Voices of the ZBB
From KneeQuickie
Contents |
Samples used
There is only one sample text used for English, it is called Please call Stella.
- Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of bleu cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake, and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
Krinnen, on the other hand, chose some sort of poem:
- In the corner of the morning in the past / I would sit and blame the master first and last / All the roads were straight and narrow /And the prayers were small and yellow / And the rumour spread that I was aging fast / Then I ran across a monster who was sleeping / By a tree. / And I looked and frowned and the monster was me.
For his French recording, Legion wrote a short text:
- Un jeune et menu marin de campagne hisse la grand-voile au sommet du mât du galion de son maître, un vieux tisserand roumain fuyant les banquiers zélés qui lui donnent la chasse.
While Aszev used a different text for his Québécois French:
- Le Consulat, issu du Coup d'État du 18 Brumaire an VIII de la République française (9 novembre 1799), établit avec la Constitution de l'an VIII un régime politique autoritaire dirigé par trois consuls et en réalité par le Premier Consul Napoléon Bonaparte. Il dura jusqu'au 18 mai 1804, date de la proclamation de l'Empire.
Guitarplayer translated the English text into German:
- Bitte ruf Stella an. Bitte sie, diese Dinge aus dem Laden mitzubringen: Sechs Löffel frische Schneeerbsen, fünf dicke Scheiben blauen Käse und vielleicht einen Imbiss für ihren Bruder Bob. Wir brauchen außerdem eine kleine Plastikschlange und einen großen Spielzeugfrosch für die Kinder. Sie kann die Sachen in drei rote Taschen stopfen, und wir treffen sie Mittwoch am Bahnhof.
Zeikan used a Spanish translation of John 3:16:
- Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado á su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga la vida eterna.
While Kirk used a longer sample, from the Spanish Wikipedia:
- Durante el siglo XVII, los Países Bajos se transformaron en la principal potencia comercial del mundo, debido a su estratégica ubicación sobre el continente europeo, pero sobre todo gracias al Imperio colonial que esta pequeña nación logró construir tanto en Asia como en América. En la actualidad a pesar de haber perdido la mayor parte de sus posesiones de ultramar, el país mantiene su estatus de potencia comercial y aun posee el puerto marítimo de mayor movimiento en el mundo.
For my second attempt at Spanish, I also used a random passage from the Spanish Wikipedia, but mine's cooler because it involves dinosaurs:
- Los dinosaurios se separaron de sus ancestros arcosaurios hace aproximadamente 230 millones de años, en el período Triásico, unos 20 millones después de que la extinción masiva del Pérmico-Triásico hiciera desaparecer un 95 por ciento de toda la vida en la Tierra.
Xeon used a passage on constructed languages for his Spanish recording:
- Una lengua construida, también llamada lengua planificada, idioma artificial, ideolengua o conlang, es un idioma que ha sido total o parcialmente construido, planeado o diseñado conscientemente por seres humanos. Los lenguajes de programación no son ideolenguas porque no son idiomas. Tampoco se considera ideolengua a la evolución histórica, y por tanto no planeada conscientemente, de cualquier lengua natural.
Dewrad chose at random from a page on the Italian Wikipedia:
- La terribile alluvione che si verificò a Firenze fra il 3 e il 4 novembre 1966 è stata l'ultima di una serie di esondazioni del fiume Arno che hanno mutato nei secoli il volto del capoluogo della Toscana. Fu uno dei più gravi episodi causati da una eccezionale ondata di maltempo che causò forti danni in tutta Italia; oltre che a Firenze fu particolarmente grave a Venezia e nel Polesine.
And for his Welsh recording, he chose a verse from the Welsh song Yma O Hyd:
- Chwythed y gwynt o'r Dwyrain / Rhued y storm o'r môr / Hollted y mellt yr wybren / A gwaedded y daran encôr / Llifed dagrau'r gwangalon / A llyfed y taeog y llawr / Er dued yw'r fagddu o'n cwmpas / Ry'n ni'n barod am doriad y wawr!
Imralu translated the English into Swedish:
- Snälla ring Stella! Be henne om att hämta dem här tingen från affären: sex skedar färska snöärter, fem tjocka skivor blå ost, och kanske en matbit för hennes bror Bob. Vi behöver också en liten plastorm, och en stor leksakgroda för ungarna. Hon kan skopa upp dem här tingen in i tre röda påsar och vi ska träffas med henne vid järnvägsstationen på onsdag.
Dingbats, a native speaker, used a more correct translation (sorry, Imralu!):
- Kan du vara snäll och ringa Stella? Be henne hämta de här sakerna från affären: sex skedar färska snöärtor, fem tjocka skivor blå ost, och kanske någon liten matbit till hennes bror Bob. Vi behöver också en liten plastorm, och en stor leksaksgroda till barnen. Hon kan stoppa ner de här sakerna i tre röda påsar så träffar vi henne vid järnvägsstationen på onsdag.
And Tximist modified that version to fit his dialect better:
- Kan du ringa Stella? Säg till henne att ta med sig de här grejerna från affären: sex skedar färska snöärtor, fem tjocka skivor blå ost, och kanske en bit mat till hennes bror Bob. Och så behöver vi en liten plastorm och en stor leksaksgroda till ungarna. Hon kan hotta ner grejerna i tre röda påsar, så kommer vi och möter henne på tågstationen på onsdag.
For Esperanto, WurdBendur translated the English passage:
- Bonvolu telefoni Stellan. Demandu ke ŝi alporti tien objektojn kun ŝi el la vendejo: ses kulerojn da freŝaj neĝpizoj, kvin dikajn tranĉaĵojn da blua fromaĝo, kaj eble manĝeton pro ŝia frato Bob. Ni ankaŭ bezonas malgrandan plastikan serpenton, kaj grandan ludan ranon pro la infanoj. Ŝi eblas meti tien objektojn en tri ruĝaj sakoj, kaj ni iros kunveni al ŝi je merkredo ĉe la trajnstacio.
Radagast chose a passage from the Danish edition of "The Hobbit":
- I et hul i jorden boede en Hobbit. Det var ikke et væmmeligt snavset vådt hul fyldt med orme, og der lugtede ikke muggent. men det var heller ikke et tørt nøgent hul, uden noget man kunne sidde på eller noget spiseligt. Det var et hobbithul og det betyder hygge.
And for Nawatl, he used part of a story his wife wrote about maize:
- Okatkayāya seppa se tlākatl tominpixki. An okipixkāya miyak sentle. An pan se xiwitl in tlāolālle okitlahkaltēn pan ītlāl. Inon tlākatl ammo okitlahsotlaya in tlātlaoltzin peroh nemaktle inon an nochipa tikpehpenāskê. Aik tiktlahkalikān. An axān tikmatīs tleka.
The Voices
Aszev
Excellent English, Aszev! Aszev also modeled his Québécois French as well. Yay!
| English: | |
| French: |
- Ayyub
- sounds normal and boring. Damn you, General American! Damn you to HELL!
- Bricka
- Behold the power of Audacity to remove background noise! Bricka's recording is making me wonder where he's from.
- Bryan
- Does Bryan sound like Arthur Dent from the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" movie, or is it just me?
- Cctoide
- made a recording too. How about that? But where's a Portuguese one, Cctoide? HMM?
- Choedan Kal
- I'm pretty impressed with Choedan Kal's English. It's clearly non-native, but pretty close to it. Good work, Choedan Kal! Except...is there an insanely pissed off gigantic mutant fly sitting right next to your or something? Anyway, good sport that he is, he decided to provide his attempts at German, "only included for the entertainment of those who would enjoy my futile attempts at getting through a German text I didn't understand whatsoever."
- CurlyJimSam
- Also, behold the power of Audacity to fail to remove background noise! Piece of crap (the preceding joke was funnier when CJS's recording came directly after Bricka's). Anyway, I did not realize, until today, that CurlyJimSam is British. Live and learn.
- Daryush
- I'm not quite sure who Daryush is, but he sure does have a charming accent! Rock on, Daryush, rock on.
- Delalyra
- claims to have a "New England Accent", but I'm not hearing it. Then again, I've been told by some that I have a "New England Accent" so maybe I can't really judge. The point is, shame on Delalyra for putting this on putfile, like that subersive, Kirk. She also made a French recording and one in Zali, Imralu's conlang.
- Dewrad
- samples his sexy Tuscan dialect of Italian for all of us. Then he tried French, as he says, "for the lol." Then he gave us the English text too; I try to pay attention to the whole thing, but really the trilled [r] in fresh keeps distracting me with its awesomeness. Finally, he gave us a lovely recording of himself practicing his Elvish. Oh wait...that's Welsh. My bad.
- Dingbats
- While Dingbats would not be mistaken for a native speaker, his English is quite impressive, with excellent intonation and naturalness, and only a mild accent. He also recorded the text in his native Swedish.
- Diogenes
- This is an Austrian who could not resist showing (off) his native Viennese (or more correctly, Urban Middle-Eastern Bavarian) dialect of German. Of course, he also recored a Standard German sample. Compare this to Guitarplayer's recording! At last and least, there is also a recording in English, or better, what has been left after the slaughter...
- Fedosu/Kolya
- Apparently, I uploaded Fedosu's Stella recording a while ago, but never put it on this page...sorry Fedosu! But frankly, I'm too lazy to bother listening to the recording again, so I'll just say something generic about it: you sound...nice...and stuff, Fedosu.
- Finlay
- I'm conflicted. I mean, he's got that adorable little Scottish accent, but as Bryan points out, it's really not Scottish enough.
- Gorthaur
- stumbles thorough even his native English. He also tried French, but the result was too horrifying to put here.
- Guitarplayer
- Guitarplayer's recording. He's German, so bear with him. And while he was at it, he has also made a recording in his native language. And one in French. Incidentally, I think his brief English introduction to the French recording demonstrates a very impressive command of English; he speaks it fluently and comfortably, and with only a mild accent. But we kind of already knew that from his English recording.
- Imralu
- is Australian, so when he said his sample didn't sound particularly Australian, I was hoping he was wrong, so I'd have something to say about it (that something of course being: "Croiky! Eet's Imralu! THIS is a knoif!"). Sadly, my hopes were dashed. He also gave German and Swedish a whirl.
- Jlyne
- shows off her lovely voice reading the Stella recording. I don't know what the fuck this is, but I don't think I can overemphasize how scarring an experience it was listening to it.
- Khang
- just made a fuckload of recordings. He probably just started counting to ten in every random language he could think of. Thankfully, though! Since the more the merrier...until the server overloads and bad stuff happens, so don't everyone start sending me dozens of clips. Khang gets special privilages, because I say so. Anyway, the numbers in: Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Japanese, his conlang Qatama, and Spanish.
- Kirk
- made two English recordings. One demonstrates his subversive and revolutionary tendencies, which shall be purged in due course, by recording a text other than the Stella one. Something about a rat who gets crushed to death by collapsing rafters. Really. I'm sure it would be faaaar more enjoyable to listen to that fifty times in a row than to listen to a shopping list. Anyway, the bottom line is, I can't figure out how to download the file so I can then upload it to the KQ, so I am forced to link to it like so: [1]. Yet more evidence of Kirk's subversiveness, really. Also, he made an unscripted recording of himself (in which his intonation sounds identical to my linguistics professor). Then he sampled his Rioplatense Spanish for us all, including you Zeikan, whether you like it or not, hahaha.
- Klaivas
- is freaking me out with his...Yorkshire...ness. God, already my "witty" comments are rapidly deteriorating in quality. Thanks be the #isharians were ready to assist me in my arduous task:
- <tatapyranga> klaivas sounds like Count Dracula should
- <dewrad> He sounds like a 40 year old man who's spent the past 30 years chain smoking woodbines
- <tatapyranga> a voice from the catacombs
- <dewrad> Actually, it's quite sexy.
- Also, in French.
- Krinnen
- will delight the ladies with his sexy Latino voice. In case my attempt at a porteño accent (see below) is for some crazy reason unsatisfactory for you complainy weasel bastards, Krinnen was also thoughtful enough to demonstrate the correct technique for speaking Rioplatense Spanish.
- Kuvdamos
- recorded this with a very sensitive microphone and apologizes for the poor sound quality.
- Legion
- provided us with two recordings. One is in English, and the other is in French (which he says "is supposed to contain all phonemes of pristine, academic French". So, yay for that). I love the accentuation on and pronunciation of "train station" in the English version.
- Maknas
- speaks to us from the Shadow Realm of Specters. Seriously, though, that is some HORRIBLE recording quality. He sounds like a weather reporter in a hurricane... Get a better mic, Maknas, you lazy bastard! (Credit to Kuvdamos for the hurricane joke)
- Milami
- samples her pretty voice for us. Actually, I hadn't realized she was female, so when I downloaded the sound file it sort of freaked me out for a moment.
- Nae
- Oh, that Nae. He so crazy.
- Neek
- Neek did not include a coarticulated bilabial and alveolar click in his recording for some reason. The bastard.
- Pharazon
- sucks. Why, you ask? Because he does not sound anything at all like I imagined him. I don't know precisely how I imagined him sounding, but it wasn't like this. Although it is cute how alike he and Radius (see below) sound.
- Prmysl
- has some funky intonation going on or something.
- Radagast
- tried out four languages: English, Nawatl, his native Danish, and Spanish, using Kirk's text.
- Radius
- His recording fills me with rage. Because he's sort of the mature, fathery one, when compared with pharazon. So I picture him as a middle-aged, wise, fatherly type fellow. And it turns out he sounds like he's my age or something. I mean, WTF?
- Rainer
- Rainer's recording has some pops and crackles in it, but is pretty good overall. There's something odd going on with his vowels there, but I can't put my finger on it.
- Ruby
- As might be expected, Ruby's recording is simply adorable. Seriously. I defy you to listen to it and not "awwww".
- Saizai
- doesn't have a soundfile on the KneeQuickie, but he does post sounds files on his LiveJournal sometimes. Just don't listen to the one of him with a cold--it'll freak you out.
- Soren
- not only read the Stella text, but also then reread it with some minor changes to make it fit his dialect better, which I think is a capital idea.
- Spack
- Okay, now, see, I've met Spack before. And this is not what he sounds like. The only explanation is that he forced some poor sap to read that at gunpoint before wasting him. Spack: solving the world's overpopulation problem, one poor old sexy-voiced drifter at a time. Seriously, though. That is NOT at ALL what he sounds like. Really. Also, German.
- Tatapyranga
- apologizes for the background noise. This slight Brazilian accent probably has unaspirated unvoiced plosives and some [d] instead of [ð] in places. Is it just me or does he sound like a child molesting serial killer, speaking to his next victim as he slowly removes his suit made of human tongues?
- Tximist
- While he does have an accent, it sure isn't much of one! Kudos to Tximist for his impressive skills of English pronunciation. He also did a recording in his native Scanian dialect of Swedish.
- TzirTzi
- Running...out...of...clever...things...to...say. Damn. Maybe I should make Rory do these, or force you people to upload them yourself, as Guitarplayer and Tatapyranga were kind enough to do. So far the only comments I could come up with easily were Ruby's and Radius'. Oh, right, also, here's TzirTzi.
- Waldkater
- made three recordings: an English one, a Standard German one, and one in his native dialect of German, which he says "sounds like Saxon, but [...] is NE Thuringian... only god knows the difference".
- Weldingfish
- Let's all laugh at Weldingfish because he's a New Zealander. Hahaha. A frog for the "kuds"! Oh, Weldingfish, you crazy ol' Kiwi. You'll be the death of us all!
- Whimemsz
- OMG it's ME! For some reason my voice is all...creaky here. I also tried it in Spanish, reading a passage I'd never seen or practiced before. So I make some mistakes, but it's close to how I actually sound (probably not a good thing).
- WMiller
- I can't think of anything to say about WMiller, possibly because he has a boring regular Standard American accent. I will note, though, that "Ratatosk, Norse Squirrel of Strife" is an awesome title. He also gave a Spanish demonstration.
- WurdBendur
- sounds surprisingly enthusiastic about Stella's freakish shopping list. Or at least about the biiiig toy frog. And when compared to most of the people who've submitted recordings so far. He tried translating the Stella text into Esperanto. Pile your hatred upon him, anti-Esperantists! PILE IT!
- Wycoval
- If Wycoval changes his name again, thus forcing me to move this recording so the list will stay alphabetical, I will be most displeased. (Ironically, it was several days before Whimemsz realized that Wycoval had already changed his name to "Alpaca Sandwich" a long time ago) (And now it's back to Wycoval. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!).
- Xeon
- The only one of Xeon's files that still exist is his Spanish recording. Judging from the recording, Xeon likes to literally shovel pounds of driveway gravel down his throat before speaking.
- Xephyr
- This is Xephyr's very best attempt at pronouncing the Swedish version.
- Zeikan
- Zeikan, who claims not to be a 40-year-old man, silently reads about Stella, completely slaughters French, and seems to add a vowel in tal manera. May <reader's deity here> have mercy on his soul.
