Switzerland 2

Listen to Switzerland 2, a 50-year-old man from Zurich, Switzerland, who has also lived in California, in the United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 50

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 05/03/1960

PLACE OF BIRTH: Zurich, Switzerland

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian/Swiss

OCCUPATION: entertainment host

EDUCATION: Swiss college (American high school equivalent)

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

The subject had been living in in Orange County, California, in the United States for the twenty-three years prior to the recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject’s primary language is German, and he learned English and French in the Swiss public schools. The subject works at Disneyland, in California, so he’s obviously exposed to all languages and cultures. In addition, he might have moderated his accent somewhat in order to be easily understood by the guests who come to the theme park.

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

RECORDED BY: Dustin Neilson (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/11/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Yeah, I am from Switzerland, Zürich, Switzerland. The German part. And I grew up there. And I came over about twenty-three years ago. Uh, since then I am working here at Disneyland and, uh, I like it. And one day my … I might go back to Europe and retire to Europe and stay there for the rest of my life. Oh yeah, I have my mother over there, two of my sisters. One of them is married, has three guys, three boys. Now the, they’re adults. And uh, they’ve a nice house to live on, in, on a hill near Zürich. And uh, we actually have four seasons. Like we have winter, fall, summer, and, oh, I forgot. Winter, s-spring, summer, and fall. Oh, at first I grew up near the airport, which was … I liked it over there. It was kind of loud, but you got used to it. And then we moved up to a hill where it was all a quiet, much more quiet. And I f- for the begin missed the noise of the airplanes. But uh, Zürich right now I heard is nice and cold, rain. And I can hardly wait for Christmas vacation to go over there and we better have snow. I need snow, or else …

TRANSCRIBED BY: Dustin Neilson (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/11/2010

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

This dialect is found in the Germanic region of Switzerland, which is the central and northern area, where German is the primary language. It is slightly influenced by the adjacent French region. Although Italian and Romansh are also official languages of Switzerland, the geographical barriers have limited their influence.

COMMENTARY BY: Dustin Neilson (under supervision of David Nevell)

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/11/2010

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.