Professor C: Um . Oh .
Postdoc B: How So it 's two pages per person ?
Grad A: Nope . One 's a digit form , one 's a speaker form .
Postdoc B: Oh !
Grad A: So one is a one time only speaker form and the other is the digits .
Postdoc B: Oh , I see .
PhD E: Oh it 's the same . Oh no no . Is is new Is OK .
Grad A: So don't fill these out .
Postdoc B: Alright .
Grad A: This is just the suggestion for uh what the new forms would look like . So , they incorporate the changes that we talked about .
Postdoc B: Date and time . Uh why did you switch the order of the Date and Time fields ? This is rather a low - level , but
Grad A: On which one ?
Postdoc B: On on the new one , Time comes first and then Date , but I thought Grad A: Oh you mean on the digit form ?
Postdoc B: This is this is rather a low level question , but but it used used to be Date came first .
Grad A: Uh , because the user fills out the first three fields and I fill out the rest .
Postdoc B: Oh I see .
Grad A: So it was intentional .
Postdoc B: Well , how would the How would the user know the time if they didn't know the date ?
Grad A: It 's an interesting observation , but it was intentional . Because the date is when you actually read the digits and the time and , excuse me , the time is when you actually read the digits , but I 'm filling out the date beforehand . If you look at the form in front of you ? that you 're going to fill out when you read the digits ? you 'll see I 've already filled in the date but not the time .
Postdoc B: Yeah . I always assumed So the time is supposed to be pretty exact , because I 've just been taking beginning time time of the meeting .
PhD D: Yeah , me too .
Grad A: Yeah , I 've noticed that in the forms .
PhD E: Yeah , I yeah .
Grad A: The the reason I put the time in , is so that the person who 's extracting the digits , meaning me , will know where to look in the meeting , to try to find the digits .
PhD D :
PhD E: Me too . Oh !
Postdoc B: Oh dear . We 've been we 've been messing up your forms .
PhD E: But I am put I am putting the beginning of the meeting .
Grad A: I know .
PhD D: So you should call it , like , " digits start time " . Or .
Grad A: And I haven't said anything . Yep .
PhD E: in on there .
Professor C: Why What what were you putting in ?
Postdoc B: Oh , well , I was saying if we started the meeting at two thirty ,
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: I 'd put two thirty , and I guess d e everyone was putting two thirty ,
Professor C: Oh .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: No , it 's about fifty fifty .
Postdoc B: and I didn't realize there was " uh oh I 'm about to read this and I should " Grad A: Actually it 's about one third each . About one third of them are blank , about one third of them are when the digits are read , and about one third of them are when the meeting starts . So .
PhD E: Oh .
Postdoc B: This would be a radical suggestion but Grad A: I could put instructions ? Nah .
Postdoc B: Ei - either that or maybe you could maybe write down when people start reading digits on that particular session .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: But if I 'm not at the meeting , I can't do that .
Postdoc B: I know , OK . That 's a good point .
Professor C: Yeah , he 's been setting stuff up and going away . So .
Postdoc B: I see . Good point good point .
Professor C: For some reason he doesn't want to sit through every meeting that 's Grad A: Yep , but that is the reason Name , Email and Time are where they are .
Postdoc B: Oh , OK . Alright .
Professor C: Yeah .
Postdoc B: I rest my Grad A: And then the others are later on .
Professor C: Uh - huh .
Postdoc B: OK . w
PhD E: And the Seat is this number ?
Grad A: Mm - hmm .
Postdoc B: Seat and Session .
PhD D: " For official use only " That 's  Well , he 's very professional .
PhD E: " use only "
Postdoc B: Actually you could Well that does raise another question , which is why is the " Professional use only " line not higher ? Why doesn't it come in at the point of Date and Seat ? Oh . Because we 're filling in other things .
Grad A: What ?
Professor C: What ?
Postdoc B: Well , because If y your your professional use , you 're gonna already have the date , and the s
Grad A: What which form are you talking about ?
Postdoc B: Well I 'm comparing the new one with the old one . This is the digit form .
PhD E: Oh .
Grad A: Oh you 're talking about the digit form .
Professor C: Digit . Digit form .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: The digit form doesn't The digit Postdoc B: Oh ! I wasn't supposed to PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: No , that 's alright .
Postdoc B: Sorry . Sorry .
Grad A: The digit form doesn't have a " for official use only " line . It just has a line , which is what you 're supposed to read .
Postdoc B: That uh OK .
Grad A: So on the digits form , everything above the line is a fill - in form
Postdoc B: Sorry about that . Yeah .
Grad A: and everything below the line is digits that the user reads .
Postdoc B: Yeah . OK . Alright s but I didn't mean to derail our discussion here , so you really wanted to start with this other form .
Grad A: No , either way is fine I just You just started talking about something , and I didn't know which form you were referring to .
Postdoc B: Alright yeah , I was comparing so th this is So I was looking at the change first . So it 's like we started with this and now we 've got a new version of it wi with reference to this . So the digit form , we had one already . Now the f the fields are slightly different .
Professor C: So the main thing that the person fills out um is the name and email and time ?
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: Right .
Professor C: You do the rest ?
PhD E: Ah !
Grad A: Yep . Just as uh as I have for all the others .
Postdoc B: What And there 's an addition of the native language , which is a bit redundant .
Professor C: Right .
Postdoc B: This one has Native Language and this one does too .
Grad A: That 's because the one , the digit form that has native language is the old form not the new form .
Postdoc B: Oh ! Thank you . Thank you , thank you . There we go .
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Oh , yeah . I 'll catch up here . OK , I see .
Professor C: " South Midland , North Midland "
Postdoc B: That 's the old and that 's the new .
Grad A: Yeah this was the problem with these categories , I I picked those categories from TIMIT . I don't know what those are .
PhD D: Actually , the only way I know is from working with the database and having to figure it out .
PhD E: What Grad A: With TIMIT , yeah ?
PhD E: uh - huh .
Grad A: So , I was gonna ask
PhD E: What i
Professor C: So is South Midland like Kansas ?
Grad A: wh w I mean .
Professor C: and North Midland like like uh Illinois , or ?
PhD D: Well yeah . Nor - um PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: So so what accent are we speaking ? Western ?
Professor C: By definition ?
PhD E: And for simple for for me ?
Professor C: Well ,
PhD D: Probably Western , yeah .
PhD E: Is mean my native language Spanish Spanish ? eh The original is the center of Spain and the beca
Grad A: Yeah , I mean you could call it whatever you want . For the foreign language we couldn't classify every single one . So I just left it blank and you can put whatever you want .
PhD E: Because is different , the Span - uh the Spanish language from the the north of Spain , of the south , of the west and the Grad A: Sure .
PhD E: But .
Grad A: So I 'm not sure what to do about the Region field for English variety . You know , when I wrote I was writing those down , I was thinking , " You know , these are great if you 're a linguist " .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: But I don't know how to I don't know how to I don't know how to categorize them .
Postdoc B: Yeah .
PhD D: Actually even if you  t
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Professor C: If you 're if e if y
PhD D: This wasn't developed by th these regions weren't Professor C: if you 're a TI or MIT from nineteen eighty - five .
Grad A: Yeah So I guess my only question was if if you were a South Midland speaking region , person ? Would you know it ?
Professor C: Yeah .
PhD D: Mm - hmm .
Grad A: Is that what you would call yourself ?
PhD D: I don't know .
Grad A: Yeah .
Professor C: You know , I think if you 're talking if you 're thinking in terms of places , as opposed to names different peop names people have given to different ways of talking , I would think North Midwest , and South Midwest would be more common than saying Midland , right , I mean , I I went to s
PhD D: Yeah . Now the usage Maybe we can give them a li like a little map ? with the regions and they just No , I 'm serious .
Postdoc B: No , that 's not bad . Yeah .
PhD D: Because it takes less time , and it 's sort of cute
PhD E: i at this  in that side in that side of the the paper .
PhD D: there 's no figure .
Professor C: Well .
PhD D: Well just a little You know , it doesn't have all the detail , but you sort of Professor C: But what if you moved five times and and uh
Postdoc B: Well , I was thinking you could have ma multiple ones and then the amount of time PhD D: No , but you 're categorized . That 's the same Postdoc B: so , roughly . So . You could say , you know " ten years on the east coast , five years on the west coast " or something or other .
Grad A: Well , We I think we don't want to get that level of detail at this form . I think that 's alright if we want to follow up . But .
Professor C: I guess we don't really know .
PhD D: I mean I As I said , I don't think there 's a huge benefit to this region thing . It it gets The problem is that for some things it 's really clear and usually listening to {comment} it you can tell right away if it 's a New York or Boston accent , but New York and Boston are two well , I guess they have the NYC , but New England has a bunch of very different dialects and Postdoc B: Mm - hmm .
PhD D: and so does um S So do other places .
Grad A: Yeah , so I picked these regions cuz we had talked about TIMIT , and those are right from TIMIT .
PhD D: Right . And so these would be satisfying like a speech research community if we released the database ,
Grad A: So .
PhD D: but as to whether subjects know where they 're from , I 'm not sure because um I know that they had to fill this out for Switchboard . This is i almost exactly the same as Switchboard regions
Postdoc B: Oh . OK .
PhD D: or very close . Yeah . Um And I don't know how they filled that out . But th if Midland Yeah , Midland is the one that 's difficult I guess .
Postdoc B: I think a lot of people Yeah .
PhD D: Also Northwest you 've got Oreg - Washington and Oregon now which uh y people don't know if it 's western or northern .
Grad A: Yeah , I certainly don't . I mean , I was saying I don't even know what I speak .
PhD D: It 's like Northwest
Grad A: Am I speaking Am I speaking Western ?
Professor C: Oh , what is Northern ? Well and what and what 's Northern ?
PhD D: I think originally it was North Northwest
Grad A: Northwest ?
PhD D: But PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: Yeah , so this is a real problem . I don't know what to do about it .
PhD D: Yeah .
Postdoc B: I wouldn't know how to characterize mine either . And and so I would think I would say , I 've I 've got a mix of California and Ohio .
Grad A: I c I think at the first level , for example , we speak the same .
PhD D: I don't know .
Grad A: our our dialects Or whatever you region are the same .
Postdoc B: Uh - huh .
Grad A: But I don't know what it is . So .
PhD D: Well , you have a like techno - speak accent I think .
Grad A: a techno - speak accent ?
PhD D: Yeah , you know ?
PhD E: A techno
Grad A: A a geek region ?
PhD D: Well it 's I mean I you can sort of identify
Postdoc B: Geek region .
PhD D: it f It 's it 's not not that that 's PhD E: Is different . Is different .
PhD D: but but maybe that maybe we could leave this and see what people See what people choose and then um let them just fill in if they don't I mean I don't know what else we can do , cuz  That 's North Midland .
Postdoc B: I 'm wondering about a question like , " Where are you from mostly ? "
PhD E: Yeah .
Professor C: But I I 'm s I 'm now that you mentioned it though , I am really am confused by " Northern " .
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: I agree . I agree .
Professor C: I really am .
Postdoc B: I agree .
Professor C: I mean , if if you 're in New England , that 's North .
PhD E: Yeah .
Professor C: If you 're i if you 're
Postdoc B: Scandinavian , the Minnesota area 's north .
Professor C: Uh yeah . That 's But that 's also North Midland ,
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Oh , @ @ . OK .
Professor C: right ?
Postdoc B :
Professor C: And and and Oregon and and Oregon and Washington are are Western , but they 're also Northern .
PhD D: Yeah . Of course , that 's very different from , like , Michigan , or PhD E: Mmm .
Postdoc B: Mm - hmm .
Professor C: uh , Idaho ?
PhD D: Well there are hardly any subjects from Idaho .
Professor C: Montana ?
Grad A: No problem .
Postdoc B: Just rule them out .
PhD D: There 's only a few people in Idaho .
Grad A: There are hardly any subjects from " beep "
PhD E: Yeah .
PhD D: Sorry .
Professor C: Maybe Maybe we Maybe we should put a little map and say " put an X on where you 're from " ,
PhD D: No , that 's PhD E: And is in those Grad A: Yeah really .
PhD D: We could ask where they 're from .
PhD E: And if you put Postdoc B: It 'd be pretty simple , yeah .
PhD D: Yeah . But - We went back to that .
PhD E: Yeah . If you put eh the state ?
Grad A: Well well we sort of Postdoc B: Where are you from mostly ?
PhD D: We we went we went around this and then a lot of people ended up saying that it PhD E: Uh - huh . Mm - hmm .
PhD D: You know .
Grad A: Well , I like the idea of asking " what variety of English do you speak " as opposed to where you 're from Because th if we start asking where we 're from , again you have to start saying , " well , is that the language you speak or is that just where you 're from ? "
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Hmm ?
PhD D: Right . Right .
PhD E: Yeah .
Professor C: Let 's Mm - hmm .
PhD D: I mean it gives us good information on where they 're from , but that doesn't {comment} tell us anything Grad A: And Professor C: We could always ask them if they 're from PhD D: well , enough about their Grad A: I mean . So so I would say Germany
PhD D: like Grad A: You know am I speaking with German accent
Postdoc B: Oh .
Grad A: I don't think so .
Postdoc B: Well , see , I 'm thinking " Where are you from mostly "
PhD D: Right .
Grad A: Oh , OK yeah .
Postdoc B: because , you know , then you have some some kind of subjective amount of time factored into it .
PhD E: Yeah . Yeah .
Grad A: Yep . Yeah , I guess I could try to put squeeze in a little map .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: I mean there 's not a lot of r of room
Professor C: I 'd say , uh , " Boston , New York City , the South and Regular " .
Postdoc B: Well PhD D: Oh , I don't know .
Grad A: I think of those , Northern is the only one that I don't even know what they 're meaning .
Postdoc B: Yeah . Yeah .
PhD E: And And  Um And usually here people here know what is their kind of mmm lang English language ?
Professor C: That 's a joke . That 's PhD D: So let 's make it up . S I mean , who cares . Right ? We can make up our own So we can say " Northwest " , " Rest of West " or something . You know . " West " and I mean .
Grad A: Ye I don't think the Northwest people speak any differently than I do .
PhD D: It doesn't even Yeah , exactly . That 's not really a region .
Postdoc B: I Professor C: " Do you come from the Louisiana Purchase ? "
PhD D: So we could take out " North " " Northern " .
Grad A: That that 's exactly what we 're arguing about .
PhD E: eh here Is easy for people to know ?
PhD D: That 's Yeah , w It 's In It 's it 's harder in America anywhere else , basically .
Grad A: We don't know .
PhD E: because you have Grad A: I mean some of them are very obvious . If you if you talk to someone speaking with Southern drawl , you know .
PhD E: N m Yeah .
Postdoc B: Yeah , or Boston .
Grad A: Or Boston , yeah .
Postdoc B: I can't do it , but PhD E: Or Boston ?
Professor C: Yeah .
PhD D: And those people , if you ask them to self - identify their accent they know .
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Yeah , they do .
PhD D: They know very well .
Postdoc B: Yeah I agree I agree . I agree .
PhD D: They know they don't speak the same as the
Grad A: But is Boston New England ?
Postdoc B: And they 're proud of it .
PhD D: day o
Postdoc B: Yeah .
PhD D: Yeah , exactly .
Postdoc B: It 's identity thing .
PhD D: And they 're glad to tell you .
PhD E: style .
PhD D: Well . Depends who you ask , I suppose .
Grad A: W I guess that 's the problem with these categories .
PhD E :
PhD D: But that 's why they have New York City but Postdoc B: Well , we ca Well , why can't we just say characterize something like char characterize your accent
Professor C: Well , Boston 's @ @ , too .
PhD D: Or " Characterize your accent if you can . "
Postdoc B: and and so I would say , " I don't know " .
PhD D: Yeah . Right , which probably means you have a very Postdoc B: But someone from Boston with a really strong coloration would know . And so would an R - less Maine or something ,
PhD D: And that 's actually good .
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: yeah .
PhD D: I was I was thinking of something along that line
Professor C: How
Postdoc B: Good .
PhD D: because if you don't know , then , you know , ruling out the fact that you 're totally inept or something ,
Postdoc B: Hmm .
PhD D: if somebody doesn't know , it probably means their accent isn't very strong compared to the sort of midwest standard .
Professor C: Well , I mean , it wasn't that long ago that we had somebody here who was from Texas who was absolutely sure that he didn't have any accent left .
Postdoc B: Hmm ?
Professor C: And and had he had a pretty noticeable drawl .
Grad A: OK , so . I propose , take out Northern add , don't know .
Postdoc B: Oh . Yeah . I I would say more more sweepingly , " how would you characterize your accent ? "
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: So you want to change the instructions also not just say region ?
PhD D: W
Postdoc B: Well , I think this discussion has made me think that 's s something to consider .
Grad A: I don't know if I if I read this form , I think they 're going to ask {comment} it they 're going to answer the same way if you say , " What 's variety of English do you speak ? Region . " as if you say " what variety of region region {comment} do you speak ? Please characterize your accent ? " They 're going to answer the same way .
Postdoc B: I guess Well , I was not sure that I PhD E: Mmm .
Postdoc B: So . I was suggesting not having the options , just having them Grad A: Oh , I see .
PhD E: Huh .
Grad A: Well what we talked about with that is is so that they would understand the granularity .
Postdoc B: Yes , but if , as Liz is suggesting , people who have strong accents know that they do Grad A: I mean that 's what I had before , and you told me to list the regions to list them .
Postdoc B: and are Well , I know .
Professor C: Right .
PhD D: Each each one has pros and cons
Grad A: So .
Professor C: Right .
Postdoc B: That 's true .
Professor C: Right .
PhD D: I mean we we Professor C: Yeah last week last week I was sort of r arguing for having it wide open , but then everybody said " Oh , no , but then it will be hard to interpret because some people will say Cincinnati and some will say Ohio " .
Grad A: I mean I had it wide open last week and and you said TIMIT .
Professor C: And .
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Professor C: Yeah .
PhD D: What if we put in both ?
Grad A: That 's what the " Other " is for .
PhD D: And Would people No , I mean what if we put in both ways of asking them ? So . One is Region and the another one is " if you had to characterize yourself your accent , what would you say ? "
Grad A: Won't they answer the same thing ?
PhD D: Well they might only answer only one of the questions but if
Postdoc B: Yeah that 's fine .
PhD D: You know .
Postdoc B: They might say " Other " for Region because they don't know what category to use
PhD D: Actually Postdoc B: but they might have something PhD D: Right .
Postdoc B: because it is easier to have it open ended .
PhD D: It just And we we might learn from what they say , as to which one 's a better {comment} way to ask it .
Professor C: W This is just a small thing
PhD D: But I Cuz I really don't know .
Professor C: but um It says " Variety " and then it gives things that e have American as one of the choices . But then it says " Region " , but Region actually just applies to uh , US ,
Grad A: Right .
Professor C: right ?
Grad A: I mean that 's why I put the " Other " in .
Postdoc B: Well , we thought about it .
Professor C: Ah , OK .
Postdoc B: Yeah , OK . We just We sort of thought , " yes , " y y I mean Professor C: S
Postdoc B: At the last meeting , my recollection was that we felt people would have uh less that that there are so many types and varieties of these other languages and we are not going to have that many subjects from these different language groups
Grad A: Yep .
Postdoc B: and that it 's a huge waste of of space .
Professor C: OK .
Grad A: So I mean , I I mean the way I had it last time was Region was blank ,
Postdoc B: That 's what I thought .
Grad A: it just said Region colon .
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Grad A: And and I think that that 's the best way to do it ,
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Grad A: because because of the problems we 're talking about but what we said last week , was no , put in a list , so I put in a list . So should we go back to PhD D: Maybe we can make the list a little smaller .
Grad A: Well , certainly dropping " Northern " I think is right , because none of us know what that is .
PhD D: Cuz , I mean And keeping " Other " , and then maybe this North Midland , we call it " North Midwest " . South Midwest , or just Professor C: Yes I I I think so . Yeah .
PhD D: South Midwest . Does that make sense ?
PhD E: South Midwest ?
PhD D: That would help me Professor C: U unless you 're from Midland , Kansas .
PhD D: Yeah . Cuz Midland Professor C: But . Yeah .
PhD D: I don't know where Midland is
Professor C: There 's a Or Midland Midland Grad A: Is " Midwest " one word ?
Professor C: Is it Midland Midland Midland , Texas or Midland , Kansas ? I forget .
PhD D: Y yeah , one w
Professor C: But there 's a town . in in there .
PhD D: Oh .
Professor C: I forget what it is @ @ .
Postdoc B: I don't think that 's what they mean .
PhD D: But ,
Professor C: Yeah .
PhD D: yeah . So . Kansas would be South Midland . Right ?
Professor C: Y yeah .
PhD D: And and wouldn't Yeah .
Professor C: And Colorado , right across the border , would be North Midland .
PhD D: So , th I 'm from Kansas , actually .
PhD E: Southern Midland .
PhD D: Yeah .
Grad A: And uh PhD D: Colora Oh , right . And then , the the dropping North , so it would be Western . It 's just one big shebang , where , of course , you have huge variation in dialects ,
Grad A: But that 's true of New England too .
Professor C: But you do in the others , too . So .
PhD D: but {comment} but so do you Grad A: So . I mean only one PhD D: Yeah .
Professor C: Yeah .
PhD D: Yeah . Yeah .
Grad A: Well , I shouldn't say that . I have no clue . I was going to say the only one that doesn't have a huge variety is New York City . But I have no idea whether it does or not .
Postdoc B: It does seem I mean . I I would think that these categories would be more w would be easier for an an analyst to put in rather than the subject himself .
Professor C: U
Grad A: I think that that was what happened with TIMIT , was that it was an analyst .
Postdoc B: OK .
Professor C: Wait a minute . Where does Where does  d w Where Where 's where does uh New New York west of west of uh New York City and Pennsylvania uh and uh
PhD D: Yeah , I don't know how it came from .
Postdoc B: OK .
Grad A: New England
PhD D: So . That 's New England I think .
Professor C: N No , it 's not .
PhD D: Yeah .
Grad A: Oh , no .
Postdoc B: I sort of thought they were part of the one of the Midlands .
Professor C: Oh no . No , no . No . Pennsylvania is not Grad A: " Other " , it goes under " Other " , definitely under " Other " .
PhD D: Well , you know , Pennsylvania has a pretty strong dialect and it 's totally different than Professor C: Pennsylvania Yeah . Pennsylvania is not New England . and uh New Jersey is not New England and Maryland is not New England and none of those are the South .
Grad A: OK . So . Another suggestion . Rather than have circle fill in forms , say " Region , open paren , E G Southern comma Western comma close paren colon . "
Postdoc B: Yeah . OK .
PhD D: OK !
Postdoc B: Fine by me , fine by me .
Professor C: That 's good . I like that .
PhD D: Sure !
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Professor C: We 're all sufficiently tired of this that we 're agreeing with you .
PhD D: Let 's just And we 'll see what we get .
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: Be easier on the subjects . I think that 's fine . No . I think Professor C: So .
Postdoc B: I like that . I like that .
Professor C: You like it ?
Postdoc B: Yeah , I do .
Professor C: OK .
Grad A: Actually , maybe we do one non - English one as well .
Professor C: Good .
Grad A: Southern , Cockney ?
PhD D: Yeah , and PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: Is that a real accent ?
Postdoc B: Sure , yeah !
Grad A: How do you spell it ?
PhD E: Yeah .
Postdoc B: I think that 's fine .
Professor C: Cockney ?
Grad A: N E
Professor C: CO Yeah .
PhD D: You could say Liverpool .
Professor C: Liverpuddlian .
Postdoc B: Yeah . Alright .
PhD D: Actually , Liverpool doesn't l Yeah . It 's  I 'm s I ha
Postdoc B: Well . Well . I mean , pure Grad A: OK , we 'll do it that way . Actually , I like that a lot . Because that get 's at both of the things we were trying to do ,
Professor C: OK .
Grad A: the granularity , and the person can just self - assess and we don't have to argue about what these regions are .
Postdoc B: That 's right . And it 's easy on the subjects .
Professor C: OK .
PhD E: Yeah .
Grad A: Yep .
Postdoc B: Now I have one suggestion on the next section .
PhD E: Mm - hmm .
Grad A: Mm - hmm .
Postdoc B: So you have native language , you have region , and then you have time spent in English speaking country . Now , I wonder if it might be useful to have another open field saying " which one parenthesis S {comment} paren closed parenthesis " . Cuz if they spent time in in Britain and America Professor C: Yes .
Postdoc B: It doesn't have to be ex all at all exact , just in the same open field format that you have .
Grad A: Yep , just which one . I think that 's fine .
Postdoc B: Mm - hmm . with a with an S
PhD E: Mm - hmm .
Postdoc B: " which one sss , {comment} optional S .
Professor C: OK .
PhD E :
Postdoc B: Yeah .
Professor C: We uh We done ?
Grad A: Yep .
Postdoc B: Yeah , that 's good .
Professor C: OK . um s e Any any other uh open mike topics or should we go right to the digits ?