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Personally I think the two accents sound pretty different. Canadian is certainly the closest foreign accent to sounding American (next IMO would be the accent of Northern Ireland) and on first listen, it might sound American but I think it has a lot of different features. For one thing, they tend to not draw out vowel sounds, they say quite a few words differently and of course they pronounce the vowel in 'about' and 'house' differently.
I would never mistake a British Columbian for a Texan, or an Ontarian for someone from Kansas. I'd actually argue that some people in the Western and Midwestern US sound Canadian rather than the other way around.
And of course, the accent in Newfoundland is completely different, a strong Newfoundland accent can sound more European than American.
BTW I'm generally referring to British Columbians, Prairie Province residents and Ontarians. Obviously, most people in Quebec don't even speak English let alone the American accent of it...
There's no one american accent so you can't generalize that canadians do or don't sound like americans. Based on your examples would you ever mistake a bostonian for a texan or an oregonian for someone from kansas? and yet they are all american accents.
Most canadians sound closest to what is known as the general american newscaster accent or midwest accent. Peter Jennings is a good example of a canadian with that tenor:
There's no one american accent so you can't generalize that canadians do or don't sound like americans. Based on your examples would you ever mistake a bostonian for a texan or an oregonian for someone from kansas? and yet they are all american accents.
Most canadians sound closest to what is known as the general american newscaster accent or midwest accent. Peter Jennings is a good example of a canadian with that tenor:
About seventy percent of Americans I would say nowadays speak more or less the General American accent. And I would say out of Anglo-Canadians, it's a similar percentage that speak a generic Canadian accent. So i'd say despite the existence of regional accents along the fringes of the US and Canada, it's still a sensible comparison.
And I probably could mistake someone from Oregon for someone from Kansas though overall I'd say the accent spoken in Oregon is somewhere in between Kansas and Canada. A Bostonian for a Texan? Maybe if their accent was highly generic, but a strong example no of course not.
If you're used to them then yes, they are very different. It's like any accents. People in the US often ask me if I'm Australian (I'm British) because they are not used to hearing the accents regularly. I couldn't tell the difference between New Zealand and Australia until I spent 6 months in New Zealand and could understand the differences.
I am from the UK and I can't tell the difference between the two, an American if asked will always say that I am Australian though!! I think there must be similarities between English and Australian accents and American and Canadian accents so that only those that know them well can tell the difference!
They sound the same to me. I'm a non-English speaker. That might explain it.
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