural way of articulating, or at least you tend to revert to it when you aren't consciously trying not to. Of course, you can get a more natural accent, but it usually requires a lot of effort and specific training, rather than being something you can just pick up like accents of the same language.

Besides, you don't want to get rid of that sexy French accent anyway.

Your accent wont change by studying 3 years at uni at the age of 18 and above, accents establish themselves from a young age.

I'm hopefully going to Bath uni. Praying I end up with a west country tinge.

My accent has gone a lot 'posher' since coming here. I dont live in 'baf' anymore, i live in 'barth'.
I was a bit brummy at home, then went slightly welsh in my first few weeks in Cardiff, before it settled down into quite a plain accent. everyone thought i was south coast, home counties.
Then Bath sent me a lot posher sounding, but Ive now got a boyfriend from shropshire. He doesnt have much of an accent but ive noticed my original accent is coming through a lot more ans im losing the posh edge id developed. probably all the travelling to shropshire.

When i speak to my bham friends, we go really brummy. We went on holiday last year - none of us have brummy accents now - and by the flight home you'd think we were from the black country!

So no west country at all?

p.s. please don't ruin my hopes and dreams.

I moved from Cardiff to Bath for university and it send me from a fairly neutral (but distinctively Cardiff accent) to a very posh accent. I did hang around with a lot of locals but the majority of students were very middle class and so I just picked it up from them.

Sorry to bring it to you But you never know! Buy a tractor... it could make it easier for you

Nooo

Ah well, might not be bad to pick up a posher accent. Right now I have a weird mix of two because I hang out with a group of posh kids and train with a bunch of guys from local estates.

Seriously though, I'm mortified about the lack of west country accents going on in Bath.

yes i have become David Cameroon

I'm not at uni yet but during the last year of 6th form my accent has become quite rah. It's quite funny really, originally I'm from West Yorkshire, but I've lived in Cheshire since 1999. My mum has quite an evident Yorkshire accent, my dad not so much.

It will be interesting to see how it develops further at university, I'd imagine my accent will become even more rah as a meet new people. They certainly are not fixed, to lesser or greater extents

I spent a week in America in February and by the end of it I was starting to sound American saying things like "buddy" or "man". I'd love a US accent.