I don’t plan on making a habit out of duplicating content here that’s also at the Annals of Wu. In fact I have a rule forbidding the practice. But this time I have to break that rule.

Growing Up With Shanghai is an audio project by recorded by Terence LLoren of Shanghai-based Bivouac Recording. As summed up on the title page, it’s “10 Shanghai soundwalks from young Shanghainese who were born and raised during the rapid growth of their city in the 80s and 90s.”

Here’s a little more from the About page:

“Growing Up With Shanghai” is a series of soundwalks with young Shanghainese who were born and raised during the rapid modernization of their city in the 1980s and 1990s. These recordings capture not only their most intimate memories of the locations where they grew up, but also the progress and growth Shanghai has undergone in the past 30 years. The current sounds of Shanghai can be heard behind the dialog and also serve as an audio document for future generations of Shanghainese. All dialogue is in Shanghainese or in their local dialect.

I’ve not yet gotten through all ten of the recordings but what I have heard are solid Shanghainese gold. Photographs by Weina Li accompany the recordings.

Head on over to growingupwithshanghai.com and check it out.

2 comments

1. MandarinMnemonics.com

   February 26, 2010, 3:14 am ^∞

   That is great for those that want to learn Shanghainese.

   Do you know of any podcasts with real conversation in Mandarin?

   For working on my comprehension skills, I don’t want to hear actors. I want to hear real people speaking real Mandarin and I want it on a regular basis.

   Reply
2. Kellen Parker

   February 26, 2010, 8:34 am ^∞

   There are podcasts but nothing with excellent conversations. Your best bet at the moment would be books. “Shanghai Dialect for Foreigners” is a good place to start.

   There’s also the “pinyin” edition of Qián Nǎiróng’s (钱乃荣) Shànghǎi dà cídiǎn 上海大辭典 that has a number of short conversations in the back, with audio. I’ve previously posted one of the conversations with the audio over at Annals of Wu.

   Note that there’s a version o this dictionary that has IPA, but that one lacks the conversations and the audio cd.

   Finally, In the past there’ve been a few videos on sites like Youku that teach Shanghainese, but after a quick look this morning they seem to have disappeared. I’ll see if I can track them down.

   edit: Found them. Here’s the first of the series. There was some discussion at the Annals on them here as well if you’re interested.

   Reply