Could you survive in the US on your english ?

Salam à tous,

Voici quelques expressions à connaître si vous atterissez un jour aux USA :

1. When you arrive in the United States, you have no money, so you ask someone at the information desk where you can access US currency. He/she says: "The ATM is over there" What is an "ATM"?
An automated teller machine for withdrawing money

2. You go to rent a car and you are asked if you want an "SUV". What is an "SUV" ?
A type of sport utility vehicle that's popular in the US

3. You get lost and need to get directions from an American. To get their attention you say:
"Excuse-me!" (don’t say : sorry – please - hello)

4. If someone says "thank you" to you, the polite American response is:
"You are welcome" (don’t say : that’s ok – sure - anytime)

5. You ask the Concierge for the best place to go shopping. He/she says that there is a "mall" nearby. What is a "mall" ?
A big shopping center.

6 When browsing through a store, someone next to you sneezes. The polite thing for you to say is:
"Bless you!" (don’t say : excuse you, be careful, nothing)

7. You feel like washing your hands, so you ask a shopping attendant for the nearest:
“Bathroom” (don’t say : toilet – washroom)

8. A friend calls you up and invites you over to his/her apartment for dinner. How do you say apartment in American English?
“Apartment” (don’t say : flat – residence – house)

9. You go into a gift shop and ask how much a t-shirt costs. The cashier tells you "ten bucks". How much is that?
$10.00

10. It's been a long day and you're ready to go back to your hotel. You ask someone how to get home. They say that you should take a "cab". What is a "cab"?
A taxi.

A+
Rachel

Thank you rachel,

I think we can use those words in Canada too.

Thank you Rachel for these expressions from american real life.

friendly
elfen

10ks for your help teacher Rachel whenever we have a question we'll ask you.

Thank you Rachel ..

Well I would like to switch on some light on this kind of subject.

HATIMO wrote
Sujet: Could you survive in the US on your english ? Hier à 11:40

I think we can use those words in Canada too

Surely yes . Most of the words explained by sweet Rachel are used in Canada , but according to what I know, some are most common for Canadian .. like the "Washroom" instead of "Bathroom".

Canadian use for example the word take off! But American prefer "you are kidding!! " or "no way" or also " fly an airplane!! "


In Canada , you can hear "That'll learn 'ya ?" . It's a slang for "That will teach you??. " and it's said when someone does something stupid. Exemple: "That'll learn ya!!! to stick a key in the electrical socket"

Sometimes the answer of a common question is so sweet when you hear Canadian talking more than American . Check the answer here :

Q: ?How are you today??
A: "The very best"


I read , by going through some leaves, that The most famous of the traits of Canadian speaking is the words " Eh? " (Pronunciation: Just say " A" ) whenever anyone (particularly Americans) makes fun of Canadians, they make sure to tack "eh" onto the end of all their sentences.


"Eh" is the universal (well, Canadian) term that changes any sentence it is tacked on to into a question. Exemple " That was a good hockey game last night, EH?? " ….
Eh is a very versatile word (is it even a word?). It can be used in many different ways and can mean many different things

You know what dear "érabliste" ? in order to make a proper use of this magic word : Add it on to the end of any sentence that you want to make into a question. Say it whenever you want. The more you say it, the more Canadian you will sound. But if you say it too much, we will know you are not truly Canadian and just imitating them (so pay attention :p ) . "It's a very fine art, eh?" :d

I hope I don't lose much of you .. if you want an easy way to explain so let me tell you that "Eh?" is an utterance regularly injected into conversations which has the meaning “don’t you think?”

Was it clear enough now??? Let me know okay


Poutine: ohh my!!! I'm sure you know it dear friend … Poutine is a dish typical to Quebec consisting of fries, cheese and gravy.

RACHEL Wrote
Sujet: Could you survive in the US on your english ? Hier à 7:52

9. You go into a gift shop and ask how much a t-shirt costs. The cashier tells you "ten bucks". How much is that?
$10.00

Yes I agree with you Rachel it's used in Canada also but more from the Anglo (oupss another Canadian words for people speaking English as long as American don't speak other language) .

We find also :


Loonie is the name Canadians gave the gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin shortly after its introduction. It bears images of a common loon, a well-known Canadian bird, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. (The Loonie currently is worth just over $0.60 US.)

I would like to point out here something important In Québec we talk more about "Une piastre" than "Buck " or " The Loonie" :
The piastre, originally a US dollar-size silver coin, served as the major unit of currency of French Indochina (Present-day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos), and in the Ottoman Empire.
Early private bank currency issues in French-speaking regions of Canada were denominated in piastres. The term is still unofficially used in Quebec French and Acadian slang as a reference to the Canadian dollar

If I have a good memory I heard also about :

Penny = 25c

nickel is a coin worth five cents,

A dime .. I think euhhh it's 10 cents (I hope I'm not wrong)


Here in canada you will hear more cottage (pronounce it ca-tige) than a summer home (used by Americans)…
You will hear pop (wich mean Soda) more than soft drink or Coke as americans used to.

Want more ???

Well here are some of common names used only in Canada for the only reason it doesn't exist in USA :

Monsoons : Vancouver weather from Oct to April
Hogtown : Toronto nickname (by the way pronounce Toronto as Traw-no if you would like to be sound Canadian )
Cookie[/b] : Crazy (it's not like the chocolates cookies )
The Peg : Winnipeg nickname
Puck : Hockey players girlfriend

I hope It was easy, funny and wasn't so long "Ehh " ?

Thank you kabi for the explanation, it seems a little be complicated EHH

Thank you Rachel and Kabi,


Nour

Hello everybody,
thanks Rachel for your message, short and clear!
Kabi thanks for you too!

Merci bcp
Thanks a lot.

Bon courage à nous tous.

Thanks kabi for the information.

I think that canadian people use more english language than american one. May be, because Canada is member of commonwealth's government... eh ???

A+
Rachel

Rachel a écrit:Thanks kabi for the information.

I think that canadian people use more english language than american one. May be, because Canada is member of commonwealth's government... eh ???

A+
Rachel

I read , by going through some leaves, that The most famous of the traits of Canadian speaking is the words " Eh? " (Pronunciation: Just say " A" ) whenever anyone (particularly Americans) makes fun of Canadians, they make sure to tack "eh" onto the end of all their sentences.

Canadian people did not speak neither french as in France nor English as in England or america, I think they have a special langage wich is funny and it's amazing sometimes to listen by the way some conversations on the train, they make me laugh alone as crazy men, but never mind we live betweeen them and we have to speak like them if we want to communicate easily.

thank you very much ...kabi and rachel... that realy realy so sweet ...i try to remind that lol thanks

thanks for your explanation tachel & kabi we will be bilingual.

@+

hi freinds
please enjoy reading these Canadian English words, expressions, and terms
• Automated Banking Machine, ABM, bank machine: common terms for what is otherwise known as an automated teller machine.
• Allophone: a resident whose first language is one other than English or French. Used only by linguists in other English-speaking countries, this word has come to be used by journalists and broadcasters, and then by the general public, in some parts of Canada.
• Bachelor: bachelor apartment ("They have a bachelor for rent").
• Brick: Descriptive word meaning stupid. i.e. "He is a brick".
• Bunny Hug: Term used in Saskatchewan that is a hooded sweatshirt with or without a zipper that has a pocket in the front. Also referred to as a Hoodie in most other provinces
• The Bush: Forested Area. eg. "John worked up in the bush this year".
• Bytown: the original name of Ottawa before its designation as national capital, often still used in the same context as Hogtown for Toronto or Cowtown for Calgary.
• Canuck: A slang term for "Canadian" in the U.S. and Canada. It sometimes means "French Canadian" in particular, especially when used in the Northeast of the United States and in Canada. Adopted as the name of the National Hockey League team in Vancouver. Sometimes jokingly pronounced can-OOK (not used this way for the hockey team, aka "the Nucks").
• Chesterfield: a sofa or couch. Used somewhat in Northern California; obsolete in Britain (where it originated). Sometimes (as in classic furnishing terminology) refers to a sofa whose arms are the same height as the back, but more usually to any couch or sofa. The more international terms sofa and couch are also used; among younger generations in the western and central regions, chesterfield is largely in decline.
• Chinook: a warm, dry wind experienced along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Most common in winter and spring, a chinook wind can result in a rise in temperature of 20 C° (36 F°) in a quarter of an hour. In Alaska, the word is pronounced with an affricate ch instead of the fricative sh sound as used in Canada, and means an extremely wet, warm, constant southwesterly, which actually is the same weather pattern as the drying wind that it becomes when it hits Alberta. The use of the word to mean a wind is from the Chinook Jargon, "i.e., the wind from the direction of the country of the Chinooks" (the lower Columbia River), as transmitted to the Prairies by the Francophone employees of the North West Company, hence the Frenchified pronunciation east of the Rockies. A Chinook in BC is also one of the five main varieties of salmon, and can also mean the Chinook Jargon, although this older usage is now very rare (as is the Jargon itself).

Thank you Kabi, Rachel and all!

Thank you for broaching this very important topic of Canadian English. First, if you speak ‘standard’ English, you don’t really have to worry too much about the differences between Canadian English and other varieties of English; listen here to some examples- there’s really nothing to write home about:

http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/troberts/raising.html

Now, as you browse through the plinks that follow below, you will realize that there’s more to the issue than meets the eye. I would like to offer here some links on various aspects Canadian English:

http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/canada/canada.htm
http://dialect.topography.chass.utoronto.ca/
http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/Canadian-English.html
http://www.ic.arizona.edu/%7Elsp/CanadianEnglish.html

Enjoy!