Algeria 1

Listen to Algeria 1, a 26-year-old woman from Constantine, Algeria. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 26

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/11/1987

PLACE OF BIRTH: Algiers, Algeria

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: N/A

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: master’s degree

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

Though born in Algiers, the subject was raised and went to school in Constantine. She lived in the United Kingdom for six months prior to coming to the University of Kansas in the United States. She had been in Kansas for three months prior to this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Unlike most Algerians, she learned English as well as her two first languages, French and Arabic.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/11/2013

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Ah, I was born in Algiers, um, 1987, and I, ah, was raised, and I grew in Constantine, and, um, I did all my studies in the at the University of Constantine, I majored in marketing – business and marketing – and then I also decided to study American civilization as part of, um, a minor field, kind of, but, um, that wasn’t really something, ah, quite done in Algeria, so I had to major in two different departments, um, to study in two different departments, and then I decided to go abroad, but it had to be an English-speaking country to learn English and, I went to the U.K. for six months, and then I got a Fulbright Scholarship [knocking] so I decided to, ah, go, to, come to the United States of America and fulfill my, ah, big part of my dreams actually, and, uh, experience the American culture by myself. Back home, ah, most Algerians I would say would speak, um, Algerian dialect, which is a mix of Arabic words, some Berber words, which are the native Algerian, um, people before the Arabic invasion, and obviously the French, which I think is the biggest influence on the Algerian people, because it’s just very recent; um, Algerian, Algerian, the country has been, ah, independent only since fifty years, so that explains how my generation at least speaks a lot of French, but my parents would speak more French, so at home it would be more of a mix of French and Arabic, and very, very few people would speak English in Algeria. Um, I’m now going to read a passage, ah, in French, um, about the … about the Algerian history.

La presence coloniale Française a duré plus 130 années en Algérie, de 1830 à 1962, cette longue colonisation militaire mais aussi culturelle a marqué l’histoire de l’Algérie et son peuple à jamais. Aujourd’hui, les deux pays sont souvent considérés comme un vieux couple qui ne peux pas vivre l’un sans l’autre mais qui ne se supporte pas non plus!

Then I’m going to read, um, the, uh, Arabic version of the same sentence:

استمر الاستعمار الفرنسي للجزائر أكثر من مائة وثلاثين عاماً، من سنة الف وثمانمئة وثلاثين إلى سنة الف وتسعمئة واثنتان وستين. لقد كان لهذا الاحتلال العسكري والثقافي اثراً كبيراً على التاريخ والمجتمع فغيرهما الى الأبد. ينظر الجميع الآن الى هاتين البلدين وكأنهما زوجين لايستطيعان العيش بدون احدهم الآخر ولكن في الوقت ذاته لا أحد منهم يستطيع تحمل الآخر.

Which translates into an English as, ah: The colonial presence of France in Algeria lasted more than 130 years, from 1830 to 1962. This long military as well as cultural colonization has shaped and affected the Algerian history and its people forever. Today, the two countries are often thought of as an old couple who cannot live without one another but also cannot stand each other anymore!

TRANSCRIBED BY: Paul Meier

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 21/11/2013

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

The archive provides:

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