British vs American vs Canadian ENGLISH Differences! (PART 2) (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

(lighthearted music)

- Hello everyone and welcome back to

"English with Lucy."

Today, I am bringing you part two

of my collaboration with Bob the Canadian

and Rachel from "Rachel's English."

We are doing a comparison of British English,

American English and Canadian English.

Last time, we looked at the difference in vocabulary

and today we're going to be looking at pronunciation.

Let me quickly introduce my two wonderful guests.

First up, we have Rachel from "Rachel's English."

- My name is Rachel

and I run the YouTube channel "Rachel's English,"

where we cover all things spoken English

with an emphasis on American English,

slang, the American accent, listening comprehension,

conversation skills and so on.

- And representing Canada we have Bob

from "Learn English with Bob the Canadian."

- Well hello Lucy and all of Lucy's viewers.

I'm Bob the Canadian from the YouTube channel,

"Learn English with Bob the Canadian,"

and I'm here today to read a few sentences for you

with my Canadian accent.

- If you've never met me before

my name's Lucy.

I run this channel, "English with Lucy"

and I come from Cambridgeshire in England

and I speak with a modern RP accent,

sometimes with a hint of Estuary.

I wonder if you can spot that ever.

As always, there is a free PDF

that goes along with today's lesson.

If you would like to download it,

all you've got to do is click on the link

in the description box.

You enter your name and your email address.

You sign up to my mailing list and the PDF will be sent

directly to your inbox

and then every week after that,

you will automatically receive all of my free PDFs,

along with my news, course information and updates.

Okay.

So how is it going to work today?

Well, I have got six groups of three sentences.

We're going to read them one after the other,

so you can immediately compare

the differences in how we pronounce things.

Let's get started.

So first up, we're going to have a look at my

"au" and "o" sounds.

These can be very different in American English

and Canadian English.

Have a listen.

I caught the cot.

- I caught the cot.

- I caught the cot.

- I caught the cot.

- I caught the cot.

- I caught the cot.

- Number two, the tot was taut.

- The tot was taut.

- The tot was taut.

- The tot was taut.

- The tot was taut.

- The tot was taut.

- And number three,

I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

- I bought a bot.

When I read these sentences,

I say both words the same way.

I caught the cot,

the tot was taut, I bought a bot.

- So that's really interesting.

Both of them pronounce in a really similar way.

I caught the cot. (laughs)

But for me, it's very, very different,

caught, cot.

Similar mouth shape.

One is much longer than the other.

Caught, cot,

caught, cot,

taught, tot,

bought, bot.

Listen to these next three.

This for me is "I" sound before an "r" sound.

Number one, borrow.

- Borrow.

- Borrow.

- Borrow.

- Borrow.

- Borrow.

- Number two,

sorry.

- Sorry.

- Sorry.

- Sorry.

- Sorry.

- Sorry.

- Number three,

tomorrow.

- Tomorrow.

- Tomorrow.

- Tomorrow.

- Tomorrow.

- Tomorrow.

- So all three of us sounds so different here.

I love Bob's "or."

It's like a really long one, sorry.

For me it's "oh," sorry. Sorry.

And Rachel's is more of "ah," sorry.

Sorry, sorry. Sorry.

(laughs)

It's so fun. This is why I love pronunciation.

It is so much fun.

- In particular the word, "sorry"

I pronounce with a very strong Canadian accent. I'm sorry.

(laughs)

- I'm sorry. Sorry.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's really distinctive

because before I started studying pronunciation,

I really struggled to tell the difference

between the American accents and the Canadian accents.

I wouldn't have been able to identify people.

The "or" sorry, sound for me,

makes that quite easy to differentiate.

I wonder if the whole of Canada

says it in that way

or if it's a particular region or generation.

In these next three,

we're going to have a look or listen to the flat "T."

Consider how I say the "t" sound

in the middle of words compared to how Rachel

and Bob say it.

Number one,

a little bit of butter.

- A little bit of butter.

- These are gonna be a bit challenging, even for me.

A little bit of butter.

- A little bit of butter.

- A little bit of butter.

- A little bit of butter.

- Number two.

It's wetter in Toronto.

- It's wetter in Toronto.

- It's wetter in Toronto.

- It's wetter in Toronto.

- It's wetter in Toronto.

- It's wetter in Toronto.

- So did you notice that Rachel

dropped the second T in Toronto. Toronto.

That's because in American English,

they sometimes drop the T

when it comes after an N.

Toronto, Toronto.

(laughs)

My American accent is just horrendous. (laughs)

Another good example of this is internet, for me.

For Americans, internet. Internet.

And number three,

I know a lot about it.

- I know a lot about it.

- I know a lot about it.

- I know a lot about it.

- I know a lot about it.

- I know a lot about it.

So you'll notice when I say Toronto,

I actually say Toronto.

So here we go again, a little bit of butter.

It's wetter in Toronto.

I know a lot about it.

- Okay, I feel like the odd one out here

because I do pronounce my T's in the middle of words.

Now, in British English,

we do use a glottal stop quite frequently.

If I were speaking really quickly with my friends, I might

drop the T in little and say little, little.

You might also hear a glottal stop, like little.

A little bit, a little bit.

It's a very soft glottal stop.

We don't tend to use the flap "T" as much

which is when you almost, and it's not exactly a D,

but it sounds very similar to a D, a little bit.

A little bit of butter.

It doesn't sound right in my accent

but it sounds perfectly fine in theirs.

It's curious that both of them say Toronto.

Bob almost completely skips a syllable there,

Toronto, Toronto.

For me, it's Toronto, Toronto.

(laughs)

- Love the flap "T".

It's so fun.

(laughs)

- I think the flap "T' is fun.

And do you know what, I am actually hearing the flap "T"

creeping into British English now.

And it seems to be a sort of posh thing.

I'm hearing sort of Midland upper class Londoners,

as it seems, based in Chelsea.

If you listen to "Made in Chelsea,"

that's a TV show about

young rich people in Chelsea.

They'll say, "Yeah, I think it's better. It's better."

But that was never really a thing in the past

to you use that flap "T."

Maybe it's cause they're, so well-traveled

that they go over to the States and Canada

and they've picked up that flap "T."

This next bundle will hopefully show

a bit of the British influence on Canadian English.

Have a listen.

Again and against.

- Again,

against.

Again and against.

- Again and against.

- Again and against.

- Again,

against.

Again and against.

- Again and against.

Like if the Toronto Maple Leafs

play a game against the Montreal Canadiens.

- Ah, so it's interesting that they both say,

"Again and against,"

whereas for me it is again and against.

You will also hear Brits saying, "Again and against."

I think that's something that we've picked up

from consuming so much American media.

Yeah, I think you'd find me using both actually,

with no real identifiable rhyme or reason.

Avenue.

- Avenue.

- Avenue.

- Avenue.

- Avenue.

- Avenue.

- Ah, so for me, it's avenue. New.

That's a big difference between British English

and American English.

They say new, we say new.

I was curious to hear what Bob had to say

because I have heard Canadians say new as well.

And the last one, adult.

- Adult.

- And adult.

- Adult.

- Adult.

- And adult.

So that's how I would say those again and against,

avenue and adult.

- Ah, so the stress on adult and adult is different for us.

For me, adult.

Go and tell an adult.

And for them it's go and tell an adult.

Adult, adult.

Okay, next we're going to have a look at how we all say

what I would say is the "ou" sound

because there's a common stereotype that the Canadians

pronounce it as about and Bob is going to show us

if that's true or not.

First up, out and about.

- Out and about.

- So you'll hear my Canadian accent fairly strongly again

in the following.

If I say out and about.

- Out and about.

- Out and about.

- Out and about.

- Next, how's the house?

- How's the house?

- How's the house?

- How's the house?

- How's the house?

- How's the house?

- And finally, the sound is too loud.

- The sound is too loud.

- The sound is too loud.

- The sound is too loud.

- The sound is too loud.

- The sound is too loud.

Some people think that Canadians say the word "about"

like "about," but we don't.

Here's a sentence so you can hear the difference,

"The man was out and about in his boat.'

It's a classic Canadian phrase

if you wanna hear a Canadian accent.

The man was out and about in his boat.

- The man was out and about in his boat.

I can definitely hear the difference between Rachel's accent

and Bob's accent there.

His is definitely more of a "ooh"

and hers is wider.

Mine seems to be wider still.

Out and about.

Our final group of words are words beginning with pro.

There are definitely some differences here.

First up process.

- Process.

- Process or process.

- Process.

- Process.

- So words like process or process,

they make me laugh a little bit

because I don't even know why I use two pronunciations.

I could say a sentence like this,

"the process for making bread is a very long process,"

and I pronounced the word two different ways.

I blame this mostly on the fact that Canadian English

is a blend of American and British English.

So the process was a long process.

Yeah. Weird, hey?

I don't even know why I choose one pronunciation

over the other.

- That's so interesting that he uses both.

I guess it's like again and again for us.

We use both and we don't really know why.

The next two are noun-verb pairs.

So first I'll say the noun, then I'll say the verb.

Project,

project.

You will have some people saying project instead of project.

- Project, project.

- You can work on a project. You can also work on a project.

- Project, project.

- Project, project.

- So with project,

I'm trying to figure out which pronunciation is most common.

Like you can work on a project.

You can also work on a project.

I think the first one is more common in Canadian English.

I think project is more common,

but we also have the verb form right, to project.

So as a student,

you can work on a project and then you can project

your project to the class using a projector.

Yeah, it gets a little confusing when you're Canadian.

I think we just go with the flow.

We just pick whatever pronunciation

makes the most sense at the time.

- Oh yes. So our pronunciation is very different there.

For me it's project, project.

And for Rachel it's more of "ah" sound. Project.

And the last one, progress to progress.

- Progress.

Progress.

- Progress and progress.

- Progress to progress.

- Progress.

Progress.

- Progress and progress.

- Same for Bob there as well. Progress.

Progress, project.

For me, project, progress.

Progress, sometimes as well.

Yeah, I think this has just made it clear

that we're not quite sure what we're doing.

(laughs)

- They're doing some road work actually

on my road this week

and I don't think they're making a lot of progress.

When I drive by,

I just don't think they're making a lot of progress

because they're usually just standing around.

So you can see once again, as a Canadian,

I say progress and I say progress.

I don't even know why I choose the pronunciations I do.

The words just come out,

either using one pronunciation, progress,

or the other, progress.

And then of course we have the verb as well, right,

to progress, which has another pronunciation entirely.

To progress.

- Right. That is it for today's pronunciation lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.

Thank you so much

to Rachel and Bob for that invaluable contribution

to this video.

I've left all of their information

down below in the description box

so you can go and check out their channels

and their websites and everything.

Don't forget to download the free PDF

that comes with today's lesson.

It's got everything we've spoken about today.

If you'd like to download that,

just click on the link in the description box.

You enter your name and your email address,

and it will arrive directly in your inbox

along with all my other lessons

every week as they come in

and all of my offers, course information and updates.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my website, englishwithlucy.co.uk

and my Instagram.

And on my website, I've got a really cool pronunciation tool

where you can click on all the phonemes

and hear me pronounce phonemes and words

that contain those phonemes.

It's very fun.

E.

Word.

No.

I've also got my personal channel

where I upload vlogs of my daily life here on a farm

in the English countryside

and all of them are subtitled

so you can use them to acquire more vocabulary

and to improve your listening as well.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

(blows a kiss)

(cheerful music)