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Most of the examples in your posts are totally wrong.
I'm sorry, but Americans DO say "I'm sorry." How can you think that we don't say it? We say,"I apologize" instead????
Americans say, "John and me"? We say "John and I" when it's the subject of the sentence--as "John and I went out." We say "John and me" when it's the object of the sentence--as "He laughed at John and me." So we say both and so do Canadians.
I rarely hear anyone say Sir or Mame (?)--do you hear these things on tv or something?
AND, no one says "Y'all" or whatever it is unless they live down south in the USA.
Also, we do NOT call our country America. We call it the US or the USA.
I just had to have my own little rant about your posts because they are so inaccurate.
Where I live we can barely distinguish between our accent and that of the Canadians several hundred miles to the north. The only way to tell is that they say "eh" and (sorry, but it's true of that area of Canada) they DO say "hooose" instead of house. And they talk about (abooot) hockey A LOT, lol.
I agree with you response and had a similar one of my own some pages back.
How are you hearing that vowel as "oo"? Whenever I hear Canadians say "about" it sounds closer to "aboat" and even that's not quite where it is. Granted, I live in California so it may sound different to my ears. Someone from southern Ontario can often only be told from I am used to hearing by that vowel. Otherwise, they don't sound much different from Californians.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanLuis
I agree. You are in New England, If you are close to the Maritime provinces you will definitely notice a difference in accents though. Maritimers sometimes have the strongest accents.
Maybe that's it. I have never met any Canadians from the Maritimes.
I agree with you response and had a similar one of my own some pages back.
How are you hearing that vowel as "oo"? Whenever I hear Canadians say "about" it sounds closer to "aboat" and even that's not quite where it is. Granted, I live in California so it may sound different to my ears. Someone from southern Ontario can often only be told from I am used to hearing by that vowel. Otherwise, they don't sound much different from Californians.
Maybe that's it. I have never met any Canadians from the Maritimes.
Maybe because I live on the east coast so I am hearing Canadians who are also from the east. From reading most of this long thread, it seems that it's the eastern Canadians who say "aboot." The Canadians to the west don't seem to pronounce it that way.
I would love to go to the Maritimes and maybe some day I'll be able to. I would imagine some would have a Scottish derived accent?? Just guessing from the advertisements I've seen for Nova Scotia. I don't have any idea of what a Newfoundland accent would be.
Anyway, we in New England speak just about the same as the Canadians in eastern Canada except that, of course, we also have our own little variations within New England. (BTW, I LOVE it when the eastern Canadians say, "Aboot"--and when they end a sentence with, "eh." I think it has a certain charm to it!)
Maybe because I live on the east coast so I am hearing Canadians who are also from the east. From reading most of this long thread, it seems that it's the eastern Canadians who say "aboot." The Canadians to the west don't seem to pronounce it that way.
I would love to go to the Maritimes and maybe some day I'll be able to. I would imagine some would have a Scottish derived accent?? Just guessing from the advertisements I've seen for Nova Scotia. I don't have any idea of what a Newfoundland accent would be.
Anyway, we in New England speak just about the same as the Canadians in eastern Canada except that, of course, we also have our own little variations within New England. (BTW, I LOVE it when the eastern Canadians say, "Aboot"--and when they end a sentence with, "eh." I think it has a certain charm to it!)
You're probably right. The Canadians I met and know for sure where they were from, were from; British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, of course the latter will not be confused for being American.
I've met many Canadians, mostly East Asian migrants to Canada (BC or the Prairie provinces) and their North American born children who now live in, or did for a while, Texas. Honestly, they sound no different from most native Texans in the DFW area except for some vocabulary.
You're probably right. The Canadians I met and know for sure where they were from, were from; British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, of course the latter will not be confused for being American.
Too be fair, there is a largish population of native English speakers and native level English speakers from Quebec, about 650 thousand to over a million depending on how you define things, more if you include people from the community's diaspora like myself. There are English language newspapers, school boards, universities, and theatres in Quebec. William Shatner, Leonard Cohen, Jay Baruchel, Mordecai Richler, and Brian Mulroney are notable English speaking Quebeckers. My accent, at least, is fairly similar to accents in urban Ontario and the urban West, but still distinct. A bit of sing song lilt; softer vowels; marry, Mary, and merry aren't pronounced identically; softer Canadian raising; some Francophone turns of phrase like saying close or open the lights; some French vocabulary; and the occasional "me, I (verb, subject) .... ". But I can pass as a native Torontonian or Vancouverite fairly well.
Too be fair, there is a largish population of native English speakers and native level English speakers from Quebec, about 650 thousand to over a million depending on how you define things, more if you include people from the community's diaspora like myself. There are English language newspapers, school boards, universities, and theatres in Quebec. William Shatner, Leonard Cohen, Jay Baruchel, Mordecai Richler, and Brian Mulroney are notable English speaking Quebeckers. My accent, at least, is fairly similar to accents in urban Ontario and the urban West, but still distinct. A bit of sing song lilt; softer vowels; marry, Mary, and merry aren't pronounced identically; softer Canadian raising; some Francophone turns of phrase like saying close or open the lights; some French vocabulary; and the occasional "me, I (verb, subject) .... ". But I can pass as a native Torontonian or Vancouverite fairly well.
I've known two Quebecers and both were Francophone.
Let's see; in California, Mary, merry and marry are the same so you may stand out as an east coaster here. If you said something like "open" or "close the lights" you might be mistaken for being Hispanic. William Shatner has no discernible accent to my ears. Perhaps more than the much discussed "about", is the way some Canadians pronounce words like "sorry" and "progress" with the long 'o' sounds. That tends to stand out a but more. Jim Carey does this.
generally standard English in Canada and USA the accent is the same, only way to tell the difference is Canadians say "aboot" instead of "about" or call electricity "hydro".
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