bˈɑːdɐnˌɑːvɪtʃ wʌz bˈɔːɹn ɪn mˈɪnsk ɪnðə fˈæmɪli ʌv ˈædəm bˈɑːdɐnˌɑːvɪtʃ, ɐn ɪmpˈoːɹtənt bˌɛlɚɹˈuːsiən ɛθnˈɑːɡɹəfɚ, hˌuː θɹuː mˈoʊst əv hɪz kɚɹˈɪɹ wˈɜːkt æz ɐ bˈæŋk klˈɜːk.
Bahdanovič was born in Minsk in the family of Adam Bahdanovič, an important Belarusian ethnographer, who through most of his career worked as a bank clerk.