Differences between Canadian and American English

A great big Canadian hello to everyone out there learning English (and even those who are not)!

In today's blog, I am going to list some fun differences between Canadian and American English.

I found these differences in this BBC article. It is long and a little difficult to read, so I thought I would list my favourites (not 'favorites') here.

Accent

The Canadian accent is usually easy to understand. The hardest accent to understand is probably Newfoundland English or Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia) English. There is a common accent point though. Canadian English speakers usually raise there voice tone (not volume) before a voiceless consonant.

A voiceless consonant sound is a sound that is made without vibrating any part of the mouth, like an 's' sound. A voiced consonant sound is a sound that does vibrate the mouth, like a 'z' sound.

Example: 'Ice' and 'Eyes'. (Notice how the 's' in 'eyes' sounds more like a 'z'.)

Notice that the 'I' in 'ice' is pronounced with a higher note sound (like a music note) than the 'E' sound (pronounced as an 'I' sound) in 'eyes'. In other words, the vowel stress in 'ice' is more obvious than the vowel stress in 'eyes'. 

Don't worry if this is a little confusing. Everything is confusing to begin with. It will get easier. Just try to say the words and have fun!

Vocabulary

Canadian English : Toque

American English: Knit hat

Canadian English: Poutine

American English: ?

Canadian English: Nanaimo Bars

American English: ?

                 

Canadian English (Inspired by hockey): To deke someone out

Example: 

During the hockey game, I made it appear that I was going to take the hockey puck left up the ice, but at the last minute, I switched to the right and passed the other team's best defensive player. I totally deked him out!

When we are not playing hockey, 'to deke' means to avoid someone who expects you to be somewhere. For example, you can deke someone out at a party (a person who you don't want to see or talk to).

Well, I hope you learned something new and fun. At least, I hope you learned about some good food you would like to try.

You can find some more differences here, if you are interested. The article is easy to read and kind of fun!

If you are confused about how English in different counties is different, we can fix that!

If you would like to know more about English and how you can be a better speaker and listener, just send me an email or leave me a comment here. Also, you can follow this blog to get new information when I post it. 

Take care,

Matthew

englishispersonal@gmail.com