I thought we should move this discussion to a new topic.  What about how Nathan says "coffee" when he presents them with the espresso machine?  That's definitely not how New Yorkers say coffee.  Is that his Alberta accent, Aicha?

I've never noticed an accent. But I'm also Canadian. :P And I've never been to New York so I don't know how they would say "Coffee." Although, I'd imagine that with the population of New York there'd be lots of different ways people say it.

Now I'm curious, how should it sound?

akajb said:

I've never noticed an accent. But I'm also Canadian. And I've never been to New York so I don't know how they would say “Coffee.” Although, I'd imagine that with the population of New York there'd be lots of different ways people say it.

Now I'm curious, how should it sound?

New Yorkers say "kaw-fee."

Like akajb said, I have no idea what 'coffee' should sound like in NYC and Nathan sounded normal, but we're from the same city so who knows haha. When I try to pronounce 'kaw-fee' and 'kah-fee', the former definitely sounds more natural… So who knows, maybe because English is my second language (we moved to Canada when I was 9) I have a tendency to blend what I heard from TV and general society. A mystery.

From what lilmac posted though, it doesn't sound like I pronounce anything differently except maybe 'water'… I may have to try hunt up discrepancies on youtube now! :P

Faking accents is so fun. Devious, but fun. My younger brother does a very convincing Brittish accent, to the point that a gentleman from Kent asked him where he was from. It made Ben's (my brother's) day

lilmac11313 said:

Boston Scientist said:

akajb said:

I've never noticed an accent. But I'm also Canadian. And I've never been to New York so I don't know how they would say “Coffee.” Although, I'd imagine that with the population of New York there'd be lots of different ways people say it.

Now I'm curious, how should it sound?

---

New Yorkers say “kaw-fee.”

---

Boston Scientist is right. Coffee becomes “kaw-fee” and everyone outta town says “kah-fee” much like Nathan did lol. There's also:

water = war-der or war-da

dog = dawg

florida = flawr-da (the flawr is like floor)

orange = oran-ge

What I find hilarious is I just sat here pronouncing all of those out. I still can't get coffee, water, or orange.

Interesting thread. Since English isn't my native language I can never tell if people have an accent or not (well except for the southern drawl).

I wondered – in interviews, do Nathan and Stana fall back into their Canadian accent? Or do they stick to US-American English? Is it hard for a Canadian to lose their accent?

little eve said:

waldkind said:

Interesting thread. Since English isn't my native language I can never tell if people have an accent or not (well except for the southern drawl).

 

I wondered – in interviews, do Nathan and Stana fall back into their Canadian accent? Or do they stick to US-American English? Is it hard for a Canadian to lose their accent?

I am a non-native speaker as well but often I can tell the American and Canadian accents apart. I think they do maintain their accents in interviews, although I would say I hear it more in Stana's English. Sometimes I even detect hints of it when she speaks as Beckett. She once said in an interview that sometimes they are both called out on their pronunciation when filming by the others.

Canuck isn't really much of an accent.  An American friend in broadcasting said it was more or less what they to teach announcers so that they wouldn't have an identifiable regional accent – which apparently puts some people off. Several US network news anchors are Canadian so i guess it works.  

It is pretty bland, and virtually no different from coast to coast (with the perpetual exception of Newfoundland). Mostly it sounds Californian to most Americans (not valley girl though).  Some more notable differences from routine American pronunciations – route is pronounced 'root', not 'rowt', been is pronounced 'bean' not 'bin', all four letters of golf are pronounced – it isn't 'goff' and 'tour' is 'too-er' not 'tor'.  Lots more – but overall pretty minor. 

For what it is worth, i spend a lot of time in NYC and there isn't any 'one' accent.  Remember in the first show when Castle was cold reading Beckett – and he said there was no sound of 'bridge and tunnel'?  Well, that's too true – someone from Brooklyn sounds different to me than one from Queens and anyone from New Jersey is VERY different.  Manhattan isn't exactly uniform either – from Washington Heights down to Wall Street, let alone bringing in any issues of education, etc.  My buddies downtown don't say 'kaw-fee' 

For me, what you may be hearing from time to time from Katic is hints of her Eastern European roots – particularly when she says certain words ending in 'ing'.  I went to university in her home town and that part of the country has a large population who were born, or their parents were born in Eastern Europe – Lithuania, Croatia, etc. and i get flashbacks to those days sometimes when she speaks.

Actually, she's kind of famous for dropping into other accents from time to time when being interviewed.  I remember an entire one where she spoke with a very classy English accent, and i had to keep looking at her face to remind myself who was talking.  

I doubt any actor really 'loses' an accent – more you switch off the regular one and switch on another.  Hugh Laurie (House) is famous for refusing to use anything but his English accent in interviews.  He says talking American is hard work and he only does it when paid to.  I kind of like that approach.