Pico Iyer: What ping-pong taught me about life
Pico Iyer: El pimpón y el acertijo de ganar
Pico Iyer has spent more than 30 years tracking movement and stillness -- and the way criss-crossing cultures have changed the world, our imagination and all our relationships. Full bio
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are set up in a studio.
tres mesas de pimpón.
dan golpes de revés,
the balls collide in midair
chocan en el aire,
we select partners and play doubles.
los equipos y jugamos dobles.
tell you who's won,
every five minutes.
cada cinco minutos.
para ganar puntos,
of who is winning games.
de las victorias y las derrotas.
of furious exertion,
de esfuerzo extremo,
se siente como la victoria definitiva.
without competition.
competitivo sin la competencia.
is best followed by watching ping-pong.
lo mejor es ver el pimpón.
were fiercest enemies
eran feroces enemigos
de pimpón estadounidense
la China comunista.
some small green tables,
de unas pequeñas mesas verdes,
podía afirmar una victoria,
could breathe more easily.
respirar más fácilmente.
"a spiritual nuclear weapon."
"un arma nuclear espiritual".
honorary lifelong member
honorario de toda la vida
de Mesa estadounidense
this win-win situation
en la que todos ganan
la historia del mundo moderno
the bouncing white ball.
con la pelota blanca de pimpón.
like a cousin of "sing-song,"
un primo de "canción,"
that it was invented by high-class Brits
por británicos de clase alta
over walls of books after dinner.
contra paredes de libros después de cenar.
from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire:
del antiguo Imperio austrohúngaro:
early world championships
primeros campeonatos mundiales.
se convirtieron en expertos
that was hit at them
lo que se golpeaba hacia ellos,
the whole sport to a standstill.
paralizaron el deporte.
in Prague in 1936,
en Praga en 1936,
two hours and 12 minutes.
duró dos horas y 12 minutos.
the umpire had to retire with a sore neck
debió retirarse por dolor de cuello
the ball back with his left hand
la pelota con la mano izquierda
started, of course, filing out,
empezaron a salir,
maybe 12,000 strokes.
más o menos 12 000 golpes.
the International Table Tennis Association
Internacional del Tenis de Mesa
longer than 20 minutes.
más que 20 minutos.
Japan entered the picture,
watchmaker called Hiroji Satoh
llamado Hiroji Satoh
in Bombay in 1952.
de 1952 en Bombay.
he wasn't highly rated,
era poco reconocido,
that was not pimpled,
con una pala que no tenía picos,
gruesa y esponjosa de caucho.
secret weapon,
una medalla de oro.
into the streets of Tokyo
salieron a las calles de Tokio
was set into motion.
de Japón después de la guerra.
at my regular games in Japan,
mis partidos frecuentes en Japón,
the inner sport of global domination,
el deporte interior del dominio global,
de individuales en nuestro club,
we change partners every five minutes,
de compañeros cada cinco minutos,
you're very likely to win
es probable que ganen
después de dos sets,
that as a boy growing up in England,
en Inglaterra como niño,
of a game was to win.
de un juego era ganar.
that, really, the point of a game
que el verdadero objetivo de un juego
around you feel that they are winners.
tantas personas a mi alrededor
se sintieran como ganadores.
as an individual might,
steady chorus.
regular y estable.
a 9-1 lead for their team
una ventaja de 9-1 para su equipo
is intensely involved.
todos participan muchísimo.
these high, looping lobs
intentan devolver, sin éxito ...
but I think he's thought of as a loser.
que se considera perdedor.
is really like an act of love.
es igual a un acto de amor.
to take all the fun out of the sport.
que quitaba toda la diversión al deporte.
victory against our strongest players,
contra nuestros mejores jugadores,
with a new partner,
con un nuevo compañero,
I never felt disconsolate.
nunca me sentí desconsolado.
and started playing singles again
y empecé a jugar individuales
I was really brokenhearted.
yo tenía el corazón roto.
I couldn't sleep either,
tampoco podía dormir,
only one way to go,
solo un camino: el descenso.
business in Japan,
after four hours,
después de cuatro horas,
are based on winning percentage,
se basa en el porcentaje de victorias,
can finish ahead
puede terminar adelante
was ever brought over to Japan
a un estadounidense a Japón
Japanese baseball team,
de béisbol japonés profesional,
second-place finish,
en segundo lugar,
quite a lot like that point
parecerse mucho a ese punto
two hours and 12 minutes,
dos horas y 12 minutos,
the daring, the excitement, out of things.
la audacia y el placer de todo.
playing ping-pong in Japan
jugar al pimpón en Japón
regularly enjoy more fun
se divierten mucho más que los solistas.
your small part perfectly,
es cantar su parte perfectamente,
a beautiful harmony
una magnífica armonía
than the sum of its parts.
que la suma de sus partes.
un director de orquesta,
from a child's simple sense of either-ors.
simple sentido de un niño de uno u otro.
of winning isn't losing --
de ganar no es perder,
la situación en su conjunto.
for years after it has unfolded.
en evaluarse adecuadamente.
I owned in the world,
that it was that seeming loss
que fue esa pérdida aparente
on the earth more gently,
más tranquilamente,
known as the ping-pong table.
conocido como la mesa de pimpón.
into the perfect job,
por accidente el trabajo perfecto,
que esa felicidad aparente
really relieves me of all my anxiety,
me libera de toda mi ansiedad,
in a more or less equal state of delight.
de deleite más o menos parecido.
isn't the same thing as falling behind
no es lo mismo que quedarse atrás
is the same thing as being dead.
no equivale a estar muerto.
are said to offer degrees in ping-pong,
ofrecen diplomas en pimpón,
have found that ping-pong
han afirmado que el pimpón
with mild mental disorders
con trastornos mentales leves
las Olimpiadas de 2020 en Tokio,
to tell who's won or who's lost
los ganadores de los perdedores
for two hours and 12 minutes?
dos horas y 12 minutos?
ended up, six years later,
terminó, seis años más tarde,
of Auschwitz and Dachau.
de Auschwitz y Dachau.
en la cámara de gas
his ping-pong playing days.
como jugador de pimpón.
before even the first point was concluded.
el primer punto.
cualquier partido,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Pico Iyer - Global authorPico Iyer has spent more than 30 years tracking movement and stillness -- and the way criss-crossing cultures have changed the world, our imagination and all our relationships.
Why you should listen
In twelve books, covering everything from Revolutionary Cuba to the XIVth Dalai Lama, Islamic mysticism to our lives in airports, Pico Iyer has worked to chronicle the accelerating changes in our outer world, which sometimes make steadiness and rootedness in our inner world more urgent than ever. In his TED Book, The Art of Stillness, he draws upon travels from North Korea to Iran to remind us how to remain focused and sane in an age of frenzied distraction. As he writes in the book, "Almost everybody I know has this sense of overdosing on information and getting dizzy living at post-human speeds ... All of us instinctively feel that something inside us is crying out for more spaciousness and stillness to offset the exhilarations of this movement and the fun and diversion of the modern world."
Pico Iyer | Speaker | TED.com