How Japanese speak Japanese

Unfortunately, the links do not work related to this project:

A project at the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) at Pennsylvania State University that makes available digital video clips of speech samples that can be incorporated into intermediate or advanced level Japanese language courses. These video clips have been developed from unscripted, spontaneous interviews and conversations with various Japanese speakers.

Spontaneous unscripted interviews of various Japanese speakers are indeed terribly missing. One day, you get up here with an acute realization that most if not all speeches in the media are produced by media speakers. The interviewing of "people", that is, unknown people, is only but anecdotal. I already wrote about it but there is no equivalent to This American Life or Street Stories programs. Radio is underdeveloped. TV is, well, I am not competent because I don't watch TV for mental hygiene reasons. Talking is not the forte of the layman, which means that people who do talk tend to be prominent, professionals and they end up shaping that mediative voice, the marketing tone of people selling goods and wares and news over the wires. Formatted self-conscious patterned ways of speeches. Daily life sounds different albeit not profuse indeed. It is a major issue with the meaning of what proficiency is all about from the standpoint of the non-native learner.

Addendum : the link that displays a ppt presentation document as html does work though (can't download). This is mightily interesting.