Why Canadian accents are the best and the easiest to learn and understand for ESL learners

by Jillian Zavitz

Learning English is not a simple task, and learning it from someone who YES may be a native English speaker — but has a difficult accent to understand — is sometimes really hard to get used to. 

In my 8 years of ESL teaching — my students have always commented on how easy and clear it is to understand my “accent”.  Yes, it is quite different from British, Australian, South African and even American accents.  Some describe it as neutral and easy to understand and learn.  Not only that but mainstream English culture uses this neutral accent.

This makes it easier for the student to learn and understand English.  For beginners especially, it is important for them to learn with a neutral accent – have you ever met a non native English speaker who’s English accent was British, or Australian?  It’s quite amusing as an ESL teacher to hear — a Mexican who had never been to England — speaking English with a British accent. 

Now I do realize that there are some misconceptions about the way Canadians speak — no we do not say “eh” after every sentence, nor do we say “aboot” or any other weird or unusual word.  Granted we do have some differences in spelling and in some words (pop not soda, washroom not bathroom) but nothing that would put you at a disadvantage, if anything – an advantage.

So take advantage of learning English with a Native Canadian English Speaker — you’ll notice the difference — not only in the ease of learning and picking up on the new accent — but also in the mannerism in which we speak.