Beijing 2

Listen to Beijing 2, an 18-year-old man from Beijing and Guangzhou Province, China. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 18

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/09/1997

PLACE OF BIRTH: Guangzhou, China

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Chinese

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: one year of university

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

The subject was raised until age 10 in Guangzhou, in the south of China. He then moved to Beijing. He also lived in the United States for nine months (eight months in East Lansing, Michigan, and one month in San Francisco, California.)

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

His parents are both from Guangzhou.

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

RECORDED BY: Jack Meloche

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/03/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

The most important in my — people in my life is the grandma and the grandpa. They, uh, actually — they growed me up, and in the — my parents moved to Beijing first when I was 4, and, uh, then I lived — actually I lived with my grandparents until I came to Beijing. So that means too much to, to me, and now, actually, my grandparents are the one that I missed so much. Uh, um, they teach me a lot. The calligraphy: My grandpa teach me calligraphy and, uh, swim, and how to be a good person – all of that is — he teach, and my grandma have a really good cook. And, uh, you know, the people is getting old, so, I mean, if I, if I had time, I’d go back to China to see them and spend time with them.

有一次一只鸟飞到了我房间里，我爷爷抓住了它打算把它放出去，但是他发现鸟的翅膀受伤了，于是我爷爷奶奶就照顾它直到它痊愈。几天后鸟飞走了，此后的不久那只鸟带着花和坚果回来了，而且把它们放在了院子里。

One time, a bird flied in my room, and my grandpa catch it and [unintelligible] and actually its wings hurt, and my grandma and grandpa take care of it and give it medicine and feed it. Later, the bird flied away but a couple times it’s back, and I bring some flower and nuts back to our garden. So, that was really funny, and it let me think that things always have a, uh, good reason for do it, and have a good reply, I think.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Jack Meloche

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 18/03/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject learned English from a non-native speaker. His reading and writing skills are superior to his speaking and listening skills. He found Comma Gets a Cure a challenging read. Word mispronunciations may be a result of English-language skills, rather than dialect. The extemporaneous speech may be a better resource. The subject provided the transcription of the Cantonese part of his interview.

He said that some people can tell he is originally from southern China instead of Beijing, based on his accent, as there is a distinctive southern sound. However, he also said that his eight years in Beijing have given him a lot of those characteristics as well. We decided to categorize him as a Beijing sample instead of a Guangzhou one because that’s how he self-identifies and enough native Chinese think he sounds like he’s from Beijing. Also, he said he answered part of the interview questions in Chinese, not Cantonese. (Cantonese is the Guangzhou language while Chinese is the Beijing one. His Cantonese does indeed sound southern, but that’s because it’s the language used in Guangzhou.)

COMMENTARY BY: Deric McNish

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/03/2016

The archive provides:

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.

• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.

• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.

• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.