0:12
How many of you
can speak more than one language?
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Now, keep your hands up
if you can speak more than two.
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And how about three?
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Very impressive!
0:25
(Applause)
0:28
But did you know that you actually
could have easily learned 25 languages?
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It's true.
0:35
This is a natural human phenomenon
0:38
that any normal child
born anywhere in the world
0:42
is capable of learning any language
that he or she is exposed to.
0:46
And did you know that the languages
0:48
that your child is exposed to
before the age of 7,
0:51
which is also known
as the critical age period,
0:54
are the only languages that he or she
will be exposed to later in life?
0:59
Leonard Bloomfield said
that "acquisition of a language
1:02
is doubtless
the greatest intellectual feat
1:05
that anyone of us
is ever required to perform."
1:10
So, I asked myself and some others
in the overseas student program here:
1:14
why do we learn languages?
1:17
At first, we all learn language
because we have to.
1:20
As humans, we're designed
to learn language
1:23
just like we're designed to walk.
1:24
There is simply no preventing it.
1:26
But then, there are some of us
who actually do it for fun.
1:29
We go through the struggle,
1:31
we put in the effort,
feeling wrong all the time,
1:35
but we love it
because the rewards are so great.
1:38
It's awesome to speak another language,
1:41
to carry it with you everywhere you go;
1:43
to travel and communicate
with people in their native language
1:46
makes conversations
so much more personal,
1:49
and you actually
get to enjoy more out of life
1:52
because it gives you
the opportunity to understand
1:55
more music, and movies,
and games from around the world.
1:59
So I want to ask you another question,
2:02
and I want you all to think about this:
2:04
if we started taking advantage
2:06
of the amazing ability
that children have to learn languages
2:09
and the plethora
of free language learning tools
2:12
we have in our devices today,
2:14
could we, by reducing language barriers,
reduce other barriers in society?
2:20
Which begs me to ask another question:
2:22
what exactly are language barriers
2:24
and what do they do?
2:26
I know what some of you are thinking:
2:28
you're at the dinner table,
2:30
and you're between
your mother, who is Russian,
2:32
and your beautiful American girlfriend,
2:35
and you're having a moment of realization
2:38
that you've just hired
yourself out as a translator.
2:42
So, you have to spend the whole evening
2:44
hearing everything 3 times,
2:46
and even though you thought
that you could speak
2:49
English and Russian perfectly,
2:52
you're starting to feel
confused and frustrated,
2:54
and you're desperate
for a couple of minutes of alone time
2:57
just to think in whatever language
you choose to think in.
3:01
But there is a lot more to
language barriers that I want you to know.
3:05
Have you ever heard
of linguistic relativity?
3:08
Linguistic relativity is the field
3:11
which asks questions on the relations
3:14
between language, perception, and thought.
3:18
The core theory is called
the deterministic theory,
3:22
it is scientifically proven,
and it states that the language you speak
3:26
shapes the way you think
and influences your behavior.
3:31
The fathers of linguistic relativity,
Benjamin Whorf and Edward Sapir,
3:35
state that if a word
doesn't exist in your language,
3:38
you won't know
the concept [behind the word].
3:40
Now, I think that those guys
can be a little extreme in their theories.
3:45
I think rather that if a word
doesn't exist in your language,
3:49
you are a lot less likely
to identify with that concept.
3:54
One of my friends here, in Israel,
a native German speaker,
3:57
told me a story once
of how the English language
4:01
changed the way
that she thought about love.
4:04
She told me she still remembers
the first time she heard the term
4:08
"falling in love",
4:11
and that she was shocked
at the use of the language
4:13
because she had never thought
of being in love
4:15
as something that happened
suddenly and dramatically,
4:19
and she pictured someone actually falling,
4:23
and she could feel that,
and then she knew that someday
4:26
she will experience "falling" in love
and not just "being" in love.
4:34
Also, in body language we find
interesting differences among languages.
4:40
In Hebrew this means "waits".
4:44
However, this is a great insult in Italy,
4:50
and I wanted you all to know that.
4:52
(Laughter)
4:54
And the most obvious
differences in languages
4:58
that are influencing our thoughts
and behaviors is in vocabulary.
5:03
One scientific experiment
in linguistic relativity
5:05
showed how gender association
impacts people's perception.
5:09
This study used the word "key",
5:12
which is in German a masculine word,
5:17
and in Spanish it's feminine.
5:19
So, subjects were asked
to come up with words to describe a key.
5:23
And the German speakers
used words such as "heavy",
5:26
"durable", "strong", "useful", "metal",
5:31
but the Spanish speakers
chose words such as "golden",
5:34
"lovely", "little", "delicate" and "shiny"
to describe the same word -- "key".
5:43
Another interesting difference
we find among languages
5:46
is in the perception of correctness.
5:49
I read in the study
by John Myhill at University of Haifa
5:53
that correctness in present day English
and most European languages
5:59
is based on prestige.
6:02
So, the development of these languages
6:04
has actually followed the trends
of its most elite speakers.
6:09
But other languages perceive
correctness in a much different way.
6:14
Languages such as Arabic,
and Hebrew, and Icelandic
6:17
are based on textual references.
6:20
So, if a word appears in a text--
in Arabic, which is based on the Koran,
6:26
and Hebrew is based on The Mishneh Torah
6:28
if a word or grammar
appears in this text, it is correct,
6:31
and if it doesn't, it is not correct.
6:33
For these languages there is no connection
6:35
between correctness and prestige.
6:38
And there are
many, many words in languages
6:40
that don't appear anywhere else
such as "stam" [סטם] in Hebrew,
6:44
which can be translated into English
as "just kidding", but not really --
6:49
it is a unique word to let someone know
you're not being serious.
6:54
And "khalomot paz" [חלומות פז]
is how you say "sweet dreams" in Hebrew,
6:58
but actually translates directly
as "golden dreams".
7:02
And there is a word in German
that I love called "Fernweh",
7:06
which dictionaries
translate as "itchy feet",
7:10
and it is the opposite of "homesick".
7:13
It describes the feeling
that you need to travel.
7:15
So, when my German friend
taught me this word, I thought:
7:18
"Wow! How I wish that this word
existed in my language!"
7:23
And I wondered
that if we used such a word,
7:25
how my experience of feeling
like the only one in my family
7:29
with a strong desire to see the world
may have been different.
7:32
So, a few weeks ago, after I auditioned
to be up here on the TEDx stage,
7:37
I reached out to my psychology
professor back in New York
7:40
and asked him what he thought
about linguistic relativity.
7:43
And what he says
explains the story of my friend
7:47
and, in terms of psychology and memory,
7:51
what happened when she learned
a new term about love.
7:55
He said: "It is the breadth
of our language, not our vast experiences,
8:01
which help color our lives.
8:03
That is, in memory,
8:06
the language labels that we assign
events and experiences shape, indeed;
8:11
limit the way that we can remember them."
8:14
For example, if the only positive
emotion word we knew was "happy",
8:20
all positive memories
are labeled as "happy memories".
8:25
And if they all fit
in that "happy" bucket together,
8:29
then their shared features,
which make them labeled as "happy",
8:33
will be reinforced and at times amplified
at the expense of their differences
8:37
to allow for better access.
8:40
This is because your mind categorizes
everything with language labels,
8:43
so that it can reach for your memories
as quickly as possible.
8:47
And everything that you say and do,
8:50
every decision you make,
every conversation that you have,
8:53
is just a consequence
of some memories, right?
8:57
So, in other words, your ability,
overall, to access your memories
9:03
is actually directly related
9:05
to your breadth
and knowledge of vocabulary.
9:09
Because our languages
are constantly changing,
9:12
language barriers
are just growing bigger and bigger.
9:15
So, what do you think everyone?
9:18
If we started to take advantage
9:22
of children's amazing ability
to learn languages
9:25
and the plethora of free tools
that we have to learn languages today,
9:30
could we, by reducing language barriers,
reduce other barriers in society?
9:36
The answer to me is crystal clear.
9:39
By emphasizing foreign language
studying in your community,
9:42
you are seizing an opportunity
to reverse the creation of gaps
9:46
in the way that we think and behave.
9:49
There are so many issues in society today
9:51
that are thought-based, like racism,
and hate crimes, and bullying.
9:57
So, by increasing
the knowledge of language,
10:00
we can overcome these differences;
10:02
also, by having more multilingual
programs for children, of course,
10:07
because it's that critical
age period before age 7,
10:10
where we have this opportunity.
10:13
So, one such program exists in Jaffa
called the Orchard of Abraham's Children.
10:17
It was founded by a Palestinian man
an a Jewish woman, who are married.
10:22
And they've established 3 kindergartens
that teach in both Arabic and Hebrew,
10:27
and celebrate both cultures' holidays.
10:30
So, programs, like this one,
are using bilingual education
10:34
to promote peace and co-existence
in a humanitarian, non-political way.
10:39
And it is so effective,
10:41
because our languages
are a huge part of our identity.
10:44
Being born to reformed Jewish parents,
10:47
gave me really early exposure
to the Hebrew language,
10:50
and if it wasn't
for that early, early exposure,
10:52
I am sure I wouldn't be here,
in Israel, studying linguistics,
10:55
or giving this talk to you about the power
10:58
of being able to identify
with more than one language.
11:02
Now, I want to leave you
with this quote by Helen Keller,
11:06
who was an American author,
a political activist,
11:10
and the first deaf-blind person ever
to receive the Bachelor of Arts degree:
11:16
"Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness
11:19
as of something forgotten --
11:22
a thrill of returning thought;
11:26
and somehow, the mystery
of language was revealed to me.
11:31
Everything had a name,
11:33
and each name gave birth
to a new thought."
11:37
Thank you.
11:38
(Applause)