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…

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

[link to mp3]

… 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…

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

[link to mp3]

… or take it section by section as the transcripts get completed.

1. “Earthy speech” 0:00 to 2:20
2. “A phonetics lesson: tones and erhuayin” 2:20 to 4:00
3. “Scripts: pinyin is just like the IPA” 4:00 to 6:20
4. “Introductory language topics” 6:20 to end [transcript coming soon? See ad below!]

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…

Earthy speech

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

[link to mp3]

	SYZ	Shì bu shì nèige Yánqìng dìfāng huà bù yīyàng, gēn Běijīng chénglǐ de…	是不是那个延庆地方话不一样，跟北京城里的…	Isn’t it true that the local Yanqing dialect isn’t the same, with Beijing proper’s…
	SJ	Duì duì duì duì, yǒu yī xiē dìfāng de fāngyán, Běijīng zhèi — jiùshi — Běijīng jiùshi pǔ[pū?]tōnghuà.	对对对对，有一些地方的方言，北京这——就是——北京就是普通话。	Right, right, there are some local dialects — but Beijing is, well, Beijing has standard Mandarin (putonghua).
	SJ	[bù qīngchǔ] Běijīng, pǔtōng — shuōhuà	【不清楚】北京，普通——说话	[unclear] Beijing — standard speech
	SYZ	Rén shuō shì pǔtōnghuà, kěshì zài wǒ kànlai yě yǒude cí yě bùyīyàng le.	人说是普通话，可是在我看来也有的词也不一样了。	People say it’s standard Mandarin, but the way I see it, some words are not the same.
	SJ	Shì shì shì shi, duì, jiù gēn nín shì shuō Yīngyǔ, Yīngyǔ yě yǒu pǔtōng Yīngyǔ, yě yǒu nínmen nèi dìfāng nèige.	是是是是，对，就跟您是说英语，英语也有普通英语也有您们那地方那个。	Right, right. Just like when you speak English — English also has standard English as well as those local kinds [of English].
	SYZ	Duì, kěshì méiyǒu Zhōngguó nème, nème — chābié búshì tèbié dà, nǐ zhīdào ma.	对，可是没有中国那么，那么——差别不是特别大，你知道吗。	Right, but compared to China not as, as — the difference isn’t that big, you know.
	SJ	Duì duì duì	对对对	Right.
	SYZ	Kěshì Yánqìng yě –	可是延庆也——	But Yanqing also –
	SJ	Zhōngguó jiù yǒu fāngyán[yān?] ma, fāngyán[yān?], dìfāng tǔyǔ.	中国就有方言嘛——方言，地方土语	China has its fangyans — fangyans, local vernaculars.
	SYZ	a, tǔyǔ	啊，土语	Yeah, vernaculars.
	SJ	Shì ma? Nǐ kàn…	是吗？你看…	Isn’t that right? Y’know…
	SJ	Yánqìng [yānqing?] rén yìbān [yíbān?] jiùshi, yìbān [yíbān?] jiù shuō, nín yào Běijīng lái shuō: “Nín gànmá qù a?”	延庆人一般就是，一般就说，您要北京来说：您干嘛去呀？	Yanqingers usually are — usually say… If you come to Beijing you say, “Whatcha doing?”
	SJ	[bù qīngchǔ] Yàoshi dào Yánqìng [yānqing] xiànzài, nèi tǔyǔ, shuō: “Nín gánshuàr qù a?”	【不清楚】要是到延庆现在，那土语，说：“您 gánshuàr qù a?” [干啥儿去啊]	[unclear] But if you go to Yanqing now, that vernacular, they say, “[slightly different version of 'whatcha doing?'"
	SYZ	A! Zhèige wǒ tīng shuō guò.	啊！这个我听说过。	Oh, I've heard of this.
	SJ	Tīng shuō guò a!	听说过啊！	You've heard of this huh.
	SYZ	Duì duì duì, "nǐ gánshuàr". Duì, zài Běijīng kěndìng bù shuō zhèige.	对对对，“你gan shuar"。对，在北京肯定不说这个。	Right, right. "[mispronounced version of Yanqing phrase]“. Right. In Beijing they definitely wouldn’t say this.
	SJ	Zài Běijīng [Bēijing?] kěndìng jiù bù shuō de, tā… yī gè dìfāng(r) yǒu yī gè dìfāng de…	在北京肯定就不说的，他……一个地方有一个地方的 ……	It’s definitely not said in Beijing. They… Every region has it’s own…
	SYZ	a, tǐng yǒu yìsi de. Háiyǒu shénme cí, nèige Yánqìng de…	啊挺有意思的，还有什么词，那个延庆的……	This is really cool. Are there other words, from Yanqing…
	SJ	Yánqìng [yānqing] háiyǒu, nǐ kàn [nī kān?], nèige	延庆还有，你看，那个…	Yanqing also has, y’know, those…
	SJ	Dào Běijīng [Bēijīng?] zhèr shuō: “Chūqù, shàishài tàiyang!” Yánqìng [yānqing] tǔyǔ jiùshi, “Shái láo yēr qù!”	到北京这儿说：“出去，晒晒太阳！”。延庆的土语就是“晒老爷【阳？】儿去！”	You come to Beijing and here they say, “Go out and get some sun!” In Yanqing vernacular it’s “Shái láo yēr qù”!
	SJ	(xiào) Zhèi jiùshi tǔyǔ a.	（笑）这就是土语啊。	(laughs) This is the vernacular…
	SYZ	Nà xiànzài zhèi xiē xiǎohái yě niánqīng rén, tā hái shuō zhèige…	那现在这些小孩也年轻人，他还说这个…	Then today’s kids and young people, do they still say this…
	SJ	Tā bù shuō bù shuō bù shuō, tā bù shuō. Tā — xiànzài niánqīng [niānqīng?] rén, xiǎoháir, tā, shàngxué tā dōu chūlái le…	他不说不说不说，他不说。他——现在年轻人……小孩儿……他……上学他都出来了…	No, no no no. They — these days young people, kids, they, they go to school and then come out…
	SJ	Tā jiù bùxué zhè ge de, dànshi tā yě zhīdào.	他就不学这个的，但是他也知道。	They don’t study this, but they know it.
	SJ	Tā yī chūlái yě jiùshi xuézhe pǔtónghuà [pūtōnghuà?], zhèige tǔyǔ shénme, tā yě bù xué le.	他一出来也就是学着普通话，这个土语什么，他也不学了。	As soon as they come out they start learning putonghua. This vernacular — they don’t learn it anymore.
	SJ	[bù qīngchu] dànshi tā yě zhīdào.	【不清楚】但是他也知道。	[unclear] But they do know it.

Language notes:

Since the first thing to vary in non-Beijing Mandarin is often the tone on a word [unsubstantiated impression -- it would be cool to know of an actual study on this], and since Zhonglish speakers are not as naturally clued into tones as native speakers, they might have an easier time with wàidìrén accents.

Granted, it’s a highly dubious proposition. But before answering an emphatic No, consider how easy it is to understand some of what this Nǎinai says (as she picks her grandson up from PBS’s school) regardless of her very non-Beijing tones.

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

Nǐ de běizi ne? … nà huíjiā suǎn le ma
你的被子呢？ … 那回家算了嘛
What about your blanket? …then go home and it’s settled.

[Update: see comments below for full translation from "doctor" -- and thanks for corrections]

[red indicates non-standard pronunciation for what should be bèizi(被子) and suànle(算了)]

Would natives be confused? Almost definitely not by suànle — context is too strong. But bèizi maybe?