Turning Australian

It's been over a year, and I still sound like a yank. This isn't particularly surprising to me. I never picked up any Boston overtones besides "wicked", and after 6 years, I still couldn't put on a good Boston accent. Even here, being immersed, I can't put on a good Aussie accent, it always sounds British.

I called a friend from Cairns yesterday, and the first thing out of her mouth was "You sound so American." I think after several months of not hearing me talk, she had forgotten that I don't sound like her.

The thing is, slowly, I know I am picking things up. There are new vocabulary words: I put "reckon" into my vocabulary on purpose. But I say things like "cheers", I call "stores" "shops" and I describe them as "shut" when they're "closed" without even thinking about it. There are particular colloquialisms like adding "hey" to the end of questions.

Yesterday, I realized there's another form of Australian influence in my speech: new words are inherently Aussie. Recently, I learned the word "imprimatur," which in Aussie is pronounce im-prim-ah-tah. It was only pointed out to me by another American that it's actually (in the states) pronounced im-prim-ah-ter. Awesome. Good thing I arrived in Australia with a huge American vocabulary.