John McWhorter: 4 reasons to learn a new language
John McWhorter: 4 Gründe eine neue Sprache zu lernen
Linguist John McWhorter thinks about language in relation to race, politics and our shared cultural history. Full bio
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the world's universal language,
der Welt zu werden,
is spoken by more people,
are learning English
are learning Chinese.
Chinesisch lernen.
in China right now
zwei Dutzend Universitäten
that at the end of the century
dass am Ende des Jahrhunderts
that exist now --
einige Hundert übrig sein.
instant translation of live speech
Sofortübersetzung eines Live-Gesprächs
but it gets better every year.
sondern jedes Jahr besser wird.
those things to you
that we're getting to the point
is going to start being asked,
learn foreign languages --
weitere Fremsprachen lernen --
happens to be foreign to one?
eine Fremdsprache ist?
when it's getting to the point
einer weiteren Sprache plagen,
will be able to communicate in one?
in einer kommunizieren können?
most likely to have heard of,
am ehesten gehört haben,
dangerous than you might think.
als Sie vielleicht denken.
and the grammar of different languages
die Grammatik anderer Sprachen
a different kind of acid trip,
anderen Rausch verschafft.
for some reason, marked as feminine.
aus irgendeinem Grund weiblich.
you just have to deal with it.
muss man sich einfach abgeben.
of one of those languages
eine dieser Sprachen sprechen
wie ein Tisch spricht,
than could possibly be an accident,
with a high and feminine voice.
und weiblichen Stimme sprechen würde.
to you, a table is kind of a girl,
für Sie irgendwie ein Mädchen,
are an English speaker.
Englischsprecher sind.
nicht zu mögen
will tell you that that means
sagen, das bedeutet,
wenn sie eine dieser Sprachen sprechen.
if you speak one of those languages.
put us under the microscope,
man näme uns unter die Lupe,
who speak English natively.
als Muttersprache sprechen.
let's take an English speaker.
dass er ein Weltbild hat.
of the English language.
der englischen Sprache.
three people have in common?
drei Personen gemeinsam?
the English language that unites them?
gestaltet, dass sie vereint?
that language can shape thought,
dass Sprache Gedanken gestalten kann,
obscure psychological flutters.
psychologische Spekulation zu sein.
a different pair of glasses on the world.
einen neuen Blick auf die Welt zu geben.
the way you think,
want to imbibe a culture,
eine Kultur verstehen,
if you want to become part of it,
Teil davon werden möchten,
the language channels the culture --
ansatzweise beherrschen,
happens to be conducted in.
illustration of this.
Veranschaulichung.
but really you should seek it out.
aber Sie sollten es wirklich nachschlagen.
film director Denys Arcand --
des kanadischen Regisseurs Denys Arcand,
"Dennis Ar-cand,"
"Jesus von Montreal".
interesting French-Canadian,
interessante, frankokanadische,
to an Anglophone hospital.
in ein anglofones Krankenhaus bringen.
they have to speak English.
Englisch sprechen.
but it's not their native language,
aber es ist nicht ihre Muttersprache,
that you've fallen in love with
in die man sich verliebt hat
they're shadows of themselves.
through that kind of skrim curtain
durch diesen Schleier verarbeitet,
of languages will be left,
to being able to participate
um an der Kultur der Menschen,
who speak them,
that it is their code.
dementia is less likely to set in,
seltener an Demenz erkrankt
a better multitasker.
besser im Multitasking ist.
lessons in another language.
Fremdsprachunterricht geben sollten.
Arabic: "kataba," he wrote,
"kataba" er schrieb,
in the middle like pillars.
wie Säulen in der Mitte stehen.
dance around the consonants.
that around in their mouths?
im Mund herumrollen?
main language, Amharic.
Ethiopiens, Amharic.
auch andere Wortfolgen.
with different word order
mit anderer Wortfolge zu lernen,
of a street if you go to certain country,
auf der anderen Straßenseite fahren,
put Witch Hazel around your eyes
wenn man sich Zaubernuss
we all often return to,
"Do you know where I found him?
"Weißt du, wo ich ihn gefunden habe?
He was eating cake in the tub,
Er war Kuchen essen in der Wanne,
in Mandarin Chinese,
Chinesisch (Mandarin) lernen,
ich hab wo ihn gefunden?
for years and years at a time.
am Stück zu können.
Kambodschanisch gelernt?
not some baker's dozen of vowels
mehr als die 13 Vokale herumrollen,
in the Cambodian mouth
easier to teach yourself another language.
sich eine Sprache selbst beizubringen.
to go to a classroom,
in einen Klassenraum gehen,
some diligent teacher --
in there at certain times
nur zu bestimmten Zeiten da,
you had something called a record.
hatte man einen Rekorder.
auf dem Plattenspieler
that didn't work,
die nicht funktionierten,
any language that you want to
irgendeine Sprache bei
such as Rosetta Stone.
wie Rosetta Stone.
the lesser known Glossika as well.
bekannte Glossika empfehlen.
und mehr machen kann.
pleasures in various languages.
in verschiedenen Sprachen lesen.
languages every single morning;
in verschiedenen Sprachen;
any language you wanted
to very sophisticated people.
other than the one that I'm speaking,
zum Englischen beibringen,
a better time to do it.
eine bessere Zeit dafür gab.
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