Have you been to Seoul?

Not South Korea, but rather a sushi place on South Congress. That was the setting of the conversation I transcribed for this assignment.

It was bit ridiculous to record and attempt my first transcription a dinner party with 8 people at the table. Deborah Tannen I am not. It would have actually been okay, but some people just were not heard on the recording, so there are some missing comments and questions (not many, though).

The most frustrating thing for me was not being able to transcribe the expression with which people said things. Surprise, sarcasm, honest questioning, boredom--these things are heard, but difficult to put into the transcription. Or at least, for me at this point, they are. I also was frustrated that I could not record (or at times even recall) the nonverbal parts of the conversation. However, without a video, I don't know how much anyone could accurately recall these things.

One interesting thing I found was that, even after listening to the same part several times, I would type what I thought the person said (kind of like predicting the next word in reading), but when I would listen again, while I had recorded the gist of what they said, I had not recorded their actual words. After doing that a couple of times, I quit trying to type all but two or three seconds before stopping the tape, typing, and then continuing. I think this is interesting as far as its implications for how we remember conversations. We probably do usually remember the gist, but if we get the wording wrong, then at times we must remember not what the person even meant.

Conversation Transcript

R: Here we go. I think E wants some more. I can see by the look in her eye.

E: I'm good. It was good.

S: Thanks.

R: (laughs) Carrie, are you appreciating my appetite?

C: Yeah!

(simultaneously)with C M: Did you like that movie?

A: Um, yeah. I mean it wasn't like--

M: The reaction (points to R, meaning, the same reaction he had to it)

A: Yeah, but it was- Honestly, I didn't have high expectations for it, so I wasn't disappointed, you know. It was different. I hate-it's kinda like what you were saying-I hate

R: (to someone else) Why don't you try- literally, it's vegetables.

A: That kind of graphic, you know, violence, or just-I don't know.

R: (to someone else) It's just literally tempura and vegetables.

S: What movie did you see?

M: Pan's Labyrinth. It's like-

R: You saw that? [Sarcasm; he saw it with M.]

M: But he, he was totally engrossed. Amy and I-

R: What?!

S: Is it a horror movie or-

A: No. It's actually not. And there's not that many scenes that are graphic, but the ones that are
are just like very-

M: I closed my eyes. (To the group) Have y'all seen Pan's Labyrinth?

R: I have. Oh, wait. You know that, though.

M: It's in Spanish. It's a very Mexican film director.

R: Spanish.

M: No, I looked it up. It's Mexican. But the other guy, the Pedro Almavoder, that's-

R: Volver. I saw that today.

M: Is Volver good?

R: Volver is a great movie. I-I-I-I'm not kidding. You should-you should see it with your mother if you get a chance. Like it's one of those movies that, I-I-I actually would love to see it with my mothers and my sisters. I'd probably invite my dad, though.

T: What movie?

R: Uh, Volver. It's a Penelope Cruz. It's a Spanish movie.

M: Is that why you liked that movie?

R: It didn't hurt.

E: What movie?

R: Volver. It's a Pedro Almovadar movie. It's, it's a very good movie. Kinda revolves around the
relationships between mothers and daughters. But it's a great storyline around it. It's really good.

M: Um, did you enjoy it more than Pan's? Or it's just different?

R: It's different. I actually might've enjoyed it more than Pan's.

E: Is it, um, subtitles?

M: The good thing about foreign films in the U.S. is that we don't dub them.

R: (responding to E) It is subtitled. That, both of them are, the Pan's Labyrinth and- I actually understood Volver a lot easier than I did Pan's Labyrinth.

M: Really?!

R: Yeah.