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DavidPeterson_2019X-_为什么语言是人类最伟大的发明_-
Spoons. 勺子。
Cardboard boxes. 纸箱。
Cardboard:n.[纸]硬纸板;纸板箱;卡纸板;adj.不真实的;硬纸板制的;
Toddler-size electric trains. 儿童电动小火车。
electric:n.供电;adj.电的;用电的;电动的;发电的;
Holiday ornaments . 节日装饰品。
ornaments:n.装饰品;首饰;v.装饰;点缀;美化;(ornament的第三人称单数和复数)
Bounce houses. 充气城堡。
Bounce:v.反弹;反射;(使)弹起;n.弹跳;跳动;弹性;
Blankets. 毛毯。
Baskets. 篮子。
Carpets . 地毯。
Carpets:n.地毯;v.用地毯铺;厚厚地铺上;斥责;(carpet的第三人称单数和复数)
Tray tables. 小桌板。
Tray:n.盘;托盘;碟;(各种用途的)浅塑料盒;
Smartphones . 智能手机。
Smartphones:智能手机(smartphone的复数);
Pianos. 钢琴。
Robes . 礼服长袍。
Robes:n.长袍;礼服;v.(使)穿上长袍,礼服等(robe的第三人称单数);
Photographs. 照片。
What do all of these things have in common, aside from the fact they're photos that I took in the last three months, and therefore, own the copyright to? 这些东西有什么共同点？ 除了它们是我在过去 三个月中拍的照片 并且拥有著作权外？
copyright:n.版权;著作权;adj.受版权保护的;未经准许不得复制的;v.获得…的版权;
(Laughter) （笑声）
They're all inventions that were created with the benefit of language. 它们是发明的产物, 得益于语言,它们被创造出来。
None of these things would have existed without language. 如果没有语言这些东西 都不会被创造出来。
Imagine creating any one of those things or, like, building an entire building like this, without being able to use language or without benefiting from any knowledge that was got by the use of language. 试想创造任何一个这些东西 或像建造这样一个完整的大楼, 没有语言沟通 或不借助因使用语言而获得的知识。
Basically , language is the most important thing in the entire world. 从大体上来说,语言是这个世界上 最重要的东西。
Basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
All of our civilization rests upon it. 我们所有的文明都依存于语言之上。
civilization:n.文明;文明社会;文明世界;(特定时期和地区的)社会文明;
And those who devote their lives to studying it -- both how language emerged , how human languages differ, how they differ from animal communication systems -- are linguists . 那些终生致力于研究语言的人—— 语言是怎么出现的, 人类的语言为什么有差异, 与动物的交流系统有什么不同—— 是语言学家。
devote:v.贡献;把…专用于;听任; emerged:v.(从隐蔽处或暗处)出现;暴露;露出真相;显现;(emerge的过去分词和过去式) linguists:[语]语言学家(linguist的复数);
Formal linguistics is a relatively young field, more or less . 正统的语言学,或多或少仍是 个比较新的领域。
Formal:adj.适合正式场合的; n.(美)须穿礼服的社交集会; (口)夜礼服; linguistics:n.语言学; relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地; more or less:或多或少;
And it's uncovered a lot of really important stuff . 并且它揭示了许多真正重要的信息。
uncovered:adj.裸露的; v.揭开盖子; (uncover的过去式和过去分词) stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
Like, for example, that human communication systems differ crucially from animal communication systems, that all languages are equally expressive , even if they do it in different ways. 例如,人类的交流系统 与动物的交流系统有相当大的差异, 所有的语言都有相当的表现力, 即便他们的表达方式不同。
human communication:人际交往; crucially:adv.关键地;至关重要地; expressive:adj.表现的;有表现力的;表达…的;
And yet, despite this, there are a lot of people who just love to pop off about language like they have an equal understanding of it as a linguist, because, of course, they speak a language. 当然,尽管如此, 还是许多随便谈论语言的人, 就像有语言学家那样高的理解似的, 当然,他们会说某种语言。
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱;
And if you speak a language, that means you have just as much right to talk about its function as anybody else. 如果你会讲一种语言, 那就意味着你有同样多的权利 像其他人一样去谈论它的功能。
Imagine if you were talking to a surgeon , and you say, "Listen, buddy . 想像一下假如你对一个外科医生说, “听着,哥们儿。
surgeon:n.外科医生; buddy:n.伙伴,好朋友;密友;小男孩;v.做好朋友,交朋友;
I've had a heart for, like, 40 years now. 我活了四十年了。
I think I know a thing or two about aortic valve replacements . 我觉得我了解一些 主动脉瓣置换术的事情。
aortic:adj.大动脉的; valve:n.阀;[解剖]瓣膜;真空管;活门;v.装阀于;以活门调节; replacements:n.替代,替换件;补充;
I think my opinion is just as valid as yours." 我认为我的观点和你的一样有效。”
valid:adj.有效的;有根据的;合法的;正当的;
And yet, that's exactly what happens. 是的,事情确实就是这样的。
This is Neil deGrasse Tyson, saying that in the film "Arrival," 这是尼尔.德格拉塞.泰森 对电影《降临》的评论,
deGrasse:格拉斯号;德葛拉瑟;
he would have brought a cryptographer -- somebody who can unscramble a message in a language they already know -- rather than a linguist, to communicate with the aliens, because what would a linguist -- why would that be useful in talking to somebody speaking a language we don't even know? 他原本可以带一个密码专家—— 能够用他们已经知道的语言解读信息的人 而不是一名语言学家, 去和外星人对话, 因为为什么一名语言学家—— 为什么语言学家跟说我们完全不知道 的语言的人会有用？
cryptographer:n.译解密码者;担任密码者; unscramble:vt.整理;使恢复原状;译出密码;
Though, of course, the "Arrival" film is not off the hook . 当然,《降临》这部电影 并没有摆脱困境。
off the hook:摆脱困境;脱身;
I mean, come on -- listen, film. Hey, buddy: there are aliens that come down to our planet in gigantic ships, and they want to do nothing except for communicate with us, and you hire one linguist? 我的意思是,瞧这部电影: 外星人坐在巨大的飞船里 降临到我们地球, 然后他们除了想和我们交流之外 什么都不想做, 于是你就雇了一名语言学家？
gigantic:adj.巨大的,庞大的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
What's the US government on a budget or something? 美国政府都在搞什么预算？
budget:n.预算,预算费;v.安排,预定;把…编入预算;adj.廉价的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
A lot of these things can be chalked up to misunderstandings , both about what language is and about the formal study of language, about linguistics. 许多这样的事情可以人们对 什么是语言,什么是正式的语言学习, 什么是语言学存在误区。
misunderstandings:误区;
And I think there's something that underlies a lot of these misunderstandings that can be summed up by this delightful article in " Forbes ," 我认为支撑这些误区之下的东西 可以由这篇发表在《福布斯》 上的令人愉悦的文章概括,
underlies:vt.成为…的基础;位于…之下; summed:v.归纳;总计;总结,概括;(sum的过去分词和过去式) delightful:adj.可爱的,可喜的;令人愉快的; Forbes:n.福布斯(美国著名财经杂志);福布斯(美国出版及媒体集团);福布斯(姓氏);
about why high school students shouldn't learn foreign languages. 这是一篇为什么高中生 不应当学习外语的文章。
I'm going to pull out some quotes from this, and I want you to see if you can figure out what underlies some of these opinions and ideas. 我会从中抽取一些文段, 我想让你们看看, 你们是否能够搞清 这些观点和想法的基础是什么。
quotes:n.引用,引号;报价(quote的复数);v.报价(quote的第三人称单数);引用;复述;
'"Americans rarely read the classics , even in translation." “美国人很少读原著,即便是译本。”
rarely:adv.很少地;难得;罕有地; classics:n.经典;名著;杰作;(classic的复数)
So in other words, why bother learning a foreign language when they're not even going to read the classic in the original anyway? 所以,换句话说,为什么 要为学一门外语而烦恼呢, 既然他们无论如何都 不去阅读原著典籍？
bother:v.烦扰,打扰;使…不安;操心,麻烦;n.麻烦;烦恼; original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的;
What's the point? 有什么意义呢？
'"Studying foreign languages in school is a waste of time, compared to other things that you could be doing in school." “与其他可以在学校做的事情相比, 在学校里学习外语是浪费时间。”
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词)
'"Europe has a lot of language groups clustered in a relatively small space." “欧洲有许多语种聚集在 一个相对狭小的空间里。”
clustered:adj.成群的;成簇的;v.群聚;聚集;(cluster的过去式和过去分词)
So for Americans, ah, what's the point of learning another language? 所以对于美国人, 学一门外语的意义何在呢？
You're not really going to get a lot of bang for your buck out of that. 你真不会从那得到什么大的好处。
bang:n.猛敲; v.猛敲; v.正好; buck:n.(美)钱,元;雄鹿;纨绔子弟;年轻的印第安人或黑人;
This is my favorite, "A student in Birmingham would have to travel about a thousand miles to get to the Mexican border, and even then, there would be enough people who speak English to get around ." 这是我最爱的, “一名在伯明翰的学生可能会旅行 大约一千英里来到墨西哥边界, 即使这样,那里也有足够多 讲英语的人在周围。”
Birmingham:n.伯明翰(英国一座城市); get around:到处走走;逃避;说服;传开来(等于getround);有办法应付;有办法应付局面;
In other words, if you can kind of wave your arms around, and you can get to where you're going, then there's really no point in learning another language anyway. 换句话说,如果你能稍微招招手, 你就能到达任何你想去的地方。 所以真没有意义去学一门外语。
What underlies a lot of these attitudes is the conceptual metaphor , language is a tool. 这些看法的基础是这种概念隐喻, 语言是一种工具。
attitudes:n.态度,看法(attitude复数); conceptual:adj.概念上的; metaphor:n.暗喻,隐喻;比喻说法;
And there's something that rings very true about this metaphor. 这个隐喻听起来非常真实。
Language is kind of a tool in that, if you know the local language, you can do more than if you didn't. 语言是一种工具, 如果你懂当地的语言,你可以 做更多之前不能做的事情。
But the implication is that language is only a tool, and this is absolutely false. 但是这暗示了语言只是一种工具, 这是绝对错误的。
implication:n.含意;可能的影响(或作用、结果);暗指;(被)牵连; absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
If language was a tool, it would honestly be a pretty poor tool. 如果语言是一种工具, 老实说,这是种相当不好用的工具。
And we would have abandoned it long ago for something that was a lot better. 我们会在很久以前就抛弃它 而去使用更好的工具。
abandoned:adj.被抛弃的放纵的;v.抛弃;丢弃,离开;放弃;(abandon的过去分词和过去式)
Think about just any sentence. 随便想一个句子。
Here's a sentence that I'm sure I've said in my life: "Yesterday I saw Kyn." 这里有个我确信在生活中说过的句子: “昨天我看见肯了。”
I have a friend named Kyn. 我有一位叫肯的朋友。
And when I say this sentence, "Yesterday I saw Kyn," 当我说这句话,“昨天我看见肯了,“
do you think it's really the case that everything in my mind is now implanted in your mind via this sentence? 你觉得我脑海中的东西 通过这句话就植入你的大脑 的这个场景真实吗？
implanted:植入的; via:prep.通过;经由;n.道路;[医]管道;
Hardly, because there's a lot of other stuff going on. 当然不是,因为还有许多其它的东西。
Like, when I say "yesterday," 例如,当我说“昨天”,
I might think what the weather was like yesterday because I was there. 我可能会想到昨天的天气怎么样, 因为我在那里。
And if I'm remembering, 然后如果我继续回忆,
I'll probably remember there was something I forgot to mail, which I did. 我将可能会回忆起我忘记发快递了,
This was a preplanned joke, but I really did forget to mail something. 这是一个预先计划的笑话, 但我确实忘记发快递了。
preplanned:adj.预先计划的;v.预先计划(preplan的过去分词);
And so that means I'm going to have to do it Monday, because that's when I'm going to get back home. 所以那意味着我将不得不在周一邮寄它, 因为那是我要回家的时候。
And of course, when I think of Monday, 当然,当我想起周一,
I'll think of " Manic Monday" by the Bangles . It's a good song. 我将会想起手镯乐队的 “炸裂的星期一”,这是首不错的歌。
Manic:adj.躁狂的;狂热的;n.躁狂症者; Bangles:n.手镯(bangles的复数形式);
And when I say the word "saw," I think of this phrase: "'I see!' said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw." 当我说单词“看见”,我想起了这个句子: “‘我看见了’,瞎子边说边拿起 锤子和锯子。”
hammer:n.锤子; v.锤打;
I always do. 我总是这样。
Anytime I hear the word "saw" or say it, I always think of that, because my grandfather always used to say it, so it makes me think of my grandfather. 无论何时我听见单词“看”或者说它时, 我总会像这样去想, 因为我的祖父过去总是这样说, 所以它使我想起了我的祖父。
And we're back to "Manic Monday" again, for some reason. 现在我们再次回到“炸裂的星期一”, 因为某些缘故。
And with Kyn, when I'm saying something like, "Yesterday I saw Kyn," 伴随着肯,当我说: “昨天我看见肯了,”
I'll think of the circumstances under which I saw him. 我会想起我看见他的场景。
circumstances:n.情况;环境;情形;(circumstance的复数)
And this happened to be that day. Here he is with my cat. 就在那天,他和我的猫在一起。
And of course, if I'm thinking of Kyn, 当然,如果我想到肯,
I'll think he's going to Long Beach State right now, and I'll remember that my good friend John and my mother both graduated from Long Beach State, my cousin Katie is going to Long Beach State right now. 我会想起他现在将去长滩市, 并且我会记起我的好朋友 约翰和我妈妈 都是从长滩州立大学毕业的, 我的姐姐凯特现在也将去这所大学念书。
And it's "Manic Monday" again. 然后又是“炸裂的星期一”
But this is just a fraction of what's going on in your head at any given time while you are speaking. 但这一切都只是在 你说话的任何时候 发生在我脑海里的一些碎片。
fraction:n.分数;小部分;小数;少量;
And all we have to represent the entire mess that is going on in our head, is this. 我们所要做的就是把我们脑子里 发生的一切都表现出来,就是这个。
represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送; mess:n.混乱;餐厅;杂乱;肮脏;v.使不整洁;弄脏;弄乱;随地便溺;
I mean, that's all we got. 我的意思是,那就是全部东西。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Is it any wonder that our system is so poor? 难怪我们的系统这么差？
So imagine, if I can give you an analogy , imagine if you wanted to know what is it like to eat a cake, if instead of just eating the cake, you instead had to ingest the ingredients of a cake, one by one , along with instructions about how these ingredients can be combined to form a cake. 想象一下,如果我给你一个类比, 试想如果你想知道 吃蛋糕是什么感觉, 如果不只是吃蛋糕, 而是你必须咽下这个蛋糕的原料, 一个接一个的, 按照说明书说的 将这些材料组合成一个蛋糕来。
analogy:n.类比;类推;类似; ingest:vt.摄取;咽下;吸收;接待; ingredients:n.成分;(尤指烹饪)原料;(成功的)要素;(ingredient的复数) one by one:一个接一个;
You had to eat the instructions, too. 你也必须也把说明书吃掉。
(Laughter) （笑声）
If that was how we had to experience cake, we would never eat cake. 如果我们是这样品尝蛋糕的, 我们将绝不会再吃蛋糕了。
And yet, language is the only way -- the only way -- that we can figure out what is going on here, in our minds. 然而,语言是唯一一种, 唯一一种 我们能理解大脑中发生什么的方式。
This is our interiority , the thing that makes us human, the thing that makes us different from other animals, is all inside here somewhere, and all we have to do to represent it is our own languages. 这是我们的内在, 是使我们成为人类的东西, 是使我们与其他动物有区别的东西, 都在这里面某个地方, 我们所要做的是用自己 的语言来表达它。
interiority:内部;
A language is our best way of showing what's going on in our head. 语言是展示我们头脑想法的最好方式。
Imagine if I wanted to ask a big question, like: "What is the nature of human thought and emotion ?" 试想如果我要问一个重要的问题: “人类思想和情感的本质是什么？”
emotion:n.强烈的感情;激情;情感;
What you'd want to do is you'd want to examine as many different languages as possible. 你要做的就是 尽可能多地研究不同 的语言。
One isn't just going to do it. 一种并不足以回答。
To give you an example, here's a picture I took of little Roman , that I took with a 12-megapixel camera. 举个例子 这有一张我从罗马拍的照片, 用了1200万像素的相机。
Roman:n.罗马人;古罗马语;adj.罗马的;罗马人的;
Now, here's that same picture with a lot fewer pixels . 现在,这有一张相同的低像素的照片。
pixels:n.像素(组成屏幕图像的最小独立元素);(pixel的复数)
Obviously, neither of these pictures is a real cat. 当然,这两张照片拍的都不是真正的猫。
But one gives you a lot better sense of what a cat is than the other. 但其中一张比另一张让你感觉更像猫。
Language is not merely a tool. 语言不仅仅是一种工具。
merely:adv.仅仅,只不过;只是;
It is our legacy , it's our way of conveying what it means to be human. 是我们的遗产, 这是我们表达身为人 的意义的方式。
legacy:n.遗赠,遗产; conveying:v.表达,传递(思想、感情等);输送;(convey的现在分词)
And of course, by "our" legacy, I mean all humans everywhere. 当然,“我们”的遗产, 我指的是任何地方的人。
And losing even one language makes that picture a lot less clear. 即使是失去一种语言, 也会使这幅图景变得模糊。
So as a job for the past 10 years and also as recreation , just for fun, 所以过去十年我做的工作 也是一种消遣,仅仅是因为乐趣,
recreation:n.娱乐;消遣;娱乐活动;游戏;
I create languages. 我创造语言。
These are called "conlangs," 它们被称作“造语”
short for " constructed languages." “人造语言”的简称。
constructed:v.修建;建造;组成;编制,绘制;(construct的过去分词和过去式)
Now, presenting these facts back to back, that we're losing languages on our planet and that I create brand-new languages, you might think that there's some nonsuperficial connection between these two. 现在,我一件件地阐述这些事实, 在地球上我们正在遗失自己的语言, 所以我创造了全新的语言, 你可能认为它们之间有某种 非表面的联系。
brand-new:adj.崭新的;最近获得的;
In fact, a lot of people have drawn a line between those dots. 事实上,许多人已经在 这两点间画了一条线。
This is a guy who got all bent out of shape that there was a conlang in James Cameron's " Avatar ." 有个人对詹姆斯·卡梅隆执导的 《阿凡达》中的某个人造语言大为恼火。
bent out of shape:气坏了;大发雷霆; Avatar:n.电影《阿凡达》;
He says, "But in the three years it took James Cameron to get Avatar to the screen, a language died." 他说, “在三年时间内詹姆斯·卡梅隆 把《阿凡达》搬上银幕, 一种语言消亡了。”
Probably a lot more than that, actually. 也许事实上还远不止这样。
'"Na'vi, alas , won't fill the hole where it used to be ..." “纳美人,唉,填补不了曾经的空白…”
alas:int.唉(表悲伤,遗憾,恐惧,关切等等);
A truly profound and poignant statement -- if you don't think about it at all. 一个真正深远且深刻的观点—— 如果你不去想的话。
profound:adj.深厚的;意义深远的;渊博的; poignant:adj.尖锐的;辛酸的;深刻的;切中要害的; statement:n.声明;陈述,叙述;报表,清单;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But when I was here at Cal, 但当我在加州大学时,
I completed two majors. 我修完了两门专业。
One of them was linguistics, but the other one was English. 一门是语言学另一门是英文。
And of course, the English major, the study of English, is not actually the study of the English language, as we know, it's the study of literature . 当然,英文专业,研究英文, 但并不是真正的像我们 认为的那样研究英语, 是研究英国文学。
literature:n.文学;文献;文艺;著作;
Literature is just a wonderful thing, because basically, literature, more broadly , is kind of like art; it falls under the rubric of art. 文学是很美妙的, 因为基本上讲,文学非常广博, 有些像艺术那样; 它属于艺术范畴。
broadly:adv.明显地;宽广地;概括地;露骨地;粗鄙地; rubric:n.红字标题;红色印刷;题目;adj.印为红字的;
And what we do with literature, authors create new, entire beings and histories. 当我们研究文学时发现, 作者创造了全新的生物和历史故事。
And it's interesting to us to see what kind of depth and emotion and just unique spirit authors can invest into these fictional beings. 而且我们很高兴看到 作者可以授予这些虚构的众生 各种不同深度的情感 和独特的精神。
unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物; invest:v.投资;(把资金)投入;投入(时间、精力等);授予; fictional:adj.虚构的;小说的;
So much so, that, I mean -- take a look at this. 所以,看看这些。
take a look at:看一看;检查;
There's an entire series of books that are written about fictional characters. 有一系列的书 来完整地描绘这些虚拟人物。
series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书;
Like, the entire book is just about one fictional, fake human being. 就像,整本书只是描述一个虚幻的故事, 一个不存在的人。
fake:n.假货;骗子;假动作;v.捏造;假装…的样子;adj.伪造的;
There's an entire book on George F. Babbitt from Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt," 这有一整本辛克莱·刘易斯写的《巴比特》, 关于乔治·F·巴比特的书,
Babbitt:n.巴氏合金;vt.给…浇巴氏合金;
and I guarantee you, that book is longer than "Babbitt," 并且我向你保证,那书比“巴比特”长,
guarantee:n.保证;担保;保证人;保证书;抵押品;v.保证;担保;
which is a short book. 是一篇短篇书。
Does anybody even remember that one? 有人记得这本书吗？
It's pretty good, I actually think it's better than " Main Street ." 那本书非常好,我其实 觉得它比《大街》还好。
Main Street:n.大街(城镇的主要商业街道);典型的美国中产阶级;
That's my hot take. 这是我的最爱。
So we've never questioned the fact that literature is interesting. 所以我们绝不会质疑文学 的趣味性这个事实。
But despite the fact, not even linguists are actually interested in what created languages can tell us about the depth of the human spirit just as an artistic endeavor . 但除了这个事实, 事实上,即使是语言学家也没有兴趣知道, 究竟是什么创造了语言, 才能够告诉我们人类精神的深度。
artistic:adj.艺术的;风雅的;有美感的; endeavor:n.v.努力;尽力;试图;
I'll give you a nice little example here. 我给你举一个小例子。
There was an article written about me in the California alumni magazine a while back. 前阵子在加州校友的杂志中 有一篇关于我的文章。
alumni:n.(统称)校友,毕业生;
And when they wrote this article, they wanted to get somebody from the opposing side, which, in hindsight , seems like a weird thing to do. 当他们写这篇文章时, 他们却想找一个与我对立的人, 事后看来,这很奇怪。
opposing:adj.对立的; v.反对(计划、政策等); (oppose的现在分词) hindsight:n.后见之明;枪的照门; weird:adj.奇怪的;奇异的;离奇的;n.命运;宿命;命运女神;
You're just talking about a person, and you want to get somebody from the opposing side of that person. 你是在谈论一个人, 但你想找一个与他完全不同阵营的人。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Essentially , this is just a puff piece , but whatever. 尤其是,这还是一篇吹捧性文章。
Essentially:adv.本质上;本来; puff piece:用法,发音,音标,搭配,同义词,反义词和例句等在线英语服务。
So, they happened to get one of the most brilliant linguists of our time, 他们碰巧找到了 我们这个时代最杰出的语言学家之一,
George Lakoff, who's a linguist here at Berkeley. 乔治·莱考夫,在伯克利的语言学家。
And his work has basically forever changed the fields of linguistics and cognitive science. 他的作品基本上永久 改变了语言学领域 和认知科学。
cognitive:adj.认知的,认识的;
And when asked about my work and about language creation in general , he said, "But there's a lot of things to be done in the study of language. 当他被问起关于我的作品 和大体的语言创造时, 他说:“但是在语言研究方面 还有很多事情要做。
in general:总之,通常;一般而言;
You should spend the time on something real." 你应当在一些实事上花时间。”
Yeah. 没错。
'"Something real." Does this remind you of anything? “一些实事。”,它有使你回想起什么了吗？
remind:v.提醒;使想起;
To use the very framework that he himself invented, let me refer back to this conceptual metaphor: language is a tool. 用他自己发明的框架, 让我回顾一下这个概念隐喻: 语言是一种工具。
refer:v.参考;涉及;提到;查阅;
And he appears to be laboring under this conceptual metaphor; that is, language is useful when it can be used for communication. 而且他像是在这个隐喻概念下 努力工作; 也就是说,当语言可以被 用来交流时它是有用的。
laboring:adj.劳动的;n.劳动;操劳;
Language is useless when it can't be used for communication. 当语言不能被用来交流时是无用的。
It might make you wonder: What do we do with dead languages? 这也许会令你想知道: 对于消亡的语言我们应该做什么？
But anyway. 但无论如何。
So, because of this idea, it might seem like the very height of absurdity to have a Duolingo course on the High Valyrian language that I created for HBO's "Game of Thrones ." 因为有了这样的想法, 这可能看起来像非常荒谬, 对我在HBO的《冰与火之歌》中所创造 的高级瓦雷利亚语言 开设一门“多邻国”课程。
absurdity:n.荒谬;谬论;荒谬的言行; Thrones:n.座天使(圣经故事中天使名);
You might wonder what, exactly, are 740,000 people learning? 你可能会好奇, 这74万人到底在学什么？
(Laughter) （笑声）
Well, let's take a look at it. 让我们看看这个。
What are they learning? 他们在学什么？
What could they possibly be learning? 他们可能在学什么？
Well, bearing in mind that the other language for this -- it's for people that speak English -- 记住这一点,另一种语言是—— 针对说英语的人而言——
bearing:n.关系;影响;姿态;举止v.承受;忍受;承担责任;(bear的现在分词)
English speakers are learning quite a bit. 学英语的人要学习不少东西。
Here's a sentence that they will probably never use for communication in their entire lives: "The man sees the woman." 有一句话他们可能一生中都不会 用在对话中: “那个男人看见了那个女人。”
The little middle line is the gloss , so it's word for word , that's what it says. 中间的小线是注释, 所以这是逐字对应的,这是它的意思。
gloss:n.光彩;注释;假象;v.使光彩;掩盖;注释; word for word:adj.逐字的;逐字翻译的;
And they're actually learning some very fascinating things, especially if they're English speakers. 并且他们确实学到了 一些超级棒的东西, 尤其是如果他们是说英语的人。
fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词) especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
They're learning that a verb can come at the very end of a sentence. 他们能学到动词是可以 放在一句话的末尾的。
Doesn't really do that in English when you have two arguments. 在英语中,当你有两个论点时 并不会这样用。
They're learning that sometimes a language doesn't have an equivalent for the word "the" -- it's totally absent . 他们学习到有时候 一门语言中没有“the”这个词的对应词, 它是完全不存在的。
equivalent:adj.等价的,相等的;同意义的;n.等价物,相等物; absent:adj.缺席的;缺少的;心不在焉的;茫然的;v.使缺席;
That's something language can do. 这是语言可以做到的。
They're learning that a long vowel can actually be longer in duration , as opposed to different in quality, which is what our long vowels do; they're actually the same length. 他们学习到长元音的持续时间可能更长, 用于和其它音加以区别, 这就是我们的长元音的作用; 它们实际上是一样长的。
duration:n.持续时间;期间; opposed:adj.强烈反对; v.反对(计划、政策等); (oppose的过去分词和过去式) vowels:n.[语]元音,母音(vowel的复数形式);
They're learning that there are these little inflections . 他们学习到有这些微小的变化。
inflections:n.语型变化;屈折变化(inflection的复数);
Hmm? Hmm? 嗯？
There are inflections called "cases" on the end of nouns -- 名词后面有人称“格”的屈折变化——
nouns:名词(noun的复数)
(Laughter) （笑声）
that tell you who does what to whom in a sentence. 那在一句话中告诉你 谁对谁做了什么。
Even if you leave the order of the words the same and switch the endings, it changes who does what to whom. 即使你保持单词的顺序不变 并改变词尾, 它也会改变谁对谁做了什么。
What they're learning is that languages do things, the same things, differently. 他们正在学习的是,语言做的事情, 一样的事情,不同的方式。
And that learning languages can be fun. 像这样学语言会很有趣。
What they're learning is respect for Language: capital "L" Language. 他们正在学的是尊重语言 :“L”开头的单词,语言。
And given the fact that 88 percent of Americans only speak English at home, 鉴于88％的美国人在国内 只说英语的事实,
I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. 我认为这并不是一件坏事。
necessarily:adv.必要地;必定地,必然地;
You know why languages die on our planet? 你们知道为什么语言会在 我们的星球消亡吗？
It's not because government imposes one language on a smaller group, or because an entire group of speakers is wiped out. 不是因为政府将一种语言 强加在一个小群体上, 或者是某一群讲这种语言 的人灭亡了。
imposes:强加于;征收(impose的第三人称单数);
That certainly has happened in the past, and it's happening now, but it's not the main reason. 那种事情过去发生过, 并且现在也正在发生, 但那并不是主要原因。
The main reason is that a child is born to a family that speaks a language that is not widely spoken in their community , and that child doesn't learn it. 主要原因是一个孩子出生在一个 说一种在他们的社区并不广泛 使用的语言的家庭, 而且孩子不学它。
community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
Why? 为什么？
Because that language is not valued in their community. 因为那种语言在他们社区中没有任何价值。
Because the language isn't useful. 因为那种语言没有用。
Because the child can't go and get a job if they speak that language. 因为如果孩子说那种语言 就不能出行,找工作。
Because if language is just a tool, then learning their native language is about as useful as learning High Valyrian, so why bother? 因为语言仅仅是一种工具, 那么学习他们的土著语 就和学习高瓦里安语一样, 所以为什么要去学呢？
native:adj.本国的;土著的;天然的;与生俱来的;天赋的;n.本地人;土产;当地居民;
Now ... 现在……
Maybe language study isn't going to lead to a lot more linguistic fluency . 也许学习语言并不会 让语言更加流利。
fluency:n.流畅,流利;
But maybe that's not such a big deal . 但这也许没什么大不了的。
a big deal:na.要人;重要的事;
Maybe if more people are studying more languages, it will lead to more linguistic tolerance and less linguistic imperialism . 也许如果更多的人 学习更多的语言, 将会导致更多的语言包容 和更少的语言专制。
tolerance:n.公差;耐量;宽容;容忍; imperialism:n.帝国主义;
Maybe if we actually respect language for what it is -- literally , the greatest invention in the history of humankind -- then in the future, we can celebrate endangered languages as living languages, as opposed to museum pieces. 也许如果我们确实尊重语言—— 因为语言是人类历史上最伟大的发明—— 那么在将来, 我们可以把濒临灭绝的语言 当作活的语言来庆祝, 而非博物馆里的展品。
literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: humankind:n.人类(总称); endangered:v.使遭危险;危及;危害;(endanger的过去分词和过去式)
(High Valyrian) Kirimvose. Thank you. （高瓦里安语）Kirimvose谢谢。
(Applause) （鼓掌）