subject: Accent On The Right Syllable [print this page] Where are you from? A farm up in Idaho, a flat in London, a lake side property in South Carolina? Where you are from plays a great deal on what you are like, how you think, and shockingly (not) how you speak.
It is fascinating to find out the local dialect of every town you go to. Finding out whether people say "soda" or "pop" is a curious one, or finding out how the locals pronounce "bag" can produce some funny results. But when it comes to finding a place to live, noticing little details like that can make a huge difference.
There are many accents that are made fun of or are being eliminated by speech tutors and coaches, in great deal because while accents are fun and cause diversity, they can also make it difficult for people to understand each other. There are so many cool ways to pronounce the word "cat," but the wrong accent in the wrong area makes "cat" become "cot" or "can't" or "coot" and while some of that can be eliminated due to context of the discussion, it does not solve all the potential problems.
When choosing a place to live, consider the sound around you because the accent of the locals is not going to change. If an accent bugs you really bad, it may be better to look at another location to live in. If an accent is hard to understand, a month or so may make it easier, but that isn't guaranteed. And if you have children, even though they are your children, statistically, they will speak with an accent that is most acceptable to their peers; sometimes they will keep your accent, but more often, they will take on the speech patterns of their peers.
As cool as it is to live in a lot of places and experience life to the fullest, there are some little things that need to be considered when the time comes to settle down and stay in one place. For some people, that may never happen, and a lake side property in South Carolina will simply be a vacation home and the rest of their time will be spent in hotels an airplanes going around the world. But if you are at a "settle down" point in your life, take stock of the environment you are moving into, because it will become your whole life.
