Spain 11

Listen to Spain 11, a 58-year-old man from Barcelona, Spain. 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): 19/08/1967

PLACE OF BIRTH: Barcelona, Spain

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Caucasian/White

OCCUPATION: professor

EDUCATION: Ph.D

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

The subject says he spent about 35-40 years of his life in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) before moving abroad. For the last 18 years, he has lived in Lisbon, Portugal; London, England; and Lausanne, Switzerland.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

He speaks Catalan fluently, and his mother tongue is Galician. He also speaks Portuguese and French. He is the husband of Spain 10.

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

RECORDED BY: subject

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/01/2026

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

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

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

Hi. I grew up in Barcelona, and I actually spent about 35, 40 years of my life there before I moved abroad. One thing that’s a bit unusual about me is languages. I speak both Catalan and Spanish fluently, of course, because that’s part of everyday life in Barcelona, but my first language — my mother’s tongue — is Galician. It’s the language I grew up with at home, so even though I don’t have a Galician accent when I speak Spanish, that’s really the language that feels most “original” to me, if that makes sense.

As for English, I learned it at, uh, school, like a lot of people, but for the last 25 years or so it’s been my working language. So I use it a lot, and I’m very comfortable in it — even if I still sound Spanish, or Mediterranean, to some people.

I also speak Portuguese and French. Portuguese came quite naturally to me later on, especially because I lived in Portugal for a while. After that I lived in England, and these days I’m based in Switzerland. So I’ve been abroad for quite a long time now, and I guess my English has been shaped by all those places and by the people I’ve worked with over the years.

[Subject speaks Spanish]: Ahora voy a decir unas frases en Español: Me gusta leer y el cine, y también pasear al aire libre. En mi tiempo libre, suelo correr y nadar. Practico la natación desde que tenía dieciocho años; para mí, es un ejercicio que me relaja muchísimo. En verano, me encanta nadar en el mar, y, si no fuera porque el agua está muy fría, también lo haría en invierno.

[English translation: Now I’m going to say a few sentences in Spanish: I like reading and movies, and also going for walks outdoors. In my free time, I usually run and swim. I’ve been swimming since I was eighteen; for me, it’s an exercise that relaxes me a lot. In the summer, I love swimming in the sea, and if the water weren’t so cold, I would do it in the winter too.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: subject

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/01/2026

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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