Do you consider yourself Australian?

[emanyalpsid]

36 minutes ago, Dusty Plains said:

Maybe in sport.

sorry, kind of missed this bit!

[Dusty Plains]

18 minutes ago, emanyalpsid said:

The one with the rickety old wooden doors off Welford rd? I've fixed a pair of those before. The point was generally the english will cheer on the other home nations if not against england, whereas its not always the case with the smaller nations cheering on england/english people

Yes Welford Rd, or near there, I think, as it was a while ago. The Midlands Fire Brigade as it was called then. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Dusty Plains

[emanyalpsid]

What you think to that then @Jon the Hat get in!

[Marisawright]

On 11/05/2021 at 07:49, Red Rose said:

30 years ago I would have said Australia were, per capita, the best sporting nation on earth. .... Australia is not nearly as strong as they used to be. On that basis it is perfectly understandable for most PIO to support the UK, being one of the best and most successful sporting nation's on earth.

Although you only have to look at the posts on this thread to see that many don't.  

You are right, Australia used to be ridiculously successful when you considered what a tiny population we had.  It was due to most young Aussies growing up with an outdoor lifestyle (because there wasn't much other entertainment!)  and then major investment in the AIS.  

As Australia has developed, we've become less outdoors-y, and the AIS funding has been cut back drastically.  Whereas the UK has its excellent lottery which funds things like sport.

[Bulya]

3 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Although you only have to look at the posts on this thread to see that many don't.  

You are right, Australia used to be ridiculously successful when you considered what a tiny population we had.  It was due to most young Aussies growing up with an outdoor lifestyle (because there wasn't much other entertainment!)  and then major investment in the AIS.  

As Australia has developed, we've become less outdoors-y, and the AIS funding has been cut back drastically.  Whereas the UK has its excellent lottery which funds things like sport.

Massive reduction in funding for sport starting a decade or more back.  They’re taking about selling off half the AIS . 

[jimmyay1]

You can think of yourselves how you like. 

 

Fact is when you open your mouth most Aussies you don't know,  will think you're British and see you as a foreigner. 

 

I am a citizen now and have been for several years.  Can't believe i've lived her now nearly 10 years.  I definitely "think" more Australian about certain things and when i go back to the uk , certain things jar a bit and i roll my eyes. 

 

Kind of a hybrid now. !!  

[jimmyay1]

On 04/05/2021 at 17:05, Quoll said:

Happy, wife, son, own home, good career, likes to travel.  Once said "having lived in London why would you want to live in Australia, it's so boring".  Sad that my family will be forever separated but them's the breaks huh.

i liked all of those things, and lived in London for 15 years and really enjoyed it.   Not being from London though it amazed me the ignorance of people who think London is the UK and don't go anywhere else - their world is often restricted to zones 1 & 2 and they are as parochial in their own way as many queenslanders.  

  You do get past the London age though -  it's a hard city to live in with a pretty poor quality of life all round, congested and polluted and unless you are extremely wealthy  that's why  most people move on . 

[Bulya]

1 hour ago, jimmyay1 said:

You can think of yourselves how you like. 

 

Fact is when you open your mouth most Aussies you don't know,  will think you're British and see you as a foreigner. 

 

I am a citizen now and have been for several years.  Can't believe i've lived her now nearly 10 years.  I definitely "think" more Australian about certain things and when i go back to the uk , certain things jar a bit and i roll my eyes. 

 

Kind of a hybrid now. !!  

After 50+ years very few realise that I’m a pommy bastard.  

[NicF]

15 hours ago, Bulya said:

After 50+ years very few realise that I’m a pommy bastard.  

I met a lady a few years ago who had been in Australia about 30 years but still sounded like she had arrived from Doncaster yesterday.   She arrived as an adult so will probably never loose her accent.

[Marisawright]

7 minutes ago, NicF said:

I met a lady a few years ago who had been in Australia about 30 years but still sounded like she had arrived from Doncaster yesterday.   She arrived as an adult so will probably never loose her accent.

Lots of people lose their accent, even after arriving as an adult.  There are several factors involved.  Firstly, where you come from. I notice most Glaswegians never lose their accent, whereas I've met many people from Aberdeen and Edinburgh who have lost theirs.  Then there's a person's own sensitivity to sounds:  there are some people who have a knack for mimicry and they tend to pick up on the accents surrounding them, consciously or unconsciously.  

Also, even people who think they haven't lost their accent are surprised when they return to the UK and get told they sound like an Aussie.  The twang is catching.

[Toots]

Just now, Marisawright said:

Lots of people lose their accent, even after arriving as an adult.  There are several factors involved.  Firstly, where you come from. I notice most Glaswegians never lose their accent, whereas I've met many people from Aberdeen and Edinburgh who have lost theirs.  Then there's a person's own sensitivity to sounds:  there are some people who have a knack for mimicry and they tend to pick up on the accents surrounding them, consciously or unconsciously.  

Also, even people who think they haven't lost their accent are surprised when they return to the UK and get told they sound like an Aussie.  The twang is catching.

Yes, I suppose it depends which part of the UK you are from.  Undoubtedly the stronger the accent the harder it is to get rid of so to speak.  I'm from the south of Scotland and have a fairly "soft" accent   ...............  lots of people think I'm form the south of Ireland but I will never sound Australian as I came here as an adult.   Of course I've picked up a bit of the lingo e.g. feeling crook, she'll be right etc etc.  Some people from the south of England seem to adopt an Aussie accent fairly quickly.

[NicF]

4 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Lots of people lose their accent, even after arriving as an adult.  There are several factors involved.  Firstly, where you come from. I notice most Glaswegians never lose their accent, whereas I've met many people from Aberdeen and Edinburgh who have lost theirs.  Then there's a person's own sensitivity to sounds:  there are some people who have a knack for mimicry and they tend to pick up on the accents surrounding them, consciously or unconsciously.  

Also, even people who think they haven't lost their accent are surprised when they return to the UK and get told they sound like an Aussie.  The twang is catching.

Agreed, but if you haven't lost it after 30 years you probably never will.  Being from near Doncaster myself it was like being back at home when I spoke to her.  My accent is less pronounced so I probably do sound less British these days and was told last time in the UK that I sounded Australian.

[Marisawright]

4 hours ago, NicF said:

Agreed, but if you haven't lost it after 30 years you probably never will. 

I wasn't suggesting she would.  I'm just pointing out that the general statement, "people don't lose their accent if they migrate to Australia as an adult" isn't true. Some don't, but some do.

[newjez]

30 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I wasn't suggesting she would.  I'm just pointing out that the general statement, "people don't lose their accent if they migrate to Australia as an adult" isn't true. Some don't, but some do.

My kids say I sound Australian in Australia and English in England. 

[Jon the Hat]

On 15/05/2021 at 19:43, emanyalpsid said:

What you think to that then @Jon the Hat get in!

Glory days!!!  Fingers crossed Villa give Chelsea a spanking on Sunday!

[Ken]

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Glory days!!!  Fingers crossed Villa give Chelsea a spanking on Sunday!

Where are this site! Trump got banned from Twitter and Facebook and he didn't anything as bad as that!

[NicF]

21 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I wasn't suggesting she would.  I'm just pointing out that the general statement, "people don't lose their accent if they migrate to Australia as an adult" isn't true. Some don't, but some do.

Except I didn't say that they did.  When I said that 'she had moved as an adult so will probably never lose it' I didn't mean that to mean that all people that move as adults will not lose their accents, simply that she moved as an adult and had not lost her accent after 30 years so never will.  

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by NicF

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, NicF said:

Except I didn't say that they did.  When I said that 'she had moved as an adult so will probably never lose it' I didn't mean that to mean that all people that move as adults will not lose their accents, simply that she moved as an adult and had not lost her accent after 30 years so never will.  

 

Sorry, I read more into your statement than you intended. I thought it was so very obvious that of course she wouldn't lose it, that you had to mean something more by it.

[ali]

On 21/05/2021 at 09:27, NicF said:

I met a lady a few years ago who had been in Australia about 30 years but still sounded like she had arrived from Doncaster yesterday.   She arrived as an adult so will probably never loose her accent.

I think accents (particularly for children change), I don't think it's a matter of trying to fit in, just that they seem to have an 'ear' to the tone and adjust.  My son's girlfriend has been here years and sounds Australian .. until she's with her family and then she's Scouse.  My colleague at work could tell on a Monday if i'd have a long conversation with my dad on the phone over the weekend because my accent would be broader.

[Marisawright]

10 minutes ago, ali said:

I think accents (particularly for children change), I don't think it's a matter of trying to fit in, just that they seem to have an 'ear' to the tone and adjust.  My son's girlfriend has been here years and sounds Australian .. until she's with her family and then she's Scouse.  My colleague at work could tell on a Monday if i'd have a long conversation with my dad on the phone over the weekend because my accent would be broader.

Me too.  I know I have a good ear for accents because I'm very good at foreign accents - to the point that I've often been mistaken by French people as being French.  Of course that's always on the basis of a few words of greeting or a question, and then my terrible grammar and limited vocabulary give me away!    I think that "ear" is why I'm inclined to pick up on the accents around me and I adjust without realising it.  

Edited June 5, 2021 by Marisawright

[jonathancowen]

On 01/05/2021 at 19:33, Red Rose said:

To those Brits with Australian citizenship, do you consider yourself: Australian; British / Australian; or British (with an Australian passport)?

I have a lot of Australian friends with British passports, but none of them refer to themselves as British, whereas I get the feeling that pomsinoz are more likely to refer to themselves as Australian. 

Hi, I'm getting my citizenship next month, I'm only doing it because the 'permenant' residency only lasts 5 years and I'm fed up of paying for it and doing the firm's every 5 years. Citizenship to me is a cheaper option, nothing more. I am English, living in Australia temporarily and waiting to go home, always will be I think. I am glad that some people can move here and settle straight in, but for me it's not that easy. But life goes on. 

[Marisawright]

37 minutes ago, jonathancowen said:

Hi, I'm getting my citizenship next month, I'm only doing it because the 'permenant' residency only lasts 5 years ... Citizenship to me is a cheaper option, nothing more. I am English, living in Australia temporarily and waiting to go home, always will be I think.

I did the same.  I have never understood people who say, "Oh, I could never get Australian citizenship, I'd be betraying my British origins".  All you're doing is agreeing to do the right thing by the country where you've made your home.  Millions of people have dual citizenship.

Having said that, when I migrated, you could get citizenship after only 2 years.  I didn't feel Aussie at the time, but I did like living in Australia and it didn't take me long, once I'd moved to Sydney, to start feeling like an Aussie. 

I do think I"m in the minority, though. I firmly believe that it's normal for people to have a deep attachment to their homeland, and to feel strangely disconnected and adrift when they try to live permanently in another country.   After all, the majority of the world's population never even consider moving to another country!  So I think those of us who can genuinely move countries without a backward glance are the oddities.

Of course, Australia is full of happily settled oddities, so when someone arrives who can't shake the pull of home, they are made to feel they're the strange ones .  Whereas I do think they're probably the normal ones.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Marisawright

[HappyHeart]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I did the same.  I have never understood people who say, "Oh, I could never get Australian citizenship, I'd be betraying my British origins".  All you're doing is agreeing to do the right thing by the country where you've made your home.  Millions of people have dual citizenship.

Having said that, when I migrated, you could get citizenship after only 2 years.  I didn't feel Aussie at the time, but I did like living in Australia and it didn't take me long, once I'd moved to Sydney, to start feeling like an Aussie. 

I do think I"m in the minority, though. I firmly believe that it's normal for people to have a deep attachment to their homeland, and to feel strangely disconnected and adrift when they try to live permanently in another country.   After all, the majority of the world's population never even consider moving to another country!  So I think those of us who can genuinely move countries without a backward glance are the oddities.

Of course, Australia is full of happily settled oddities, so when someone arrives who can't shake the pull of home, they are made to feel they're the strange ones .  Whereas I do think they're probably the normal ones.

I think there are more complex factors at play as to whether one settles and feels ‘at home’. Hand on heart I feel fully settled and also connected to Australia. There’s a sense of this is a country built on immigration, some have just been here a bit longer. We’re no different to them. The true blue folks. We’ve all come here and contributed to the ongoing prosperity, growth and development of the country. The real Australians (if we want to use that terminology) are  still marginalised  in this new immigrant led version of Australia.

I really like the lyrics of that song, I am, you are, we are Australian. Corny as it is. I feel as at home here as I did in the UK. 
Does that make me an oddity?! Happy to wear the cap if it fits! 

[ramot]

I think some of the first generation to arrive here out of the people I know definitely feel Australian, but are realistic that their roots aren’t here. However the next generation born here from the experience of my family and that of many friends definitely feel Australian as this is where their roots are, born here gone to school and made long term friends growing up here so it’s home.

[ramot]

4 minutes ago, HappyHeart said:

I think there are more complex factors at play as to whether one settles and feels ‘at home’. Hand on heart I feel fully settled and also connected to Australia. There’s a sense of this is a country built on immigration, some have just been here a bit longer. We’re no different to them. The true blue folks. We’ve all come here and contributed to the ongoing prosperity, growth and development of the country. The real Australians (if we want to use that terminology) are  still marginalised  in this new immigrant led version of Australia.

I really like the lyrics of that song, I am, you are, we are Australian. Corny as it is. I feel as at home here as I did in the UK. 
Does that make me an oddity?! Happy to wear the cap if it fits! 

I agree