Hi everyone. It's Yukari.
Don't you think American English and Canadian English are the same?
Actually they are a bit different in some ways.
So we're gonna talk about the differences between American English and Canadian English.
Actually Stu-san is not Canadian.
Fake Canadian.
S: Yes, it's true.
What's your nationality?
S: I'm British.
Y: Actually he's British.
S: Yes, I am English.
Y: But how long did you live in England?
S: Only until I was 12.
Y: So you moved to a different country?
S: Yeah, I moved to Bermuda, when I was 12,
which is an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Y: and then you came to Canada?
S: When I was 16.
Y: 16. So you've been living here almost 20 years right now.
S: ....No... Y: Almost! Almost!
S: Next question. How old is Stu-san?
S: Almost 20 years, yeah.
Y: Almost 20 years. So he is almost Canadian...
but fake Canadian.
So, we want to talk about like the differences between
Canadian English, American English, and British English.
S: Right. Y: Okay, so...
Y: Spelling. Speling is different too.
The Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American.
So some words are the same as American English.
Some are the same as British English.
So there are some differences in the way that certain words are spelled between
American English and Canadian English and UK English.
One example would be the word "color"
which in Canadian and British English uses a "U."
Another example would be the word "center"
so instead of an ER at the end of the word
it's RE at the end of the word.
Words that have Z's in them
sometimes are spelt with S's instead of the Z so
like word realize has a Z instead of an S.
The word "traveling,"
which in UK English has two L's
and in American English, has one L.
Canadian English uses the UK version, so two L's for that word.
The word "gray" is another example
Americans use A instead of an E
and the UK and Canada use an E for that word.
The final example is the word "check."
In the US, you spell it CHECK
and in the UK CHEQUE,
so quite different for that word.
That's probably the biggest one.
Y: So like American English and Canadian English
we use different spelling and also
sometimes we use totally different words, vocabularies.
We will introduce some words like differences between
Canadian English, American English and British English.
Because he's British.
There are a lot of examples.
S: So these are just a few examples
and it's important to remember too that
sometimes the Canadian and British words are the same
and sometimes the American and Canadian words are the same.
Sometimes they're all different. Sometimes they're all the same.
but so it's just worth while to remember that
there may be a difference there might not be difference.
Y: So first one is スニーカー.
うんどうぐつ
So American English is sneakers.
And in Canadian it's?
S: Runners
Y: and British?
S: Trainers
Y: Okay the next is...
ニットハット
S: Like "neat" as in...
Y: Knit...knitted... right?
S: Ahhh... ニットハット, I see.
Y: American English is bennies?
S: Beanies.
S: Beanie. It's a beanie. Y: Beanie.
Y: And then Canadian?
S: Tuque.
Y: And British?
S: Wooly Hat. Or a knitted hat.
Y: Knitted hat.. normal.
Y: The American English is rest room or a bathroom.
The Canadian English?
S: Washroom
Y: and British?
S: Toilet or, loo, just loo.
Y: Loo is not only a baby word?
S: Oh no no, that's a normal, British English word.
"Where's the loo?"
Y: But here in Canada, like in the house, we say bathroom
because there is a bathtub and shower with a toilet.
S: Yeah, yeah.
Y: So, we say bathroom right? in a house.
But outside like restaurant or like... where?
a shopping mall, we'll say washroom.
S: "Where is the washroom?" Yeah. "The washrooms."
Y: So, the letter Z.
Americans say "Zee."
And Canadians say?
S: Zed.
Y: And British?
S: Zed.
Y: I didn't know! Canadians say "Zed."
S: When I came to Canada I started hearing people say Zee,
like American people on TV or movies...things like that
and I was like...phew...sounds so strange.
like Australian people say like, "Hache."
S: Yeah, exactly. It's a really strange sound to my ear.
Y: Yeah okay and
the American people say soda about...
たんさんいんりょう
S: Like coke or sprite.
Y: Soda. And Canadians say?
S: Pop.
Y: And British?
S: Fizzy Drinks.
S: Sometimes the Canadian version can be
either the UK word or the American word.
Y: Okay, so, American people say check about the...
how do you explain?
S: When you want to pay for your meal.
Y: せいきゅうしょ
S: At the end after you finish at a restaurant.
Y: Canadians say?
S: Check.
Y: Or bill? S: Or Bill.
Y: And British say?
S: Just Bill.
Y: しょうぼうしょ
Y: American people say firehouse or fire station.
In Canada?
S: Fire hall.
S: But I think American people sometimes say fire hall as well.
Y: Oh really? okay. And British?
S: Just fire station. Yeah definitely just fire station.
S: So some other ones between American English and Canadian English.
S: So, the third season...of the year.
Y: Fall.
S: In American English and also Canadian.
Y: Autumn.
S: Ah, so this is interesting.
In Canada, you would say fall or autumn.
But UK English is just autumn.
S: This is actually quite important for you.
Line up or Queue up.
S: Yeah, so...queue is a Canadian and British word
so it's used in both Canadian English and British English.
so you can say "queue." "Where's the queue?"
S: Or, in American English, it's "Where is the line?"
Y: I think people say line here as well...
S: Yeah, yeah, but people also say queue.
S: American cheese
Y: What is American cheese?
S: Like, fake cheese.
S: like this is... also something that like I had to learn about when I came to Canada
because you can buy like cheese in a plastic like wrap
because it's like it's made to be the same size as a piece of bread.
And it's called American cheese in the United States
but in Canada we call it processed cheese.
S: So the thing you put on your back to carry your books?
Y: Backpack?
S: In the United States it's a backpack.
It can also be called a knapsack.
Y: Knapsack?
S: ...knapsack here
or in the in the UK it can be called a rucksack.
Y: Rocksack? S: Ruck
Y: R? S: Yeah.
Y: So even any backpack? S: Yeah.
Y: In Japan, we say ナップサック for certain backpacks.
Y: Like this kind of thing? S: Oh okay.
Y: Like there is a really thin string.
S: That's called a tote bag.
Y: This is knapsack in Japan.
S: If you call that a knapsack in Canada,
they'd look at you kind of strange.
Y: Like, proper proper backpack is knapsack here?
S: Yeah, can be. Y: Any backpack?
S: Yeah, but in the UK, a rucksack means a big one.
S: This is the difficult thing because it's quite flexible.
Some people call different things different words. It's difficult.
S: I don't use those bags so I have no idea.
S: I just use the word "backpack."
It seems to me like the best word for it. Backpack.
S: Because it's a bag you wear on your...back.
S: So, like workout pants. Workout trousers. That you wear.
S: In America are called track pants.
Y: Track pants?
S: In Canada they're called sweat pants.
ジャージ
S: So, one of the other ones, like, in Canada it can be both, is "Downtown."
S: This is an interesting one to me because
if you see signs for a downtown area
meaning, you know, the busiest part of the city,
the signs for that area in Canada will often say
city centre.
But when we're talking we'll say downtown.
Y: Where does it say City Centre?
There is a station name, "City Centre."
S: And, like, signposts.
S: So, if you were driving and you were trying to find downtown,
don't look for downtown signs look for Vancouver city centre signs.
S: Yeah, that's often what you see.
S: Whereas in the United States, it'll always be called "downtown."
It'll always be a district.
S: I shouldn't say always, because maybe not.
Y: So, like, proper Canadian English is
quite...British...
S: Yeah, the way I think about it is that often...
signposts, or like books spelling writing things around universities
things that have some kind of like big history or a connection to the United Kingdom
like the schooling system, will utilize more British English but
just regular language talking more casual conversation
usually uses more American English because
that's where we get all our television from, music, culture.
It kind of makes sense right?
Y: Because people don't care about what is American English, Canadian English, so much.
S: Yeah, I mean it's like any country in the world, the language will change
depending on different areas.
In some places like England there's huge differences.
Y: Accents? S: Accents, in only in like a small space.
S: Even just a couple hours of driving
you can get a different style of English. Different words.
I mean the difference between Scottish English and Southern England English
It could be a different language really.
Y: But, in Canada...so, you lived near Toronto... Ontario area before for a long time
so do you think like east side and west side they speak different...
they use different accents?
S: Yeah there is a really small difference
but there is a difference. There is a different sound there.
The difference between East Coast Canadian
in the Maritimes or in Newfoundland or
like the islands that are on the very East coast of Canada,
they speak quite differently to Ontario, and central Canada.
I mean, the difference between the English spoken in Toronto
and the English spoken in Vancouver is not very big
but there is just a tiny little difference in a little bit of a difference.
You know, especially if you were a younger person
using sort of slang English. That kind of thing.
There should be difference for sure.
And of course I mean in the United States the difference between
the way that people sound in California and the way that people sound in Texas
and the way that people sound in New York.
Y: It must be so different. S: They're really different.
The southern United States have a very different sound so
I mean that's accent though not not word differences, so a little bit different.
Now the thing to remember with all this is that
you know I mean this is just a small list
there's so many differences
so it's impossible for you to try and memorize.
Y: No you don't need to memorize
but just you can you can know like as a information.
S: Yeah exactly. Be aware.
Sometimes there's differences and
maybe if you go into an American restaurant and ask for
'can I have the bill please'
The server might say... Y: Where are you from?
S: They'll probably know what you mean, but its just little differences.
So we talked about the differences between American English, Canadian English
and British English this time.
We're thinking about making a video about more Canadian words.
There are a lot of speicial words which are used only in Canada
so I wanna share with you near future.
If you enjoyed this video and
you think you wanna know more Canadian English,
please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel.
So see you next my video!