关键词（Keyword）：TED演讲，语言，发明，伟大，影响力，下面我们就来说一说关于ted演讲中文字幕稿?我们一起去了解并探讨一下这个问题吧!
ted演讲中文字幕稿
关键词（Keyword）：TED演讲，语言，发明，伟大，影响力
演讲简介：
为什么说语言是人类历史上最伟大的发明？因为语言是唯一一种我们能理解大脑中发生什么的方式。语言不仅仅是一种工具，它是人类的遗产，是传达人类意义的方式。让我们听HBO《权利游戏》中的高级瓦雷利亚（High Valyrian language）的语言创造者David Peterson的分享创造语言的乐趣，以及学习和发明新语言如何帮助我们理解我们的集体人类的思考。
TED演讲：为什么语言是人类最伟大的发明（中英字幕版）
演讲者：David Peterson | TEDxBerkeley主 题：Why language is humanity's greatest invention整 理：tedtalking
双语演讲稿：
Spoons.
勺子。
Cardboard boxes.
纸箱。
Toddler-size electric trains.
儿童电动小火车。
Holiday ornaments.
节日装饰品。
Bounce houses.
充气城堡。
Blankets.
毛毯。
Baskets.
篮子。
Carpets.
地毯。
Tray tables.
小桌板。
Smartphones.
智能手机。
Pianos.
钢琴。
Robes.
礼服长袍。
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？
(Laughter)
（笑声）
They're all inventions that were created with the benefit of language. None of these things would have existed without language. 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. Basically, language is the most important thing in the entire world. All of our civilization rests upon it. 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. Formal linguistics is a relatively young field, more or less. And it's uncovered a lot of really important stuff. 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.
它们是发明的产物， 得益于语言，它们被创造出来。 如果没有语言这些东西 都不会被创造出来。 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。 从大体上来说，语言是这个世界上 最重要的东西。 我们所有的文明都依存于语言之上。 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。 正统的语言学，或多或少仍是 个比较新的领域。 并且它揭示了许多真正重要的信息。 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。
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. And if you speak a language, that means you have just as much right to talk about its function as anybody else. Imagine if you were talking to a surgeon, and you say, "Listen, buddy. I've had a heart for, like, 40 years now. I think I know a thing or two about aortic valve replacements. I think my opinion is just as valid as yours." And yet, that's exactly what happens.
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。 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。 想像一下假如你对一个外科医生说， “听着，哥们儿。 我活了四十年了。 我觉得我了解一些 主动脉瓣置换术的事情。 我认为我的观点和你的一样有效。” 是的，事情确实就是这样的。
This is Neil deGrasse Tyson, saying that in the film "Arrival," 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? Though, of course, the "Arrival" film is not off the hook. 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?
这是尼尔.德格拉塞.泰森 对电影《降临》的评论， 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？ 当然，《降临》这部电影 并没有摆脱困境。 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？
(Laughter)
（笑声）
What's the US government on a budget or something?
美国政府都在搞什么预算？
(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. And I think there's something that underlies a lot of these misunderstandings that can be summed up by this delightful article in "Forbes," about why high school students shouldn't learn foreign languages. 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. "Americans rarely read the classics, even in translation." So in other words, why bother learning a foreign language when they're not even going to read the classic in the original anyway? What's the point? "Studying foreign languages in school is a waste of time, compared to other things that you could be doing in school." "Europe has a lot of language groups clustered in a relatively small space." So for Americans, ah, what's the point of learning another language? You're not really going to get a lot of bang for your buck out of that. 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." 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.
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。 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， 这是一篇为什么高中生 不应当学习外语的文章。 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。 “美国人很少读原著，即便是译本。” 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？ 有什么意义呢？ “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。” “欧洲有许多语种聚集在 一个相对狭小的空间里。” 所以对于美国人， 学一门外语的意义何在呢？ 你真不会从那得到什么大的好处。 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。” 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. And there's something that rings very true about this metaphor. Language is kind of a tool in that, if you know the local language, you can do more than if you didn't. But the implication is that language is only a tool, and this is absolutely false. If language was a tool, it would honestly be a pretty poor tool. And we would have abandoned it long ago for something that was a lot better. Think about just any sentence. Here's a sentence that I'm sure I've said in my life: "Yesterday I saw Kyn." I have a friend named Kyn. And when I say this sentence, "Yesterday I saw Kyn," do you think it's really the case that everything in my mind is now implanted in your mind via this sentence? Hardly, because there's a lot of other stuff going on.
这些看法的基础是这种概念隐喻， 语言是一种工具。 这个隐喻听起来非常真实。 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。 但是这暗示了语言只是一种工具， 这是绝对错误的。 如果语言是一种工具， 老实说，这是种相当不好用的工具。 我们会在很久以前就抛弃它 而去使用更好的工具。 随便想一个句子。 这里有个我确信在生活中说过的句子： “昨天我看见肯了。” 我有一位叫肯的朋友。 当我说这句话，“昨天我看见肯了，“ 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？ 当然不是，因为还有许多其它的东西。
Like, when I say "yesterday," I might think what the weather was like yesterday because I was there. And if I'm remembering, I'll probably remember there was something I forgot to mail, which I did. This was a preplanned joke, but I really did forget to mail something. And so that means I'm going to have to do it Monday, because that's when I'm going to get back home. And of course, when I think of Monday, I'll think of "Manic Monday" by the Bangles. It's a good song. 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." I always do. 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. And we're back to "Manic Monday" again, for some reason. And with Kyn, when I'm saying something like, "Yesterday I saw Kyn," I'll think of the circumstances under which I saw him. And this happened to be that day. Here he is with my cat. And of course, if I'm thinking of Kyn, 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. And it's "Manic Monday" again.
例如，当我说“昨天”， 我可能会想到昨天的天气怎么样， 因为我在那里。 然后如果我继续回忆， 我将可能会回忆起我忘记发快递了， 这是一个预先计划的笑话， 但我确实忘记发快递了。 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。 当然，当我想起周一， 我将会想起手镯乐队的 “炸裂的星期一”，这是首不错的歌。 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。” 我总是这样。 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。 现在我们再次回到“炸裂的星期一”， 因为某些缘故。 伴随着肯，当我说： “昨天我看见肯了，” 我会想起我看见他的场景。 就在那天，他和我的猫在一起。 当然，如果我想到肯， 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。 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. And all we have to represent the entire mess that is going on in our head, is this. I mean, that's all we got.
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。 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。 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? 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. You had to eat the instructions, too.
难怪我们的系统这么差？ 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。 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. And yet, language is the only way -- the only way -- that we can figure out what is going on here, in our minds. 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. A language is our best way of showing what's going on in our head. Imagine if I wanted to ask a big question, like: "What is the nature of human thought and emotion?" What you'd want to do is you'd want to examine as many different languages as possible. One isn't just going to do it. To give you an example, here's a picture I took of little Roman, that I took with a 12-megapixel camera. Now, here's that same picture with a lot fewer pixels. Obviously, neither of these pictures is a real cat. But one gives you a lot better sense of what a cat is than the other.
如果我们是这样品尝蛋糕的， 我们将绝不会再吃蛋糕了。 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。 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。 语言是展示我们头脑想法的最好方式。 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？” 你要做的就是 尽可能多地研究不同 的语言。 一种并不足以回答。 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。 现在，这有一张相同的低像素的照片。 当然，这两张照片拍的都不是真正的猫。 但其中一张比另一张让你感觉更像猫。
Language is not merely a tool. It is our legacy, it's our way of conveying what it means to be human. And of course, by "our" legacy, I mean all humans everywhere. And losing even one language makes that picture a lot less clear.
语言不仅仅是一种工具。 是我们的遗产， 这是我们表达身为人 的意义的方式。 当然，“我们”的遗产， 我指的是任何地方的人。 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, I create languages. These are called "conlangs," short for "constructed languages." 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. In fact, a lot of people have drawn a line between those dots. This is a guy who got all bent out of shape that there was a conlang in James Cameron's "Avatar." He says, "But in the three years it took James Cameron to get Avatar to the screen, a language died." Probably a lot more than that, actually. "Na'vi, alas, won't fill the hole where it used to be ..." A truly profound and poignant statement -- if you don't think about it at all.
所以过去十年我做的工作 也是一种消遣，仅仅是因为乐趣， 我创造语言。 它们被称作“造语” “人造语言”的简称。 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。 事实上，许多人已经在 这两点间画了一条线。 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。 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。” 也许事实上还远不止这样。 “纳美人，唉，填补不了曾经的空白…” 一个真正深远且深刻的观点—— 如果你不去想的话。
(Laughter)
（笑声）
But when I was here at Cal, I completed two majors. One of them was linguistics, but the other one was English. 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. Literature is just a wonderful thing, because basically, literature, more broadly, is kind of like art; it falls under the rubric of art. And what we do with literature, authors create new, entire beings and histories. 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. So much so, that, I mean -- take a look at this. There's an entire series of books that are written about fictional characters. Like, the entire book is just about one fictional, fake human being. There's an entire book on George F. Babbitt from Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt," and I guarantee you, that book is longer than "Babbitt," which is a short book. Does anybody even remember that one? It's pretty good, I actually think it's better than "Main Street." That's my hot take. So we've never questioned the fact that literature is interesting. 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.
但当我在加州大学时， 我修完了两门专业。 一门是语言学另一门是英文。 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。 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。 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。 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。 所以，看看这些。 有一系列的书 来完整地描绘这些虚拟人物。 就像，整本书只是描述一个虚幻的故事， 一个不存在的人。 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， 并且我向你保证，那书比“巴比特”长， 是一篇短篇书。 有人记得这本书吗？ 那本书非常好，我其实 觉得它比《大街》还好。 这是我的最爱。 所以我们绝不会质疑文学 的趣味性这个事实。 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。
I'll give you a nice little example here. There was an article written about me in the California alumni magazine a while back. 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. You're just talking about a person, and you want to get somebody from the opposing side of that person.
我给你举一个小例子。 前阵子在加州校友的杂志中 有一篇关于我的文章。 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。 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. So, they happened to get one of the most brilliant linguists of our time, George Lakoff, who's a linguist here at Berkeley. And his work has basically forever changed the fields of linguistics and cognitive science. 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. You should spend the time on something real." Yeah. "Something real." Does this remind you of anything? To use the very framework that he himself invented, let me refer back to this conceptual metaphor: language is a tool. And he appears to be laboring under this conceptual metaphor; that is, language is useful when it can be used for communication. Language is useless when it can't be used for communication. It might make you wonder: What do we do with dead languages? But anyway.
尤其是，这还是一篇吹捧性文章。 他们碰巧找到了 我们这个时代最杰出的语言学家之一， 乔治·莱考夫，在伯克利的语言学家。 他的作品基本上永久 改变了语言学领域 和认知科学。 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。 你应当在一些实事上花时间。” 没错。 “一些实事。”，它有使你回想起什么了吗？ 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。 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。 当语言不能被用来交流时是无用的。 这也许会令你想知道: 对于消亡的语言我们应该做什么？ 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." You might wonder what, exactly, are 740,000 people learning?
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。 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. What are they learning? What could they possibly be learning? Well, bearing in mind that the other language for this -- it's for people that speak English -- English speakers are learning quite a bit. Here's a sentence that they will probably never use for communication in their entire lives: "Vala ābre urnes." "The man sees the woman." The little middle line is the gloss, so it's word for word, that's what it says. And they're actually learning some very fascinating things, especially if they're English speakers. They're learning that a verb can come at the very end of a sentence. Doesn't really do that in English when you have two arguments. They're learning that sometimes a language doesn't have an equivalent for the word "the" -- it's totally absent. That's something language can do. 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. They're learning that there are these little inflections. Hmm? Hmm? There are inflections called "cases" on the end of nouns --
让我们看看这个。 他们在学什么？ 他们可能在学什么？ 记住这一点，另一种语言是—— 针对说英语的人而言—— 学英语的人要学习不少东西。 有一句话他们可能一生中都不会 用在对话中： “Vala ābre urnes.” “那个男人看见了那个女人。” 中间的小线是注释， 所以这是逐字对应的，这是它的意思。 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。 他们能学到动词是可以 放在一句话的末尾的。 在英语中，当你有两个论点时 并不会这样用。 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。 这是语言可以做到的。 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。 他们学习到有这些微小的变化。 嗯？ 名词后面有人称“格”的屈折变化——
(Laughter)
（笑声）
that tell you who does what to whom in a sentence. Even if you leave the order of the words the same and switch the endings, it changes who does what to whom. What they're learning is that languages do things, the same things, differently. And that learning languages can be fun. What they're learning is respect for Language: capital "L" Language. And given the fact that 88 percent of Americans only speak English at home, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
那在一句话中告诉你 谁对谁做了什么。 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。 他们正在学习的是，语言做的事情， 一样的事情，不同的方式。 像这样学语言会很有趣。 他们正在学的是尊重语言 :“L”开头的单词，语言。 鉴于88％的美国人在国内 只说英语的事实， 我认为这并不是一件坏事。
You know why languages die on our planet? It's not because government imposes one language on a smaller group, or because an entire group of speakers is wiped out. That certainly has happened in the past, and it's happening now, but it's not the main reason. 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. Why? Because that language is not valued in their community. Because the language isn't useful. Because the child can't go and get a job if they speak that language. Because if language is just a tool, then learning their native language is about as useful as learning High Valyrian, so why bother?
你们知道为什么语言会在 我们的星球消亡吗？ 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。 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。 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。 为什么？ 因为那种语言在他们社区中没有任何价值。 因为那种语言没有用。 因为如果孩子说那种语言 就不能出行，找工作。 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？
Now ... Maybe language study isn't going to lead to a lot more linguistic fluency. But maybe that's not such a big deal. Maybe if more people are studying more languages, it will lead to more linguistic tolerance and less linguistic imperialism. 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.
现在…… 也许学习语言并不会 让语言更加流利。 但这也许没什么大不了的。 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。 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。
(High Valyrian) Kirimvose. Thank you.
（高瓦里安语）Kirimvose谢谢。
(Applause)
（鼓掌）
传播有价值的思想和观点！我相信这些新观点和有价值思想将让我们的人生大不同！从中英文字幕到无字幕，重复视听，享受演讲内容！不用过于刻意，思维方式将会改变，生活将会改变，英文水平也会随之提高！欢迎关注！
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