So a friend, who happens to be trilingual, told me that one of her professors said that people who are multi-lingual tend to shift accents when they are around people with different accents.

People with a "gift" for languages tend to be able to pick up the language by hearing it, and not just by studying it in writing - so....they pick up dialects as easily as they picked up the root language.

My native dialect is South-East England English. I moved to Australia and speak with a noticeable Australian accent, I understand. When I used to visit my parents in England, I quickly fell into the local dialect - more to stop people asking me from which part of Australia I came from

In Arabic, I can mimic inhabitants of several Syrian cities, as well as different suburbs of Beirut - I am sound-perfect, I am told, if not word perfect Arabic is the worst for the trait you describe as I learnt it entirely from hearing it.

In French, I can switch from terrible English accent to a Lebanese French accent, but I have to think about it.

It all comes down to how you absorb the language - if it is by hearing it, you store away the accent of the speakers - when the speaker's accent changes, so will yours.


Druid
The Old Man of Oz

Object of Desire (retired)

The People's Front For Wongy Jnr.

"I blame Alric"

That's my little puppy!