OK, listen for a moment…
“A man in red and black was riding a surf board”, I heard someone say.
“Suddenly, he disappeared, and I could hear a faint shriek behind the walls”, added another, quietly.
An Indian voice spoke, calmly, as if he hadn’t just heard the scream or noticed the missing man: “A firefighter stands on top of the firetruck.”
“Look closely to the left”, came a voice from the growing crowd. “And I will tell you how to find the hidden treasure”, she said. “It’s a lot of gold.”
“Nobody knows where it’s from”, a fellow noted casually.
A German spoke next, off topic yet undeniably correct: “Never advertise razors by shaving a monkey, it’s cruel and results in lawsuits.” The inflections of his voice were tinged amusement and perplexity, like even he was a tad surprised by his words.
“Listen, don’t believe what he says!”, someone implored. We trust they weren’t, in fact, a fan of monkey-shaving.
“What have you caused all of this trouble for?”, an American woman said, perhaps rebuking the German for even bringing up the inhumane subject.
Next a deep voice with a slow, thick southern drawl added helpfully (as you’ll soon realize): “Mouuuunt Eeeverrrrest is foouuund on the interrr-naytional boarr-der between Jina and Neeeepal.”
“Enemy spotted.” announced another.
“An army is coming!”
The above is a loosely coupled and highly concocted narrative, yet based on actual events. Sort of.
The text in italic is just low-grade literary adhesive to connect the dots between what was indeed said (though not actually in that particular order). The speakers in this tiny tale weren’t really participating in any sort of fiction, but rather are part of a far larger and more important story.
These people — volunteers, all of them — were recording their voices reading odd little snippets which contain an expansive array of sounds and words. Other volunteers then listen from across the country or the planet and ensure the audio recording matches the sentences used as prompts.