This is a question that will get your butt kicked if you ask a Canadian face to face. A boot is something you put on your feet in winter. Perhaps some of us do emphasize the U more than the O, but we do promounce essenetially the same way everyone else does.
That's like saying some one from Boston say Park the car instead of pahk the cah. Not everyone has an accent and the majority are of accents aren't that outrageous but occasionally someone lives up to the stereotype. That's why they exist.
Yeah, they kind of do. Everyone has an accent. It's just the way you pronounce things, and everyone pronounces things differently. I actually don't know what kind of accent I've got really. There was a thread a couple of months back but my mic really sucked (the only answer I got was that I sounded a bit commonwealth-like).
I met a dude who did up in Nova Scotia when I went up there with my brother and his girl friend. Maybe they were just playing games with the gullible American, like the Arabs in Israel. but yeah, they said it. No not every one does. What accent do newscasters have? news accent? There are voice coaches who take jobs pretty much to teach people how to speak without an accent.
You don't understand "accent", if you think some people don't have one. From Wikipedia: I guarantee you, everyone has an accent. If an American newscaster went to Australia, he or she would sound American. If a South African newscaster went to the US, people would be able to tell he or she is not an American. QED.
Yes and no, they teach them to speak with the local accent so that they don't sound foreign. A good example of this would be Jamie Bamber, a British man that learned to speak in an American way. You may call it him sounding "like he doesn't have an accent" but to me, he sounds very American. Hm... Israel is on the six day schedule in schools. This means you learn from Sunday to Friday (Friday is a half day) and the get the Sabbath off. However recently there have been talks about switching it to a five day schedule. Some private schools have already started doing this. I have a question at the Americans. How is it there are only two parties in America? (Republicans and democrats) in my country there are dozens of minor parties and three major parties to choose from each representing it's own set of ideals and practices. It seems weird to me that there are only two opinions reflected in the American political system.
Actually there are more parties. There's the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Constitution Party, Socialist Party and there are also Independents that aren't part of any party. I'm pretty sure that there is a socialist and a independent in the Senate. And there's Ron Paul who's really a libertarian but keeps the republican title to be "electable." It just happens that Democrats and Republicans have have the most money and do their damnedest to keep themselves in power.
if we're talking about the fact that Americans SOUND Americans and British SOUND British, then yeah, Indians SOUND Indians, but if there was such as no accent?? It'll be the Indian english-medium scholars. Most of them pronounce everything perfectly, but without emphasisng any particular part. Well, I do have a sort-of accent, comes off listening to songs, acc. to Indian standards, but-oh well! Can't explain it to you..you'll have to talk to a desi for that. Btw, I have a question for the Aussies-Do you seriously call every pretty girl Sheila?
Again, it's more a case of where the emphasise on the vowels is places than using completely different sounds. As for playing games with Americans, as cruel as this sounds, it is so damn easy.
As opposed to Canadian? Or do are we classifying those as the same accent? I think they could tell the person wasn't Australian, maybe could even get to the point of putting them in the western hemisphere but that's it. I'm certain there are Brits who could come here and I could tell they weren't American, but I couldn't tell you if they were from Britain or Australia. If you really want to consider not having an identifiable accent as an accent, well fine. The only reason that's true is because people keep saying it. Everyone says, "Oh well I don't want to throw my vote away so I'll pick the lesser of two evils." Lazy bastard don't want to do any research to find out who actually represents their interests. Those who do take the time to learn about the system are too resigned to the way it works and look for the most electable person who agrees with their favorite issue. Just to represent the America patriots, The reason we have two parties is it's supposed to simplify the debates so that things actually get done. Instead of giving a voice to every idea, we cut it down to what the majority can agree on. It doesn't work that way but that's how it's "supposed" to work.
Never ever have said it, might have only heard it three or four times in real life, in my whole life.
Damn, eggs on my face. I knew that too, but I've hardly spoken the language in a year, so that just goes to show, don't it? EDIT: And American politics suck. I suggest any of you foreigners trying to fathom how it is considered democracy and not oligarchy run away: NOW. Really, I'm moving to Ireland or the UK when I'm out of college and hoping they are more liberal. Hell, if I spoke Norwegian or Swedish, I'd move to Scandinavia.
Liberal does not equal democratic. Our country is democratic. Well it's a democratic republic. A true democracy would be entirely too inefficient. Nothing would get done.
I'm sure anywhere in western Europe is more liberal than the U.S. And probably there's not too much of a language barrier if you lived in Norway or Sweden because it seems that they all speak at least semi-decent if not fluent English. I'm still not sure about how I feel about the various political systems that exist. They're all flawed because we humans are flawed. I imagine if people were perfect, a communitarian socio-economic system would work well.
Agreed with Addicted, Just Democracy would be a headache, ours is a Secular, Socialist, Democatic Republic Union of States(NOT a Federation like the US)
I was saying this because Canadians often sound American to most people outside of the US, unless they have a lot of experience with the difference. I honestly couldn't tell if someone was from the northern US or southern Canada by listening to them, and many people can't. I mean, sure I could tell if the American had some heavy Southern drawl going on (Ah have always relaad aann the kaandniss of straynjuhs), but that's an obvious example. It gets real fuzzy with most accents from North America. Not being able to identify where an accent comes from doesn't mean the person doesn't have an accent, it just means you can't identify it. The Mystery Man with the British / Aussie accent would still stick out like a sore thumb in, say, Mobile, Alabama. Ultimately, an accent is a speech pattern. If you speak, you have a speech pattern. Having no accent is hence a ludicrous notion.
The base form of America's government wasn't a bad idea. A Constitutional Republic, but then political parties came along and well... screwed it up.
A question for Americans Why is the republican partys logo an elephant and the Democrat Party a donkey And what do the red and blue colours represent?
Even a lot of Americans and Canadians can't tell the difference in many cases. Look at all the actors/mucisians/singers that are successful in both countries. Can you tell the difference? I only knew that Keanu Reeves was from Canada because my uncle was his acting instructor.
Haha surely a donkey isn't the best logo to represent decisive action?! Actually now I think the Catalan logo is 'un ane' too but it has a stripy background at least...
No idea, but I'd bet more non Americans know than Americans do. Political parties existed from the beginning. The federalist is the only one I can remember off the top of my head but there were others too.
