France 16

Listen to France 16, a 23-year-old woman from Saint-Maure-de-Touraine (near Tours), France. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 23

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/08/1994

PLACE OF BIRTH: Tours, France

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: French/Caucasian

OCCUPATION: student, server, and childcare worker

EDUCATION:

The subject was completing her master’s degree at the time of this interview.

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

The speaker had been living in East Lansing, Michigan, United States, for a year and a half at the time of this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The speaker’s first language is French. She has been studying English for 12 years. Her teachers have all been French.

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

RECORDED BY: Beth Hendrickson (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 27/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

[Interviewer: Tell me about the town you grew up in.]

So, Saint-Maure-de-Touraine is a little — very small town close to a village; I think there are three thousand people in this town. That is, like, forty kilometers south of Tours, so that would be thirty-five miles, I guess. Um, it’s the capital of goat cheese in France, so I was raised with goats around, and that’s pretty cool; I really like goats. I would like to have a goat as a pet later in my life; I would love that. Um, so, yeah, it’s a small town; there is — uh, so I went to kindergarten there; um, I went to elementary school and middle school, uh, because there is no high school: It’s too small to have a high school. Uh, so, I went to high school in Tours. Uh, my parents still live there; they’ve been living there for, um, more than thirty years now, because I have a big brother, uh, who is turning thirty this year; and when he was born, my parents were already living there; and also my grandparents live there, so, they’ve never left the area. And the — so, it’s a small town, but, it’s, um, pretty active because it’s at the intersection of two highways in France, so, usually a lot of people stop there. Uh, in the summer, there are a lot of tourists from England or Holland, um, the Netherlands, or German tourists. So, it’s a boring town for youth; there are only two bars, um, so, it’s — yeah, pretty boring town. I know when I was in high school, my boyfriend at the time was living in the same town, and the only thing we would do was going to each, like, friend’s of the group and just drink at their place. There is a park, too, so, like, in — like, in sunny afternoons we would go there and hang out, but I was really, like, yeah. I mean, as a kid I would just follow my parents everywhere they would go, and when I became a teenager I was just, yeah, hanging out at my boyfriend’s place or my friend’s place. …

[What did you do for fun?]

I have been to a few festivals in France, uh, especially in Tours — there is a big techno scene with a lot of events, um, uh, especially in the summer. Um, so, yeah, I’ve also been to Berlin, which is a big place for techno music too, so, I’ve been to very, what they call a legendary, uh, club, so, I was really happy, and, actually, I’ve been to one techno show in Detroit. Uh, that was not in Detroit; that was in Ferndale, so north of Detroit, close, close enough. And, uh, yeah, it was really cool. I really liked the spirit of that. …

[Subject speaks French]: Donc, em, en Décembre dernier j’ai fait des demandes pour des doctorat aux États Unis. Donc, j’ai fait de demandes à Brown University, à Northwestern, et à University of Chicago et Johns Hopkins. Et j’ai été accepté à Johns Hopkins donc je vais déménager à Baltimore en août, au mois d’août. Et, eh, donc ça va être très intéressant pour moi d’être sur la côte est des États Unis. Ca va etre tres différent du Midwest, eh, du Michigan. Et j’ai vraiment hâte, de, de em, d’aller vivre là-bas pour découvrir la ville.

[English translation: So, um, last December I applied for Ph.Ds in the United States. So I made applications to Brown University, Northwestern, and University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins, and I was accepted to Johns Hopkins. So, I’m moving to Baltimore in August, in August, and, well, it’s going to be very interesting for me to be on the east coast of the United States. It’s going to be very different from the Midwest, uh, Michigan, and I cannot wait to go and live there to discover the city.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Beth Hendrickson and Jason Dernay (under supervision of Deric McNish); French transcription and translation by speaker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 30/03/2018

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

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