Why is that Arnold schwarzenegger still maintains his thick Austrian-German accent inspite of living in the USA for over four decades and his having an American wife? Why is that Heidi Klum has lost her German accent and speaks near perfect American English?
Is it a generational thing?
First, Heidi Klum’s accent is very noticeable.
Also, Klum was 19 or 20 when she moved to the United States (she was born in 1973 and moved here in 1993) and probably knew quite a lot of English at the time. Schwarzenegger was a little older (21) and spoke very little English when he moved here.
Klum’s accent has reduced substantially over the last couple years. It is likely she has taken diction lessons to help her in pursuing her acting career. This would be more likely necessary for the roles she has pursued than those Schwarzenegger has pursued.
prof. Ali says:
it’s his trademark, he can’t loose the accent!
February 28, 2010, 2:13 pmReferences :
wakeupwarren1213 says:
it has changed a lot but never will go away. if you learn something like a language in one way its near impossible to change the small things in it
February 28, 2010, 2:51 pmReferences :
poopymiles says:
Cause he’s AHHHNNUULLDD! Duh…
February 28, 2010, 3:26 pmReferences :
arcanum70 says:
It’s not a German accent, it is an Austrian accent.
One doesn’t lose an accent that they have had all their life just by moving somewhere else. Just as you don’t pick up an accent just by moving somewhere else.
Our vocal patterns are set when we are children. Mr. Schwarzenegger moved to the United States when he was an adult and his vocal patterns were already set.
February 28, 2010, 4:09 pmReferences :
I Love Howie Carr says:
I think he’s from Austria.
February 28, 2010, 4:25 pmReferences :
quinninabubble says:
It’s part of his celebrity identity. Without the accent he’s lost part of what is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And anyone who says that your accent doesn’t change by moving clearly hasn’t made that sort of move themselves. When my 25-year-old cousin moved to New Zealand for a year she came back with a slight New Zealand inflection in her voice. After being back in the US for a couple of months it withered and died. And my father who lived in Washington DC for his whole life and didn’t have a lick of a southern accent now says "Aah" instead of "I" and so forth and so on since he’s lived in rural NC for about six years or so. One’s childhood accent will never change completely (a fellow 23-year-old classmate of mine moved here from Russia when he was 12 and didn’t know a word of English and still has a slightly different inflection to his h’s) but if you’re around a certain accent or language for a long enough period of time it changes the way you speak. Some more than others depending on how much you consiously do or don’t let it.
February 28, 2010, 4:56 pmReferences :
Old Mister Happy says:
That is something picked up during ones formative years, by age eight, many things are SET and will not be changed. He probably could have modified his speech had he wanted to, but he made $million$ sounding like ARNOLD. Why would anyone want to change. He’s rich, married into the Kennedy’s, very popular, made many movies, and was even elected Governor. Can you say as much about yourself, or your future?
February 28, 2010, 5:23 pmReferences :
rhsaunders says:
It is very difficult to lose an accent; careful study is required. Accents can be remarkably efficient indicators of a person’s origin; even different boroughs in New York City have their own accents.
February 28, 2010, 5:58 pmReferences :
Terry A. says:
First, Heidi Klum’s accent is very noticeable.
Also, Klum was 19 or 20 when she moved to the United States (she was born in 1973 and moved here in 1993) and probably knew quite a lot of English at the time. Schwarzenegger was a little older (21) and spoke very little English when he moved here.
Klum’s accent has reduced substantially over the last couple years. It is likely she has taken diction lessons to help her in pursuing her acting career. This would be more likely necessary for the roles she has pursued than those Schwarzenegger has pursued.
February 28, 2010, 6:06 pmReferences :
carrie says:
My aunt came here to the USA in 1934 from Ireland and she still has her accent and as for Heidi..i think i can still hear a trace of accent.
February 28, 2010, 6:28 pmReferences :
Haveitlookedat says:
It’s all about how much a person wants/needs to blend in. Heidi went into modeling where she was dealing with catty people who would shred you to pieces over the smallest things. Subconsciously she had to blend in more and ended up losing her accent. Arnold came into a society that merely focused on your muscles, and which he dominated. He didn’t need to blend in as much. It really depends on the clique you assimilate into. High school, college and other societies that are dominated by younger more superficial people will result in people losing their accents.
It also has something to do with how young a person is when they migrate to another country. The younger you are the harder you will try to fit in and there goes your accent. The older you are the less focused you are on impressing others hence you accent doesn’t change much.
February 28, 2010, 6:38 pmReferences :
I lost my accent after three years in college, cause I needed to blend in with the college clique.
Vera Gabriele says:
I don’t know. Arnold Schwarzenegger has retained his Austrian accent
.I have been speaking English and exclusively been speaking English for the past 20 years.. and apart from that have been living in the Netherlands for 7 years and only spoken English there and am now living in Canada.. I am married to an Englishman. We met in Germany in the autumn of 1985 and got married in the spring of 1988 and I speak fluent English inasmuch as that I don’t falter with my English and I don’t need to think of German words first.. i think in English.. and I know all the vocabulary.. i write in English and I read exclusively English books and watch English TV only.. but I still retain my German accent… I guess some do and some don’t… it’s not that easy to lose an accent.. I have come to accept this as a part of who I am.. I don’t mind. People understand me. When i go to Britain and people ask me ”where are you from ” I say ” from Canada” LOL, then they tell me ”you don’t sound Canadian but they often guess I am from the Ukraine or Polish or Russian.. also because I don’t look the way.. some people perceive the ”typical German to look like” blonde and taller with blue eyes… I am 5ft4 dark hair, brown eyes and somewhat prominent cheekbones…so i look more the Slavic type to some…
I have never heard Heidi Klum speak but Claudia Schiffer moved to England and her husband is British I know that she still speaks English with a slight German accent.. she was a model also.. She used to be a top model before Heidi came along.. she is a bit older. I believe that Claudia Schiffer rather than speaking with a German accent speaks without an accent.. she doesn’t sound American nor English .. that is also a sign that a persons first language is not English if they have no accent… or hardly any…
Actually Claudia Schiffer is doing pretty well speaking English .. the German accent is definitely not as pronounced as Arnold’s Austrian accent.. but Claudia Schiffer.. a German top model for many years.. before Heidi was discovered.. became a model at age 16.. so she must have travelled a lot.. and been around other models who speak all kinds of languages.. I believe her English is definitely acceptable.. there may be a trace of a German accent in it.. but not too much…The young lady in red is Claudia.. the Greek interviewer has some trouble speaking English…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q_2SXCkfKg
and this is what us common Germans sound like when speaking English,.
February 28, 2010, 7:08 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDKmrRq6PUs&feature=related
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Travis says:
Well, he moved here at 21, and spoke little English even then. So I’m guessing that 40 years just wasn’t enough for him to convert… I’ll admit, it is a little odd, but considering the fact that it’s entirely likely that he was encouraged to speak like that during movies like terminator, he probably just hasn’t lost it because he hasn’t tried to…
February 28, 2010, 7:58 pmReferences :