The Canadian Accent
 

Do not wish to offend anyone, but can someone give me a few pointers in regards to the differences between the American and Canadian accent?

The american and canadian accents are basically the same to most people. There is no big difference when compared to british and australian accents.

Re: The Canadian Accent
 

Well, I can tell the difference, particularly when it comes to comparing Canadian accents with the more distinct American ones, like southern American, Brooklyn, Bostonian, and Californian. Those are pretty obvious to me. There are subtle differences even amongst many of the not so distinct American accents too. The way they say hot - the "o" is more like an "ah". When you live there, you'll start to be able to tell. And then there's the eastern Maritime Canadian accent - very distinct. I can pick out the New Brunswickers and Newfies with no problem.

The way most Canadians speak is very nice, no overt drawls or weird pronunciations, very pure and uncomplicated. I live in Australia now and can always pick out Canadians versus Americans. Any Canadians are surprised I don't think they're American, like most Aussies do. But then, I live with 3 of them - hubbie and 2 kids are all Canucks.

Perhaps look for online radio stations - CKNW in Vancouver is a good one.

just listen for an "eh" at the end of every sentence :D

That really is far too much of a generalisation. There is no "CAnadian" accent like there is no "american accent" or "british accent".

The accent changes dramaticaly within regions of each country. so in Canada if you compare say a southern ontario accent with a newfoundland accent with a quebec accent with a west coast accent they will differe a lot. Just like if you compare a californai accent to a midwest one to a deep south one.

Try telling someone from Alabama they sound jsut like someone from newfoundland.

Someone said a british accent is like an australian one. So are you saying someone from Wales sounds just like someone from Sydney? you mus thave no ears. or have never heard regional british accents. Possibly a lack of geogrpahical understanding there too.

People even in the same countries in Britain dont sound the same, my northern coastal english accent sounds nothing like a london accent or a west country accent. It is true that certain lond accents are similar to certain australian accents as they have similar roots.

Same goes for Canada. The southern/central ontario accent is similar to a US northern accent because they are geographicaly similar etc.

So true. Most of the world recognizes BBC english and the upper crust accent as "English" but I doubt whether they are representative of the real Britain.

There are differences, though some are not so obvious. Parts of the east coast have hints of Irish in their accents. Also I've noticed that here in Alberta there are lots of people who pronounce their 'a's differently. More like the 'a' in 'at' than in 'car', if that makes sense. Also, you'll hear some people speaking English with a French twinge for obvious reasons.

OH well :P
My husband is from Northern Ireland... I am a french Canadian borned in Quebec... and we are doing just fine :P
The only time someone will say that they cannot understand you because of your accent (from anywhere you are from), it is only and really (sadly too) because they do not want to talk to you.
Normally, 95% of the population of any place will want or try to talk with someone having a 'different' accent. So please, do not let that stop you :)
Have fun here,
LN

Re: The Canadian Accent
 

It is generally a giveaway when Canadians say 'about' which sounds like 'aboat' and the same with similar sounding words :)

Re: The Canadian Accent
 

Quebec is different for obvious reasons. Other than that region, you have about three basic regional accents in Canada: Western, Central (Ontario region) and the Maritimes. Within the Maritimes there are subtle differences between say Cape Breton, Newfoundland and some of the other areas. The Maritime accent is a very distinct accent and is quite unlike any other North American accent. There is very little difference between Western Canadian and the Western States - particularly the Border States.

To my ear, the people in central Canada seem to use the oat and aboat or oot and aboot (instead of out and about) a lot more than Western Canadians do. In some rural areas in Alberta and Sask' you will hear a strange almost falsetto accent which is really very irritating to listen to. And these people will also come out with such wisdom as "well I'll be eh?" or "Well I’ll be go to hell in a handbasket." As for Canadians not having any "weird pronunciations." Well there's Sow-thern instead of southern (my personal dislike, but not many people do this I’m glad to say). There's ruff instead of roof. Mmm, maybe there’s not that many after all.

For an in-depth look at Canadian English:

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Canad...tml#diphthongs

Well, I don't think I could really tell the difference, unless the American had a really distinct accent (Southern or something)!!

How did Canada get it's name?

When the Pilgrim's were crossing on their boat (don't ask for more details....too much wine) they came across a big piece of land. There is a discussion on what they should call this big piece of land. The captain of the boat had a great idea....put all the letters of the alphabet in a hat and whatever comes out will be the name of the new country (I'm not very good a jokes so bear with me).

The first letter is pulled out and the captain yells it out

"C eh"

Then the next letter is pulled out

"N eh"

Then the next letter is pulled out

"D eh"

And that's how Canada got it's name.

:)

Well I thought it was funny....!
:p :p