A man named Kenny, who used to teach a college course on modern international music, attempts to guess the languages being spoken by various strangers while blindfolded. He is surprisingly successful, correctly identifying languages such as Quebecois French, Cantonese, Haitian Creole, Croatian, and Swahili, among others. In each case, Kenny is given a chance to ask the speaker questions and gather clues before making his guess. He often relies on his knowledge of music and linguistic patterns to inform his decisions. Throughout the exercise, Kenny displays a deep appreciation for languages and cultures from around the world, and the speakers are impressed by his ability to identify their languages.
Here are the extracted key facts:
1. The speaker's name is Kenny.
2. Kenny used to teach a class on modern international music from every country in the world.
3. Kenny can speak some French and Norwegian.
4. The first language guessed was Quebecois French.
5. The second language guessed was Cantonese.
6. The third language guessed was Haitian Creole.
7. Haitian Creole is the national language of Haiti.
8. Haitian Creole is a dialect that has transformed into a language.
9. The fourth language guessed was Macedonian.
10. The speaker who spoke Macedonian was born in Hong Kong and moved to Washington at the age of two.
11. The speaker's mom made them speak Cantonese at home.
12. The fifth language guessed was Croatian.
13. The sixth language guessed was Turkish (although the speaker joked that "Turks" is not a language).
14. The seventh language guessed was Finnish, which is not related to Swedish.
15. Finnish is more related to Estonian.
16. The eighth language guessed was Swahili.
17. The speaker who spoke Swahili was from Kenya.
18. Swahili is not the speaker's native language, but they understand some of it.
19. The phrase "hakuna matata" means "no worries" in Swahili.
20. The experience was described as "listening to the world on shuffle."