Belgium 5

Listen to Belgium 5, an 18-year-old woman from Kortrijk and Harelbeke, Belgium. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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Please note that, for her scripted speech, this subject reads The Rainbow Passage instead of our usual Comma Gets a Cure.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 18

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 28/08/2001

PLACE OF BIRTH: Kortrijk, Belgium

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Belgian/Caucasian

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: university

AREA(S) OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: N/A

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Because the subject was taught British English in school, there might be traces of that language variety in her speech. Her first language is Dutch, but she learned French at an early age.

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

RECORDED BY: subject

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 28/09/2019

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in Kortrijk, a city in the Flemish region of Belgium. I currently live in a neighboring city called Harelbeke. These two cities aren’t the most well known of my country, but I — if I were to locate it, it would say I live between Bruges and Ghent, two very touristic places. I live in the only Belgian province that’s connected to the sea.

My main language is Dutch, but we also learn French at school from quite a young age. I currently study English and Dutch literature and linguistics. The English that we learn at school is British English.

Dutch sounds as the following: Het zal morgen regenen dus zal ik waarschijnlijk binnen blijven. Which translates to: It will rain tomorrow, so I will probably stay inside. In the region where I live, people a — also speak a variety of Flemish, but I tend to only speak proper Dutch or street language.

TRANSCRIBED BY: subject

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION: 28/09/2019

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:

• 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.