English Audio Request

Okaaay maybe it doesn’t … Well let’s use our imagination. Perhaps you’ve grown up in a traditional Japanese household but didn’t speak Japanese and every night you did the precise motions of a Tea Ceremony. Now for those who are not familiar with the detail of a Japanese tea ceremony I urge you do take a look at this!
Then one day out of the blue you find yourself in Japan in the emperors throne room about to engage in a highly formal dance of dignitary social intercourse. Of course you might be scared, perhaps even quite cold seeing that’s you’re most likely wearing a thin layer of cloth and what some would call an ornate excuse for underwear So the moment of truth comes and you successfully go through the motions. Some would say that you are fluent in Japanese culture. Some would say you’re fluent in Tea ceremony. Some might say you are lucky. Point is …what do you say you are? This situation parallels with the subjective deeming of fluency in the language world. Either you let people lie for you or you try to define exactly what you did in a small phrase. Unfortunately in today’s world you must be “something”… “Fluent” “Beginner” “Intermediate” “Fraud” etc… Whether you prescribe it to yourself or another does it for you. Perhaps this dilemma is what creates the multitude of people whom claim fluency in 20, 30, 40 languages… It’s odd walking into the world and having to label what you are among others whom have done the same.Musicians, Fighters, Busboy, Dancer, Scholar….Regardless each title or any title one chooses carries its own burden. For example if you claim to be a musician, “Well how many songs do you know?” “What?..You don’t play an instrument?” Each title is riddled with superficial benchmarks which somehow define the validity of WHAT YOU ARE.
So this begs the question…who made these standards? Where is this SOB who learned 30 languages that makes me less of a linguist, less of a polyglot, less of person? Now I say this jokingly because I for one feed of the accomplishments of others and I am in no chest beating contest with Mezzofanti or any of my peers. Regardless…when I say I love languages I mean it. Love isn’t quantitative but rather a switch in a dark room. I got turned onto it.
So there’s a small introduction into this blog and perhaps better than a formal introduction, I was inspired to write this blog by Luca an Italian Polyglot whom probably doesn’t have as much time as he would like because of all the girlfriends he has around the world. *