[General] American and Canadian

[patran]

Dear Teachers

Sometimes, it is quite difficult to tell the difference between the American and Canadian accent. I try to tell if the girl in the video below speaks with an American or Canadian accent and the traces (or other accent?) to explain the traces to my daughter, as she wants to know.

Chan Ming-yan - YouTube

Some pronunciations sounds a bit British though (or I am wrong?).

Regards

Anthony

 

[Tdol]

I'll leave the bulk of your question to American and Canadian speakers, but I would agree that some of her sounds may sound a bit British.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hard to say though I can't hear any British-sounding bits. The end of one word (I've forgotten which one) sounded a little Australian but that may have been because she was employing the American/Australian habit of "questioning intonation" at the end of statements. I didn't hear any giveaway Canadian pronunciation either so I would have said she is from the USA and not from a Southern state. I too will be interested to hear from American and Canadian variant natives.

 

[probus]

Neither the American nor the Canadian accent exists as such. The United States has some regional accents, for example southern, New England and midwestern. Canada has some small regional accents, maritime and Newfoundland. But for the most part the people of North America speak what you might call CNN.

One little thing that tends to distinguish Canadian from American English is the pronuciation of ou. In Canada it is shorter and more closed than in the US. Americans often claim that Canadians say oot for out and equate our pronuciation to the Scottish.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D
I've found this:Corinna Chamberlain (Chan Ming-yan) | HK Magazine Online

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

I was born in Hong Kong. My mum is from Australia and my dad is from New Zealand. They came here over 30 years ago and they have been living here ever since. My brother and I were both born and raised here.

How about that! I thought for sure that she was from the US.

 

[SlickVic9000]

It sounded to me like her accent was pulling between a vaguely "British" accent and vaguely "Asian" one. If it weren't for that I'd have guessed American, because nothing in her word choice suggests a "British" or foreign speaker. Just for contrast, the second speaker sounded very normal to me, so I don't think I was just imagining it.

 

[konungursvia]

She sounds like a Swede who learnt British English until age 15, then went to America for 7 years.

 

[tzfujimino]

I personally didn't think she was a native speaker of English.
I'm not sure what it was, but her English didn't sound natural to me.

(Edit) I remember the day when I heard Chicken Sandwich's English. I found his English very natural back then.

 

[5jj]

She sounds like a Swede who learnt British English until age 15, then went to America for 7 years.

Nah. A Norwegian who learnt BrE until she was 14, then went to America for 8 years.

 

[emsr2d2]

And there was me thinking she might be an Aalander who'd spent a lot of time in the Federal Nations of Micronesia. ;-)