If the Beijing Sounds Studios covered news, it would do stories like: why the hell is there a big pile of once-perfectly-decent-but-now-rusty rental bicycles taking up half the sidewalk leading to the Tsinghua campus, reminding campus-bound pedestrians that they have no wheels to help them cover the mile-long walk to class?
“But then, who’d want to listen to a story like that?” asks the voice of reason. Thus vanish the dreams of journalistic grandeur.
So imagine the astonishment in the clipping room on Sunday when Beijing radio pops up with a story about, yes, said pile of bikes!*
Don’t get your journalistic hopes too high: what passes for investigative reporting essentially consists of a parking lot attendant telling a reporter that no one’s been watching the pile of bikes for more than a year, and then the reporter noting that the relevant government departments are working on the issue of local transportation. Still, it’s nice to know other folks are also concerned about the important questions of Beijing life.
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| 1 | ZC | Tīngzhòng Hé nǚshì dǎ jìn wǒmen de xīnwén rèxiàn, shuō: | 听众何女士打进我们的新闻热线，说： | A listener, Ms. He, dialed in to our hotline and said: |
| 2 | ZC | Yǐqián, Wǔdàokǒu fùjìn yǒu hěnduō zìxíngchē zūlìn diǎn | 以前，五道口附近有很多自行车租赁点 | It used to be, around Wudaokou, there were a lot of bike rental places. |
| 3 | ZC | Zuìjìn ne, péngyǒu lái Jīng, xiǎng qù zū yī liàng, dànshì tā fāxiàn a | 最近呢，朋友来京，想去租一辆，但是他发现啊 | Just recently a friend of mine came to the Jing and wanted to rent a bike, but he discovered |
| 4 | ZC | zhèxiē zūlìn diǎn jīhū dōu méiyǒule. | 这些租赁点几乎都没有了。 | these rental places are almost all gone. |
| 5 | ZC | Tīng shuō, zūlìn gōngsī dōu dǎobìle. | 听说，租赁公司都倒闭了。 | I hear the rental places have all gone bankrupt. |
| 6 | ZC | Yǒu de gōngsī ne, jiù zhíjiē jiāng zìxíngchē diūqì zàiyuán dì, yě méi rén guǎn. | 有的公司呢，就直接将自行车丢弃在原地，也没人管。 | Some companies just abandon the bikes where they are, and no one takes care of it. |
| 7 | ZC | Jiēdào xīnwén xiànsuǒ hòu, xīnwén guǎngbō jìzhě Gāo Xiáng qiánwǎng diàochá. Xiànzài wǒmen jiù lái lián xiàn Gāo Xiáng. Gāo Xiáng, nǐhǎo! | 接到新闻线索后，新闻广播记者高翔前往调查。现在我们就来连线高翔。高翔，你好！ | After getting the lead, news reporter Gao Xiang went to investigate. Now we’ll connect up with Gao Xiang. Hello, Gao Xiang! |
| 8 | Rep | Wáng zhǔchí, nǐhǎo | 王主持，你好 | Hi, anchor Wang |
| 9 | ZC | Tōngguò jīntiān zhège diàochá hé cǎifǎng, nème zhèxiē zìxíngchē de zūlìn diǎn xiànzài de qíngkuàng zěnme yàng ne? | 通过今天这个调查和采访，那么这些自行车的租赁点现在的情况怎么样呢？ | Going through today’s research and interviews, what’s the current situation like for these bike rental places? |
| 10 | Rep | A, wǒmen dōu zhīdào, Àoyùnhuì qiánhòu a, Běijīngshì céngjīng xīngqǐguò yīzhèn zìxíngchē de zūlìn de rècháo. | 啊，我们都知道，奥运会前后啊，北京市曾经兴起过一阵自行车的租赁的热潮。 | Well, we all know around the time of the Olympics, Beijing went through a period of bike rental fever. |
| 11 | Rep | Zài gège dìtiě kǒu a, hái yǒu chéngshì dàolù shàng, dōu chūxiànguò bu shǎo zìxíngchē de zūlìn diǎnr, dànshì jǐ nián guòqù yǐhòu a, zhèxiē zìxíngchē zūlìn diǎn dōu yīgè gè de méile. | 在各个地铁口啊，还有城市道路上，都出现过不少自行车的租赁点儿，但是几年过去以后啊，这些自行车租赁点都一个个地没了。 | At every subway entrance and on many streets of the city, there appeared a great number of bike rental places. But over the next few years, these bike rental places went away, one by one. |
| 12 | Rep | A, wǒ jīntiān qùle Hé nǚshì suǒ shuō de Wǔdàokǒu Yìchūliánhuā Chāoshì ménkǒu dì nèige zūlìn diǎn. | 啊，我今天去了何女士所说的五道口易初莲花超市门口的那个租赁点。 | Today I went to that rental place that Ms. He mentioned, in front of the Wudaokou Lotus Supermarket. |
| 13 | Rep | Zhèige diǎn shè zài chāoshì ménkǒu de rénxíngdào shàng | 这个点设在超市门口的人行道上 | This place is set up on the sidewalk in front of the supermarket entrance. |
| 14 | Rep | Běibiānr ne, jiùshì Qīnghuá Dàxué, dōngbiān shì chéngtiě zhàn, rén liúliàng háishì hěn dà de, ànlǐ shuō yīnggāi yǒu zhèi zhǒng zūchē de xūqiú | 北边儿呢，就是清华大学，东边是城铁站，人流量还是很大的，按理说应该有这种租车的需求 | On the north side there’s Tsinghua University, on the east side is the subway station. There’s a heavy stream of people. Theoretically there should be a need for this kind of bike rental. |
| 15 | Rep | Dànshì, xiànchǎng què méiyǒu fāxiàn yǒu zūchē de gōngzuò rényuán | 但是，现场却没有发现有租车的工作人员 | But at the site there aren’t any bike rental workers to be found. |
| 16 | Rep | Jǐshí liàng de zìxíngchē bǎi zài nàgè rénxíngdào shàng, fēicháng de hǔnluàn, yòng yītiáo tiě liànr chuàn qǐlái | 几十辆的自行车摆在那个人行道上，非常地混乱，用一条铁链儿串起来 | Dozens of bikes are strewn chaotically on the sidewalk, strung together with an iron chain. |
| 17 | Rep | Chē shàng luò mǎnle huī, chētāi dōu méi qìle, yǒu de chēzuò a, chēlún a, shènzhì yǐjīng bèi dào zǒule | 车上落满了灰，车胎都没气了，有的车座啊、车轮啊甚至已经被盗走了 | The bikes are covered with dust, none of the tires have air, even some of the seats and wheels have been stolen. |
| 18 | Rep | Chē shēnshang hái xiězhe “Fāngzhōu Zūchē” de zìyàng. Pángbiān chāoshì tíngchē chǎng de guǎnlǐ rényuán shuō, zhèige zūlìn diǎnr, zǎo jiù méi rén guǎnle, yī nián duōle yǒu. | 车身上还写着“方舟租车”的字样。旁边超市停车场的管理人员说，这个租赁点儿早就没人管了，一年多了有。 | On the bikes you can still see the words, “Fangzhou Bike Rentals”. An attendant at the supermarket parking lot next door says this rental place has been closed for a long time, with no one working there for more than a year. |
| 19 | Rep | Tīng shuō gōngsī yǐjīng dǎobìle, zhèxiē chē diū…zhíjiē diū zài zhèlǐ yě méiyǒu lā zǒu | 听说公司已经倒闭了，这些车丢…直接丢在这里也没有拉走 | He’s heard the company went bankrupt and these bikes — simply left here and not taken away. |
| 20 | Rep | Qīnghuá Dàxué yǐqián hái shèyǒu sānge lèisì de zūlìn diǎn, xiànzài yě dōu chèle, qítā de zhàndiǎn yěyǒu lèisì de qíngkuàng ba | 清华大学以前还设有三个类似的租赁点，现在也都撤了，其他的站点也有类似的情况吧 | Tsinghua University at one time had three of these types of rental places; now they’re all gone. Other sites have also had this kind of situation. |
| 21 | Rep | Wàngjīng de xī zhàn yǐqián shì yīgè dà de zūlìn zhàndiǎn, fùjìn de jūmín shuō | 望京的西站以前是一个大的租赁站点，附近的居民说 | Wangjing’s West Station also used to be a big rental station, nearby residents say |
| 22 | Rep | duō de shíhou yǒu jǐ bǎi liàng zìxíngchē, xiànzài yě quánbù chèxiāole. | 多的时候有几百辆自行车，现在也全部撤销了。 | at the peak there were several hundred bikes; now they’ve all been removed. |
| 23 | ZC | A nàme ànlǐ shuō, (h)a, zhège zìxíngchē zūlìn shì gěi lǎobǎixìng tígōng fāngbiàn (h)a, wèishéme zìxíngchē de zūlìn gōngsī, xiànzài yīgè gè dōu dǎobì jiěsànle ne? | 啊那么按理说，啊，这个自行车租赁是给老百姓提供方便啊，为什么自行车的租赁公司，现在一个个都倒闭解散了呢？ | Well, theoretically, these bike rentals are for the convenience of regular folks. Why are the rental companies all going bankrupt and disbanding? |
| 24 | Rep | Zhège zìxíngchē zūlìn hángyè, kěyǐ shuō shì tánhuāyīxiàn [tánhuāyīxiè], duǎn shíjiān nèi, duō shǔ de qǐyè jiù xiànrùle kùnjìng, a, bùshì shuō méiyǒu xūqiú, zhèlǐ shèjí dào | 这个自行车租赁行业，可以说是昙花一现，短时间内，多数的企业就陷入了困境，啊，不是说没有需求，这里涉及到 | The bike rental trade, you can say it had its moment in the sun; the majority of the enterprises got mired in difficulties. Not to say there’s no need — this involves |
| 25 | Rep | zìxíngchē zūlìn yèwù de yīgè xìngzhì wèntí | 自行车租赁业务的一个性质问题 | a characteristic problem for bike rental enterprises |
| 26 | Rep | Zhīqián de zhèxiē zūlìn gōngsī jīběn shàng dōu shì mínyíng qǐyè | 之前的这些租赁公司基本上都是民营企业 | Basically all of these bike rental companies are private businesses. |
| 27 | Rep | Dàn zìxíngchē zūlìn què bùshì yīgè zhuànqián de xiàngmù, dìng de fèiyòng gāo ne, mínzhòng jué dé bù huásuàn. | 但自行车租赁却不是一个赚钱的项目，定的费用高呢，民众觉得不划算。 | But bike rental isn’t a money-making undertaking. Set the price high, and the people think it’s not worth it. |
| 28 | Rep | Dìng de dīle ne, qǐyè hái yào péiqián, sì bǎi kuài de yājīn, běnlái jiù yǐjīng tǐng gāole | 定的低了呢，企业还要赔钱，四百块的押金，本来就已经挺高了 | Set it low and the business loses money. A deposit of 400 is already pretty high |
| 29 | Rep | qíshí àn měinián yī bǎi kuài zūjīn jìsuàn, dàjiā yě juéde shōufèi gāo | 其实按每年一百块租金计算，大家也觉得收费高 | and actually adding in rental of 100 a year, everybody thinks the fees are too high |
| 30 | Rep | yīnwèi mǎi yī liàng pǔtōng de xīn chē, yě jiù liǎng bǎi duō kuài qián. Chúle fèiyòng hái yǒu wǎngdiǎn de shèzhì wèntí | 因为买一辆普通的新车，也就两百多块钱，除了费用还有网点的设置问题 | because if you buy a regular bike, it’s only 200. Besides the fees, there’s also the question of the network setup. |
| 31 | Rep | Zhǐyǒu wǎngdiǎn shèzhì de zúgòu mìjí cáinéng xíngchéng zhège guīmó xiàoyìng | 只有网点设置的足够密集才能形成这个规模效应 | Only if the network setup is dense enough can you create these effects of scale |
| 32 | Rep | yě cáinéng jīfā dàjiā zūchē de zhè zhǒng jījíxìng, hái kěyǐ yìdì huán chē | 也才能激发大家租车的这种积极性，还可以异地还车 | and get people excited about being able to return bikes anywhere they like. |
| 33 | Rep | Yóuqí shì zài nàxiē gōnggòng jiāotōng bùnéng zhíjiē dàodá de xiǎoqū, háishì kěyǐ dàdà fāngbiàn dàjiā chūxíng de | 尤其是在那些公共交通不能直接到达的小区，还是可以大大方便大家出行的 | Especially in the neighborhoods that public transportation doesn’t reach, it would be a great convenience for people’s travels. |
| 34 | Rep | Dànshì yīnwèi qǐyè bìjìng yào kǎolǜ de shì yínglì, zài bù zhuànqián zhīhòu, zìrán yīgè gè dōu dǎobì hé jiěsànle. | 但是因为企业毕竟要考虑的是盈利，在不赚钱之后，自然一个个都倒闭和解散了。 | But because a business, in the end, has to concern itself with profits, naturally one by one they went bankrupt and disbanded as they failed to make money. |
| 35 | Rep | Zhège wèntí ya, yě yǐnqǐle zhèngfǔ yǒuguān bùmén de yīxiē guānzhù | 这个问题呀，也引起了政府有关部门的一些关注 | This issue has also drawn the interest of relevant government departments. |
| 36 | Rep | Xiànzài zhèngzài jìhuà jiāng zìxíngchē zūlìn nàrù gōnggòng jiāotōng de tǐxì, zài júbù dìqū shìdiǎn, xiànzài zhèngzài | 现在正在计划将自行车租赁纳入公共交通的体系，在局部地区试点，现在正在 | They are now planning to bring bicycles into the public transportation system and are currently experimenting in some areas. |
| 37 | Rep | Yóu zhèngfǔ zhǔdǎo lái jìnxíng zūlìn diǎn de shèzhì, xīwàng zhè cì néng qǔdé bǐjiào hǎo de xiàoguǒ, zhǔchí rén. | 由政府主导来进行租赁点的设置，希望这次能取得比较好的效果，主持人。 | With government leading the setup of bicycle rental places, it’s hoped that this time there can be a better result, Anchor [back to you]. |
| 38 | ZC | Ng, hǎo de, gǎnxiè Gāo Xiáng | 嗯，好的，感谢高翔 | Ok, good. Thanks a lot, Gao Xiang. |
Program notes:
| 3 | The Jing — Jing in place of Beijing, that is. You see this in print often enough, but I can’t say I notice people saying it. Is that just a processing error — do I mentally add the Bei when people say just Jing? |
| 8 | There’s some in-studio controversy about whether this should really be transcribed as 王主持 / Wáng zhǔchí. My friend who checked the transcript (native Mandarin speaker) thought he was saying “hi 主持” — as in using the English word “hi”. But earlier in the program I’d heard her name was Wang something, and that’s what it sounds like to me, although it’s pretty much too fast to tell.Beyond that, there’s the question of whether my “Hi Chairman Mao”-esque translation of 王主持，你好 could possibly do any greater offense to the English language. As I’ve said elsewhere, there are reasons no one hires me as a translator… |
| 11 | The diǎnr for 点 here is the first non-standard pǔtōnghuà I can find. In other words, if you were doing by-the-book Standard Mandarin, I don’t think you could get away with rhoticizing the diǎn. |
| 16 | Sneaking in another unauthorized érhuàyīn: liànr |
| 17 | Do you hear that 甚至 (shènzhì) as “shènzì”? Although my transcription consultant, who’s from the Xi’an area, says the reporter’s “Mandarin is pretty standard, better than mine”, it seems pretty clear to me that, despite the rhoticization (e.g. 11 and 16), he’s not a native Beijinger. I’m not sure shènzì is a smoking gun, but it sounds like some circumstantial evidence to me. |
| 18 | Apparently old Fangzhou has been out of business for a while. A quick search shows lots of news stories, including this one from November 2010. |
| 24 | Notice the apparent complete lack of /n/ on the end of tánhuāyīxiàn, a good example of the phenomenon that’s tough for adult learners of Mandarin [especially when they aren't taught the difference between syllable-initial /n/ and syllable-final /n/] and even causes word confusion between native speakers [here's an old post with fā cán confused for fācái] |
| 27 | Gao Xiang is going vernacular on us again, using 不划算 [bù huásuàn], which the ABC dictionary marks as colloquial. |
| 33 | Do you hear chūxíng as kind of cūxíng-like? Going back to the comment in 17, even though this guy’s Standard Mandarin is beyond question, I’m dubious that he’s a Beijinger, based on hints like these. In general, I hear his retroflexes as being a bit more palatal than I’d expect from a Beijinger, but it’s hard to come up with a really clear example. But maybe I’m just hearing things, too. I’ve been accused of that more than once… |
| 37 | I’m probably missing the obvious translation of 主持人 [zhǔchí rén] in this instance. Anchor isn’t doing it for me. In any case, on US radio you could certainly hear this as the place to insert “Back to you, John.” |
This is Beijing Sounds first real dive into radio. Maybe it’ll become a theme. The most interesting aspect for me is paying attention to when local flavor (e.g. Beijing-R [rhoticization], colloquial speech) gets slipped into the program. You hear nothing but straight standard Mandarin from the news anchor, but from the reporter (who’s presumably connecting with the people on the street) you start to hear something more like everyday Beijing.
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*Update: belatedly, here’s a picture for those who haven’t seen such a pile. This is the actual pile near the entrance to the Wudaokou Lotus Supermarket. Picture taken on this beautiful and (finally) clear 10th of November.
On Cheeky Monkey Theater’s 《铁哥们》 (Tiě Gēmen(r) = Iron Brothers), and Mandarin with French characteristics
Last week the unstoppable Elyse Ribbons (pic above bottom left), big enchilada at Beijing’s Cheeky Monkey Theater, approached the Beijing Sounds studios about spreading the word on her new play, written, as she puts it, “entirely in my version of Mandarin”.
BJS director, Syz, immediately began salivating at the thought of high-quality Zhonglish along with wads of payola. Regarding the latter, though, he was also keenly aware that the majority of his three-member fan club resides outside Beijing, thus reducing the likelihood of their attendance. Not wanting to miss out on the Zhonglish, he quickly negotiated himself a private screening of last Sunday’s rehearsal and muttered something about “great synergistic potential” when Elyse pressed him on his own box office numbers.
The reward? Not only does the play have Zhonglish in abundance, primarily thanks to Theodore Ribbons, but it also has… what-to-call-it… zhōngçais? Here’s Elyse as her French-speaking character, entering an apartment where the two 铁哥们 (”Iron Brothers”) do most of their dialog.
Short zhōngçais clip*:
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我很喜欢中国，特别是中国菜呀，中国零食，还有中国人啊。
Wǒ hěn [ěn] xǐhuān [xǐ'uān] Zhōngguó, tèbié shì Zhōngguó cài ya, Zhōngguó língshí [línshí?], háiyǒu Zhōngguórén a.
I really like China, especially Chinese food, Chinese snacks, and Chinese people!
Here’s a longer audio clip that contains that bit of zhōngçais, but alas there’s no time to transcribe unless it would be to finish it in time for the 2012 re-opening.
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With such a short clip, the analysis is pretty easy. Mostly what we have here is missing syllable initial /h/. There also might be something going on with that língshí pronounced as línshí. But one of you with some French in your brain will have to weigh in on that issue, since the Beijing Sounds studios already spent October’s French linguistic specialist funds on unspecified “entertainment” charges.
It’s really not enough of a clip to start a whole zhōngçais series, but if there’s a reader out there who’s a speaker or knows one, it’d be great fun to spend some time with some real dialog. Let me know in the comments or send an email (syz <at> sinoglot <dot> com).
Back to the play itself, the big prize, of course, from a linguistic perspective, is long runs of Zhonglish. I’ve got some of those recorded from the rehearsal, but not enough time to do anything with them.
I’m planning to make it to the Saturday performance. If any of you do the same, let me know and we’ll say nǐhǎo, or something more personable. FYI the play runs from today through the 23rd. Tickets can be found here; play storyline here.
To fellow Zhonglish speaker Elyse: break a leg!
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* Elyse promises the barking dog will not be a part of the regular production.
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Posts in this series:
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Welcome back to you three survivors who’ve stuck with the Beijing Sounds Studios through this never-complete but never-abandoned project. Recall that our cabbie/instructor, a certified Yanqinger, is trying to give a linguistic overview of Yanqing dialect and comparative writing system analysis all within a 23 kuai fare.
Of course you always could have listened to the whole recording without any transcripts…
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…but the fun of doing it section by section is to savor the tonal surprises that feature as prominently in Yanqing as the over-developed Badaling Great Wall itself. Even the name, Yanqing, is not at all a rising-falling “Yánqìng” the way Beijing’s city slickers would say it, but something more like Yānqing:
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In this third section, prepare to be awestruck by tone flattening feats unrivaled by even foreigners, who are more apt to bend tones down or up. If you believe the underpaid transcribers who copped this together, there are no fewer than 6 syllables that have been given tone 1 in place of their original tone. And in most cases, the recording has multiple instances of the flat pronunciation, so it’s not just a fluke. Check out xuē 学, dēi 得, chēng 成, mēi 美, rēn 人, cī 词.
Listen and enjoy. As in previous posts, in the Pinyin column a bracketed pronunciation (e.g. [hán] in line 1) indicates what the taxi driver actually said, as contrasted with the standard Mandarin written there.
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| 1 | SJ | Zhōngguó zhè hàn[hán]zì, tā… … Nán dǒng. | 中国这汉字，它……难懂。 | These Chinese characters, they… they’re hard to understand. |
| 2 | SJ | Shì ba? Bù xiàng zhè Yīngyǔ zhè èr shí liù zìmǔ, Zhōngguó zhège zì, yí [yī] zì duō [duò] yìsi. | 是吧？不像这英语这二十六字母，中国这个字，一字多意思。 | Right? Not like English and its 26 letters, Chinese characters — one character has lots of meanings. |
| 3 | SJ | Shì ba? | 是吧？ | Y’know? |
| 4 | SYZ | Nà nín xiǎode shíhòu yě xuéguò zhèige Pīnyīn ba? | 那您小的时候也学过这个拼音吧？ | When you were young did you study Pinyin? |
| 5 | SJ | Xué [xuē] guò ya! Jiù děi xué [xuē]. Zhèige hàn [hán] zì, nǐ yě jiù děi xué [xuē] pīnyīn. | 学过呀！就得学。这个汉字，你也就得学拼音。 | Sure, we studied it! You have to study it. For Chinese characters, you had to study Pinyin too. |
| 6 | SJ | A, zhèige [zhéige?] zìr. Nǐ bǐrú shuō pīnyīn nèige “a o e, i u ü” a | 啊，这个字儿。你比如说拼音那个”a o e, i u ü” 啊 | Right, for the characters. Like you have to use the “a o e, i u ü” |
| 7 | SJ | Nǐ kàn, yīngyǔ jiùshì “abcd”, a. Nǐ děi [dēi?] xué [xuē] nèige, nǐ bù xué [xuē] nèige bùchéng [chēng?] a. | 你看，英语就是”abcd”，啊。你得学那个，你不学那个不成啊。 | See, it’s just like English “abcd”. You have to learn that — not going to work if you don’t. |
| 8 | SJ | Tā zhèige, hànyǔ——hànzì gēn zhèi yīngwén, yīngwén, nèige dàolǐ shì yíyàng [yìyǎng?] de. | 它这个，汉语——汉字跟这英文，英文，那个道理是一样的。 | With Mandarin — with Chinese characters and English — the principle’s the same. |
| 9 | SJ | Nǐ shuō nèi yīngwén, shuō zhège “a”, “a” yěyǒu pīnyīn bǎ zhèi “a” pīn chūlái. | 你说那英文，说这个”a”，“a”也有拼音把这”a”拼出来。 | Like if you take English, say, “a”, “a” also has “pinyin” to write it out. |
| 10 | SJ | Shì ba? | 是吧？ | Right? |
| 11 | SYZ | Yěyǒu, yǒu, nǐ shuō, bǐrú shuō nèige, jiào shénme, nèige guójì yīnbiāo ba? | 也有，有，你说，比如说那个，叫什么，那个国际音标吧？ | Yeah, there is, are you saying that — what do you call it — the international phonetic alphabet? |
| 12 | SYZ | Kěshì zhèige, shuō shíhuà, nèige měiguó rén yě bùyòng! Tāmen dōu bù zhīdào zhè shì shénme. | 可是这个，说实话，那个美国人也不用！他们都不知道这是什么。 | But that, to tell the truth, Americans don’t use it! They don’t even know what it is. |
| 13 | SJ | Měiguó rén [mēiguo rēn?] a? | 美国人啊？ | Americans? |
| 14 | SYZ | Duì, kěshì wàiguórén xué——bùshì——bùshì měiguó rén, nèige, nèixiē rén xué yīngyǔ de shíhou | 对，可是外国人学——不是——不是美国人，那个，哪些人学英语的时候 | Right. But foreigners studying — uh — I mean not Americans — people, when they’re studying English |
| 15 | SYZ | Yě yòng zhège…guójì… | 也用这个……国际…… | Also use this … international… |
| 16 | SJ | Yòng ya, tā kěndìng yào——tā děi yòng. | 用呀，他肯定要——他得用。 | Use it, of course they do — they have to. |
| 17 | SJ | Měi yīgè dāncí [cī], měi yīgè dāncí [cī] hòubianr, dōu yǒu pīnyīn ná kuòhào kuò de. | 每一个单词，每一个单词后边儿，都有拼音拿括号括的。 | Every word, behind every word there’s a “pinyin” in parentheses. |
| 18 | SJ | Shuō wǒ bù rènde zhège, wǒ bù rènde zhè dāncí [cī], kěyǐ ná [nā] dāncí [cī] hòubianr [hóubiānr] zhège pīnyīn, wǎng chū fāyīn, wǎng chū kàn ne. | 说我不认得这个，我不认得这单词，可以拿单词后边儿这个拼音，往出发音，往出看呢。 | Say if I don’t recognize this, don’t recognize this word, I can use the “pinyin” in parentheses and make the sound. |
| 19 | SYZ | Kěnéng, yàoshi nǐ shuō zhèige nèige shénme nèige xuéxí, xué yīngwén de zhèixiē shū | 可能，要是你说这个那个什么那个学习，学英文的这些书 | Maybe, if you’re saying those kinds of studying, books for studying English. |
| 20 | SYZ | Nà yě yǒu kěnéng yǒu nèige, nèige | 那也有可能有那个，那个 | Then maybe they have those, those |
| 21 | SJ | Duì, nǐ jiù dāncí [cī] yě děi yòng [dēi yóng?], yě děi wǎng chū pīn a, fāyīn. | 对，你就单词也得用，也得往出拼啊，发音。 | Right, you have to use it for words, to be able to pronounce them. |
| 22 | SJ | Bǐrú shuō wǒ bù rènshi zhège zì, dànshì zhè zì shàng yǒu pīnyīn, wǒ kěyǐ wǎng chū pīn tā, zhè zì niàn shénme. | 比如说我不认识这个字，但是这字上有拼音，我可以往出拼它，这字念什么。 | Like if I don’t recognize this character, but on top of the character there’s pinyin, I can write it out and know how to read it. |
| 23 | SJ | Nèige yīngyǔ nèige, gēn zhè dàolǐ, tā yěshì yīyàng. Dāncí [cī], nǐ yàoshi hòubianr, tā dōu yǒu zhè fāyīn nèige yīnfú. | 那个英语那个，跟这道理，它也是一样。单词，你要是后边儿，它都有这发音那个音符。 | So English has the same principle. Words all have the pronunciation notation behind them. |
To conclude that “Yanqingers just use the first tone more”, though, would be a gross oversimplification. There’s a lot more going on. Top dollar paid for all testable hypotheses. Just apply with Lao Liu in accounting, who got his business training in a Dongbei embalming operation.
If you’ve been in Beijing long enough to escape the cacophony of the Imperial Palace and the Badaling Great Wall, you’ve found yourself wandering through some regular old city park, serenaded by wisps of patriotic or traditional music. Here’s a sample from two years ago:
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The description back then was “rickety” — a bit lacking in generosity, perhaps, but true not only of that sample but of most park music. And after several years of park-wandering, you start wondering if “rickety” is true of all park music. Not that you ever fail to appreciate the spontaneity of folks putting music together, no matter what it sounds like, just that once in a while it’d be nice to have something a little more put together.
If my experience yesterday offers any moral for you park wanderers, it’s this: don’t stop wandering. Eventually you’ll be rewarded, maybe in some random park in the Qinghe area well outside the north fifth ring. Actual prizes may vary, but it should be on the order of a duo arrangement of 战马奔腾 (zhànmǎ bēnténg “Galloping Steed”) that is equal parts William Tell Overture and Charlie Daniels Band. It will be bowed with sufficient aplomb and verve to make you ignore the tinny battery-powered speaker providing accompaniment. Prize will almost certainly include a toddler barely reined in by her grandfather as she bounces to the beat, as well as numerous passers-by with mouths agape, realizing they’ve stumbled into no ordinary park music. Enjoy!
[Apologies to mainlanders for putting it up on the ever-blocked youtube. Beijing Sounds just doesn't do enough video to warrant futzing with other sites. Anyway, you've got a way around the block, right? The plan was to put audio right below the video version, so that at least you'd have that, but the only computer here that will actually record straight from the sound card (as opposed to re-recording from a speaker, which sounds like crap) just bit the dust. Nothing. Won't even start. I'm sure there's some neat technical detour around all this detritus, but since the en masse firing of a whole layer of production crew here at the Beijing Sounds Studios, nothing much is getting done. Be glad you've got some badly shot video. Beyond that, blame Beijing. For everything.]
Video
A couple of notes, even though the preamble was already too long:
[apologies to email subscribers for sending out an early draft of this -- just the usual technical incompetence]
Oh, Yanqing! Can you see it out there in the mountains and the mist?
The taxi authority says it’s part of Beijing, at least for the purposes of counting its residents as Beijingers and thus allowing them to drive Beijing cabs. Other relevant organs have closed their administrative lines around it as well, giving out 京-decorated license plates and other status symbols to assuage any unharmonious feelings. But as a resident of either town will tell you, Yanqing ain’t Beijing ain’t Yanqing.
It’s not just the mountains and forests and even a bit of water up there — although they’re a selling point over Beijing, which goes 0 for 3 — it’s language too. Let’s start with the name. The Putonghua Prescriptivists, as well as Beijing inner-ring dwellers, would have you believe Yanqing’s “延庆” is pronounced Yánqìng. But if you listen to a local…
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… you might suspect there’s something interesting going on, something more Yānqing-like.
It has long been lamented among the management that the Beijing Sounds Studios have no 郊区 (jiāoqū = distant suburb / remote district) residents on staff. Even worse, some of the actors — practically all of whom are city slickers — have been known to ape the jiāoqū accents with callous disregard for linguistic accuracy. The “hang the wall on the gun” incident comes to mind.
As partial atonement, the Studios today are proud to present a guest instructor. His 延庆话 (Yánqìnghuà = Yanqing speech) lesson, purchased at the fair price of 23 yuan, including transportation, covers a few of the basics beyond the pronunciation of Yanqing. Listen to the entire recording here…
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… or take it section by section as the transcripts get completed.
Ah, but when, you ask, will the transcripts get completed? Well, a quick glance at recent posting rates draws a grim graph. Just eyeballing it, the studio director estimates that, with no dramatic production line changes, completion could be assured by mid-2027. So let’s go off-topic for a second and put up an advertisement:
Beijing Sounds Studios seeks Director of Transcription
Requirements (wishes?)
- Advanced Mandarin skills and an interest in phonetics
- Interest in learning really cool transcription software (EXMARaLDA)
Tasks
- Light manual labor in clean, modern brick-making facilities
- Transcription of low quality recordings with occasional reproductive innuendo and potty humor
Remuneration
- Everlasting glory in Beijing Sounds presentations
- A reasonable share of the immense box office take (minus ghastly executive pay packages and questionable expenses)
Please reply to:
syz
at
sinoglot
dot
com
Note of seriousity: I’m not kidding about the search for a collaborator. Think about it: it might be fun!
And now, on to our feature presentation…
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Language notes:
| Line | Note |
| 2 | The bracketing in “pǔ[pū?]tōnghuà” — as well as all the subsequent bracketing — marks a tone I’ve heard as different from standard Mandarin. I’m sure I’ve left out plenty, but I tried to label the most salient examples. |
| 5 | Admirable linguistic sophistication here, drawing a parallel to English. I feel like this kind of sophistication is more common in China than it would be in the US, perhaps because of the relatively few differences in English dialects across the States. But then again, maybe I just talk to more people here and have unusual sampling. |
| 9 | OK, I know that 土语 (tǔyǔ = vernacular, but character by character = “dirt / earth” + “language”) is probably not understood by native speakers as anything like “earth language” and it also doesn’t mean the same thing as “earthy” with its connotations of ribald language. Still, a non-native speaker can’t help making the connection. |
| 13 | Any Yanqing specialists out there who can shed light on gánshuàr qù? |
| 20 | ditto for Shái láo yēr qù |
| 26 | “They do know it” but you wonder about the fade after another generation… |
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