Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > World
 [Register]
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.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: Do Canadians sound like Americans?
No, I can tell the accents apart easily, regardless of the generation of speakers 72 24.16%
Older Canadians don't, but younger Canadians have that American twang 14 4.70%
They sound somewhat like Americans but not exactly 156 52.35%
Canadians of all ages sound like Americans to me 56 18.79%
Voters: 298. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-02-2015, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Bologna, Italy
7,501 posts, read 6,246,841 times
Reputation: 3761

Advertisements

I'm French and I spent a year studying in Toronto about a decade ago.

When I got there, everyone sounded pretty American to me. After 2 or 3 months, I started noticing the difference.

Now if I meet an English-speaking Canadian, I can tell pretty easily they're not American, although they're probably the closest there is to the American inside the English-speaking world.

Actually the Canadian accent is the easiest for me to understand in English. It sounds like a "lighter" version of the American accent, I don't know how to explain it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-02-2015, 04:34 PM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,578 posts, read 27,291,324 times
Reputation: 9022
Quote:
Originally Posted by England Dan View Post
In Britain when two workmen meet each other in a property that is say being renovated, either a builder, decorator or surveyor, the word mate is uttered. I too cringe now at mate as I have outgrown it, but its a disarmer between equals, which I think would go back to the British/Irish maritime history of mate-ship, also linked with not grassing each other up. I bet most builders I meet wouldn`t guess I have a liking for Vaughan-Williams and a glass of fine wine at the weekend! I do have three accents, I reckon.
How does one go about "grassing" someone? LOL
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-02-2015, 04:39 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,502 posts, read 15,413,593 times
Reputation: 11936
Quote:
Originally Posted by forgotten username View Post
I'm French and I spent a year studying in Toronto about a decade ago.

When I got there, everyone sounded pretty American to me. After 2 or 3 months, I started noticing the difference.

Now if I meet an English-speaking Canadian, I can tell pretty easily they're not American, although they're probably the closest there is to the American inside the English-speaking world.

Actually the Canadian accent is the easiest for me to understand in English. It sounds like a "lighter" version of the American accent, I don't know how to explain it.
I've met many students from Japan studying English here in Canada. Several have mentioned that Canadian English is easier for them to understand as well. We tend not to slur our words as much. Apparently anyway.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-02-2015, 09:35 PM
 
Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
11,223 posts, read 16,368,326 times
Reputation: 13536
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo View Post
How does one go about "grassing" someone? LOL
Being a snitch. lol
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-02-2015, 09:58 PM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,578 posts, read 27,291,324 times
Reputation: 9022
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magnatomicflux View Post
Being a snitch. lol
Oh, ok thanks LOL
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2015, 01:36 AM
 
Location: WA
35 posts, read 56,353 times
Reputation: 39
The thing that I noticed from Canadians is that their vowel tend to be less open. Words like progress, sorry, borrow most american would pronounce it like 'prahw-gress' 'saw-rry' and 'baw-rrow' opposed to Canadian 'pro-gress' 'sore-ee' and 'boh-rrow'. Honestly I'm not really familiar with american accents, as I'm now at PNW so I'm only exposed to PNW English..
Also contrary to most american believe, I never heard Canadian pronouncing word 'about' as aboot, but they still pronounce it differently though. I think they pronounce it more like a-boat.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2015, 04:07 AM
 
Location: Bologna, Italy
7,501 posts, read 6,246,841 times
Reputation: 3761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
I've met many students from Japan studying English here in Canada. Several have mentioned that Canadian English is easier for them to understand as well. We tend not to slur our words as much. Apparently anyway.
I would say that standard american accent is slightly thicker and more nasal.

But that's still quite similar and there are probably large differences between US states that I'm not aware of (aside from southerners / northerners which is quite an easy difference to hear)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2015, 06:34 AM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,578 posts, read 27,291,324 times
Reputation: 9022
Quote:
Originally Posted by hanindonesia View Post
The thing that I noticed from Canadians is that their vowel tend to be less open. Words like progress, sorry, borrow most american would pronounce it like 'prahw-gress' 'saw-rry' and 'baw-rrow' opposed to Canadian 'pro-gress' 'sore-ee' and 'boh-rrow'. Honestly I'm not really familiar with american accents, as I'm now at PNW so I'm only exposed to PNW English..
Also contrary to most american believe, I never heard Canadian pronouncing word 'about' as aboot, but they still pronounce it differently though. I think they pronounce it more like a-boat.
That "aboot" thing is a gross exaggeration for sure but I sometimes wonder if certain Americans just cannot hear the subtle nuances in that vowel. To my ears, it's somewhere between "aboat" and "about". The PNW has very flat vowels, I'm comparing this to California. I say "Washington" but my family there says "WAASHington". Most Californians also clip their vowels a bit more than most Americans making them sound closer to Ontario speakers. Most, not all.

Quote:
Originally Posted by forgotten username View Post
I would say that standard american accent is slightly thicker and more nasal.

But that's still quite similar and there are probably large differences between US states that I'm not aware of (aside from southerners / northerners which is quite an easy difference to hear)
There are differences between US states and regions. Mostly, only detectable by native speakers like I noted above.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2015, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,785 posts, read 37,769,583 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo View Post
. I say "Washington" but my family there says "WAASHington". .
To my ear, many Americans sound like they are saying "WARSHington".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2015, 08:15 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,785 posts, read 37,769,583 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
I've met many students from Japan studying English here in Canada. Several have mentioned that Canadian English is easier for them to understand as well. We tend not to slur our words as much. Apparently anyway.
When I lived and went to university in Ontario, I also met a good number of foreign students who chose Canada for their English learning based on the (perceived) neutrality of the accent.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
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.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > World

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top