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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Society & CultureLanguages · 2 weeks ago

Can an american pick out a Canadian when out abroad ?

Some Americans assume my dad is American but he's canadian... mind you his accent did change to sound more American cause he hanged out with lots of American tourists

8 Answers

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  • RoVale
    Lv 7
    1 week ago

    I can usually tell if someone is Canadian. There are differences and they're pretty subtle.

  • 1 week ago

    There is something called the "Canadian Rising". For example: 

     "I like ice cream." Becomes 

    "Oy lyok ioys cream." I trying go give a phonetic spelling. Of 'I' becoming the sound 'oy', as in bOY.

    Best I can do.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    1 week ago

    Difficult for me to answer as I am neither. I am British. I cannot distinguish Americans from Canadians. However, I would have expected Americans and Canadians would be able to make the distinctions.

  • Anonymous
    2 weeks ago

    Usually I can, yes. 

    Certain words: 

    About 

    Schedule 

    Sometimes just a general accent. 

    Or what they talk about. 

  • Anonymous
    2 weeks ago

    There are some "tells", so yes.

  • 2 weeks ago

    Some can, and some can't.  It is the same as Canadians detecting an American.  I usually can, but not always.  I have a good ear for accents though, which not everyone has.

    On a trip to England, I was surprised at how many could tell I was Canadian, not American just from my speech.  Of course, many couldn't, but an amazing number of people could.

  • Elaine
    Lv 7
    2 weeks ago

    It really depends on an individual's ability to detect nuances.  Some Canadian regions have very distinctive accents; for example, most Canadians can tell if someone is from Newfoundland or Nova Scotia.  That being said there are certain pronunciations of letters and words that are different from American pronunciations.  Canadians say "zed" while Americans say "zee"; Canadians say "Leftenant" , Americans say "Lootenant" 

  • 2 weeks ago

    Not in my experience, no.

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