What Exactly Is The Difference Between a Canadian and an American Accent??

SharpshooterTom

What is exactly the difference between a Canadian and American accent?

I've just come back from a 5 week holiday in Australia and I know I confidently can say I know the difference between an Australian accent and a New Zealand accent. I knew it before I left kinda but I definitely know it now. If a New Zealander spoke to me I would detect his accent within a few sentences easy. Their constant mis-pronounciation of replacing any vowel with an 'I' where possible becomes apparant. Excellent becomes 'iggcellent' an accent becomes iccent, special becomes 'spicial', batter/better becomes 'bitter' etc. It becomes dead obvious after a while.

Canadian and American I can't though?

On the way back I was in Dubai, and I spoke to a guy to a Canadian guy who I thought was American but then told he was Canadian (from Saskatoon). I ended up speaking to him for a few hours and I couldn't figure out for love nor money where his accent was supposed to different exactly to rest of Americans. I tried hard but I couldn't.

My father was born in Canada and I feel quite embarresed to not know the difference. I'm usually quite good at understanding accents, but the difference between American/Canadian is some of the hardest I've come across at distinguishing. About 98% of Irish people wouldn't understand either probably.

Could someone tell me what the difference is supposed to be? Do they even have one? If that Canadian guy was speaking to an American, would an American know that guy was Canadian within a few sentences? Is it that different?

ballsymchugh

what's this aboot?

Sam Vimes

Eh?

rgmmg

Eh?

rgmmg

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Eh?

Haha - beat me to it!

TheZohanS

Aeeeeehh?

mysteries1984

I think South Park did a few bits and pieces on this, didn't they?

Anyway - I don't think it's the same as comparing an Australian and an NZ accent. They're both different countries, yes, but Australia and NZ are also different islands, geographically separated...Canada and the US are right beside each other, border-wise. There'd be much more of an audible 'overlap' of accents with them.

Elba101

There is a real difference and after hanging aboot with Canadians and Americans for teh past few months I can definitly tell the difference. Although, you'll find that some northern American states have quite a Canadian accent to them.

There's defo a distinct difference though!

BraziliaNZ

There's a difference alright, I always found they sound almost a little bit irishy, the ones with strong accents anyway, especially in the Maritimes. But you can tell Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba people apart quite easily usually from Americans, although it's hard to explain the differences in words. I found in Vancouver the people were pretty much the same as yanks, same goes for Toronto, or at least much harder to differentiate.

prinz

Gnobe wrote: »

Could someone tell me what the difference is supposed to be? Do they even have one?

There is a difference. You can usually tell by the Canadians dragging out and putting an emphasis on certain vowel sounds, and then other quirks like ending sentences with eh? But some American accents have this aswell, like Minnesota and the Dakotas I've found.

theteal

"stoopid fat gun-toting american's, eh"

StephenHendry

very hard to tell the difference op. but it got me thinking. i would say people from america/canada may not be able to tell the difference between an irish accent and an english accent. from my own experience, most europeans i.e. germans, spanish whatever find it difficult to
know our accent from the british accent.


going back to you question, i cheated as i looked up this site which again points to the similarities yet mentions certain words which americans and canadians say differently, the words being "out" and "got"

here is the link

http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic13412.html

PogMoThoin

They're essentially the same, Canada is just America without guns

CreepingDeath

Canada = America-Lite

mathie

It's aboot three fiddy.

Elba101

PogMoThoin wrote: »

They're essentially the same, Canada is just America without guns

Canada is the American Dream!

xflyer

They're essentially the same, Canada is just America without guns

No the Canadians have plenty of guns. They just don't feel the need to use them on each other quite as much.

SEPT 23 1989

Canada has never had a girlfriend

old hippy

Like asking what's the difference between an Irish and Scottish accents

ejmaztec

old hippy wrote: »

Like asking what's the difference between an Irish and Scottish accents

Ulster.

Badgermonkey

StephenHendry wrote: »

very hard to tell the difference op.

It's really not.

Superficially similar but very easy to tell 'em apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqz0it_RnAo

Techno_Toaster

Ask a Canadian person to say "we went out and about again and again"

HAAA! HAAA!

Make them answer a question with OK

OOOK

al28283

Gnobe wrote: »

What is exactly the difference between a Canadian and American accent?

They sound different

danslevent

I used to not be able to tell the difference but I can a little bit now. I find the American accent immediately very irritating but not Canadian. Canadian accent is almost sweeter or something? All that maple syrup :P

danslevent

I used to not be able to tell the difference but I can a little bit now. I find the American accent immediately very irritating but not Canadian. Canadian accent is almost sweeter or something? All that maple syrup :P

God...

Sounds more Irish to me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ

smash

Canadians are Eh Holes!

Kristin_87

Being Canadian, sometimes even I have trouble telling the accents apart. A lot of this depends on where your from in either Canada or America. The people from the East coast of Canada (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland etc.) generally have a different accent to those who are from the rest of Canada. Also Americans from the east and south tend to have a more distinct accent. To be honest not a lot of people cant tell the difference i've been called American more times then I care to remember, I'm used to it at this point, only 2 people in Ireland have ever called me Canadian right off the bat.

Additionally using shows like trailer park boys and south park as a reference for a Canadian accent is like using Ps I love you as a reference for an Irish accent. And for the record I've never heard a Canadian person say "aboot" although "eh" does tend to pop up a lot in conversation .

biko

Canadians are the pleasant ones.

SteelyDanJalapeno

A boot

Badgermonkey

Kristin_87 wrote: »

Additionally using shows like trailer park boys and south park as a reference for a Canadian accent is like using Ps I love you as a reference for an Irish accent. And for the record I've never heard a Canadian person say "aboot" although "eh" does tend to pop up a lot in conversation .

That's a common misconception - many Canadians however will pronounce the word 'about' as 'aboat' and 'out' as 'oat'.

Trailer Park Boys versus PS I Love You is hardly a like for like comparison.

TPB affords viewers an opportunity to hear a distinctive lexicon and phonology present in Canadian English, delivered by Canadian actors. That of course does not mean all Canadians sound like that. It may be Maritime-centric, but it is authentic. As for Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank's Oirish brogue....:eek:

JohnMearsheimer

Giv'r!

I lived with an American guy, well he was Hawaiian, in Vancouver and I found it hard to differenciate between his accent and Vancouverites. Generally I could tell if someone was from eastern Canada or the prairie provinces. I think Vancouver and Toronto/Southern Ontario sounded more American to me. One of my friends from Toronto used to do a take off of a culchie Canadian accent, it sounded like a mid western US accent. I got asked a few times by Canadians if I was from Newfoundland.

alastair

Newfoundlanders sound pretty much like Travellers. I've yet to hear an American accent that can say the same.

lcrcboy

God... wrote: »

Sounds more Irish to me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ

A lot of Irish ended up emigrating there and for some reason they were able to hold onto a kind of Irish twang

garancafan

To me - the Newfie accent has always sounded as if made up of 1 part Cornwall, 1 part Wexford and 1 part American.

John Doe1

Canadians are the ones that speak french

Sonic the Large Cock

ive jus fonished compilin ya spreadshoot with za sole goal of determining whoot exactloy is za dofference betwoon a Conadioon and an Americoon Accent and aport from the pie charts the only answer I can give is aboooot 20

Nerdkiller1991

Well if there's one difference between Canada and the US, it's that they celebrate a different 9/11

http://www.thewrestlingfan.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/119neverforget.jpg

Robdude

Mostly it's just how they pronounce certain words. But they also use some phrases slightly different. This is particularly true of slang and less-formal words.

120_Minutes

Yanks don't say "hosers"

earpiece

Gnobe wrote: »

What is exactly the difference between a Canadian and American accent?

Are they supposed to be different? - - - who said so?

I'b be more worried about the Irish yoof and their little American accents, anyway, I'm off to watch the news noose.

beks101

Canadian accent is a little less in-yer-face, a bit more neutral. They also speak a little slower than your average yank, though I guess it depends who you're talking to.

Colloquialisms can differ too - I hear 'I know, eh?' and 'for sure' at least 20 times a day here.

ajjmk

I find that Canadians put more emphasis on T's at the end of words.. thaT, whaT, don'T...

old hippy

danslevent wrote: »

I used to not be able to tell the difference but I can a little bit now. I find the American accent immediately very irritating but not Canadian. Canadian accent is almost sweeter or something? All that maple syrup :P

I wasn't aware there was a generic, homogenous American accent. I was under the impression that there are a myriad of different inflections/tones/accents - certainly my family down south sounds very different to my family in the north, or mates from the west coast. My fave accent from the US would have to be Hawaiian, it's such a mix

The King of Moo

If you're not sure whether someone is Canadian or American and are too polite to ask, get them to recite the alphabet!

Canadians generally pronounce the letter "z" as "zed," like real people, not "zee."

old hippy

The King of Moo wrote: »

If you're not sure whether someone is Canadian or American and are too polite to ask, get them to recite the alphabet!

Canadians generally pronounce the letter "z" as "zed," like real people, not "zee."

LOL. Being American; my mom brought me up to say "zee" - I still get grief for occasionally saying it

The King of Moo

old hippy wrote: »

LOL. Being American; my mom brought me up to say "zee" - I still get grief for occasionally saying it

I've always alternated between both, mostly saying "zed." I think most Irish people do, because of the alphabet song. Ending it on "w, x, y and zed" just sounds wrong, so we always said "zee" whenever we sang it in school.

old hippy

The King of Moo wrote: »

I've always alternated between both, mostly saying "zed." I think most Irish people do, because of the alphabet song. Ending it on "w, x, y and zed" just sounds wrong, so we always said "zee" whenever we sang it in school.

Since moving to London (12/13 yrs now) I've slowly lost some of the Americanisms I grew up with in Ireland and at long last people hear my accent and they immediately know I'm Irish. Dammit, had to leave my home country to get to that stage :rolleyes:

grenache

The Canadian accent tends to be more neutral. Where it isn't, it is more heavily influenced by European accents than the American one is.

admiralofthefleet

thats it buddeh