Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Afterthoughts
AmeriCANADAnglais Dictionary
I have never experienced an area of the British Commonwealth where the English language is still prominent before visiting Canada. What intrigued me was the wealth of difference between pronunciation, colloquialisms and therefore of understanding. I spoke the same language as everybody yet sometimes I felt as if I was actually speaking a different language. I had to sometimes repeat myself, explain what I actually meant, ask people to repeat themselves, ask them to explain what they meant.
The Canadian vocabulary is, I think, essentially English but there are some words that are the same as American (sorry to make that link as I know some of you won't be happy with that), French and just Canadian. The main points in which difference occurs is in slang, everyday language that we often take for granted when we are in our own environment, surrounded by friends or family. In a new environment surrounded by new people gave me the opportunity to laugh about these differences and points of repetition and re-enunciation. So as I said I would, here is a dictionary of words that I came across whilst in Dawson and some of the words that I often use that sound funny. Some of them are the same in both Canada and England and some of these words are just specific to regions, but sometimes the pronunciation is slightly different. You guys pronounce your R's more fully and have a more chilled out delivery than our English eagerness to get it out.
Abbreviations: adj - adjective CDN - Canadian ENG - English exp - expression noun - noun vrb - verb
