The story is set in the United States, the Andes and the Pacific Ocean.

The language focus for the story is listed on the first page and there are eleven episodes as well as an epilogue and a prologue.

Download the text: The Banjo Player’s Brother (Word doc), by Mark White

You can read the full text online with notes on passive voice by following this link: The Banjo Player’s Brother - full text

at irp

(Swami talks for the first 25 seconds of recording. Then transcript begins.)
Mark: So the creation is sustained by prayer?
Swami: It is sustained by divine will. It is sustained by divine will and the divine order; the cosmic order. The cosmic order…In the beginning five basic things were created…
Mark: The relation with us? We are praying…?
Swami: Because we are in error.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Ignorance means. It is not a…it is not a.. You don’t…If you say someone is ignorant, you are not accusing him. You are not blaming him. You are not scolding him. You are saying that he does not … that you do not know your essence. “Hey you ignorant fool!” If a monk; if a saint out of compassion says to a normal person “Hey you ignorant fools. Foolish children.” They should not get angry. “Hey there I am a big man. I am a big officer. I am so wealthy. This fool; he looks like a fool and he calls me a fool; he should be punished.” The way our foolish kings used to punish saints and they used to bear the consequences later. Ignorance means not knowing your true nature;
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Not knowing the true nature of your self. Who are you in essence? You are alive. You say this is your body. You are not the body. This body is changing all the time. It was in the mother’s womb for nine months and then the boy is born and the body is grown and it grows up. It becomes old. So where is the essence?
Mark: Mm.
Swami: You are not the body. The body is not the essence. You are the speck of consciousness, the speck of the infinite light that shines in the heart.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: You are that piece. You are that fragrance of the infinite light. That is God! So you are but that. But then you think that you are…you are different from the other boy. An Australian is different from an American?
Mark: No, he is not. (laughs)
Swami: He is not?
Mark: No, he is not.
Swami: No he is not! (laughs) The essence is one. The essence is one. The essence is one and to realize that; to realize your true nature as the essence of all, you have to pray. You have to practise. You have to do penance. You have to seek the Vedic gods who are given by the grace of the infinite; by the grace of the infinite Vedas as; it is called; you can say they are like schemes. They are like schemes. The government forms so many schemes for the welfare of so many sections of society.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: This scheme is for the handicapped. This scheme is for the blind. This scheme is for the downtrodden. This scheme is for the tribal people.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: This scheme is for orphaned children. So many schemes are laid. All for the good of them. The government which looks to the welfare of all; it forms specific schemes that they may live happily;
Mark: Mm.
Swami: That their livelihood will be taken care of. So God too; the formless infinite has formed several schemes.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Ok you worship this god. Your nature will suit this Lord Shiva. Your personal nature; you are too pure; your nature will suit this Lord Vishnu.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: Ok you form this divine mother. You are attuned. You like your mother very much. So nature is about mother; the divine mother. But you you want to see a God every day in the form. So that Lord Surya; the sun god is there. Without him there is no life. He too is my own form. Lord Surya the Sun God is there. You worship him and you will attain the higher truth, the highest truth. So god has formulated all these schemes. So these are the schemes of the infinite to get back to your true nature as the infinite. So that is why you have to pray. You have to meditate on these forms. If those forms are pleased the same inner essence that is there within your heart; that too will get pleased.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The method of pleasing the inner one is to please the outer ones.
Mark: Mm.
Swami: The formed ones.
Mark: Yesterday I came here and I got lost.
Swami: Ah.
Mark: And…

Use this post to learn English and Swedish at the same time.

I am Swedish.
(Swedish)
I am not American.
(Swedish)
I am Swedish.

I come from Sweden.

I live in Stockholm.

I work in Denmark.

My wife is Danish.

I work for a telephone company.

I am part of the solution.

I am part of the solution.

I am not part of the problem.

at drp

Axel: What kind of churches were they?
Isabel: There are churches now, but they were not obviously churches then, but they are temples in the shape of a cross…
Luis: You know this…?
Isabel: And they are all hewn out of rock from the top down.
Luis: They are like huge sculptures.
Isabel: Mm.
Luis: Yeah, Sculptures. They are carved in rock.
Isabel: Mm.
Luis: They are not built buildings but…
Axel: Excavated from the rock face.
Mark: Caves?
Luis: Not exactly.
Isabel: No no no. It is a very geometric building when you look down on it.
Mark: It is cut out of the rock?
Luis: Look from a helicopter! You arrive to Lalibela for example which is where we are talking about…
Isabel: Mm.
Luis: You get to Lalibela and you see, Lalibela is a flat place with huts and palm trees, and you say, “where are the buildings?” Then you look from the air…
Mark: From the air?
Luis: …from the air and you see a huge square like I don’t know five hundred metres on every side.
Mark: M-hm.
Luis: Here is like an empty corridor of perfect flat walls and in the centre a building in the shape of a cross, for example but this building has not been built there. It is that all this around and all this stone inside the building has been taken out.
Mark: Taken out. It has been sculpt…cut out of the rock.
Luis: They are like huge sculptures rather than buildings. They are not built actually. They are carved.
Mark: Three thousand years old. Monasteries? Temples? Churches?
Isabel: They are connected with…
Luis: Monasteries.
Mark: Coptic Christian? What is the religion?
Isabel: No. Now they are Christians.
Luis: They are Christian. Ethiopian Christians.
Mark: Coptic Christians.
Luis: No. Ethiopians.
Mark: Ethiopian…I think…
Luis: It is not exactly the same
Isabel: Yeah, there is a difference. It is not quite Christian. It is almost a Zionist Christian.
Luis: No no no no! But…
Mark: But who are the people who built these buildings? What is the name of the place…where these buildings are…?
Luis: Lalibela.
Isabel: Lalibela.
Mark: What is the name of the people who built the buildings?
Luis: The Amharas. The Amharic people is the big ethnic group in Ethiopia and the one which has been on the throne for, I think… The problem is the Amharic are black, but they trace their path from King Solomon.
Isabel: That is right. They are also totally connected with King Solomon.
Mark: So there is a linguistic genetic thing (that) doesn’t link up somehow?
Luis: There is a temple …in Lalibela…in which only the priest; only one priest can accede (access) to the big relic inside and the big relic are supposed to be the Ten Commandments.
Isabel: The Holy Grail.
Luis: Well, I have heard the Ten Commandments.

I
(Thai)So(Khmer)
I speak English.
(Thai)So(Khmer)
Do you speak English?
(So)
No, I don’t.

I speak So.

(the sound of a motorcycle passing)

I speak So.

Do you speak So?

I speak a little.

I want to learn So.

Will you teach me?

Yes.

Thank you very much.

What do you want to learn?

I wan to learn everything.

What is your name?

My name is Mark.

Where do you live?

I live in Kusuman.

Are you American?

No, I am not.

I am not American.

I am Australian.

at Write Pics

The Canadian: It is a land-based rig.
The Aussie: Uh-huh.
The Canadian: And we are drilling mainly for gas.
The Aussie: M-hm.
The Canadian: Natural gas. The wells range between two thousand five hundred metres to three thousand five hundred metres in depth.
The Aussie:Wow!
The Canadian: Yeah. It is really interesting. My position is called “motor man” and it is kind of like a middle position almost like a sergeant.
The Aussie: Right ok.
The Canadian: So basically I am in charge of the three workers under me. I am in charge of all the mechanical and electrical systems. The air systems. Pretty much everything that is moving on the rig.
The Aussie: Right.
The Canadian: And also…
The Aussie: How big is the rig? It is like a big machine or?
The Canadian: It is a series of machines. The actual drilling platform itself, is called “the rig”.
The Aussie: Right.
The Canadian: It is It comprises (of) a working floor.. It is about four metres off the ground.
The Aussie: Uh-huh.
The Canadian: A derrick which is about thirty meters in height
The Aussie: Right.
The Canadian: And then you have got a system of mud tanks and pumps off to one side. There’s generators to supply electricity to the rig. Off there is a changing room. There is a catwalk where all your drilling pipe is stored on.
The Aussie: Uh-huh
The Canadian: There are various components.
The Aussie: Right.
The Canadian: All in all you are looking at maybe about a hundred and fifty square metres in area.

(the sound of bells ringing from two dogs with bells on their collars playing)

The Canadian: I am also in charge of the well control so if while you are drilling into the production zone; the area down in the earth where the gas is stored…
The Aussie: Down under?
The Canadian: Yeah. It is under really high pressure so you have to control the weight of your drilling fluid.
The Aussie: It is pretty dangerous. They have explosions sometimes?
The Canadian: Sometimes. That is called a blowout
The Aussie: Right. (to the dogs) Can you guys be quiet? Do you guys mind being quiet?
The Canadian: My job is to stop that from happening and if it goes there’s warning signs and when we get these warning signs we shut the well in …
The Aussie: Right.
The Canadian: … and we divert the flow of the drilling fluid through a system of manifolds and high pressure valves … divert it into different mud tanks and if there is any gas coming up we light a flare to burn off the excess gas.
The Aussie: Right. I have seen that in pictures of oil wells.
The Canadian: Yeah, you would have. Yeah. It is interesting work. You are dealing with geology. You are dealing with fluid dynamics. Physics.
The Aussie: Do you have a background in like engineering or anything like that…mechanical…?
The Canadian: No, actually it is pretty much learn as you go. It is always on the job training. You are learning something new every day. You don’t really stagnate at work.

Use this post to learn English and Cambodian at the same time.

Hello.

How are you?

Good

What is your name?

My name is Mark.

My name is Pahl.

What is her name?

Her name is Ann.

What is his name?

His name is Steve.

at Chicagoeye

Mark: Ok. Well. Here I am. I am standing outside the Mosquito City Trade Towers and I have got an interview with Peter Bestluck, the richest man in Mosquito City, in about five minutes. I had better go in… Hello
Receptionist: Hello.
Mark: I am looking for Mr Bestluck’s Office.
Receptionist: Oh. Mr Bestluck?
Mark: Yes. What floor is his office on?
Receptionist: It is the eighteenth floor.
Mark: On the eighteenth floor. Ok. Where is the elevator?
Receptionist: It is just to your left.
Mark: Thanks very much.
Receptionist: Thank you very much. Have a great time.
Mark: Thanks a lot. Bye.
Receptionist: Bye.

at CFAGELNYC

Australian Man: Five thousand years ago?
Chinese Man: Maybe two thousand five hundred years ago.
Australian Man: Years ago.
Chinese Man: During the Qin Dynasty.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: When we had the first Emperor of China. We called him “Qin Shi Huang”. That means first Emperor of China.
Australian Man: Uh-huh. Qin Shi Huang?
Chinese Man: Qin Shi Huang. Yeah right.
Australian Man: Not the Yellow Emperor?
Chinese Man: Not the Yellow Emperor. You know? (The) Yellow (one) is a new one.
Australian Man: M-hm. More recent.
Chinese Man: More recent. Yeah. More recent.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: The Yellow Emperor is the… ; we call him the original emperor of China.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: But at that time it was only regional.
Australian Man: M-hm. China was very small.
Chinese Man: Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor to control the whole (of) China.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: And…But he..When he…When he (it was recorded) occupied all the Chinese lands; he said he wanted to live forever.
Australian Man: Mhm
Chinese Man: You know he wanted to live for ever.
Australian Man: M-hm. Forever.
Chinese Man: He wanted to live forever.
Australian Man: Forever. To be immortal.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: You understand that word? Immortal.
Chinese Man: I don’t know (it)
Australian Man: It means “to not die”.
Chinese Man: Not die! Yes.
Australian Man: I want to be immortal.
Chinese Man: Right. Exactly. He wanted to be immortal.
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: And so he dispatched somebody.
Australian Man: He sent somebody.
Chinese Man: He sent somebody.
Australian Man: He dispatched somebody to..
Chinese Man: He dispatched somebody to “Go find me the long live grass!” Herbs!
Australian Man: In English we say “Elixir of Immortality”.
Chinese Man: “Elixir”.
Australian Man: “Elixir” is like “medicine”.
Chinese Man: Ok. Elixir. Yes
Australian Man: The elixir of immortality.
Chinese Man: Of immortality..
Australian Man: If you drink the elixir of immortality you can live forever.
Chinese Man: Right. exactly.
Australian Man: What do you call that in Chinese; the elixir of immortality?
Chinese Man: “Chang sheng bu lao yao”
Australian Man: “Chang sheng bu lao yao”.
Chinese Man: “Yao” : “medicine.” “Chang” means “long”. “Sheng” : “live”. Long live. “Bu lao” means “never (get) old”. “Lao” means “not old.” Chang sheng bu lao yao. There are many words (that are pronounced) “yao”.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: Because Chinese … why people think it is very complicated Chinese has (too) many same pronounce words. (words that are pronounced the same)
Australian Man: Same. Yeah.
Chinese Man: Words with the same pronunciation.
you have to connect it with the friend word; the host word
Australian Man: Synonyms. (not synonyms! Homophones!)
Chinese Man: Synonyms.
Australian Man: Those words which like “yao”. Many words have the same pronunciation
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: Synonyms (homophones, homonyms, you fool!)
Chinese Man: Synonyms. Right. (no, wrong. This is a mistake.)
Australian Man: So the emperor..
Chinese Man: Qin Shi Huang sent two officials.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: At that time maybe diplomats. I don’t know.
Australian Man: Uhuhu uhuhuh.
Chinese Man: “Go find me the elixir of immortality!”
Australian Man: The elixir of immortality.
Chinese Man: Elixir of Immortality
Australian Man: Yes.
Chinese Man: Certainly the man could not find that…
Australian Man: Because it does not exist?
Chinese Man: Right. Exactly. So. But he dared not…
Australian Man: He looked everywhere..?
Chinese Man: ..Did not come back because if he could not complete his mission he would be killed…
Australian Man: Right. Ok.
Chinese Man: So he wrote a letter to the emperor (and he said) “I found it!”
Australian man: I found it.
Chinese Man: I found it but I need five hundred boys and five hundred girls to get this because this medicine..what called this? (What is this called?) “What do you call this?”
Australian Man: The elixir of immortality
Chinese Man: Huh
Australian Man: The elixir of Immortality
Chinese Man: “The” is ..?
Australian Man: “The” is “the”
Chinese Man: Ok. So. The man wrote a letter to the Emperor Qin. Qin Shi Huang.
Australian: U-huh.
Chinese Man: He said: because the elixir of immortality is controlled by god.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: Which (who) is on an island.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: And so we must have five hundred boys and five hundred girls to get there…to make a big ceremony …to hold a big ceremony…
Australian Man: Mhm.
Chinese Man: …and then we can get the elixir of immortality back to you. And the Emperor was like: “Ok and give (gave) him five hundred boys and five hundred girls..
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: And a big ship.
Australian Man: So they went to the east.
Chinese Man: Away.
Australian Man: Away from China.
Chinese Man: Finally they really found a big island.
Australian Man: Uh-huh.
Chinese Man: Which is Japan. So they lived there forever. They could not come back.
Australian Man: Right ok.
Chinese Man: Because they would be killed. So that is why the Japanese; you know they have to have immigrated from the mainland.
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: Because you know by science, by logical science…
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: People cannot live on an island.
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: They must be from the mainland, right?
Australian Man: M-hm. M-hm.
Chinese Man: And also they have similar characters Chinese characters in the Japanese language.
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: A lot of Chinese ; because they forgot a lot of Chinese characters…they had to re-invent them themselves. Because they brought a lot of books and that is why they have a different (version of ) the Chinese language … but the different pronunciation…
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: You know they had only old men. (brang/brought) All of these children; five hundred boys and five hundred girls in an island. No people taught them how to pronounce it correctly. But that is why the pronunciation is different but the language…
Australian Man: M-hm.
Chinese Man: Language the same
Australian Man: I understand.
Chinese Man: They came from China. You call that “aborigines”?
Australian Man: Aborigines?
Chinese Man: Aborigines!
Australian Man: Normally aborigines are the people who lived in that country first.
Chinese Man: Ah. Lived in this country first. I see that.
Australian Man: So if Chinese people went to Japan…
Chinese Man: Yes.
Australian Man: To find the elixir of immortality….
Chinese Man: Yeah.
Australian Man: …Living in the mountains in Japan were some people with long beards and long hair.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: They were not Asian people. They were very hairy people.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: Those people are called “aborigines”. The people who were there first.
Chinese Man: I see. Ok.
Australian Man: So this word means ah..
Chinese Man: Aborigines?
Australian Man: Mm. It is Latin. “Ab” means “from”. “Origine” means “origin.”
Chinese Man: Oh I understand you now. It is not immigrants.
Australian Man: No no no. It is not immigrants. It is original “inhabitants”.
Chinese Man: Original people. I understand. Ok ok. I understand so actually (the) Japanese are immigrants from China.
Australian Man: Uh-huh. I had a student… I have been teaching English for twenty years.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: And (I have had) students from many countries.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: And one of my students from Korea; he told me that the Japanese moved from Korea.
Chinese Man: Yes.
Australian Man: To Japan.
Chinese Man: Yes, it is true. Because they had to move …mainland China…to Korea…
Australian Man: And then across..
Chinese Man: And then they moved again.
Australian Man: Right. Ok.
Chinese Man: Because geographically ..
Australian Man: It is close.
Chinese Man: It is close. Because you know in ancient times the ships were not very strong.
Australian Man: Yeah.
Chinese Man: They had to find a shortcut.
Australian Man: A shortcut. Yeah.
Chinese Man: Right.
Australian Man: Yeah. Yeah.

Use this post to learn English and Finnish at the same time.

I speak Finnish.
(Finnish)
I don’t speak English.
(Finnish)
Do you speak English?

Do you speak Finnish?

I speak a little Finnish.

I want to learn Finnish.

I want to go to Finland.

I don’t want to go to Sweden.

I want to go to Finland.

I want to go to Estonia too.

Where are you going?