Saudi Arabia 9

Listen to Saudi Arabia 9, a 19-year-old man from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 19

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 25/04/1996

PLACE OF BIRTH: Al Khobar (near Dhahran), Saudi Arabia

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Saudi

OCCUPATION: student

EDUCATION: one year of university

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

The subject lived in Ireland for six months and spent eight months in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. He was born in Al Khobar and raised in Dhahran. They are part of the same metropolitan area.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

He studied English in private schools starting at the age of 3. His teachers were from the United States and the United Kingdom.

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

RECORDED BY: Gary Patterson (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 01/03/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

It was like, uh, very difficult because my mom was working in a different city than my father. She, she work at the hospital. My father wa- was working in the east side, so my father like every, every two or three weeks ca-came to us, and after all of, after two years or three years, my mother moved to my father place and starting grow up there. Uh, yeah, I have lot of siblings in different area of Saudi Arabia. Uh, probably work in, uh, in company, that in Saudi Arabia called Aramco. It’s very big company like the one you can, you cannot imagine, uh, the good thing you will get from this company.

Hm, I play a lot of games, like, uh, I like sport but specific to game; I play, I swim a lot, and I play soccer, yeah. A dream, oh OK, yeah, I have a dream that scared me, that now I’m living my dream: to come to the United States alone; uh, it’s like very big dream and very difficult to imagine that one by himself, only 19 years old, he can do this. Uhhh, I’m supposed to have now an injury in my knees, but, uh, I’m very scared to not to do it.

Oh, a lot of friends. They are from different kind of Amer- … different part of America — from China, from also my country. [Laughs] Uh, like, I have a lot of friends now. Uh, sport, outside sport. Go bowling, uh, bowling, running or go to different states, see America better. It was like very hard to imagine that one day I would leave my family there in my country. That the difference between time — it’s eight hour. And the flight is 26-hour flighting. Uhh, it’s very ima- … you can’t imagine it, but if you like you want this, you can get it. Even so, you are very far from your family.

No, I’m not married. Probably it’s best after I, after like doing my life good and have work, of course. Like, I don’t know, like many kids, yeah, because I like children. Uh, when I have school, it’s different than if I have like, uh, if I have vacation because if I have school, I have to do my homeworks and do a lot of stuff in school; but if I have vacation, I also can sleep in his house. Ev-every type of food, no problem. I, I, I’m the guy like to try food, not only specific food — I choose like every time to come to this restaurant, to choose the same, no. I try; I want to learn more about the countries. Oh, I don’t have; [laughs] if I have, I can’t answer for that.

[Subject speaks in Arabic]: طلعت مع اصحابي ، رحنا اماكن كثيره ، رحنا لعبنا بولينق و طائره و كمان لعبنا كورة و بعد كل هذا رحنا المكتبه

[Translation: I hang out with my friend and do a lot of stuff, like bowling, volleyball, soccer, and swimming. After that I studied in the library.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Gary Patterson (under supervision of Deric McNish)

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 09/03/2016

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject’s first language is Arabic. (He supplied the Arabic transcription and translation.) His speaking and listening skills are generally superior to his reading and writing skills, so some of the vocabulary in Comma Gets a Cure was challenging. The interview section provides a more representative sense of the subject’s speech patterns.

COMMENTARY BY: Deric McNish

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/04/2016

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.