Assignment:
Record yourself reading texts in various languages
according to the instructions below. This tape will be handed in, and the instructor
will make a copy of it before returning it to you. Keep this tape till the end
of the semester, when you will listen to it again to evaluate your progress.
Materials
required:
This handout, a serviceable tape recorder, a
blank cassette tape (60 or 90 minutes in length), and paper and pen or a word
processor and printer.
Instructions:
1.
First record your name in English and Chinese, and your student number, onto
the tape. Also say where you grew up (e.g. Taipei 台北,
Changhua 彰化)
and what your native language is (e.g. Mandarin and/or Southern Min, aka 'Taiwanese').
Play back what you have said to check the recording quality. Make sure there
is no echo effect turned on, or too much background noise. Your voice should
not be too loud or too soft, and try to avoid saliva sounds ('smacking'), and
'popping' (噴mai1), which is caused by too much aspiration.
2. Now record yourself reading the English language text. You may practice before you record, so that you are able to read smoothly, but use your most usual and natural pronunciation. Do not try to do anything 'special' or 'different' with your pronunciation. Don't stop to pause once you have started each language.
3. Next read the Mandarin text onto the tape. Again, read as naturally as possible, just like you talk to your friends. Don't try to sound like a TV or radio announcer, i.e. don't make a special effort to retroflex (捲舌), add-r endings (兒化韻), or do other things you don't usually do when you speak casually. And don't read too fast!
4. Now read the Southern Min 閩南語 (Taiwanese) text, if you are a speaker of Southern Min, either natively or if you have learned it as a second language. If you speak Hakka 客家語, Cantonese 粵語, or other Chinese dialect, record that, too (or 'instead'), saying before you start which subdialect you speak (e.g. 四縣 or 海陸 for Hakka), if you know it.
5. If you like, you may read any of the remaining 'second foreign language' texts according to which languages you have studied. This part of the assignment is optional, but the more you put into this assignment, the more you stand to benefit from it. You may add languages not included here, such as Malay or Korean, if you know enough of the language to record a sample on tape. You can look on the Internet for a suitable text to read, if you wish.
6.
Finally, after you have finished reading all the texts you choose, play back
and listen to what you have recorded and write down how you feel about your
pronunciation in each language or dialect. Do not go back and redo the tape!
No cheating, please! This assignment will be most useful to you if you follow
the instructions as given. This paper will be returned to you to keep in your
pronunciation journal.
The
texts
Merriam-Webster
OnLine English
dictionary with audio files
English:
All Because of a Bag of Garbage
United Daily News, January
11, 2003
As I exited the convenience store and prepared
to extract my motorbike from the line of parked vehicles – blast it! What
thoughtless person had left a bag of garbage in the front basket of my bike?
I took the bag out of the basket, but then couldn't find a trash can, so I deposited
it in the basket of another motorcycle parked
nearby.
I regretted what I had done immediately, remembering
that we should not 'do unto others as we would not have them to do onto us'.
Why had I stooped to something like this? I tussled with myself over it a bit,
then rationalized that maybe the guy before me had done just the same thing:
someone had thrown the garbage into his motorcycle basket, so he had
just passed it on to the next poor sucker. I was innocent; I had only done what
had been done to me.
Now wait a minute; you're not supposed to let
evil beget evil. My conscience started taking me to task. Just then I discovered
a pair of eyes looking right at me. Hmm. Never mind. Just start the engine and
flee!
I never expected that the person who eyed me would
come and chase after me. Had he discovered my inglorious act? Was it his
bike that I had palmed the bag of garbage off on?
After sailing through two green lights, I came
to an abrupt stop at the next red light. I heard a voice
from behind calling out, "Sir, you dropped something." My face turned
a bright, hot red. I turned around and explained, 'That bag of garbage isn't
mine." He didn't understand what I had said, but he went on to tell me
in a very sincere voice, "Sir, one end of the strap attached to your bike
rack is hanging loose and dragging on the road. That could be dangerous."
"Oh...thank you, Sir."
He was right – if the strap wound
itself around the back wheel, or if it were run over by a car behind me, it
would indeed be very dangerous. The elderly man's face was covered with beads
of sweat. Seeing his sincere desire to help, then comparing his good intentions
with my own, I was even further mortified. I needed to go home, face the wall
and ponder my transgressions. It doesn't matter how trivial something is; if
it's something you shouldn't do, then don't do it.
ROC Ministry of Education Mandarin
online dictionary
Mandarin:
為了一包垃圾
聯合報九十二年一月十一日 38頁
走出超商，正要從停車列中移出我的機車 ─ 可惡！是誰那麼沒公德心，把垃圾丟在我的車前的籃子裡。塑膠杯、保利龍餐盒裝滿一袋，我拿起來找不到垃圾桶，就順手放在我旁邊別人機車的菜籃裡。
我馬上就後悔了，所謂「己所不欲，勿施於人」，我為甚麼要做這種沒水準的事。心裡掙扎一下，接著安慰自己：說不定前一個人也是這樣，被人亂丟，只得隨手丟給下一個倒楣鬼，我是無辜的，我只是有樣學樣﹍
不對不對，本來就不可以做壞事，我的良心開始責備自己了。我還察覺到有一雙眼睛在盯著我，哎，不管了，發動車子，快逃離現場吧！
想不到那個人騎著機車追起我來，是不是他發現了我幹的好事？會不會我丟的那包垃圾就在他的機車上？
衝過兩個綠燈，下一個紅燈我緊急停下來。聽見背後有人說：「先生，你的東西掉了。」我臉紅得不知道往哪裡擺， 回頭對那人解釋：「那包垃圾不是我的。」他沒聽懂我的話，很誠懇的告訴我：「先生，你機車後架的繩子掉了，有一端沒綁好，垂在地上，很危險呢。」
「喔，歐吉桑，謝謝你！」
是啊，繩子要是絞進車輪理，或是被後面的車子壓住，的確非常危險。歐吉桑頭上有汗珠，看到他的真摯善良的表情，被他的好心腸一比，我更加自慚形穢。回去要好好面壁反省：事情無論大小，不可做、不該做的，就不要去犯錯。
Taiwanese
online dictionary 1 2 Hakka
online dictionary Cantonese
online dictionary
Southern Min, Hakka, Cantonese, other Chinese
dialects:
Try
to tell the preceding Mandarin story in Southern Min, Hakka, Cantonese, or whatever
other Chinese dialect you speak, using your own words – don't
read – as though talking to a friend. You don't have to include
every detail or tell it in exactly the same way it is written above – just
tell a fluent, coherent story with your most natural and accustomed pronunciation
and speaking style.
Spanish
and French online dictionaries at
WordReference.com
Spanish:
Chiste
Este
era un niño de 5 años que estaba con su mamá en la parada
del autobús y le dice la mamá al niño: Cuando nos subamos
al autobús le dices al conductor que tienes 4 años, para que no
te cobre pasaje.
Entonces se suben al autobús y le dice
el conductor al niño: ¿Cuantos años tienes?
Y le dice el niño: Cuatro.
Y el conductor le dice: ¿Y cuando cumples
los 5 años?
Y el niño responde: ¡Cuando me baje
del autobús!
From: http://www.chistes.com/ChisteDelDia.asp
French:
Blague
Le petit Alain était en train de combler
un trou dans le jardin quand un voisin se pencha au-dessus de la clôture,
interessé
par l'activité
du jeune garçon. Il lui dit alors:
"Mais que fais-tu donc, mon petit Alain?"
"Mon poisson rouge est mort", répondit
tristement Alain sans lever les yeux, "et je viens juste de l'enterrer."
Le voisin fit un commentaire: "Mais c'est
un trou terriblement grand pour un poisson rouge, non?"
Alain finit de tasser la terre et répondit:
"C'est parce qu'il est a l'intérieur
de votre chat."
From: http://www.blagues.org/
LEO
German
online dictionary with audio
files
German:
Schulwitz
Die
Schulklasse ist zusammen mit ihrem Lehrer fotografiert worden. Der Lehrer empfiehlt
seinen Schülern, sich Abzüge machen zu lassen. "Stellt euch vor,
wie nett es ist, wenn Ihr nach dreißig Jahren das Bild wieder zur Hand
nehmt und sagt: 'Ach, das ist ja der Paul, der ist jetzt auch Lehrer; und das
ist doch Fritz Lehmann, der ist Bäcker geworden; und da steht doch der
Heiner, der ist nach Amerika ausgewandert...'" Ertönt da aus der letzten
Reihe eine Stimme: "Und das war unser Lehrer, der ist schon lange tot!"
From: http://www.witz.de/cgi-bin/warp/warp.pl?zone=witze&rubrik=berufe&navigation=witze&seite=1056432442.htm
Jim Breen's Japanese
online dictionary