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Hi, everyone. And welcome back to America Under the Microscope, 欢迎你又回到闲话美国。

Hi，James.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

So what we're going to talk about today.

Well, normally we do episodes about America Under the Microscope and today I thought we could broaden that to the North America Under the Microscope.

Although you said broaden that, but that's basically Canada, isn't it?

Pretty much Canada, because North America is 90% America and Canada.

I think for our audience, if you watch enough TV shows especially American TV shows or movies, there are always a lot of jokes about America and Canada, 这对邻居之间有很多这种梗。So that's what we're gonna talk about today.

First of all, I think to a lot of people, Canada and the US, they seem quite similar.

To be honest, there is a lot of similarities, because I mean both speak English mostly, they have very similar accents although there is some uniqueness to the Canadian accent.

“About” ?

The “oot” sound, and there is some difference in some vocabulary they use. Their buildings and cities all look like cities in the United States. And in fact，many of our viewers probably watch American TV shows that the show takes place in America, but it's actually filmed in Canada.

It’s filmed in Canada, I mean a lot of shows I have watched are like that, but back to the accent a bit, can you average Americans tell whether it's Canadian accent or not?

It depends on part of Canada they're from, but in general YES, because the way they pronounce things like the “ou” like the o-u you sound like “aboot”, that you can hear; but some parts of Canada don't have really that kind of accent. So like Vancouver you really couldn't tell the difference between Vancouver English and say Seattle English which is only like 3 hours’ drive south of Vancouver.

So there's still like a regional difference. But I think based on what I know, Canada and US also share another similarity is that both of vast countries in terms of land mass so you need to mostly drive.

Yeah, so Canada is the second largest country in the world, and has the population of that smaller than the city of Tokyo. So things are very far apart.

And there's not a lot of public transport, right?

No, that's one thing that Canada and the United States share are lack of public transport from city to city, so you gotta drive there.

You gotta have a car.

And so if I ask you from the point of view of an American, like when it comes to personalities, Canadians, and Americans, what would you say are some of the quite essential differences or stereotypical differences？美国人和加拿大人之间性格上有没有那种大家都公认的区别？

I would say the biggest difference in the biggest stereotype we have is Canadians are super polite, they always say sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm sorry.

Is that something you guys make jokes about.

We make jokes about this all the time you watch American comedies. They'll always portray the Canadian character in TV shows as saying sorry all the time and they always use this accent of “sorry”, “sorry”. And when reality is, most Canadians don't sound like that at all. They just say sorry.

It’s just a stereotype.

That's a big stereotype. However, in general, yes, Canadians tend to be a bit more polite than Americans. They use sorry a bit more often than Americans do. So there is some truth to the stereotype. But in the TV, we really milk it for the comedy that it is.

And another thing about the language you're saying that the accents were not that different, but they do have a French speaking part.

Quebec.

Quebec.

Yes, Quebec, Canada has two official languages, English, which is spoken by most Canadians, and French in Quebec province.

But I've heard from French they speak in Quebec is different from French they speak in France.

Yes, I've heard that as well. What I understand it to be is that the French spoken in Quebec is a much older style of French that hasn’t changed as much as modern French you'd find in Europe like in France or Belgium.

I think you say that in a lot of languages, for example, like Indian English, perhaps they used a bit of the older, more traditional form.

Actually side note is Americans like Southern Americans in the south tend to speak more original English than the people in the UK do.

Yeah, the southern accent…

Yeah.

What about other differences, like foodwise?

So the food thing, for the most part, it's no different because they eat pretty much the same diet as Americans do, although there are some key differences. Big stereotypes is they love eating donuts.

I thought Americans love eating donuts.

We do.

But they love it more…

They love it more. Beer, they really like their beer. And a unique food called Poutine.

Poutine就是薯条上面加 gravy.

Don't forget the cheese.

Oh, cheese and gravy. Yes, we talked about that in comfort food, that's like a calorie bomb. But lifestyle wise, the only thing that I know is that you guys keep mentioning this health care system.

Yes, those Canadians with their universal health care, it’s so terrible.

Universal health care, let's sort of remind our listeners, Universal health care is like, in the UK right, it's free health care for all.

Yes, so it's government provided health care and the health care is paid for by taxes.

But in the US it's super expensive, you got to buy insurance.

Well, let's not go too much into the American system, but yes, simply it's super expensive in the US and you tend to need private insurance to pay for.

But what is the general view that Americans have on their neighbor having free medical care for everyone.

Well, some people think that the Canadian system is bad because sometimes you do have to wait for health care, but I think it's partially because a lot of Americans are actually jealous. Because Canadians don't worry about health care because they don't worry. It's like I got cancer, how am I going to pay for this? Oh, Right, I have health care from the government, so they don't worry about it. So I think some Americans are actually jealous of that. I'm kind of jealous of that. I kind of wish we had that in the US.

I think it's pretty much the same in the UK, you do have to wait, but for more life threatening things like you mentioned cancer, you do get treated very very quickly.

Yeah, it's just that your everyday ailment that you have to wait for ages; usually when you actually get to see a doctor, you’re already recovered.

Yeah, you know it's not perfect, but it's…

Yeah, but does that mean the cost of living is lower in Canada?

No. Actually the cost of living it tend to be higher in Canada than the United States.

Why?

Tax, because you got to pay for these government programs.

Oh, of course.

So they pay higher taxes on product sales tax, higher VAT.

Oh so that means everything they buy in shops, they're all more expensive.

Yes, so what you get actually at least Canadians that live close to the American border, they cross the boarder and go shopping in America.

How much of a difference are we talking about?

Let's just take beer, for example, so if you want to buy a 24 case of beer in Canada, you can expect to pay about $28.

24 cans?

Yes.

Ok.

Whereas if you go to America to buy a case of the same beer, 24cans, you're probably going to pay$12.

That's less than half.

Yes, it is a lot cheaper.

Wow.

That's how much difference the taxes.

I mean if I live on the border, I probably will just shop in America then.

You wouldn't be the only Canadian to do that.

And enjoy the free medical care in Canada as well.

So stay in Canada for the health care, I'll go to America to buy my booze.

Great.

Okay, I think in our basic episode, we have covered the main similarities and also the key differences between these two countries. In the advanced episode, we're gonna go more into the psyche, American psyche, for example, or Canadian psyche to talk about the sort of rivalry and friendship going on.

All right, on that note we're gonna wrap up here. We will see you in the advanced episode. Thank you, James.

Thank you everyone, Bye bye.

Bye.