A sorely overlooked aspect of fieldwork is the physical conditions under which the scientist must work. Even though I am in a semi-urban environment with such luxuries as electricity, internet access close by and nice toilets, I still endure the tropic hazards of insect bites which are particularly unpleasant for me being as I am allergic to most insect poisons including mosquitoes and ants. Also, I am just getting
over a nasty case of stomach flu -a constant risk for the delicate Northern European stomach I suppose. It is interesting to observe, that, as far as I know, Hondurans who go to Denmark or the US hardly ever have stomach issues - but then, they struggle with other hazards such as the biting cold in winter and even sometimes in summer.
It rained and stormed for a while because it is now
officially the rainy season - but so far it has stopped, knock on wood,
and work is progressing - it becomes more difficult to work when it
rains because 1) we must work indoors where the heat is unbearable and 2)
recordings become distorted - so I'm a happy fieldworker as far as
weather is concerned.
I am currently looking to
recruit a person to transcribe and translate recordings independently - I
figure it cant hurt; if the person just does a half decent job it will
be useful data in some way. First, this person must own their own computer because I don't think I have funds for buying one at this point, and second the person must be using the language on a daily basis - those to factors rolled into one person are not that easy to come by, but probably more so here than in other places where indigenous languages are spoken.
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