She'd been watching a program where german immigrants to Canada who had lost most of their accent in their middle years slowly regained it as they hit their older years.

I knew a German guy who was the chair of the German language department of a prominent US college. He'd had most of his education in England. When he was calm, he spoke perfect colloquial English with a generic "educated American" accent. If he got excited, he developed a British accent. When he got more excited, he developed a German accent. It was fascinating. We'd go to his house hoping his kids would misbehave so we could watch the regression.

Peter.