Once again, the recitation imbues the words with feeling. On the page, they are flat actions, just what happens next. Spoken, they are intense, they are what is happening now. When I read this story, it is something that has happened. When I hear it, it is happening.

This written translation of the text is not the same translation used in the video. The language in the video's translation is more appealing to me, so I am not sure if the fact I have a better understanding of what happens from listening to the story than from reading it is because I just understand the spoken word better or because the words being spoken are just more understandable.

As mocking goes, this reads a little flowery. It seems tame in print, but it holds a sting when I hear it spoken. The tone, the delivery is everything. This is an interesting moment when I hear it. When I read it, I barely notice it.

There is so much going on in this sentence. I am so used to reading everything in my head, which means I am used to reading relatively quickly. So when I come to a sentence like this, I rush through it. And when I get to the end of it, I have no idea what I just read. I have to make myself slow down, read each portion separately, pause at the commas, breathe between thoughts. I work harder to understand these sentences when I read them because I have to adjust my internal rhythm to the rhythm of the words. When I listen to the words, it's like listening to music. I respond to the rhythm of their sounds intuitively; I don't have to decipher the rhythm. I understand better and faster when I hear the words than when I read them.

I have such a difficult time understanding the names of some of these characters when I hear them spoken. So it's a challenge to keep everyone straight. When several new names are introduced, I have to rewind the video a few times to untangle the identities of. It is a relief, when reading, to understand who each character is without having to make sense of unfamiliar sounds.

When I read these words, I get caught up in their reason. It is a rational argument, motivated by fear and self-preservation, but rational in spite of that. When I hear it performed, or when I heard it performed in the video, the reason was overpowered by the feeling. The fear behind the words eclipsed them. When spoken, performed so expressively, the speech begun with these words invoked in me an emotional response. When I read these words, I was not pulled into the moment. I did not fully understand them absent the inflections given the words by someone who does understand them.