Can you tell Canadian English from American English?

[Suki]

That's pretty much the question.



By watching this video, if you had absolutely no clue who Avril Lavigne was, would you be able to tell she is Canadian cause of her accent?

Or like, Kate from Lost, was there something Canadian about hers?

I don't want you guys telling me how Canadians say "aboot" or "eh" at the end of each sentence all the time, I wanna know if you actually find there is an obvious audible difference between Canadian English and the standard American English. Easy, right?

[RobinMask]

Originally Posted by Suki

Or like, Kate from Lost, was there something Canadian about hers?

I don't want you guys telling me how Canadians say "aboot" or "eh" at the end of each sentence all the time, I wanna know if you actually find there is an obvious audible difference between Canadian English and the standard American English. Easy, right?

I always thought Kate from "Lost" and Avril Lavigne were American, in all honesty. There's some cosplayers on youtube I thought were American until they explicitly said on one video they weren't. I also remember a guy coming into a shop one day and asking 'who's the American?' and him flipping out because he was Canadian . . . so no, I can't honestly hear a difference at all XD

Edit: I think that American accents are so diverse - for example a Texan is nothing like a New Yorker - and we're exposed to American accents on a daily basis, that for the untrained ear it's just easy to assume that the Canadian is American, and their accent is just another subset of American accents.

[Nyororin]

I am going to second the edit of RobinMask`s post.

American accents are incredibly diverse. It`s virtually impossible to be familiar enough with all of them to be able to distinguish between those that are "American" and those that are "Canadian". Especially as there is a huge amount of overlap between them.

[dogsbody70]

I have not met enough of either canadians or Americans. too often when I do speak to someone who to my ears sound American-- I can be mistaken because they are actually Canadian.

of course on Tv programmes it varies-- some American women sound really nazal-- not always pleasant.

But they must vary enormously really.

[Columbine]

I can tell a Canadian from an American if they also speak french; there's sometimes a little twang that gives it away. More usually though, I can spot canadians because they kind of have different body language; I can't put my finger on it but it's nothing to do with their accent.

[MMM]

It's not quite fair to say Kate from Lost, as her character is American.

[MissMisa]

It depends where they are from. I've heard American people speak, and my relatives are from Canada, and to me there is a difference, but it depends on where they are each from.

American and Canadian newsreaders for example, sound the same to me, but because of diverse regional accents it can be easy to tell them apart on other occassions. That's how it feels to me, as an outsider, anyway.

[JustinRossTso]

I have limited experience with this, but I live in Toronto Ontario (which is in Canada).

I've been to several places in the states, such as New York and Los Angeles. Both of which seem to have English that would be pretty much the same as the English from my home town. Nothing struck them as odd about me, so I fit in like an American.

I think other places in America might have different accents though. Some people just think about the southern accent as being "American" when not all of them talk like that.

The strange thing is, I heard in Europe they can tell the difference between American and Canadian? (is this true)?

I know I was in Malaysia, and some guy asked if I could move to the side a bit for him to sit, and he asked if I was Canadian after I replied.

[MissMisa]

Originally Posted by JustinRossTso

The strange thing is, I heard in Europe they can tell the difference between American and Canadian? (is this true)?

I'm from England and I feel like I can notice a difference. But I've never tried directly comparing lots of them or anything...

[JustinRossTso]

Originally Posted by MissMisa

I'm from England and I feel like I can notice a difference. But I've never tried directly comparing lots of them or anything...

Oh, maybe there's an attitude difference or something of the sort too. I guess it really varies from person to person.