China Four - Text
The subject, a twenty-six year old woman, was born in China and was also raised and educated there. She came to the United States at the age of 21 for graduate school and has been living there since then. She first stayed in Cambridge, MA for grad school, and then moved to Greenwich, CT for her first job, and now works in New York City.
She began studying English at the age of 11. During Junior High and High school, she learned English in the British way, since that's how it was taught in China. Then she began to learn American English after she went to college, mainly because she was taking TOEFL and GRE at that time. Then after she came to the States, she began to pick up more American accents, though what she really wanted is to speak perfect RP.
The subject, who submitted the recording and this text file herself, made the recording February 20, 2007 . It was edited February 25 by Paul Meier.
In the unscripted speech she talks about how she learned her English first in the British way and then in the American way, and how it gave her an accent that mixes Chinese, American, and British way of speaking English.
Running time 00:03:25.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in China and, uh, Chinese is my native language. I studied English as a class in junior high and high school where it was taught in the British way. Then, afterwards, I went to college. I began to make a transition to speak American English because I wanted to go to the States for graduate school. Um, afterwards, at the age of 21, I realized my dream and came to the States to study. I got my masters degree from Harvard and have been working on Wall Street after graduation. My experience in speaking steady English gives me an accent which mixes Chinese American and the British ways of speaking.
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY PETE CROSS, 15 JULY, 2008