Learning to speak Canadian...

[unclescott58]

I've had pretty much the same idea about Bob Dylan.

Dylan is from the Minnesota "Iron Range" area. That is so close to Canada, I'm not one bit surprised he can't be understood. ?

Scott

 

Edited February 3, 2017 by unclescott58

[iamsuperdan]

I had an amusing discussion on a business trip I did in Birmingham a couple of years ago. Sitting around in the hotel lounge, trying to find a hockey game on tv. Yes, I was living up to the stereotype. 

Some guy came up, obviously hammered, and started complaining about my accent. Why wasn't I saying "aboot" and using "eh" all the time. And then when I started asking about his accent, he got confused and angry. "What ch'all talkin' 'bout. I ain't got no accent," he said in his thick southern drawl. And I laughed.

Oh, a tip for Canadians travelling to the southern states: do NOT attempt to find hockey on a tv in a bar during college basketball season. It doesn't work well.

 

 

 

[Pete J.]

I had an amusing discussion on a business trip I did in Birmingham a couple of years ago. Sitting around in the hotel lounge, trying to find a hockey game on tv. Yes, I was living up to the stereotype. 

Some guy came up, obviously hammered, and started complaining about my accent. Why wasn't I saying "aboot" and using "eh" all the time. And then when I started asking about his accent, he got confused and angry. "What ch'all talkin' 'bout. I ain't got no accent," he said in his thick southern drawl. And I laughed.

Oh, a tip for Canadians travelling to the southern states: do NOT attempt to find hockey on a tv in a bar during college basketball season. It doesn't work well.

 

 

 

Fair warning,  the only thing dumber would be to try the same thing during college football(yes football not soccer) season!  That can actually get you seriously injured!  

;-)

[CometMan]

I've had pretty much the same idea about Bob Dylan.

Did you ever see the skit on SNL where Bob Dylan was going to perform with Tom Petty? (Dana Carvey played the part of Petty, I don't remember who played Dylan) They had subtitles running across the bottom of the screen like in foreign films. It was really funny!

[espo]

It has been a few years since I have had a  chance to visit our good neighbors to the north. About 10 years ago my wife and I where vacationing in Washington. I wanted to show my wife the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula as she had never been there. We had gotten as far north as Port Angeles Wa. and I remembered a customer of mine telling me about an attraction in British Colombia. The next day we took the ferry to British Colombia . Any picture you have ever seen will not prepare you for the beauty of entering the port. We had to go to the Gray Hound Bus station to get tickets to go to Butchart Gardens. The station is or was very small and we both needed to use the restrooms. These rest rooms where cleaner than some of the restaurants around here. We got to Butchart Gardens and I have to say if anyone is within 10000 miles of this place you have to go and see it. We had lunch in there restaurant and it was the same thing. On our short visit we never saw a paper or any type of trash anywhere we went. The whole area was like it was ready to stand a White Glove inspection, those of you with any military background know what I'm talking about. Everyone was so nice and polite to each other and us that by the time we got back on the ferry I was feeling a little ashamed of myself. I have always tried to be nice toward others, but I'm an ##@@**^ compared to these people.    

[Can-Con]

Well, Brit Hugh Laurie spoke perfect "American" on House, and Andrew Lincoln and half of the rest of the cast of Walking Dead are Brits doing very passable American accents.

true, but all the people I mention use their actual everyday speaking voices, not affected "American" accents. 

 

[iamsuperdan]

It has been a few years since I have had a  chance to visit our good neighbors to the north. About 10 years ago my wife and I where vacationing in Washington. I wanted to show my wife the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula as she had never been there. We had gotten as far north as Port Angeles Wa. and I remembered a customer of mine telling me about an attraction in British Colombia. The next day we took the ferry to British Colombia . Any picture you have ever seen will not prepare you for the beauty of entering the port. We had to go to the Gray Hound Bus station to get tickets to go to Butchart Gardens. The station is or was very small and we both needed to use the restrooms. These rest rooms where cleaner than some of the restaurants around here. We got to Butchart Gardens and I have to say if anyone is within 10000 miles of this place you have to go and see it. We had lunch in there restaurant and it was the same thing. On our short visit we never saw a paper or any type of trash anywhere we went. The whole area was like it was ready to stand a White Glove inspection, those of you with any military background know what I'm talking about. Everyone was so nice and polite to each other and us that by the time we got back on the ferry I was feeling a little ashamed of myself. I have always tried to be nice toward others, but I'm an ##@@**^ compared to these people.    

You're talking about Victoria, BC. An absolutely beautiful city. Actually, Vancouver Island in general is gorgeous. We vacation out there on the west coast every summer.

 

[Misha]

Vancouver Island is truely the best part of Canada with breathtaking scenery and endless recreational opportunities, skiing in Strathcona Park to surfing at Tofino. The Cowichan Valley, my home, is a culinary heaven with local produce and irresistible seafood. The tough part is keeping it all a secret! 

Cheers Misha

[espo]

You're talking about Victoria, BC. An absolutely beautiful city. Actually, Vancouver Island in general is gorgeous. We vacation out there on the west coast every summer.

 

Vancouver Island is truely the best part of Canada with breathtaking scenery and endless recreational opportunities, skiing in Strathcona Park to surfing at Tofino. The Cowichan Valley, my home, is a culinary heaven with local produce and irresistible seafood. The tough part is keeping it all a secret! 

Cheers Misha

Very sorry for forgetting the true name for the area. We got some Starbucks coffee and sat on the steps overlooking the harbor . There were artiest, people reading, and others like us watching the Sea Plains and Ships come and go. Hope to return some day soon.    

[Snake45]

true, but all the people I mention use their actual everyday speaking voices, not affected "American" accents. 

 

You might be onto something. I watched the first five or six seasons of Ice Road Truckers on the Hitler Channel. Most of the drivers on that show were Canadian, but the only one I ever noticed with what I'd call a "Canadian accent" was Alex Debigorski. And even with him, you almost had to listen for it to hear it.

I think there were a couple Canadian crews on Axe Men and I only caught a couple of "Canadianisms" from a few of those fellows, too.

[iamsuperdan]

Vancouver Island is truely the best part of Canada with breathtaking scenery and endless recreational opportunities, skiing in Strathcona Park to surfing at Tofino. The Cowichan Valley, my home, is a culinary heaven with local produce and irresistible seafood. The tough part is keeping it all a secret! 

Cheers Misha

Shh, don't talk about Tofino or Ucluelet! That's where we go when we head out to the island. As much as I love hiking and camping in the Canadian Rockies, only a couple of hour's drive from home, the Tofino/Ucluelet area is my absolute favourite place to be.

[Misha]

Just getting back to the origin of this thread for a moment, my first language is Russsian and back in the late 50s I began school and learned "Canadian" although with a Slavic accent that followed me thru to grade ten when it disappeared. To this day I'm unable to duplicate my previous accent. Thru the years, speaking the language, it became very difficult to define a "Canadian accent".

Two years ago my friend and I spent three months in Croatia, touring along the Adriatic Coast. I was able to use my Russian quite consistently and it was just the two of us speaking "Canadian", rarely hearing English of any type. Having a wonderous meal in Korcula one day, we heard melodic tones being spoken at a nearby table, it was English yet it sounded so familiar and yes unique! Introducing ourselves to the group of young women it turned out that they were from Vancouver, and yes, there is such a thing as a Canadian accent! Eh!

Cheers Misha "Da Canuck" Koslovsky

[1930fordpickup]

The Natives of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have the same accent as Canadians that live in Ontario just north of them.  We call them Uppers and they call us Trolls, because we live under the bridge.  

 

[1972coronet]

How about 'New Scotland' ?

[Belugawrx]

isn't that SunnyVale....?

 

[1972coronet]

isn't that SunnyVale....?

 

Yes sir ! Nova Scotia , right ?

[Spex84]

Lol on the "learn canadian" thing. But for the longest time I thought they spoke Spanish in Brazil (makes sense, right?), so I'm guilty as the next guy I guess.

I've been finding lately that a lot of americans have more neutral accents than might be expected, even easterners and Texans. I talk with a lot of visitors from the US at the local ski hill. Californians stand out a little, perhaps because I've spent some time there and recognize the sound. I once got schooled on my pronunciation of "dude"...apparently my "dood" was incorrect, it was supposed to be "dyood". Dyud. Dyewd? Something like that. As in "dyood, I need some pahwsta".

As a mid-western Canadian, my accent isn't the cliche "oot and aboot"...but I have been known to go oat fer melk.