ZBB accent archive

[fahrradkette]

So I was looking here: http://accent.gmu.edu and it got me thinking. We should have one of these for here! But not only for english, whatever language you want. I'm not sure if this should be here or in ephemera, but I figured here.

You'll have to give this:
1. Where were you born?
2. What is your native language?
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know?
4. How old are you?
5. How old were you when you first began to study English?
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically)
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country?

Heres the sample paragraph they give:

Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:
Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and
maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake
and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red
bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

1. Where were you born? Nova Scotia
2. What is your native language? English / Spanish L1.5
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Spanish French
4. How old are you? 18
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? My whole life
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Naturalistically
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? My whole life, Canada

I'm doing mine in both English and French. Please excuse my French!

Here: ArchiveZBB.wav - 3.44MB

[Drydic]

I'm damn sure we started this once, and it was on one of the wikis. not sure if it's still in existence.

[fahrradkette]

Ohh, well if it's MIA we can use this, if not, then forget it.

[Radius Solis]

The original archive is here: Voices of the ZBB

But a lot of the people on the list are no longer with us and a lot of our current crowd aren't on the list. So by all means proceed!

[Jipí]

Also, a lot of people read their own texts instead of the Stella one.

1. Where were you born? Southernmost Baden-Württemberg, Germany, but grown up in northern Hesse, Germany.
2. What is your native language? German
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? French
4. How old are you? 24
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? 11
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Academically
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? —

Stella text (2010-05-09)

[makvas]

I might try this later, in both my native accent and a faux English accent which I'm sure you all will laugh at (well, laugh at me for).

[treskro]

1. Where were you born? New Jersey, USA
2. What is your native language? English, Mandarin, Hokkien (kinda)
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? French
4. How old are you? 18
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? 0?
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) naturally
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? 17years - USA

English! French...Mandarin... not enough proficiency to translate stella...

[alice]

That brings back memories! At least I don't have to do mine again.

[finlay]

1. Where were you born? Edinburgh
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? French (intermediate), German (lower intermediate), Latin (decent but rusty), Japanese (beginner), Dutch (beginner but with a headstart for knowing some German)
4. How old are you? 23
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? 1
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Magic.
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? Roughly, Scotland age 0-18; England age 18-22; Scotland again since last year. I'm saying it this way (rather than "The UK all my life") because it's been noted by many people that I have a mixed accent (RP with rhoticity, as somebody once described it), although it could also be that they think of a Glaswegian accent when they think of a Scottish accent, which I don't have.

As for the actual text, I might do it again later, but I've definitely done it before and it should be on the KQ anyway. The only thing is that the recording there is a number of years old now.

[alice]

You'll have to give this:

oops!

1. Where were you born? Zambia
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? French, German, Dutch, Spanish
4. How old are you? Six by nine minus one, according to h2g2
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? I didn't study it
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) The latter
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? All but five years of my life: one in England, three in Zambia, the rest in Scotland

[Radius Solis]

I'll answer for my sample too:

1. Where were you born? Seattle, Washington, USA
2. What is your native language? American English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? German - passive comprehension only, these days
4. How old are you? 33 now, but 29 when I recorded that
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? --
6. How did you learn English? naturally
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? USA, all my life

[Viktor77]

1. Where were you born? Saginaw, Michigan
2. What is your native language? American English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Spanish and French
4. How old are you? 19
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? Since birth.
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Naturalistically
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? 19 years-Michigan, USA

Text.

[DJAlexKidd]

1. Where were you born? Orlando, Florida, United States
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Basic German as far as I know
4. How old are you? 19
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? Said my first words at 3
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Natural. Most of my early milestones were learned late
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? As long as I've been alive (United States)

[finlay]

The original archive is here: Voices of the ZBB

But a lot of the people on the list are no longer with us and a lot of our current crowd aren't on the list. So by all means proceed!

Yeah, this is from May 2007 (when I was 19 ). We've also definitely done it since then. I couldn't find a later edition of my Stella text, though, but I'm fairly sure I made one at one point.

Viktor and the newbie: don't just answer the questions, record the text!

[tezcatlip0ca]

Am I a newbie?

[sirdanilot]

What is the idea of the recording? Do I have to translate that text into Dutch? That would seem like a lot of work. Can't we just do something like the declaration of human rights, or the prayer of the lord, or something else that has got easily obtainable versions in most languages?

I will record the text about stella with my mangled Dutchglish, if you want...

EDIT: Here it is. https://rapidshare.com/files/11877698/p ... stella.wav

You will notice that the [T]s are very hard to pronounce. Dutch doesn't have that sound. I find clusters with [T] in English almost unpronouncable. 'through', etc.

1. Where were you born?
The region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the Netherlands. The northern part of Flanders which is part of the Netherlands rather than Belgium. The native dialect here is something between Zeelandic, East-Flemish and West-Flemish dialects.

2. What is your native language?
Dutch (mostly standard)

3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know?
The local dialect here which I'll call 'Middle Zealandic-Flemish' (speaking: good, listening; almost perfect, reading and writing; not really possible due to lack of an orthography)
Brazilian Portuguese (speaking; reasonable, listening; good, reading; reasonable, writing; average)
French (speaking; reasonable, listening; reasonable, reading; good, writing; good)

I can communicate in German, Italian, Eur. Portuguese and Spanish as well, if necessary. I did learn some German in school, though I hardly know anything now, and if I were forced to speak it it would be mostly based on my knowledge of Dutch, and simply pronouncing it in a German way.

4. How old are you?
18

5. How old were you when you first began to study English?
9 or so

6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically)
First naturally due to media (games, tv), later in school as well.

7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country?
never.

[sirdanilot]

I've made a recording of the first part of the human rights, in my standard run-of-the-mill Dutch.

https://rapidshare.com/files/3010278344 ... echten.wav

This is the text:

Alle mensen worden vrij en gelijk in waardigheid en rechten geboren. Zij zijn begiftigd met verstand en geweten, en behoren zich jegens elkander in een geest van broederschap te gedragen.

I tried to find a text I could feasibly read in the local dialect here. There's not really anything much written in it. What does exist, is a Zeelandic orthography (with some texts in it too), but when I try to pronounce the words, it just doesn't seem right. They use some different words and sounds. This orthography is probably based on Zeelandic dialects spoken in Beveland, Walcheren etc. Eventually I just decided to record a piece of the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen 'anthem':

The orthography is simply standard dutch. I would probably use most of the words though. probably 'hun' (pronounced [@n]) instead of 'zij' somewhere near the end of the first part. Sayin 'd'Ee tot Ontenisse' (which means 'from the village of Eede (usually d' Ee) to the village of Hontenisse' (with typical zealandic h-drop!) doesn't feel right, I'd say [dn]. Perhaps some kind of case marking?

https://rapidshare.com/files/3475354935 ... enisse.wav

Waar eens 't gekrijs der meeuwen
Verstierf aan 't eenzaam strand,
Daar schiepen zich de Zeeuwen
Uit schor en slik hun land;
En kwam de stormwind woeden,
Hen dreigend met verderf,
Dan keerden zij de vloeden
Van 't pas gewonnen erf.

Van d'Ee tot Hontenisse
Van Hulst tot aan Cadzand
Dat is ons eigen landje,
Maar deel van Nederland.

I must say that my parents are not native from the region. I lack the knowledge of some of the more 'authentic' words. Most of those are dying out anyway; the dialect is in the process of being hollowed out, to eventually just become reduced to people pronouncing standard Dutch in a typical Zeelandic way.

Features of Zeeuws-Vlaams are, among others:

h-drop
/x/ -> /h/. I still don't know what the realization in coda position should be in IPA. It's some kind of voiceless uvular approximant, or something.
rounding of long vowels (both back and front)
stops are sometimes reduced to glottal stops
syllabic [n]s and [r]s are very well possible
/r/ is always an alveolar trill. children who pronounce a uvular trill [R] are laughed at; it's called 'brouwen'
the ge- prefix (perfective) is not lost, unlike some Dutch dialects. though it is often nothing but a [h], it is always pronounced.
nasalisation of vowels before /n/

[Magb]

1. Where were you born? Porsgrunn, Norway
2. What is your native language? Norwegian
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? None well enough to mention
4. How old are you? 24
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? "Study" would be when I was 7, but I already knew some English at that point
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Yes
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? No

English: stella - english.mp3 - 0.33MB
Norwegian: stella - norwegian.mp3 - 0.33MB

Yes, my nose is completely stuffed. It usually is.

Let me know if you want more information about my Norwegian recording.

[jayelinda]

1. Where were you born? Australia
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Enough to actually use them? None I'm afraid.
4. How old are you? 30
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? 0
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Naturally
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? Always, Australia

Stella text

[Gulliver]

1. Where were you born? Suffolk, England
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? French and German
4. How old are you? 25
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? N/A
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) It's my L1, so naturally.
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? 24 of my 25, in England.

Here it is, in English, then French, then German (using the texts off the Voices of the ZBB): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2078257/PleaseCallStella.wav

[Viktor77]

OK, recorded it. Sorry for the quality, don't know of any other better sites for recording.

[Ossicone]

Here is my sample. I sound very girly and American.

1. Where were you born? Maryland, USA
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English do you know? Spanish, conversational.
4. How old are you? 22
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? 0
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Naturally.
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? All my life in the US, minus ~6 months in England.

Maybe I'll do a Spanish reading later for kicks.

[masako]

My recordings are listed under my old username: Khang on this page.

You'll have to give this:
1. Where were you born? Tennessee, USA
2. What is your native language? GA, English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, French, German
4. How old are you? 34 (in November)
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? N/A
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturally) the latter
7. How long have you lived in an English-speaking country? Which country? Most of my life.

[Io]

Mois, auf Englisch: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vFap1fAbHLwwqMsUN

Und auf Deutsch: http://vocaroo.com/?media=v5n91Gp5vjXU3j3bV

There are "Download as WAV" links in the bottom if anyone cares to save them. And no I won't bother with the stats.

[Bristel]

1. Where were you born? Washington State, USA
2. What is your native language? English
3. What other languages besides English and your native language do you know? Japanese, French, Spanish
4. How old are you? 22
5. How old were you when you first began to study English? N/A
6. How did you learn English? (academically or naturalistically) Naturalistically
7. How long have you lived in an english-speaking country? Which country? 21-22 years. United States.

http://vocaroo.com/?media=vvn0ShPrz0Bhm891K

(there's about 10 months in France that I lived, but as a child, and is no longer my primary source of French knowledge)