Veracruz 1

Listen to Veracruz 1, a 58-year-old woman from rural Veracruz, Mexico, and also Los Angeles, California, United States. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 58

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/11/1964

PLACE OF BIRTH: Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, Mexico

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Mexican

OCCUPATION: nanny

EDUCATION: second grade

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

This speaker spent her formative-language-learning years on a small ranch (Rancho Nuevo) in the coastal region of Veracruz. She also lived in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, for two years; Querétaro, Querétaro, for three years; and Mazatlán, Sinaloa, for three years. She has resided in Los Angeles, California, United States, for the past 33 years.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The speaker put a lot of effort into learning English and talked to many people when learning the language. She attended adult school in Los Angeles but said she got a better understanding of the language through reading English text and consuming audio media.

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

RECORDED BY: Amaia Villegas

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 10/08/2023

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 — I was born in Tlacotalpan. And I grew up in a little ranch, uh, called Rancho Nuevo. Uh, it was like a little finca. Uh, I, I was the ninth child. Uh, the second chi- we were nine children, and I was the second child in the family. Ro- worked really hard there in this, this ranch. I had a lot of fun. Uh, I swim a lot near this river called Rio Papaloapan. Um, it was so much fun growing up in that ranch. We had a lot, a lot of food: mangos trees, coconut. Uh, anyway, I ran all day in that, uh, in that ranch. I didn’t ha- we were a very poor family, and I grew — and I ran even without shoes. Um, no sandals. I — sometimes I had, um, like, um, nails. I stepped on nails because I didn’t have any sandals. Uh, very poor, very poor family.

And then I moved to Los Angeles in 1990. Uh, I married here, and I have a beautiful child. Uh, and moving to Los Angeles: It was really hard because when I came to Los Angeles, I didn’t speak any English. So it forced me a lot to learn English because it was, it was very tough for me when people make fun of me, so that make me, that really forced me to, to learn English. So the way I learned English was, you know, I practice a lot with people, different people. And I looked at mirror: uh, at the people how they moved their mouths, their lips. And I would come back home and look at myself, stand in front of the mirror and just talk to myself.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Amaia Villegas

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/08/2023

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.