Whats the difference bewteen English spoken in Canada, and English spoken in America?

Question

Please and thank you!!

Answer 1

As a Canadian who is often taken for an American, I would say the differences aren't that big. I have never understood the claim that Canadians say "aboot". Possibly some Nova Scotians or Newfoundlanders do.
One thing I have heard of and do is called "Canadian raising"--I think it makes the "ou" sound in "houses" different from the one in "house".
We say "eh?" a lot, but not all the time.
The words "skating" and "hockey" refer exclusively to those activities on ice. If you're not doing it on ice, you have to say "roller-skating" (or rollerblading) or ball/cosom/street/roller/field/rocket/desk/tonsil hockey.
And "shovelling" in and of itself means shovelling snow, not digging dirt or whatever.
Other good Canuck vocab: pencil crayons, chesterfield, toque.

Answer 2

The differences are quite subtle, for example an American would say 'Toosday' and a Canadian, 'Tewsday'. There are certain different words to mean the same thing, as another poste has mentioned. And depending on the part of each country, the accents can be very different but I think in general the Canadian is softer and less twangy.

Two misconceptions about Canadian English: I've never heard anyone say 'oot' or 'aboot', and think only some of those on the east coast may do so. Secondly, the 'eh' does not end any sentence, but ends a statement which the speaker expects the listener to agree with, such as 'Nice day, eh?'.

Answer 3

Different dialects/accents, different phrases and words are used, etc.; there is actually quite a bit more difference though in the spelling of many words between the American and Canadian versions of the English language than in actual pronounciation. Funny, I'm an American but live, literally, on the Canadian border- when I'm out of the country, I'm often mistaken for a Canadian because the dialect of us Michiganians and many Canadians is so similar. In fact, there is a tremendous amount of difference of English dialects within the US itself (ie Southern, Midwest, New York, New England, etc. to name a few) and, I believe to a lesser extent in Canada as well.

Answer 4

I agree that there are many differences. A very notable one is in pronunciation, especially pronunciation of vowels. There are also some vocabulary differences. Many Americans, for example, will not understand this passage:

Will you please hand me a serviette? I just spilled some poutine on the chesterfield.

while many Canadians will understand it.
In addition, there are some differences in grammar.

Canadian English and American English are different dialects of English, and, just like with two dialects of any language, there are differences.

Answer 5

English in Canada is inbetween American and British. We often use British spellings, some American slang, and will sometimes say things a little differently.

Answer 6

Canadian English is about halfway between American and English English

Answer 7

Probably only in the accents and twangs depending on where the american comes from.

I'm speaking Canadian now - can you tell?

And no. WE don't say "eh?" after every statement

Answer 8

I think in Canada, Almost All Canadians can speak french. I'm not sure tho.......

Answer 9

They seem very similar to me.The only difference I notice is Canadians pronounce 'about' 'aboot'.

Answer 10

i duno cuz the canadians i've met seem to talk like americans except for maybe little things like "oot and aboot".