by Courtney E J Fowler
Hello again from Leipzig! Time is flying by and it is difficult to believe that I am already halfway through my time here at the MPI. I am excited to report that I have finished testing my 25 German native speakers. Additionally I have entered all of their biographical information, transcribed all of their recordings, and coded for accuracy on relevant tasks. I am now preparing to analyze the data with the help of Dr. Jackson — thank goodness for Skype!
The one thing that has proven problematic is finding late English-German bilinguals who are fluent in German. I have put up flyers in academic buildings, student cafeterias, libraries, language schools, MPI buildings, English churches, bookstores, study abroad offices, and international offices. I have spread the word to everyone I have talked to and yet…still no participants. I do have a couple of leads, but it’s not a lot to go on. Would anyone have any helpful suggestions for getting in contact with more potential participants? I would really like to find as many as possible while I am here!
Otherwise things are going smoothly. Last weekend my parents, who were vacationing in England, boarded a RyanAir flight to Leipzig for a visit. It was great to see them and fun to explore Leipzig together. In fact, because I was at the institute each day, they ended up seeing a lot of things in Leipzig than I have yet to check out. Luckily, they provided me with lots of ideas for things to explore on the weekends!
Yesterday Jonathan Peelle, who is visiting from the University of Pennsylvania, gave a talk at the MPI. It was entitled, “The neural and cognitive consequences of acoustic detail during speech comprehension.” I was able to attend (now that I am done testing German speakers I have a much more flexible schedule), and I very much enjoyed his talk.
This weekend is Bachfest in Leipzig.The composer Johann Sebastian Bach worked at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, so there is a strong connection between him and this city. There are events going on all weekend around town. I am hoping to catch some of the free open-air concerts. Additionally, today the European Championship begins! This will last throughout the entire month and will be a fun time to be in Europe. The German flag is already starting to appear everywhere in anticipation of the competition: on cars, clothing and on buildings. There are “Public Viewing” sites all over Leipzig (and all over Germany) where you can have a drink and watch the games with other fans. Germany plays their first match tomorrow against Portugal and it promises to be an exciting game! Let’s go, Deutschland!