Comments on: Do You Speak Canadian…Eh?

By: 10 Myths About Canada | Correr Es Mi Destino

10 Myths About Canada | Correr Es Mi Destino — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:29:02 +0000

[...] have a strong accent: eh? Sure, some Canadians do say “eh” a lot and there are some Canadianisms. But to most people, Canadian and American accents sound alike and the difference, if any, is [...]

By: expatraveler

expatraveler — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:10:34 +0000

Yup – and those acronyms just kill me!

By: Zhu

Zhu — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:01:41 +0000

@iain – Hi there and thanks for commenting!

I never really learned English at school (because I took Chinese instead, but that’s another story), but I remember that the English spelling was definitely more used in Europe. American-English actually puzzled me at first!

Now, I noticed most people around me use American-spelling, hence why I use it too I guess. I would never write “amongst” because it seems that “among” is really more common here. Same for “authorize” etc.

Now, for verbs, I hate writing “learned” instead of “learnt”, but I rarely see the latest.

By: iain

iain — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:30:54 +0000

….now that you mastered spoken Canadian-English, you need to master written Canadian-English!!! i noticed the majority of your spelling are American-English, not sure why, perhaps the form of English you learned in school.

By: Zhu

Zhu — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:47:38 +0000

@Bluefish – There are some French Canadian words that are *only* found in Quebec, and I think tuque is one of them

@Adem – I don’t know North/ South differences in the UK, although I do remember watching Trainspotting in English and going WTF. Scottish is a unique language!

@DianeCA – Really? I guess you do have some crazy weather as well… I’d be curious to know more about the language, you should write a post about it sometimes.

@aline – Oh, I know! Took me a while to get used to it as well… here another one for you: in Quebec, the “nanny” isn’t the “nounou” or “babysitter” like in France, but the “gardienne”… which is basically “warden” in France, and often associated with inmates and jail

@Guillermo – No, not really. I mean, it depends… Between Canadians who live in big cities and Northern Americans, no. But with some Canadians who live in the country, yes, because they really tend to say “eh” a lot!

And I can always tell an Argentinian in South America…

@Tulsa Gentleman – I don’t really get the “oot” thing even though I heard about it. Now, Northern Americans and Canadians tend to speak about the same to me.

@Gail at Large – I hate Timmies actually! Same as you, I only stop there if I’m driving to Montreal or Toronto, because their coffee is so sugary, it keeps me awake

@Final_Transit – Course I did, eh!

@Khengsiong – Yes, “zed” is an English thing. “Zee” is more common if you learned American English.

@Kirsten – I totally agree! Each time I’m talking with Canadians who live in the country, I definitely hear more “eh”.

@Sidney – Languages are funny!

@Shantanu – That’s funny! Indian English is quite different too. The language is very proper English, with some vocabulary Americans wouldn’t use, but with some Indian slang and expressions. I love it!

@shionge – I guess it’s like English in Hong Kong!

@Baoru – Gotta come to Canada!

@Angele – Oh yeah, flurries… same here, I only understood what it was in Canada!

@beaverboosh – Almost, eh!

@Linguist-in-Waiting – I don’t pay too much attention to pronunciation because I’m not a linguistic, but I love vocabulary differences. I heard that there were a lot of pronunciation differences though.

@Seb – Could be actually! Oh my… all these times I asked for a double-double and the guy looked at me funny…

@Beth – Merci! I wish I could apologize but I’m not sure why I would. Sorry

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:42:47 +0000

A belated “Bienvenue” to Canada!
Perhaps I’ll bump into you some day and we’ll both say, “Sorry!”

(thanks for the visit)

By: Seb

Seb — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:34:36 +0000

And I always thought ‘double double’ was some sort of porn slang

As for the snowbirds, I can guarantee you, they all come here to Phx. But right now everyone is escaping, as we are coming into the oven style weather part of the year.

By: Linguist-in-Waiting

Linguist-in-Waiting — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:23:54 +0000

I never realized that Canadian English is unique in those ways! Sometimes, I listen to the Canadian radio here and I laugh at it, they have vowels that are further back than American English, like in “the car smashed” where the /a/ vowel in “smashed” is not like in “fast” but in “father”. And yes, I am not supposed to find this funny, I am a linguist after all.

By: beaverboosh

beaverboosh — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:51:09 +0000

Yeah,you have definitely now gone native! Well done!

By: Angele

Angele — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:56:16 +0000

I enjoyed reading that post I’ve been to Canada a lot of time and I can totally relate to those words like “windchill, freezing rain, timbits…”. Hahaha! It reminds me when I first experienced Canadian winter and how I got to know what “flurries” actually mean!