Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Full sentences please, are you saying the people from the following areas don't sound like Americans? I've been to Winnipeg a few times, and I'd always imagined it being one of the more Americanized cities, but I've never been anywhere else in Canada. I do have 3 friends from Canada, 1 from Vancouver, 1 from Moncton, and 1 from Edmonton. The ones from Vancouver and Moncton sound almost exactly like Americans, the one from Moncton is fluent in French as well, but no accent related to that. The one from Edmonton has the most accent, but still isn't a strong accent.
Some people lose their accents more quickly than others when they move away. When I went to university, my accent flattened out a lot, because I was around lots of people from different parts of the country. A university friend of mine (a Torontonian) visited my home town and met my brother. He was shocked that my brother had a strong Irish-sounding accent, because I no longer spoke that way. I've lived away from my home province for a good 15 years now, and it'd take a lot of conscious effort for me to speak with that accent and vocabulary now.
Canadians speak a bit more quickly than people from the U.S.... I can tell the difference between several U.S. and Canadian accents, but there are also things like figures of speech, slang, gestures, body language, that hint at where the person's from.
People from the U.S. tend to fill up more "personal space" with their bodies when they speak. They gesture more with their bodies--they'll turn their shoulders, nod their head, gesture with their arms, etc. more than Canadians do. They also are much more direct /blunt when they speak. Canadians do seem more soft-spoken in comparison. My observation is that Canadians also use more "comfortable pauses" during conversations, whereas people from the U.S. tend to try to fill in pauses in the conversation. Can't think of another way of putting it.
There's more of a "lilt" in the way Canadians speak, and more of a "drawl" in the way people from the States speak.
This I suppose, depends on the American accent. We don't all drawl. When I go to many parts of the country, especially the east coast and the south, they immediately know where I'm from. The Canadian vowel shift and California vowel shift are identical.
This I suppose, depends on the American accent. We don't all drawl. When I go to many parts of the country, especially the east coast and the south, they immediately know where I'm from. The Canadian vowel shift and California vowel shift are identical.
Yes, I was really generalizing... there's no way I'd call a Boston accent a "drawl"... although, to my ear, even with some (southern) Midwesterners, it sounds like they speak with a drawl to me.
Yes, I was really generalizing... there's no way I'd call a Boston accent a "drawl"... although, to my ear, even with some (southern) Midwesterners, it sounds like they speak with a drawl to me.
Southern Midwesterners do drawl as the midland accent begins to merge with the southern varieties. There seems to be almost a continuum. Follow the Mississippi River from Louisiana up through Minnesota and the accent changes gradually from various southern varieties to one almost indistinguishable from Manitoba once in northern Minnesota.
I think to the average person in the U.S. or other countries (who is not exceptionally attuned to accents), the standard accent in Canadian English *could be* one of the many accents that exist within the United States.
It's part of what you might call the "North American English Accent Family", which many people simplistically conflate with the territory of the United States.
To the untrained ear, an Anglo-Canadian *could be* from the U.S. in a way that an Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman or Australian could not.
The main exception to this would be Newfoundlanders, whom many people might mistake for Irish.
Most Canadian accents are distinctive to my ears. But so are southern US ones, and a few other regional ones. For Canadian speakers, often there are some words that really stand out as canadian, while most words have only a subtle accent. The strongest Canadian accents have a bit of a scottish cadence to them; though some have a fargo-ish Upper Midwest sound as well. The weakest ones sound close to western US accents, perhaps Californian ones in some ways.
Odd quirk that the accent on the north side of Lake Ontario is closer to California than the accent on the south side of Lake Ontario.
Most Canadian accents are distinctive to my ears. But so are southern US ones, and a few other regional ones. For Canadian speakers, often there are some words that really stand out as canadian, while most words have only a subtle accent. The strongest Canadian accents have a bit of a scottish cadence to them. The weakest ones sound close to western US accents, perhaps Californian ones in some ways.
I can hear a Torontonian by the way they pronounce "Molson" (name of a large brewery). Something about that first "o" that I never hear elsewhere. It's interesting. Wish I'd studied linguistics.
Canadians spell words differently ie centre/center due to our French heritage and NOT our British. Same with provinces as opposed to states..............provence is a French word. Similarly Air Canada vs US Mail is also relevant in most federal government departments ie Environment Canada. This is so government agencies can be properly stated in both languages. This is also why our anthem is "O Canada" and not "Oh, Canada"..............it had to be a title that was the same in both official languages.
I know some Americans say eh and some other words but we are talking generalities here. I am sure there are Americans who say I'm sorry or John and I, or eh, or chocolate bar but in Canada you will NEVER hear a Canadians say :I apologize, candy bar, me and John, and we don't write checks we write cheques. You will never hear a Canadians say words that Americans would and vise-versa.
Even if they don't have a regional American or Canadian accent I can still tell the difference in just a few sentences. I also agree that Americans tend to talk faster and in a more forthright way. Not everyone will sir or mame but again you will never hear that in Canada unless it's the army.
When telling language accents apart it's not just the sound but also what you say and how you say it.
in Canada you will NEVER hear a Canadians say :I apologize, candy bar, me and John, and we don't write checks we write cheques. You will never hear a Canadians say words that Americans would and vise-versa.
t.
Not true, I hear Canadians say "me and ______" all the time. " I apologize, might not be as common but you do hear it.
Some Canadians sound similar to standard midwestern accent, some don't.
This is also why our anthem is "O Canada" and not "Oh, Canada"..............it had to be a title that was the same in both official languages.
O is always used in poetic English instead of Oh. It's "O Holy Night," not, "Oh, Holy Night." Shakespeare wrote "O Romeo, Romeo" not "Oh, Romeo." It's disingenuous to say that O was chosen solely because it's both French and English. If there was a US song with a similar title, it would be "O America."
Quote:
we don't write checks we write cheques.
Like the British.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
