The phantom third participant speaks...at last

"MUCH madness is divinest sense." Never has that old verse wrung truer than on the afternoon of January 21 of this very year. Picture the scene: a young man is hunched over on his futon while the strains of a melody (no doubt sung by some red-headed maiden) drift through the otherwise still air. His focus is singular; his determination is unwavering; his goal is clear: learn Italian. He clutches in his hands those ancient instruments of scholarship—pen, paper and Blackberry—as he tirelessly divines where the language of the ancient Romans connects with the tongue of the modern Romans—the living language of that linguistic motherland. Unwilling to turn away, his beard has grown in, his clothes remain unlaundered and his only vittles are head cheese and stinky tofu, nourishment completely unsuitable for the task at hand. Near fatigue, but manic, he fires off an email to his trusty cohorts almost 12,000 miles away.

Ok, I may have taken some creative liberties with that last bit, but this I know for sure: In the wee hours of the morning (my time) on January 21, I received an email simply entitled, “So excited!” Later that morning, after settling into the waking-coma I call “gainful employment,” I clicked on the little flag alerting me of a new email. Rousing a little, I wrestled through a paragraph of pure Italian (greatly helped by my own trip to Italy not three weeks prior) before learning that my dear friend, polyglot and professional enthusiast had stumbled upon a project of great interest—and I was invited to participate!

I was eager to get on board: I already speak two languages fluently, and have about three others in constant rotation. And this would be far from my first time taking up with a language on the fly. But this time, there would be rules. And, well…

I am not so much a book learner as a street (?) learner. I am supremely fascinated by the way people live with their languages. I would be remiss if I failed to mention that the theory of language actually interests me quite a bit; but my retention is directly related to how I learn the word. Flashcards…meh. Workbooks…warmer. The Holy Pimsleur...much better. But hearing two children fight over a toy? Watching on as a mother feeds her kids? Hearing two workers prattle on in a fish market? This is how language breathes, grows and moves. This is how language survives. How can I bring that living element into my experience?

Hmm…this is going to be interesting.