Saudi Arabia 3

Listen to Saudi Arabia 3, a 20-year-old man from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 20

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 1986

PLACE OF BIRTH: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Saudi Arabian (exact ethnicity unknown)

OCCUPATION: college student

EDUCATION: some college study

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

The subject has never been outside Saudi Arabia.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

At the time of the interview, the subject was studying English in college. He expresses a keen interest in reading books and magazines, in both English and Arabic. He also refers to his enjoyment of audio materials concerning practical English usage.

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

RECORDED BY: Subject

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 19/03/2007

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Uh, hi there.  Uh, I was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I’m 20 years old.  I’m studying English at the university, at the English department.  I’m at the–, uh, I’m in level five.  I actually find the English language not that difficult, but still at the same time need some effort [pronounced “ef-FERT”], some effort [pronounced “EF-fert”] to be familiar, you know, with the language and stuff.  I have some difficulties with some subjects in my college.  For example, the syntax, some phonetics, but, uh, I’ll do my best.  If you want the truth, I’ve never, uh, been outside Saudi Arabia, so I learned the English language here at the university.  I-I’ll talk a little bit about another topic; I mean enough for school.  Let’s talk about reading.  Actually, reading would be the number one thing that I love and enjoy at the same time.  Whether the language is Arabic or English, they are all interesting to me.  I read novels, um, magazines, books, et cetera.  However, I don’t actually read newspapers.  I just don’t like them; I don’t know why.  The latest novel I finished was “Memoirs of a Geisha,” by Arthur Golden.  It’s, it’s an amazing novel.  I recommend it for you all.  And the last audio material I’ve listened to, uh, was “How to Talk to Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime you Want.”  It was, I think, by Larry King and actually, if you want the truth, I loved it so much.  I’m even planning to listen to it again to write down some notes to practice them in my daily life.  I think that’s it, so …, bye-bye.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Lynn Baker

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 05/08/2008

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.