John McWhorter: 4 reasons to learn a new language
جون مكهورتــر: أربع أسباب لتعلم لغة إضافية
Linguist John McWhorter thinks about language in relation to race, politics and our shared cultural history. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
the world's universal language,
is spoken by more people,
are learning English
are learning Chinese.
الذين يسعون لتعلم الصينية
in China right now
that at the end of the century
that exist now --
instant translation of live speech
إلى الانجليزية، وأصبحت
but it gets better every year.
وإنما تتطور من عامٍ لعام.
those things to you
that we're getting to the point
is going to start being asked,
learn foreign languages --
happens to be foreign to one?
when it's getting to the point
will be able to communicate in one?
most likely to have heard of,
dangerous than you might think.
and the grammar of different languages
a different kind of acid trip,
for some reason, marked as feminine.
you just have to deal with it.
of one of those languages
than could possibly be an accident,
with a high and feminine voice.
صوتا أنثويا رقيقا.
to you, a table is kind of a girl,
إن كنت ناطقاً بالفرنسية أو الاسبانية.
are an English speaker.
الناطقين باللغة الإنجليزية.
will tell you that that means
هذا الانطباع
if you speak one of those languages.
put us under the microscope,
أن يجري علينا اختباراً،
who speak English natively.
let's take an English speaker.
of the English language.
three people have in common?
وجهة نظر غير الناطقين بالانجليزية؟
the English language that unites them?
هؤلاء الثلاثة كناطقين بالانجليزية؟
that language can shape thought,
obscure psychological flutters.
a different pair of glasses on the world.
the way you think,
want to imbibe a culture,
ثقافة ما
if you want to become part of it,
جزءاً أصيلاً منها،
the language channels the culture --
بأن اللغة هي التي تغذي الثقافة --
happens to be conducted in.
illustration of this.
but really you should seek it out.
يتعين عليكم أن تكتشفوا الأمر بأنفسكم.
film director Denys Arcand --
"Dennis Ar-cand,"
"دينيس أر-كاند"
بشأنه.
interesting French-Canadian,
من أصول فرنسية كندية.
to an Anglophone hospital.
إلى مستشفى أنجلوفون.
they have to speak English.
but it's not their native language,
لا يتقنونها كلغتهم الاصلية.
that you've fallen in love with
أبديتم تعاطفاً معهم
they're shadows of themselves.
على نفسها، وهم يمثلون ظلاً لمجتمع آخر.
through that kind of skrim curtain
of languages will be left,
to being able to participate
who speak them,
that it is their code.
dementia is less likely to set in,
تكون أقل عرضة للاصابة بمرض الخرف،
a better multitasker.
مهام متعددة في وقت واحد.
lessons in another language.
Arabic: "kataba," he wrote,
"كَتَبَ" تعني هو كتب،
الفعل أن الأحرف الساكنة
in the middle like pillars.
dance around the consonants.
بتاغم حول الأحرف الساكنة.
that around in their mouths?
main language, Amharic.
الرسمية، الأمهرية.
يختلف من لغة لأخرى،
with different word order
مغاير للغتك يشابه
of a street if you go to certain country,
بدولة اجنبية تتبع نظام مرور مغاير لدولتك،
put Witch Hazel around your eyes
بندق الساحرة على عينيك
we all often return to,
عاودنا قراءته مجدداً،
"Do you know where I found him?
He was eating cake in the tub,
كان يلتهم الكعك بحوض الاستحمام،
in Mandarin Chinese,
باللغة الصينية، حينها
بهذا الشكل،
فعلت أين هو أجد؟
for years and years at a time.
لسنوات عديدة.
not some baker's dozen of vowels
أحرف العلة الثلاث عشر
in the Cambodian mouth
easier to teach yourself another language.
أن تتعلم بنفسك لغة جديدة.
to go to a classroom,
some diligent teacher --
in there at certain times
فقط لحينٍ من الزمن
حضور الدرس.
you had something called a record.
ما يعرف اسطوانة التسجيل.
المعروف باسم، سي دي.
that didn't work,
لم تكن تجدي نفعاً.
any language that you want to
لغة ترغب بتعلمها باستخدام
such as Rosetta Stone.
الالكترونية مثل روزيتا ستون.
the lesser known Glossika as well.
لتعلم اللغات، غلوسيكا.
وبأفضل طريقة.
pleasures in various languages.
عبر تعلم العديد من اللغات.
languages every single morning;
عبر اللغات المختلفة:
any language you wanted
حاضرة بين يديك
to very sophisticated people.
ضرباً من الخيال العلمي.
other than the one that I'm speaking,
بخلاف التي أتحدثها أمامكم،
a better time to do it.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
John McWhorter - LinguistLinguist John McWhorter thinks about language in relation to race, politics and our shared cultural history.
Why you should listen
John McWhorter is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, teaching linguistics, Western Civilization and music history. He is a regular columnist on language matters and race issues for Time and CNN, writes for the Wall Street Journal "Taste" page, and writes a regular column on language for The Atlantic. His work also appears in the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Aeon magazine, The American Interest and other outlets. He was Contributing Editor at The New Republic from 2001 until 2014.
McWhorter earned his PhD in linguistics from Stanford University in 1993 and is the author of The Power of Babel, Doing Our Own Thing, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, The Language Hoax and most recently Words on the Move and Talking Back, Talking Black. The Teaching Company has released four of his audiovisual lecture courses on linguistics. He guest hosted the Lexicon Valley podcast at Slate during the summer of 2016.
Beyond his work in linguistics, McWhorter is the author of Losing the Race and other books on race. He has appeared regularly on Bloggingheads.TV since 2006, and he produces and plays piano for a group cabaret show, New Faces, at the Cornelia Street Cafe in New York City.
John McWhorter | Speaker | TED.com