Tashi Delek, everyone! 
Like many of you, I am sure, I wanted to understand the precious Dharma teachings directly from the peerless teachers like His Holiness the Dalai Lama and others.  Many years ago I traveled far up north of India to a small village called Spiti, where His Holiness was going to teach.  The peerless teacher was there; the precious teaching was there; the excellent translator was there.  Most foreigners had small radios to tune into the teaching.  I too had one.  Sounded perfect, right?  But of course, the radio transmission was far from perfect.  We could not hear anything.  Most of us foreigners were sitting there like ignorant monkeys holding precious diamonds.  At that moment, I promised myself that I must study the Tibetan language.