有天我聽了Sarah說了個英文字，我還糾正了她。

Sarah說她父母也有相同的發音，女兒也說大家都是這麼發音的。

那個字是“often” ，就是經常的意思，以前學過 “ t “ 不發音的，考音標時都會特別注意。

咦？ 我也覺得有點奇怪，我怎麼會糾正白人的發音？

當天看電視時， “often” 這個字出現就特別頻繁，

而且每個人的發音都是和 Sarah 相同的，這才驚覺怎麼在加拿大 ” t “ 是發音的。

不是說加拿大的拼字是和英國相同，而發音和美國相同的嗎？

從此，對這個字有了重新的認識，更重要的是確實體驗了在不同的英語系國家，

有不同的發音方式和用字譴詞，而我們以前學的只是美式英文。

以下轉貼了刊於日界日報，有關加拿大英文的文章供大家參考。

Canadian English?

(Pandora Siganakis is staff writer and a teacher trainer at King George International Business College in Vancouver. www.kgic.ca)

English is a funny language. Words do not sound they way they are spelled. Words are spelled differently in different countries. Words have more than one meaning. One meaning has many words to explain it. And a word may mean something different in one country to the next. English is an international language, but it is not standard.

In Canada, English is an interesting mix of British and American language. Generally, our spelling is British. We spell colour with the ‘ou’ combination. In the United States, the ‘u’ is removed. This is true for favourite and flavour as well. We also spell words like centre and theatre with ‘re’ not ‘er’. Our pronunciation, however, is American.

Our vocabulary, though, is sometimes very much our own. We do not follow British vocabulary. We generally use American words. For example, we say elevator instead of lift. We say sweater not jumper. But we do not always follow American either. In fact, in Canada there are words that are only used in this country.

One great example of this is the word tuque (or toque). A tuque is a knitted wool hat that Canadians wear in the winter. Now that it is getting colder, you can see people across the country wearing tuques.

Another example is the name toonie and loonie for money. A toonie is our two dollar coin. A loonie is our one dollar coin. Only here in Canada do we call our money by these names.

The tag ‘eh?’ at the end of sentences is another thing unique to our country. It means ‘don’t you think’. For example, “It is cold these days, eh?” It is a common way of speaking in Canada. Many Canadians probably do not notice they are doing it. I only realized I said ‘eh?’ when I was living abroad. It showed my Canadianness.

Often it may be the words we use abroad that show us to be Canadian and not American. In a restaurant, for instance, we would ask for the bill at the end of a meal. An American would ask for the check. To order a soft drink such as Coca Cola, we would ask for a pop not a soda. To wash our hands, we have washrooms not ladies’ or men’s rooms. For water, we use a tap not a faucet.

Here are some further differences:

In buildings, the bottom floor is called the main floor here. Across the border, it is called the first floor.

We catch a long-trip bus like the Greyhound bus at a bus depot not a bus station.

Our firefighters work at a fire hall not a fire station.

We say our special days off from work such as Thanksgiving and Christmas Day are statutory holidays not legal holidays like in the United States.

Many of these differences are not so important. An American would understand what we are saying with our Canadian terms. We would understand an American. But one thing that often confuses my ESL students is the pronunciation of the letter ‘z’. They all learned the American pronunciation ‘zee’. Here in Canada, like in Britain, we say ‘zed’. When I try to give the spelling of a word with a ‘z’ in it, they sometimes do not understand me. It is one small letter, but it is different from one English-speaking country to the next.

There is no standard English language. It is a language to learn on a country to country basis. In Canada, it helps to know our vocabulary to understand people. In England, it is very useful to know the pronunciation of words. Yes, English is funny. But it is kind of interesting at the same time, eh?

《字詞解釋》

●tag: （名詞）結束語，附加語。

●unique:（形容詞）獨特的。

●sweater, jumper:（名詞）套頭毛線衣。

●tuque, toque:（名詞）圓筒狀毛線帽。

●tap, faucet: （名詞）水龍頭。

●bus depot, bus station:（名詞）巴士站。

●statutory holidays, legal holidays:（名詞）法定假日。

●on a country to country basis: 因國家而異。

2008-01-19