Do canadians speak american english?
It depends on which part of America and which part of Canada you're comparing. Whenever I go to Washington and California, I think I sound exactly the same (I'm from B.C.). However, if I were to go to Toronto, I'm sure I would be able to detect differences between my accent and theirs. I suppose we tend to sound more like Americans because of our geographic proximity. Even though we are part of the Commonwealth, we are also heavily influenced by our neighbours in the South. However, we still use a ton of British spelling (look at how I spelled "neighbours"). There are a number of provinces that speak a lot of French. There are certain Canadian spellings, sayings, and accents that slightly differ from American English, but for the most part, they are quite similar. Again, it really depends on which part of Canada and which part of U.S.A. you compare.
Which accent came first, American or British English?
British. American accents were already starting to emerge in the early years of the country but the British were talking with their various accents for centuries already. If you go to some parts of New England you can still hear some English accents in the way people talk. New York's accent is probably from the huge number of immigrants that settled there, like Jewish, Italian, etc. Southern accents formed at some point. The midwestern 'non-accent' may have come later, it is what is used by many national news people and others as 'Standard" English. New England is a region made up of several states, not one state.
Is the difference between French in Canada and France similar to that between English in the USA and UK?
First, there are two groups of French Canadians who speak two very different dialects: the first wave of settlers are known as Acadians, and after the mass deportation some of them moved to Louisiana where they’re called Cajuns.Acadians speak a mix of old Norman-French and English called “chiac”.Norman-French, the language of the kings of England after William the Conqueror, is an ancient form of langue d’oïl with a Swedish phonology.Then the second group, where the majority lives in Quebec, speaks Quebecois. And this gets complicated because for some reason their dialect went completely extinct in France (it came from Saintonge and Maine mostly, and it seems that entire communities have been sent to Nouvelle France by order of the king). The quebecois phonology is totally alien to academic French, like long syllables, direct nasalisation of vowels (whereas French has only three distinct nasal vowels), addition of a “-z” or “-s” sound after d and t before a u or an i, etc.For example: “Que dis-tu ?” (What are you saying ?) sounds like: “Que dzi-tsu ?” But more frequently they’ll say “Kestsudzitweh ?” (Qu’est-ce que tu dis, toi ?)Then the dialect and English expressions translated word by word make it impossible to understand for someone who’s only used to academic French.
American vs. Canadian English?
american and canadian english is thesame but they differ in the accent.
What is the difference between North American english and International English?
International English is the concept of the English language as a global means of communication in numerous dialects, and the movement towards an international standard for the language. However, consensus on the terminology and path to standardisation has not been reached. There really isn't any such thing as "North American english." In North America, there are: a) American English, and b) Canadian English, as well as several sub-dialects based on regional 'quirks.' The main differences between American and Canadian English, in the written language, would be (a) some Canadian spellings tend to favor British/European standards (centre vs center, litre vs liter); as well, (b) there are regional vocabulary differences (ask any Canadian what screech, a chinook, or a double-double are, and you'll get a quick answer; there are probably similarly unique US terms which I am not familiar with.) In the spoken language, there are a few differences in pronunciation. The last letter of the alphabet is pronounced 'zee' in the U.S., but 'zed' in Canada; and if you ask an American to pronounce 'roof' you'll usually hear something that sounds 'rough' to a Canadian. If you wanted to know the difference between American English and the English language as spoken in other areas around the world, you would probably find most other regions -as former British colonies - are more similar in usage to the UK than to the US. There would be different accents, and some local vocabulary/terminology, but the English spoken in India, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and elsewhere are quite derivative of UK English. Having said that, because of the worldwide popularity of US music, television shows, and movies, the US vocabulary and usage has influenced international usage more and more, especially since the end of WWII.
Is St. Pierre and Miquelon French more similar to Canadian French or to standard French?
It is standard French like in France. Everything in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon comes from France and stamps for letters are the same as in metropolitan France because it is not considered long distance.Romy Kerwin
Do French Canadians speak English with a french accent or speak french with a English accent?
Most French Canadians in Quebec speak English with varying degrees of a French accent. The late Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau (1968 -1980) was one of the few exceptions I've heard. He was half French Canadian and from Quebec. Once you get outside Quebec, most French Canadians speak English no differently than Anglo-Canadians or Americans. Many like a park manager I once knew, Roy Bilodeau can't speak a word of French. I've never heard of Canadian French or (Quebecois) being called bad or incorrect French. The Cajun French of Louisiana is the one that always seems to get a bum rap with some people calling it atrocious compared to Parisian French. Canadian English is much the same as English in the northern and western United States except that it contains some Briticisms like "mum" for mom, "leftenant" for lieutenant, "samyoorai" for samurai, "postman" for mailman, "letter box" for mailbox and the quasi-British "shejool" for schedule. There is a joke that it comes from them listening to too many speeches by the Queen. Canadian English is at its strongest in the rural and northern towns of Canada where words like house and mouth definitely sound like "hohss" and "mohth." and a couch is still called a chesterfield. Victoria, Vancourver, Calgary and Regina are too close to the American border so this may not always be the case in these places. However, the differences between Canadian English and Standard American English pale in comparison to the American English of the southern United States. Someone once said that the real division in English North America is not the U.S. - Canadian border but the Cumberland gap. I for one, pretty much agree.
If my ancestry is "French Canadian", does that mean it's European French also?
I asked a similar question and got a lot of angry responses, so I'll ask again and rephrase it, with a bit more explanation. Since French Canadians originated from European French colonists, does that mean that someone with French Canadian ancestry can also trace their roots even further back to France? A lot of people got the wrong impression the first time I asked this, thinking I was insulting Canadians. But, the reason I'm asking is because I'm incredibly interested in genealogy, culture, and language. I enjoy tracing my roots back as far as they can possibly go. But, the main reason I'm asking is because of language. All throughout middle and high school, I took Spanish...which made my father pretty upset. Although Spanish is more widely spoken in my area, he told me that I should be taking French. He said that I should be learning the language of our people, our family. It's been years since high school and now I want to learn French on my own. The problem is, in my research of the French language, I learned that there's a pretty distinct difference between the Canadian French language/dialect/whatever and the way people speak in France. (I've heard many European French people say that even though they can understand Canadian French, it still sounds strange.) My immediate family is mostly French Canadian...however, I'm much more attracted to the European dialects of the French language. So essentially, my question is, can I learn "French" French instead of "Canadian" French and still have it be considered "the language of my people"? I know what you're thinking. "If your family is French Canadian, then you should learn Canadian French." Am I right? Well, communication with my family wouldn't be a problem, since the last French speaker in my family, my grandmother, died. So, no one in my family speaks French anymore. And on top of that, it's only my father's side that's French and I don't really have contact with anyone on my father's side anymore. So, I'm not doing it for them...I'm doing it for myself and I personally happen to be more attracted to European French. I just want to know if it can still be considered part of my ancestry.