Canadian vs. American English: School Vocabulary
– C1 (advanced) –
Practice Your Listening Comprehension
Practice Your Reading Comprehension
One of the challenges that many immigrants face in Canada is the language, more specifically the English language. Yes, sometimes this is due to the fact that language learning, in general, is not a simple task, but this is also due to the fact that most countries around the world teach British or American English and consume British or American content. This leaves a lot of people unaware of the existence of Canadian English, resulting in many immigrants struggling to understand common words that English-speaking Canadians use.
To provide better understanding on this topic, here is a list comparing five common Canadian English words* with their American English translations.
*Canadian English is as diverse as its regional variants. This means that some regions in Canada might not use the same English vocabulary as others. The list of words included in this blog post reflect the majority standard in terms of the Canadian English language. It does not intend to negate or devalue any other vocabulary terms used in the country.
🇨🇦 RUNNING SHOES
Photo courtesy of Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash.
Every Canadian student needs a pair of these for gym class: shoes for athletic activities like sports or working out. To the general Canadian population these types of shoes are known as “running shoes” or “runners.” To Canadian children and teenagers in school, they might be referred to as “gym shoes.” To the average American, however, such would typically be considered “tennis shoes.”
🇨🇦 PENCIL CRAYONS
Photo courtesy of Natalie Kinnear on Unsplash.
Canadians across the country typically refer to these colouring utensils as “pencil crayons.” In American English, however, these are known as “colored pencils.” Both variants of English are logical in their naming of these items; they just have different perspectives. While Americans view these as types of pencils that have colour, Canadians view these as types of crayons that are shaped like pencils. After all, to a Canadian, a pencil is not used for colouring, but for writing or drawing, which is why pencils produce only grey lines. It is the crayon that produces coloured lines and is so used for colouring. Since these look like pencils, but they can be used for colouring, they must be "pencil crayons.”
🇨🇦 LOOSE LEAF
“Pile of loose leaf.”
It is a common expectation for Canadian students of all grade levels to take notes of what they learn in class. The paper that they traditionally use to do this on is informally called “loose leaf“ (uncountable noun): a single piece of three-hole-punched paper covered in horizontal lines and featuring one or two vertical margin lines. In American English, loose leaf is often called either “lined paper” or “ruled paper,” but the three hole punches are not necessary to label these as such in America, nor is it important that they are single pieces of paper. In Canada, these characteristics are essential of loose leaf. Otherwise, the word “loose” would not be used and it would be considered something different, like “note paper” (lined paper in a notebook or journal with or without holes), “foolscap” (lined paper without holes, which is longer in length), or simply “paper.”
🇨🇦 DUOTANG
Photo courtesy of Amazon.ca.
When organizing notes, students often put their loose leaf in either a binder or a duotang (also spelled hyphenated, duo-tang, or capitalized, DuoTang/Duo-Tang). In America, this organizational tool is better known as a folder. However, a folder in Canadian English does not refer to something that has foldable metal prongs to hold hole-punched paper in (this is a duotang in Canadian English). Instead, a folder in Canada is a firm paper that is folded in half and is used to separate loose files or documents in a filing cabinet or drawer.
🇨🇦 COLLEGE
“Saskatchewan Polytechnic College”
The word, “college,” arguably confuses immigrants and Americans the most because this word does not mean the same thing in Canadian English as it does in American English. In American English, “college” is most commonly used to refer to a university, a school of higher education after high school, where you can earn a degree in a professional field. In Canadian English, “college” does not mean “university.” In Canada, a college generally refers to a post-secondary school of technical and professional education that focuses on practical experience and/or labour instead of the practice of theory. These schools provide students with the ability to obtain certificates, diplomas, and sometimes associate degrees. They also often specialize in high school programs for adults (who are needing to get better grades in order to be eligible to enrol in a college or university program, or who need Canadian high school experience because the curriculum they were taught in their home country does not meet Canadian standards of education) and programs in continuing education for current professionals. With a Canadian college education a person could become a professional mechanic, construction worker, hairdresser, makeup artist, interior designer, graphic designer, web developer, photographer, business administrator, and more.
If a person wants to get a degree in Canada, then they usually have to apply to go to university, which in Canadian English refers to a school of higher education that focuses on theory and research and distributes certificates, diplomas, associate degrees, honour degrees, Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees, Doctorate degrees, and/or Post-Doctorate degrees. After graduating with a Canadian university education, a person could become a doctor, registered nurse, scientist, lawyer, engineer, architect, economist, businessperson, teacher, professor, etc.
Sometimes universities will collaborate with colleges in order to offer a more diverse selection of education programs at different locations across a province, like a university-style nursing program at a college campus. In this case, degrees may be given out to graduates, but these college graduates may still be limited in terms of where they can work and what they are allowed to professionally do. Such depends on the type of degree program that is offered (e.g., associate degree, licence, etc.).
Overall colleges and universities in Canadian English are two types of post-secondary education institutions that each offer specific programs to help people achieve their professional goals. If you want to be an electrician, then you must go to college. If you want to be a psychologist, then you must go to university. Each industry has a specific set of education requirements, so depending on the industry and the job that you want to do in that industry you may be required to either go just to college or just to university (while it is sometimes possible to go to both, it is not typical, especially not without changing fields, as college credits are not generally transferable to university and vice-versa).
Did you know these differences between Canadian and American English? What surprised you the most? Practice your English by sharing your thoughts with me in the comments below.
