ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Patricia Ryan - Language teacher
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change.

Why you should listen

UK-born language teacher Patricia Ryan has spent most of the past 40 years teaching English in the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
She is currently teaching at Zayed University in Dubai, and studying for a second Masters degree in Law.

More profile about the speaker
Patricia Ryan | Speaker | TED.com
TEDxDubai

Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

Patricia Ryan: Mos insisto ne anglisht!

Filmed:
2,138,668 views

Ne TEDxDubai, Patricia Ryan, mesuese me pervoje e gjuhes angleze ben nje pyetje provokative: A po pengon fokusimi boteror ne gjuhen angleze shperndarjen e ideve te shkelqyeshme ne gjuhet tjera? (p.sh nese Einstein-it do t'i duhej ta kalonte TOEFL-in?). Eshte nje mbrojtje pasionante per perkthimin dhe shperndarjen e ideve.
- Language teacher
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I know what you're thinking.
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E di ç'ju shkon ne mend
00:18
You think I've lost my way,
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mendoni se e kam gabur rrugen
00:20
and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute
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e qe dikush do te dal ne skene se shpejti
00:22
and guide me gently back to my seat.
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te me ule ngadale ne vendin tim
00:24
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
00:30
I get that all the time in Dubai.
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Nje gje e tille me ndodh shume shpesh ne Dubai
00:33
"Here on holiday are you, dear?"
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"E dashur, jeni ketu per pushime?"
00:35
(Laughter)
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(Qeshje)
00:37
"Come to visit the children?
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"Po vizitoni femijet?
00:40
How long are you staying?"
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Sa do te qendroni?"
00:42
Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.
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Ne te vertet, shpresoj per nje kohe te gjate
00:45
I have been living and teaching in the Gulf
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Kam duket jetuar dhe dhene mesim ne Gjirin (persik)
00:48
for over 30 years.
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per me shume se 30 vjet
00:50
(Applause)
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(Duartrokitje)
00:54
And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes.
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Dhe gjate kesaj kohe, kam pare shume ndryshime
00:58
Now that statistic
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statistikat
01:00
is quite shocking.
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jane mjaft shokuese
01:02
And I want to talk to you today
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Dhe dua te flas me ju sot
01:04
about language loss
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rreth humbjes se gjuhes
01:06
and the globalization of English.
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dhe globalizimit te gjuhes angleze
01:09
I want to tell you about my friend
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Dua t'ju tregoj per nje miken time
01:11
who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi.
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qe u mesonte gjuhen angleze te rriturve ne Abu Dhabi
01:14
And one fine day,
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Nje dite te bukur,
01:16
she decided to take them into the garden
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ajo vendosi t'i nxjere ata ne kopesht
01:18
to teach them some nature vocabulary.
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qe t'ju mesoje dicka nga fjalori i natyres
01:20
But it was she who ended up learning
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Por, ishte ajo qe arriti te mesoje
01:22
all the Arabic words for the local plants,
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te gjitha fjalet arabike per bimet lokale
01:24
as well as their uses --
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si dhe perdorimin e tyre
01:26
medicinal uses, cosmetics,
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ne mjekesi, kosmetike,
01:29
cooking, herbal.
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ne gatim, barerat e ndryshme
01:32
How did those students get all that knowledge?
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Si e kane fituar gjithe kete dituri keta studente?
01:34
Of course, from their grandparents
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Sigurisht, prej gjysherve
01:36
and even their great-grandparents.
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e bile edhe prej stergjysheve
01:39
It's not necessary to tell you how important it is
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Nuk eshte nevojshme t'ju tregoj sa rendesi ka
01:42
to be able to communicate
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komunikimi
01:44
across generations.
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midis gjeneratave.
01:46
But sadly, today,
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Mirepo fatkeqesisht, sot,
01:48
languages are dying
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gjuhet po vdesin
01:50
at an unprecedented rate.
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ne shkalle te paimagjinueshme.
01:52
A language dies every 14 days.
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Nje gjuhe vdes cdo 14 dite.
01:56
Now, at the same time,
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Ne te njejten kohe,
01:58
English is the undisputed global language.
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gjuha angleze pa diskutim eshte gjuha globale
02:00
Could there be a connection?
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A mund te kete ndonje lidhje?
02:02
Well I don't know.
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S'e di.
02:04
But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes.
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Por, di qe kam pare shume ndryshime
02:07
When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait
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Kur erdha ne Lindjen e Mesme, ne fillim isha ne Kuwait
02:10
in the days when it was still a hardship post.
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ishin ditet kur ende kishte veshtiresi
02:13
Actually, not that long ago.
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Ne te vertete, jo edhe aq shume kohe me pare.
02:15
That is a little bit too early.
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Kjo eshte paksa me heret.
02:18
But nevertheless,
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Por sidoqofte,
02:20
I was recruited by the British Council,
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Une isha punesuar nga Keshilli Britanik
02:22
along with about 25 other teachers.
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se bashku me rreth 25 mesues te tjere.
02:24
And we were the first non-Muslims
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Dhe ne ishim jo-Muslimanet e pare
02:26
to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait.
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te jepnim mesim ne shkollat shteterore ne Kuwait.
02:29
We were brought to teach English
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Na sollen per te dhene Anglisht
02:31
because the government wanted to modernize the country
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sepse qeveria deshironte te modernizonte vendin
02:35
and to empower the citizens through education.
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dhe t'u jepte mundesi qytetareve permes edukimit.
02:38
And of course, the U.K. benefited
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Dhe sigurisht, U.K ka perfituar
02:40
from some of that lovely oil wealth.
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ca nga pasuria e naftes.
02:43
Okay.
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Ok
02:45
Now this is the major change that I've seen --
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Tani ky eshte ndryshimi kryesor qe kam pare--
02:48
how teaching English
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se si mesimdhenia e Anglishtes
02:50
has morphed
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eshte shnderruar
02:52
from being a mutually beneficial practice
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nga të qenit një praktikë e dobishme reciprokisht
02:56
to becoming a massive international business that it is today.
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Listen Read phonetically
02:59
No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum,
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Jo vetem nje gjuhe e huaj ne programin mesimor te shkolles.
03:03
and no longer the sole domain
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Dhe jo vetem nje fushe e veçante
03:05
of mother England,
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e Anglise.
03:07
it has become a bandwagon
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Eshte bere nje fitimtare
03:09
for every English-speaking nation on earth.
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per cdo shtet Anglisht- foles ne rruzullin tokesor
03:12
And why not?
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Dhe perse jo?
03:14
After all, the best education --
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Ne fund te fundit, edukimi me i mire--
03:17
according to the latest World University Rankings --
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sipas renditetjeve te Universiteteve boterore
03:20
is to be found in the universities
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eshte qe te mesohet ne universitetet
03:22
of the U.K. and the U.S.
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e U.K dhe te U.S.
03:26
So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally.
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Pra te githe deshirojne te kene nje edukim Anglez, natyrisht.
03:30
But if you're not a native speaker,
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Por nese nuk eke gjuhen e memes,
03:32
you have to pass a test.
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duhet te kaloni nje test.
03:34
Now can it be right
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Tani, a eshte e drejte
03:36
to reject a student
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te refuzojme nje student
03:38
on linguistic ability alone?
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vetem nga aftesia gjuhesore?
03:40
Perhaps you have a computer scientist
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Ndoshta nje shkenctar kompjuteri
03:42
who's a genius.
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i cili eshte gjeni.
03:44
Would he need the same language as a lawyer, for example?
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A i duhet atij e njejta gjuhe sikurse avokatit, per shembull?
03:47
Well, I don't think so.
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Une nuk mendoj ashtu.
03:51
We English teachers reject them all the time.
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Ne mesuesit e Anglishtes i refuzojme ata tere kohen.
03:54
We put a stop sign,
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Ne vendosim nje shenje stopi,
03:56
and we stop them in their tracks.
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dhe i ndalojme ata ne rrugen e tyre.
03:58
They can't pursue their dream any longer,
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Ata nuk mund t'a vazhdojne endrren e tyre me tutje,
04:00
'til they get English.
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derisa te kuptojne Anglishten.
04:04
Now let me put it this way:
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Tani më lejoni të shtroj në këtë mënyrë,
04:07
if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker
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nese takoj nje foles Holandez njegjuhesh
04:11
who had the cure for cancer,
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qe ka gjetur kuren per kancerin,
04:13
would I stop him from entering my British University?
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a do ta ndaloja ate te hyje ne Universitin Britanik?
04:16
I don't think so.
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Nuk mendoj ashtu.
04:18
But indeed, that is exactly what we do.
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Por ne te vertete, kjo eshte tamam ajo qe bejme.
04:21
We English teachers are the gatekeepers.
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Ne mesuesit e Anglshites jemi portieret.
04:24
And you have to satisfy us first
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Dhe ju duhet te na kenaqni se pari neve
04:27
that your English is good enough.
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qe anglishtja e juaj te jete e mjaftueshme
04:31
Now it can be dangerous
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Tash mund te jete e rrezikshme
04:33
to give too much power
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per t'i dhene shume fuqi
04:36
to a narrow segment of society.
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nje segmenti te kufizuar te shoqerise.
04:38
Maybe the barrier would be too universal.
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Ndoshta barriera do te jete shume universale.
04:41
Okay.
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Ne rregull.
04:43
"But," I hear you say,
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" Por," degjoj ju qe thoni,
04:46
"what about the research?
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" Po rreth hulumtimit?
04:48
It's all in English."
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Eshte i gjithi ne Anglisht."
04:50
So the books are in English,
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Pra librat jane ne Anglisht,
04:52
the journals are done in English,
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gazetat jane bere ne Anglisht,
04:54
but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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por kjo eshte nje vet-permbushje e profecise.
04:57
It feeds the English requirement.
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Ajo furnizon kerkesat e anglishtes.
04:59
And so it goes on.
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Dhe keshtu vazhdon.
05:01
I ask you, what happened to translation?
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T'ju pyes, cfare ndodhi me perkthimin?
05:04
If you think about the Islamic Golden Age,
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Nese mendoni ne Kohen e Arte Islame
05:08
there was lots of translation then.
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kishte shume perkthime.
05:11
They translated from Latin and Greek
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Perkthenin nga Latinishtja dhe Greqishtja
05:14
into Arabic, into Persian,
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ne Arabisht, ne Persisht,
05:16
and then it was translated on
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dhe pastaj ishte perkthyer ne
05:18
into the Germanic languages of Europe
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ne gjuhet Gjermanike te Europes
05:20
and the Romance languages.
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dhe ne gjuhet Romantike.
05:22
And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.
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Dhe keshtu drita ndriconte mbi Kohet e erreta te Europes.
05:27
Now don't get me wrong;
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Tani mos me keqkuptoni;
05:29
I am not against teaching English,
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Une nuk ja kunder mesimdhenies Anglisht,
05:31
all you English teachers out there.
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per te gjithe ju mesuesit e Anglishtes.
05:33
I love it that we have a global language.
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E dua faktin qe ne kemi nje gjuhe boterore.
05:35
We need one today more than ever.
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Neve na duhet sot me shume se kurre me pare.
05:38
But I am against using it
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Por jam kunder perdorimit te saj
05:40
as a barrier.
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si nje barriere.
05:42
Do we really want to end up with 600 languages
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A deshirojme qe t'i japim fund 600 gjuheve
05:45
and the main one being English, or Chinese?
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dhe kryesorja te jete Anglishtja , ose Kinezshtja?
05:48
We need more than that. Where do we draw the line?
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Neve na duhet me shume se kaq. Ku e vendosim kufirin?
05:51
This system
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Ky sistem
05:53
equates intelligence
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barazon inteligjencen
05:56
with a knowledge of English,
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me njohurite per Anglishten
05:59
which is quite arbitrary.
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e cila eshte paska e pa arsyshme.
06:01
(Applause)
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Duartrokitje
06:07
And I want to remind you
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Dhe dua t'ua kujtoj
06:09
that the giants upon whose shoulders
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se gjigandet mbi krahet e te cileve
06:12
today's intelligentsia stand
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qendron inteligjenca e sotme
06:14
did not have to have English,
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nuk ju nevojitej Anglishtja
06:16
they didn't have to pass an English test.
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ata nuk duhet te kalonin testin e Anglishtes
06:18
Case in point, Einstein.
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Rasti ne fjale, Einstein.
06:22
He, by the way, was considered remedial at school
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Ai, meqe ra fjala, konsiderohej nxenes me probleme
06:25
because he was, in fact, dyslexic.
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sepse ai ishte, ne fakt, disleksik.
06:27
But fortunately for the world,
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Por fatmiresisht per boten,
06:29
he did not have to pass an English test.
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ai nuk duhej te kalonte testin e angishtes.
06:32
Because they didn't start until 1964
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Sepse kjo filloi ne 1964
06:35
with TOEFL,
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me TOEFL
06:37
the American test of English.
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testi American i Anglishtes
06:39
Now it's exploded.
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Tani ka shperthyer gjithandej.
06:41
There are lots and lots of tests of English.
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Ka shume e shume testime te anglishtes.
06:44
And millions and millions of students
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Dhe miliona e miliona studenta
06:46
take these tests every year.
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qe hyjne ne keto teste cdo vit.
06:48
Now you might think, you and me,
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Ti dhe une, tani mund te mendojme
06:50
"Those fees aren't bad, they're okay,"
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keto tarifa nuk jane edhe aq keq,
06:52
but they are prohibitive
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por ato jane pengese
06:54
to so many millions of poor people.
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per miliona njerez te varfer.
06:56
So immediately, we're rejecting them.
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Pra menjehere, po i refuzojme ata.
06:58
(Applause)
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Duartrokitje
07:01
It brings to mind a headline I saw recently:
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Me sjell ne mendje nje titull artikulli qe pashe se fundmi:
07:04
"Education: The Great Divide."
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"Edukimi: Ndarja e madhe."
07:06
Now I get it,
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Tani e kuptoj ate,
07:08
I understand why people would want to focus on English.
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E kuptoj pse njerezit do te fokusohen ne Anglisht.
07:11
They want to give their children the best chance in life.
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Ata deshirojne t'u japim femijeve te tyre mundesine me te mire ne jete.
07:15
And to do that, they need a Western education.
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Dhe per ta bere ate, kane nevoje per nje edukim Perendimor.
07:18
Because, of course, the best jobs
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Sepse, sigurisht, punet me te mira
07:20
go to people out of the Western Universities,
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shkojne tek njerezit e Universiteteve Perendimore,
07:23
that I put on earlier.
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qe e ceka me perpara.
07:25
It's a circular thing.
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Eshte ne forme rrethi.
07:27
Okay.
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Ne rregull.
07:29
Let me tell you a story about two scientists,
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t'ju tregoj nje histori per dy shkenctare,
07:31
two English scientists.
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dy shkenctare te angleze.
07:33
They were doing an experiment
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Ata po benin nje eksperiment
07:35
to do with genetics
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qe kishte te beje me gjenetiken
07:37
and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals.
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dhe gjymtyret e parme dhe gjymtyret e pasme te kafsheve.
07:40
But they couldn't get the results they wanted.
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Por nuk mund te arrinin rezultatet qe deshironin.
07:42
They really didn't know what to do,
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Ata me te vertete nuk dinin cfare te benin,
07:44
until along came a German scientist
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perderisa erdhi nje shkenctar gjerman
07:47
who realized that they were using two words
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i cili hetoi se po perdornin dy fjale
07:50
for forelimb and hind limb,
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per gjymtyre te parme dhe gjymtyre te pasme,
07:52
whereas genetics does not differentiate
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ne nje kohe qe gjenetika nuk i diferencon
07:56
and neither does German.
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po keshtu as germanishtja.
07:58
So bingo,
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Pra, bingo,
08:00
problem solved.
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problemi u zgjidh.
08:02
If you can't think a thought,
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Nese nuk mund te mendoni nje mendim
08:04
you are stuck.
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ju ngecur.
08:07
But if another language can think that thought,
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Por nese nje gjuhe tjeter mund te mendoje ate mendim
08:09
then, by cooperating,
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pastaj, duke bashkepunuar,
08:11
we can achieve and learn so much more.
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mund te mberrijme dhe mesojme shume me shume.
08:16
My daughter
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Vajza ime,
08:18
came to England from Kuwait.
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erdhi ne Angli nga Kuwait-i.
08:21
She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic.
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Ajo kishte studiuar shkenca dhe matematike ne Arabisht.
08:24
It's an Arabic medium school.
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ne shkolle te mesme Arabike
08:27
She had to translate it into English at her grammar school.
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Asaj u desh te perkthente ne Anglisht ne shkollen e gjuhes.
08:30
And she was the best in the class
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Dhe ishte ma e mira ne klase
08:32
at those subjects.
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ne keto lende.
08:34
Which tells us
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Qe na tregon
08:36
that when students come to us from abroad,
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se, kur studentet vine tek ne prej jashte vendit,
08:38
we may not be giving them enough credit
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mund te mos ju japim aq shume kredit
08:40
for what they know,
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per ate qe dine,
08:42
and they know it in their own language.
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dhe ata e dine ne gjuhen e tyre .
08:45
When a language dies,
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Kur nje gjuhe vdes,
08:47
we don't know what we lose with that language.
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ne nuk ke dime se cka humbim me ate gjuhe.
08:50
This is -- I don't know if you saw it on CNN recently --
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Kjo eshte-- Une nuk ke di nese e pate ne CNN--
08:54
they gave the Heroes Award
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ata i dhane titullin e Heroit
08:56
to a young Kenyan shepherd boy
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nje te riu Kenyan çoban
08:59
who couldn't study at night in his village,
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i cili nuk mund te mesonte naten ne fshatin e tij
09:02
like all the village children,
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si te gjithe femijet e fshatit,
09:04
because the kerosene lamp,
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sepse lampa e vajgurit,
09:06
it had smoke and it damaged his eyes.
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kishte tym dhe i demtonte syte.
09:08
And anyway, there was never enough kerosene,
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Dhe sidoqofte, kurre nuk kishte aq vajguri,
09:11
because what does a dollar a day buy for you?
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sepse cfare do blesh perpara me nje dollar ne dite?
09:14
So he invented
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Keshtu ai zbuloi
09:16
a cost-free solar lamp.
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nje llamp diellore te lire.
09:19
And now the children in his village
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Dhe tani femijet ne fshatin e tij
09:21
get the same grades at school
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marrin nota te njejta ne shkolle
09:23
as the children who have electricity at home.
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sikurse femijet qe kane elektricitet ne shtepi.
09:27
(Applause)
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Duartrokitje
09:33
When he received his award,
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Kur morri çmimin,
09:35
he said these lovely words:
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Ai tha keto fjale te bukura:
09:37
"The children can lead Africa from what it is today,
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" Femjet mund te udheheqim Afriken nga ajo cka eshte sot,
09:40
a dark continent,
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nje kontinent i erret
09:42
to a light continent."
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ne nje kontinent te ndritshem."
09:44
A simple idea,
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Nje ide e thjeshte,
09:46
but it could have such far-reaching consequences.
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por mund te kishte pasoja qe mberrinin larg.
09:50
People who have no light,
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Njerezit qe nuk kane drite,
09:52
whether it's physical or metaphorical,
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qofte fizikisht ose metaforikisht,
09:55
cannot pass our exams,
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nuk mund ti kalojne provimet tona,
09:58
and we can never know what they know.
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dhe ne kurre s'mund te dime cka ata dine.
10:01
Let us not keep them and ourselves
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Le te mos i mbajme ata dhe veten tone
10:04
in the dark.
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ne erresire.
10:06
Let us celebrate diversity.
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Le te festojme diversitetin.
10:09
Mind your language.
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Mbaj mend gjuhen tende.
10:12
Use it to spread great ideas.
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Perdore te shperndash ide te mrekullushme.
10:16
(Applause)
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Duartrokitje
10:23
Thank you very much.
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Faleminderit shume
10:25
(Applause)
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Duartrokitje
Translated by Ereblir Kadriu
Reviewed by Helena Bedalli

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Patricia Ryan - Language teacher
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change.

Why you should listen

UK-born language teacher Patricia Ryan has spent most of the past 40 years teaching English in the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
She is currently teaching at Zayed University in Dubai, and studying for a second Masters degree in Law.

More profile about the speaker
Patricia Ryan | Speaker | TED.com