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Differences between Canadian English and American English?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by edy, Oct 2, 2015.

  1. edy

    edy
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    Honestly, I can't tell the difference between the two :confused:

    I think singer Avril Lavigne pronounces the letter T differently. Like in the song "Girlfriend". She sings: "I can do it beTTer" instead of "be-dder"
     
  2. Some Dude

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    Too many U's in Canada, same goes for England
     
  3. edy

    edy
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    could you give me an example, please?
     
  4. candyjiru

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    The spelling can be a mix of US and British English, and they have a ton of different slang words~ other than that and the occasional "eh," I think they tend to speak a little more slowly? Or at least the Canadians I've met have... But, maybe I, coming from the US, just speak too quickly? XD;;;;
     
    #4 candyjiru, Oct 3, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015
  5. Tbh, there seems to be very little difference between Canadian English and American English other than the spelling.

    For spoken English, more Canadians pronounce pasta (U.S: PAH-sta) like PAST-a. That's the only thing I can think of. Btw, I have Canadian relatives and they sound very similar to U.S English.
     
  6. Kaiser

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    Their alphabet begins with A and also ends with A ('Eh').







    *Turns around and leaves for work now*
     
  7. justin88

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    Lol! I'm 27 and never personally heard anyone say 'eh' in my entire life! I have no idea where that stereotype came from.
     
  8. 741852963

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    Canadian English tends to be a lot closer to dialects spoken in Britain. There are a lot of elements which sound quite like broad "Northern English" accents.

    Interestingly, some North-Eastern US states (New England, Massachusetts etc) have dialects which do "kind of" sound closer to those in Britain too. Boston accents for example.
     
  9. mbanema

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    If I spend more than a couple of weeks in Montreal at a time I notice that I start saying "eh" instead of "huh" since my grandparents all say it. I've never understood the "aboot" stereotype though as I've never heard anyone say that.

    I don't really notice many differences though. Sometimes the pronunciation is a bit different, but that's probably because I'm always in Quebec and most people have a French accent. The main differences are in spelling - colour, honour, centre, etc.
     
  10. edy

    edy
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    so, there's really no difference
     
  11. justin88

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    Wrong. We write color, honor and center in Ontario. Quebec is different from the rest of the country as well so that could explain things.
     
    #11 justin88, Oct 3, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015
  12. CJliving

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    The hell we do?! 0.0 I've never met a Canadian that's spelled colour or honour without the 'u'. Center I have seen, but it's interchangable with centre (and that may be a French thing? Like how I can never remember if it's December or Decembre...).


    When you live someplace it's hard to hear the accent. It took moving to Alberta for me to hear the 'eh' and it took moving to Japan to hear the extended 'o' sound that makes 'aboot' (except that's an exagerration, it's not quite that long an o).

    Also, there are a lot of different regional accents across Canada and the States. So if you compare a slow, southern drawl to a quick-talking Torontonian, there's a bigger difference than a New Yorker and a Torontonian. Same, compare any other English accent to Cajun or Newfie, it's world's apart (and you will be completely at a loss as to what they're saying).
     
  13. justin88

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    In northern Ontario at least, like you said there's so many different accents! It must be a regional thing, like in the UK. Every 100km or so the accents and dialects change! XD
     
  14. awesomeyodais

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    Just for fun, change your computer settings to "Canadian - English" and run a few spellchecks... (and see all the "u"s pop up).

    As far as the accent, there's definitely more than one version, same for American accents (Boston/NE vs Louisiana vs Chicago vs Texas etc...), and that's not even counting variations when listening to someone who recently immigrated from another country and is slowly blending their "original" accent with the one predominant where they live.
     
  15. XenaxGabby

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    I'm guilty of saying "eh" quite a bit.

    I also have no idea where the "aboot" stereotype came from.
     
  16. Batman

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    Some things, like the "ou" seems to be pretty constant across the country, (except for justin, apparently :wink:) but Canada borrows both the american and british the pronounciations of a lot of words, and people tend to swap back and forth between the versions, sometimes in the same sentence. :confused: As CJ mentioned, words like centre/center or practice/practise tend not to matter as much, and all spellings are acceptable.

    Another difference between American and Canadian english, is the number of "sorry"s in any given sentence. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  17. justin88

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    well Northern Ontario as a whole is kind of special, you start a conversation in English and it ends in french! I am serious about us using the or instead of our though, that's what I learned in school. I agree that most seem to swap between both, I guess you can say any pronunciation is acceptable here which is totally confusing! lol
     
  18. XenaxGabby

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    I'm only speaking for myself regarding the use of sorry. I prefer using it instead of pardon or what (which is rude) when I don't understand or I can't hear what someone says.
     
  19. justin88

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    Same. :slight_smile:
     
  20. Ameryllis

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    I'm from Ontario and we do the 'ou' thing...maybe some people choose not too?
     
    #20 Ameryllis, Oct 3, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015