2f:T8ac,While I [started a notebook](https://observablehq.com/@datagrazing/finally-speaking-german-in-the-wild) with my German-speaking instances, I thought it would be a great subject for the [Decibel's Community](https://decibels.community/) monthly sonification challenge. This particular month's theme revolved around self-taken data. Given the auditory nature of the data and the chronological arrangement of the dataset, I simply couldn't resist using it. After tidying up the information, the data took on the following form. To begin with, I aggregated the daily 'range' of minutes from my original data sheet and assigned them corresponding numerical values. Additionally, I streamlined the classification of speaking occurrences, moving away from the intricate details in the original sheet. Instead, I opted for broader categories that encompassed recurring opportunities, namely: conversation, tandem, tutor, service, and lunch. It's worth noting that we have designated 'German Lunch' sessions twice a month at work, during which I occasionally converse in German with my colleagues. Lastly, the last column labeled `english` indicates whether, at least once during these instances, my conversation partner switched to English. When it comes to the actual sonification process, I narrowed down my focus to utilizing two specific columns. The first column, labeled bucket, serves as an encoding for the duration of each speaking occurrence categorized under the corresponding type. To add a sonic dimension to the data, I assigned distinct auditory symbols or samples to each unique type entry. For further details on these audio representations, refer to the description below the data table, which includes a comprehensive explanation of the assigned samples. The sonification itself was coded in [Sonic Pi](https://sonic-pi.net/), which uses the programming language, Ruby. Since my extent of Ruby knowledge is limited to playing around with Sonic Pi, coding was a doozy, and there are still improvements I would like to make - such as playing the longer snippets like `lunch`, `conversation`, or `tandem` for the duration of each row's 'bucket' length. In the end, I'm ready for the next sonification project!30:T70e,Although I was very motivated to speak and improve my German in February, my motivation has declined, and with that the number of occasions I've had to speak German. I can communicate and convey most of my thoughts, but I'm not at the "heart-to-heart" level, which is my own personal standard for language proficiency. I realized: 1. A lot of the German-speaking instances were 'artificial', meaning online with a tandem or a tutor. This I could do anywhere and doesn't give me a purpose to learn German. 2. I still need to seek out that "spark" for German. There is a German author who makes my top ten ([Walter Moers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Moers)), and there is a lot of German news/science/culture documentary series that I quite like, but they are not unique to German or the language. I love almost everything about Japanese culture, so finding content and a hook is a no-brainer. As for French, I have a few good friends with whom I communicate on a daily/weekly basis. And then there's old French music and francophone graphic novels... For now, I decided that I am not going to actively study German, except continue to work on my accent and take every opportunity to speak "in the wild", and instead continue reading my escapism fantasy, science fiction, and graphic novels in French, work on my accent, and dedicate most of my time to Japanese. If I am being honest with myself, one of my top goals in life is to be fluent in Japanese. Therefore, regardless of where I am living in the world and what language is being spoken, Japanese will be my priority language. It may sound obvious, but it was only apparent to me a couple of weeks ago. I was almost agonized by the decision of "dropping" German or French, but I'm telling myself it is not so definite, only for the present.31:[{"id":"ccc12ffb97601101e9d36f3429b17e4fc3958e90ad0d25318778657b5197b8c8f12c2bb88588aef53333e1ee4da6de681ce203c9c4aa15c755d1add9fa587ba8","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/ccc12ffb97601101e9d36f3429b17e4fc3958e90ad0d25318778657b5197b8c8f12c2bb88588aef53333e1ee4da6de681ce203c9c4aa15c755d1add9fa587ba8","name":"wetbam_short.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1689266362617.91,"size":6829262},{"id":"84d5cfbd42a5cf2f479cf66e8373389f95156d3576a3c85fa464af8d1a2f128cf7ae7f441abec17d2e85b527c9d266c2e6bcbe7bbd478a3c828ce0b8f715b482","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/84d5cfbd42a5cf2f479cf66e8373389f95156d3576a3c85fa464af8d1a2f128cf7ae7f441abec17d2e85b527c9d266c2e6bcbe7bbd478a3c828ce0b8f715b482","name":"german_speaking_recording.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1689400977898.874,"size":31518926},{"id":"bda1765ceeed036e561c389704e087744366a6287a0ebffa8cb260aa66df3164cd66bf63a2b0944dc51f5d149062c4a0a0367b812fad8dba7008d3d7bf5017c1","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/bda1765ceeed036e561c389704e087744366a6287a0ebffa8cb260aa66df3164cd66bf63a2b0944dc51f5d149062c4a0a0367b812fad8dba7008d3d7bf5017c1","name":"conversation.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680721466588.571,"size":4464830},{"id":"1855a9dbc88a7c4ccb299063383a3b37f5da5696aa8654f305c30bc38f1801398ba04c71bd2ab3fae46a911c0e09f276fa1f8a3b04b6f6b0be0cd36731bc414f","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/1855a9dbc88a7c4ccb299063383a3b37f5da5696aa8654f305c30bc38f1801398ba04c71bd2ab3fae46a911c0e09f276fa1f8a3b04b6f6b0be0cd36731bc414f","name":"lunch.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680722126124.151,"size":4464830},{"id":"81cb16502c5428a77caf5ba0a5e9491689de5f96d127c547a05af6f425a381d168d1c255b4e464b7777c5ee42a5c8e2fc2a653542d5bcdd451df02d4ca87fdd4","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/81cb16502c5428a77caf5ba0a5e9491689de5f96d127c547a05af6f425a381d168d1c255b4e464b7777c5ee42a5c8e2fc2a653542d5bcdd451df02d4ca87fdd4","name":"data@1.csv","type":"text/csv","lastModified":1689264975767.162,"size":1115},{"id":"ed091df7037d37db75b2acbc3756b7f804b0855aecaa200c5f07ebb6fa9c53223be1b6aff7190defa79b013bf37fa2e2fd0de1a63c8cf5218bdf71b73696c4f9","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/ed091df7037d37db75b2acbc3756b7f804b0855aecaa200c5f07ebb6fa9c53223be1b6aff7190defa79b013bf37fa2e2fd0de1a63c8cf5218bdf71b73696c4f9","name":"German Speaking Data - time.csv","type":"text/csv","lastModified":1681983115890.45,"size":488},{"id":"fc7cb2ee425215f4d13403476c1a57110dff71236f47af0e738029395e8259682d347c25426801cd305dd9dd30f80ebf2f3d25ac000e3ae65e39f02d8b31258c","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/fc7cb2ee425215f4d13403476c1a57110dff71236f47af0e738029395e8259682d347c25426801cd305dd9dd30f80ebf2f3d25ac000e3ae65e39f02d8b31258c","name":"tandem.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680722126045.645,"size":4464830},{"id":"021947a43a1254ae872cecbd69773bb8aff9f37641fff730e2aace1d8936556ff240563bf30cad08e6103ca448c5f359f48a23e0ae0f5fc6256fa2343b546820","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/021947a43a1254ae872cecbd69773bb8aff9f37641fff730e2aace1d8936556ff240563bf30cad08e6103ca448c5f359f48a23e0ae0f5fc6256fa2343b546820","name":"tutor.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680722124744.559,"size":2888894},{"id":"329b5c0a95d6559e66174533b0f3fc82087032fbc7c45e46745581ef46b975b0e623ab93d0aa0b70c81edbfc87e2e23cbad937da067d595f989ab5e813b8c3f8","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/329b5c0a95d6559e66174533b0f3fc82087032fbc7c45e46745581ef46b975b0e623ab93d0aa0b70c81edbfc87e2e23cbad937da067d595f989ab5e813b8c3f8","name":"none.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680722122936.934,"size":1103092},{"id":"9ece0265337b4691c07a323654ad187aeebf7dc6c80d51511994c8406a987cdfd2682180eb11f4a394087fea16241f6c97e6ce51948dfac89d894040e0334a73","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/9ece0265337b4691c07a323654ad187aeebf7dc6c80d51511994c8406a987cdfd2682180eb11f4a394087fea16241f6c97e6ce51948dfac89d894040e0334a73","name":"service.wav","type":"audio/vnd.wave","lastModified":1680722122466.988,"size":1103092}] 2d:{"title":"February German Speaking Sonification","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"# February German Speaking Sonification ","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":491,"value":"Play the sonification in the background as your peruse the notebook. ↓\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":484,"value":"

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"html"},{"id":281,"value":"$2f","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":287,"value":"data1 = await FileAttachment(\"data@1.csv\").csv({typed: \"auto\"})","pinned":true,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":369,"value":"## Samples","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":367,"value":"I decided to incorporate WestBam's iconic track as a backdrop to the samples. WestBam's music holds a special place in the hearts of many, evoking a sense of nostalgia and celebrating the music culture of Berlin. Since I'm currently located in Berlin, I chose retro German techno as an attempt to capture a bit of Berlin's techno music scene.\n\n

\n\nAs usual, I used auditory icons, or audio samples, to represent each of the types.\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":341,"value":"#### Conversation\n\nConversation is pretty broad but means meeting acquaintances, chatting with coworkers etc.\n\nThe audio snippet I chose is from the [Easy German](https://www.easygerman.org/) podcast, because 1. I didn't feel comfortable recording a conversation I had in German and 2. Easy German is a podcast I really like, because it often feels like two friends chatting about German, their lives, and cultures.\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":300,"value":"#### Lunch\n\nI chose 'lunch' to mean lunch with colleagues. Sometimes I sit and eat with my German-speaking colleagues, and twice a week we have \"Deutsch Lunch\" where we usually eat schnitzel and always try to speak German\n\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":348,"value":"#### Service\n\nThis can be anything from our office cleaner to a shopkeeper - it's any exchange I've had where I am a customer.\n\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":353,"value":"#### Tandem\n\nWith a tandem partner, where we speak 1/2 in German and 1/2 in English\n\nThe most embarrassing of all the audios, this is me _monologuing_ (having a conversation with myself, listening to it and cringing), second best to recording myself as I was tandeming.\n\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":447,"value":"#### Tutor\n\n45-60min sessions with a tutor. Feverish pencil sounds is the most 'studious' sound in my book.\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":355,"value":"#### None\n\nThe sad days where no German was spoken\n

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":420,"value":"# Count of the 6 speaking categories\nEach count represents an instance of the type. 'None' denotes a day where I didn't speak any German.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":275,"value":"Plot.plot({\n marginLeft: margin.left,\n marks: [\n Plot.barX(\n types,\n Plot.groupY(\n { x: \"count\" },\n {\n y: (d) => d,\n stroke: germanColor.hex(),\n sort: { y: \"x\", reverse: true, limit: 10 },\n insetBottom: 2,\n // stroke: \"grey\",\n strokeWidth: 2,\n insetBottom: 2\n }\n )\n ),\n Plot.ruleX([0])\n ]\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":401,"value":"Plot.plot({\n marginLeft: margin.left,\n marks: [\n Plot.barX(time, {\n x: (d) => +d.time,\n y: (d) => d.type,\n sort: { y: \"x\", reverse: true },\n stroke: germanColor.hex(),\n strokeWidth: 2,\n insetBottom: 2\n }),\n Plot.ruleX([0])\n ]\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":375,"value":"## Speaking Beyond February","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":380,"value":"$30","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":222,"value":"---","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md"},{"id":429,"value":"styles","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":261,"value":"types = data\n .map((d) => d.type && d.type.replaceAll(\" \", \"\").split(\",\"))\n .flat()\n .filter((d) => d)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":413,"value":"margin = ({\n left: 120\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":394,"value":"time = FileAttachment(\"German Speaking Data - time.csv\").csv()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":12,"value":"data = d3.csv(getCsvUrl(url), d3.autoType)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":481,"value":"recording = await FileAttachment(\"german_speaking_recording.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":476,"value":"westbam = await FileAttachment(\"wetbam_short.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":332,"value":"tandem = await FileAttachment(\"tandem.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":329,"value":"service = await FileAttachment(\"service.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":324,"value":"none = await FileAttachment(\"none.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":319,"value":"lunch = await FileAttachment(\"lunch.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":452,"value":"tutor = await FileAttachment(\"tutor.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":305,"value":"conversation = await FileAttachment(\"conversation.wav\").url()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":6,"value":"url = \"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SPt0ZFsSwplaKWXAFDlp7otDaYREWI19qNsVsxDy4SE/edit#gid=0\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":187,"value":"// Converts a Google Sheets website URL to its CSV URL. You can also go to “File → Publish to web”, select the “Comma-separated values (.csv)” type, select the sheet with your data, and use that CSV URL directly with `d3.csv` above. If you need data to update faster, try the Google Sheets API: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30082277/accessing-a-new-style-public-google-sheet-as-json/44479726#44479726\n\ngetCsvUrl = (url) => {\n url = new URL(url);\n const id = url.pathname.split(\"/\")[3];\n const gid = new URLSearchParams(url.hash.slice(1)).get(\"gid\") || 0;\n return `https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/${id}/export?format=csv&gid=${gid}`;\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":290,"value":"import { sample, webaudioPolyfill } from \"@tomlarkworthy/audio-inputs\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":233,"value":"import { SummaryTable } from \"@observablehq/summary-table\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"},{"id":424,"value":"import { styles, germanColor } from \"@datagrazing/ld-helpers-styles\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs"}],"files":"$W31","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}