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I am convinced that one must just about be born in the US or Canada to tell the accents apart in many cases. The exception would be regional accents, such as Newfie (which I cannot even understand), Southern US, Boston, New York and so on. However, in the north central US the accent is close enough to Canadian that even a native US English speaker can mistake one for the other. Perhaps Canadians do too.
When I'm on the phone and I hear certain pronunciations, I can guess that the person is Canadian but they could be in Minnesota or Wisconsin or especially North Dakota. However, certain colloquial words and the pronunciation of 'shone' or the name of the last letter of the alphabet will identify a Canadian instantly.
From my US perspective (lifetime Westerner, been to BC and Van many times) Van has a Canadian accent, but not as pronounced as I've heard from folks in the rest of Canada. The brand of English you'd perfect in Van would be understandable all through North America and probably in the other Commonwealth English-speaking countries as well. I'm guessing you'd have to live in North America twenty years before your native (Castilian Spanish?) accent was overshadowed by a regional North American distinction.
Another thing you would probably like about Van is the cultural diversity. While that's true of much of Canada, as the key Pacific port city Van is Canada's window on the setting sun. You might not find large numbers of fellow Spaniards, but neither would you be the only foreign resident in most areas. You would certainly achieve your goal of practicing English, because unlike where I live--where many people speak Spanish, albeit Latin American Spanish rather than Castilian--probably not many people in Van speak much Spanish of any sort.
I suppose you are also wondering about the British accent in Vancouver (because the province Vancouver is in is called *British Columbia*, Canada still has Queen Elizabeth officially, etc.), but I will tell you that this is not normally what you will find there. There is a small group of people in Vancouver who speak with British accents but these are people who have immigrated there from the UK.
All people who are born in Vancouver or who have grown up there will speak English with a (North) American accent like the one described in the previous post.
Thank you very much for your reply, I found it really interesting.
And yes I speak Spanish (castellano / espanyol) although as I'm from Barcelona, my mother tongue is Catalan, which is very similar to Spanish.
Well, thank you once again.
P.S. Could you tell me which city do you live in? I would like to know it because as you have said that a lot of Latin lived there. But I suppose that in the most part of South California there are a lot of Latin due to its proximity to Mexico, am I wrong?
Generally you will not find large numbers of Spanish speakers in Canada like you will in the U.S., since the U.S. states are generally closer to the Mexican border, and also sometimes include some long-established Spanish-speaking regions (hundreds of years) in areas like New Mexico, southern Texas, etc.
But I suppose that in the most part of South California there are a lot of Latin due to its proximity to Mexico, am I wrong?
You are not wrong. There is a strong Latin influence in Southern California. There are certain cities in which the dominant group is of Mexican origin.
I suppose you are also wondering about the British accent in Vancouver (because the province Vancouver is in is called *British Columbia*, Canada still has Queen Elizabeth officially, etc.), but I will tell you that this is not normally what you will find there. There is a small group of people in Vancouver who speak with British accents but these are people who have immigrated there from the UK.
All people who are born in Vancouver or who have grown up there will speak English with a (North) American accent like the one described in the previous post.
Actually there is a huge difference, and you'll notice it when you leave Vancouver like I did. Thank God.
Thank you very much for your reply, I found it really interesting.
And yes I speak Spanish (castellano / espanyol) although as I'm from Barcelona, my mother tongue is Catalan, which is very similar to Spanish.
Well, thank you once again.
P.S. Could you tell me which city do you live in? I would like to know it because as you have said that a lot of Latin lived there. But I suppose that in the most part of South California there are a lot of Latin due to its proximity to Mexico, am I wrong?
Ah. I don't speak any Catalan, but can recognize it when I see it written. Spanish I speak; I would have answered in the language, but the board TOS specify English only. Glad my explanation was helpful.
I live in Kennewick, Washington, a state bordering BC; however I live very close to the Oregon border. There are numerous towns in our region where the majority have Spanish as a first language. That phenomenon is not rare anyplace in the West where there's a lot of agriculture, especially fruit growing. While south Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southern California all have large Spanish-speaking populations, all also have many people of Hispanic descent whose families go back centuries--well before the U.S. absorbed those areas. Plenty of those speak little or no Spanish, much as most long-established German-Americans (like myself) speak little if any German. I can cross the river to Pasco and go to areas where Spanish is the first language and English is not often heard.
Traveling around the American West today, depending on where you go you would find many things printed bilingually. Many grocery aisles here will be labeled in both languages.
I believe you will find that English is an easy language to speak understandably, but a very difficult language to speak and write very well. Since the only way to get there is through practice, one can only bull ahead and keep trying. The vocabulary is enormous; the rules have vast numbers of exceptions. Your typical US American writes terrible English and can't spell worth a nickel. In fact, your typical Swede who has taken English writes it better.
First of all I would like to say that I really enjoy reading your replies.
I can't believe that an American-German can notice the difference between Catalan and Spanish, well I always thought that in the rest of the world, taking France and of course Spain as exceptions, almost no one knew that Catalan exists.
I would like to go to Vancouver to improve my English, because as you said, there, there are not so many Spanish speakers as in the USA. I have also read that it is a good city to live in, but I don't know if it is a "safe" city, because I think that it is quite big.
Another problem is the weather. I don't like really hot temperatures, maybe I prefer a cold weather, not extremely, but I prefer to be cold than hot. What I think I will not like is that everyday rains.
Well, anyway, thank you very much for your replies, because I had no idea that also in north-west USA there were a lot of Spanish speakers.
First of all I would like to say that I really enjoy reading your replies.
I can't believe that an American-German can notice the difference between Catalan and Spanish, well I always thought that in the rest of the world, taking France and of course Spain as exceptions, almost no one knew that Catalan exists.
I would like to go to Vancouver to improve my English, because as you said, there, there are not so many Spanish speakers as in the USA. I have also read that it is a good city to live in, but I don't know if it is a "safe" city, because I think that it is quite big.
Another problem is the weather. I don't like really hot temperatures, maybe I prefer a cold weather, not extremely, but I prefer to be cold than hot. What I think I will not like is that everyday rains.
Well, anyway, thank you very much for your replies, because I had no idea that also in north-west USA there were a lot of Spanish speakers.
I think the mods will permit this: Usted es muy amable, senorita. Thanks for the kind words. While I would not expect non-Spanish speakers to spot the difference between Catalan and Spanish, I would consider it very deficient world knowledge for anyone in the Americas or Europe not to have heard of Catalonia, and to know that it is part of Spain (though I am sure there are some separatists who would prefer otherwise). If I had to guess I'd bet there are as many Catalans as there are Irish, for example, or Flemish or Danes.
I would not call Vancouver the safest of Canadian cities. Parts of town are downright rough. However, what is downright rough by Canadian standards is considered very safe by US standards. Canada simply has far lower crime rates. So it's an order of magnitude safer than Seattle, which is roughly the same size, climate, demographics, etc. It's hard to compare because Van is Canada's third largest urban area and I don't think there's another one of about the same size; Toronto and Montreal are significantly more populous. The next level down in size, I think, would be Ottawa and Calgary and Edmonton, all of which I believe are quite safe.
You won't see much hot weather in Van, but I don't think you'll see a lot of snow--not nearly as much as in the interior of BC, for example. You will see a lot of rain, all winter long. Your umbrella will be your first friend (hopefully you will make more). However, on a clear day Van has many very beautiful sights.
There are indeed quite a few Spanish speakers in the Pacific Northwest. Recognizing that not all Hispanic persons actually speak Spanish, here are some city-data demographics from Washington, listing the percent of the population that identified itself as Hispanic. I think it's safe to assume that at least half of the Hispanic population in Washington speaks fluent Spanish, thus one may divide any of these numbers by two:
Seattle 5.3%
Tacoma 6.9%
Vancouver 6.3% (Washington also has a Vancouver, near the Oregon border)
Yakima 33.7%
Everett 7.1%
Bellingham 4.6%
Kennewick 15.5%
Richland 4.7%
Pasco 56.3%
Spokane 3.0%
Wenatchee 21.5%
Olympia 4.4%
Now, contrast these larger cities with small towns in the Yakima Valley and further up the Columbia River (stretching northwest of me):
Sunnyside 73.1%
Grandview 68.0%
Benton City 19.5%
Prosser 29.4%
Royal City 78.2%
Othello 63.8%
Mabton 89.0%
Mattawa 89.8%
Granger 85.5%
Zillah 26.1%
Wapato 76.2%
I'd say 50% is very conservative as to the proportion of Hispanic persons in Washington who are fluent in Spanish. Probably it's closer to 75%. But any way you look at it, I don't have to go very far in Washington to practice my Spanish.
However, what is downright rough by Canadian standards is considered very safe by US standards. .
What are you talking about? Areas ridden with gang violence, AIDS and crystal meth aren't considered "very safe" by US standards. Talk about naive.
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