One of the things to which I’ve looked forward most in going back to North America was being able to recover all the things I packed over /Users/kellen/ Dock /Audacitya year ago when I thought I was moving back there. The vast majority of my books and clothes and personal affects have been sitting in a large box, taped all to hell, for this whole time. One book in particular is Shanghai Dialect for Foreigners.
Transcription is (corrupted) IPA, which I love, with characters substituted thoughout (e.g. 侬 for 你). I bought it when I first came to China, and having absolutely no Mandarin under my belt, it intimidated me into ignoring it for a year or two. It also includes an audio CD, a sample of which is below. Transcription that follows is exactly as is in the text.
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| A: |
noŋ ʦɔ! 侬早！（你好！） Morning! |
| B: |
noŋ ʦɔ! ŋu le təʔ noŋ ʨia zɔ, gəʔ ɦue zɿ ɦuaŋ ɕi saŋ. 侬早！我来搭侬介绍，搿拉是王先生。（你早！我来给你介绍，这拉是王先生。） Morning! Oh, let me introduce him to you. This is Mr. Wang. |
| A: |
noŋ hɔ, ɦuaŋ ɕi saŋ, ɕiŋ li. 侬好，王先生，我姓李。（你好，王先生，我姓李。） How do you do, Mr. Wang. My surname is Li. |
| C: |
noŋ hɔ, li ɕi saŋ. 侬好，李先生。（你好，李先生。） How do you do, Mr. Li. |
The form of IPA used it a little obsolete. In the example above you can see [zɿ]. This would be [zz̩] in the current form and is pronounced as 子. Personally, i prefer [zɿ] simply for aesthetics, so I’m not complaining.
Hooray for recovering lost things.
I have that book. I should probably dig it out. I’ve been going through 丁迪蒙’s 学说上海话, and it’s pretty good. Not being able to understand so much of the language around me is starting to get on my nerves.