Cyprus 2

Listen to Cyprus 2, a man from Nicosia and Paphos, Cyprus. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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Please note that this subject does not read a scripted speech.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: N/A

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

PLACE OF BIRTH: Nicosia, Cyprus

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: N/A

OCCUPATION: accounting student, formerly in the army

EDUCATION: some university

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

He has lived in the United States since 1997.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

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

RECORDED BY: Eric Armstrong

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

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Well, I was born in Cyprus, which is an island in Mediterranean. Em, I was born in Nicosia, which is a capital of Cyprus. I grew up there, and then I went to Paphos, which is the smallest town in Cyprus,* where I went to school there. And I graduated school, I joined the army. I stayed there for two years, which I had some good, I have some good memories from that, and some bad as well, of course. Em, I came in the United States in nineteen ninety-seven. My major is accounting and I’ll try to become a good, hopefully, accountant. Em, I didn’t go back for the first Christmas break that I came here. I went back for the summer of course, and it was nice. Eh, hopefully, I’ll go back this summer as well. I don’t really, eh, think that my major expresses me absolutely. Eh, my major is accounting. Of course I like math, I like numbers, I like accounting, but, uh, I think that there are other aspects in life that are important as well, like, I don’t know, so, sociology, psychology, which are important as well, so the American system is quite good because it teaches you something else but your major. It teaches you your major as well, but it can learn some other stuff that you can’t learn anywhere else. Eh, English is considered to be the second language in Cyprus, actually. You le- … we, we learn English, f’em, we start learn English from 10 I think, 10. Em, we learn it at school. Em, most of us usually, eh, take extra courses in English, just because we need to learn as much as we can. Em, and usually there are private institutions that they teach you, eh, perhaps in a more organized way than public schools do, and, em, everybody in Cy-, almost everybody, OK, you can never say everybody. Almost everybody applies to those schools. Em, because you, you pay you get accepted real easily, eh, and it’s up to you to learn as much as you can. And we learn, well we start learning English, as I said, from 10, 10 years old and we keep going. You never finish because there is, it’s an endless language. I came in the United States in 1997. That was the first time that I came here.

Interviewer asks, “Culture shock?”]

Eh, not that much because you see most of the movies, the films that we see back home are related to the United States, so it’s not that bad. I mean the difference, there is, there is a difference in culture, which is obvious. It’s probably the first thing that you can realize. Eh, but it’s not something, it’s, you are not, you are not exposed to live in that culture, but, you know it. Eh, most of the movies, as I said, that we see back home are taken, are bought from the United States, so it’s not, em, it’s not that you are, you, you face a culture shock. I think the shock is more when you actually live there because you are, the way of living is very different between here and there. Em, and not only the way of living, probably the values as well. The principles. Eh, I would say that Americans are more concern about money. Greeks, well, yes, they are concern about money, but not that much. Em, I mean there are other things that are important as well. Em, for example, I don’t think that any Greek would say that his family is not important. I was really shocked when I saw that in the United States if you, if you are 18, you just leave home. Back home, eh, you never leave home. Eh, well, OK, never say never. You leave home, yes that’s true, but I don’t know, your, your parents have this feeling that even if you are 60, and, your parents, if they are alive anyway, you are still a child for them. You never grow up. You are always a child and they would say, “Oh, my child,” and “my child,” and you are always a child.

*Paphos is not actually the smallest town in Cyprus.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Lloyd Bolick

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

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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