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TED Talks + Video : Science / Brain / Health / Biology, Lera Boroditsky / How language shapes the way we think

Lera Boroditsky / How language shapes the way we think

So, I'll be speaking to you using language ... because I can. This is one these magical abilities that we humans have. We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another. So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth as I'm exhaling. I'm making tones and hisses and puffs, and those are creating air vibrations in the air. Those air vibrations are traveling to you, they're hitting your eardrums, and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums and transforms them into thoughts. I hope. (Laughter)

I hope that's happening. So because of this ability, we humans are able to transmit our ideas across vast reaches of space and time. We're able to transmit knowledge across minds. I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now. I could say, "Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library while thinking about quantum mechanics. " (Laughter) Now, if everything has gone relatively well in your life so far, you probably haven't had that thought before. (Laughter)

But now I've just made you think it, through language. Now of course, there isn't just one language in the world, there are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world. And all the languages differ from one another in all kinds of ways. Some languages have different sounds, they have different vocabularies, and they also have different structures -- very importantly, different structures. That begs the question: Does the language we speak shape the way we think? Now, this is an ancient question. People have been speculating about this question forever. Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said, "To have a second language is to have a second soul" -- strong statement that language crafts reality. But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. " Well, that suggests that maybe language doesn't craft reality. These arguments have gone back and forth for thousands of years. But until recently, there hasn't been any data to help us decide either way. Recently, in my lab and other labs around the world, we've started doing research, and now we have actual scientific data to weigh in on this question. So let me tell you about some of my favorite examples. I'll start with an example from an Aboriginal community in Australia that I had the chance to work with. These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people. They live in Pormpuraaw at the very west edge of Cape York. What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is, in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don't use words like "left" and "right," and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east and west. And when I say everything, I really mean everything. You would say something like, "Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg. " Or, "Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit. " In fact, the way that you say "hello" in Kuuk Thaayorre is you say, "Which way are you going? " And the answer should be, "North-northeast in the far distance. How about you?" So imagine as you're walking around your day, every person you greet, you have to report your heading direction. (Laughter)

But that would actually get you oriented pretty fast, right? Because you literally couldn't get past "hello," if you didn't know which way you were going. In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well. They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could. We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures because of some biological excuse: "Oh, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales. " No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it. There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well.

And just to get us in agreement about how different this is from the way we do it, I want you all to close your eyes for a second and point southeast. (Laughter)

Keep your eyes closed. Point. OK, so you can open your eyes. I see you guys pointing there, there, there, there, there ... I don't know which way it is myself -- (Laughter) You have not been a lot of help. (Laughter)

So let's just say the accuracy in this room was not very high. This is a big difference in cognitive ability across languages, right? Where one group -- very distinguished group like you guys -- doesn't know which way is which, but in another group, I could ask a five-year-old and they would know. (Laughter)

There are also really big differences in how people think about time. So here I have pictures of my grandfather at different ages. And if I ask an English speaker to organize time, they might lay it out this way, from left to right. This has to do with writing direction. If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic, you might do it going in the opposite direction, from right to left.

But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre, this Aboriginal group I just told you about, do it? They don't use words like "left" and "right. " Let me give you hint. When we sat people facing south, they organized time from left to right. When we sat them facing north, they organized time from right to left. When we sat them facing east, time came towards the body. What's the pattern? East to west, right? So for them, time doesn't actually get locked on the body at all, it gets locked on the landscape. So for me, if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way, and if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way. I'm facing this way, time goes this way -- very egocentric of me to have the direction of time chase me around every time I turn my body. For the Kuuk Thaayorre, time is locked on the landscape. It's a dramatically different way of thinking about time. Here's another really smart human trick. Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there. Well, I bet I know how you'd solve that problem if you solved it. You went, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. " You counted them. You named each one with a number, and the last number you said was the number of penguins. This is a little trick that you're taught to use as kids. You learn the number list and you learn how to apply it. A little linguistic trick. Well, some languages don't do this, because some languages don't have exact number words. They're languages that don't have a word like "seven" or a word like "eight. " In fact, people who speak these languages don't count, and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities. So, for example, if I ask you to match this number of penguins to the same number of ducks, you would be able to do that by counting. But folks who don't have that linguistic trick can't do that. Languages also differ in how they divide up the color spectrum -- the visual world. Some languages have lots of words for colors, some have only a couple words, "light" and "dark. " And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors. So, for example, in English, there's a word for blue that covers all of the colors that you can see on the screen, but in Russian, there isn't a single word. Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate between light blue, "goluboy," and dark blue, "siniy. " So Russians have this lifetime of experience of, in language, distinguishing these two colors. When we test people's ability to perceptually discriminate these colors, what we find is that Russian speakers are faster across this linguistic boundary. They're faster to be able to tell the difference between a light and dark blue. And when you look at people's brains as they're looking at colors -- say you have colors shifting slowly from light to dark blue -- the brains of people who use different words for light and dark blue will give a surprised reaction as the colors shift from light to dark, as if, "Ooh, something has categorically changed," whereas the brains of English speakers, for example, that don't make this categorical distinction, don't give that surprise, because nothing is categorically changing. Languages have all kinds of structural quirks. This is one of my favorites. Lots of languages have grammatical gender; every noun gets assigned a gender, often masculine or feminine. And these genders differ across languages. So, for example, the sun is feminine in German but masculine in Spanish, and the moon, the reverse. Could this actually have any consequence for how people think? Do German speakers think of the sun as somehow more female-like, and the moon somehow more male-like? Actually, it turns out that's the case. So if you ask German and Spanish speakers to, say, describe a bridge, like the one here -- "bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German, grammatically masculine in Spanish -- German speakers are more likely to say bridges are "beautiful," "elegant" and stereotypically feminine words. Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say they're "strong" or "long," these masculine words. (Laughter)

Languages also differ in how they describe events, right? You take an event like this, an accident. In English, it's fine to say, "He broke the vase. " In a language like Spanish, you might be more likely to say, "The vase broke," or, "The vase broke itself. " If it's an accident, you wouldn't say that someone did it. In English, quite weirdly, we can even say things like, "I broke my arm. " Now, in lots of languages, you couldn't use that construction unless you are a lunatic and you went out looking to break your arm -- (Laughter) and you succeeded. If it was an accident, you would use a different construction.

Now, this has consequences. So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things, depending on what their language usually requires them to do. So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers, English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase. " Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident. They're more likely to remember the intention. So, two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event. This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony. It also has implications for blame and punishment. So if you take English speakers and I just show you someone breaking a vase, and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke," even though you can witness it yourself, you can watch the video, you can watch the crime against the vase, you will punish someone more, you will blame someone more if I just said, "He broke it," as opposed to, "It broke. " The language guides our reasoning about events. Now, I've given you a few examples of how language can profoundly shape the way we think, and it does so in a variety of ways. So language can have big effects, like we saw with space and time, where people can lay out space and time in completely different coordinate frames from each other. Language can also have really deep effects -- that's what we saw with the case of number. Having count words in your language, having number words, opens up the whole world of mathematics. Of course, if you don't count, you can't do algebra, you can't do any of the things that would be required to build a room like this or make this broadcast, right? This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone into a whole cognitive realm.

Language can also have really early effects, what we saw in the case of color. These are really simple, basic, perceptual decisions. We make thousands of them all the time, and yet, language is getting in there and fussing even with these tiny little perceptual decisions that we make. Language can have really broad effects. So the case of grammatical gender may be a little silly, but at the same time, grammatical gender applies to all nouns. That means language can shape how you're thinking about anything that can be named by a noun. That's a lot of stuff. And finally, I gave you an example of how language can shape things that have personal weight to us -- ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory. These are important things in our daily lives.

Now, the beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is. Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000 -- there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world. And we can create many more -- languages, of course, are living things, things that we can hone and change to suit our needs. The tragic thing is that we're losing so much of this linguistic diversity all the time. We're losing about one language a week, and by some estimates, half of the world's languages will be gone in the next hundred years. And the even worse news is that right now, almost everything we know about the human mind and human brain is based on studies of usually American English-speaking undergraduates at universities. That excludes almost all humans. Right? So what we know about the human mind is actually incredibly narrow and biased, and our science has to do better.

I want to leave you with this final thought. I've told you about how speakers of different languages think differently, but of course, that's not about how people elsewhere think. It's about how you think. It's how the language that you speak shapes the way that you think. And that gives you the opportunity to ask, "Why do I think the way that I do? " "How could I think differently? " And also, "What thoughts do I wish to create?" Thank you very much.

(Applause)

Lera Boroditsky / How language shapes the way we think Lera Boroditsky / Wie Sprache unser Denken prägt Lera Boroditsky / How language shapes the way we think Lera Boroditsky / Cómo el lenguaje determina nuestra forma de pensar Lera Boroditsky / Come il linguaggio modella il nostro modo di pensare レラ・ボロディツキー / 言葉はいかにして私たちの考え方を形成するか Lera Boroditsky / 언어가 우리의 사고 방식을 형성하는 방법 Lera Boroditsky / Jak język kształtuje nasz sposób myślenia Lera Boroditsky / Como a linguagem molda a nossa forma de pensar Лера Бородицкая / Как язык формирует наше мышление Lera Boroditsky / Dil düşünme biçimimizi nasıl şekillendirir? Лєра Бородіцька / Як мова формує наше мислення Lera Boroditsky / 语言如何塑造我们的思维方式

So, I'll be speaking to you using language ... because I can. Por isso, vou falar-vos em linguagem... porque posso. This is one these magical abilities that we humans have. Esta é uma destas capacidades mágicas que nós, humanos, temos. We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another. So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth as I'm exhaling. 그래서 제가 지금 하고 있는 것은 숨을 내쉬면서 입으로 소리를 내는 것입니다. I'm making tones and hisses and puffs, and those are creating air vibrations in the air. 私はトーンとヒスとパフを作っており、それらは空気中に空気の振動を作り出しています. 나는 톤과 쉿 소리와 퍼프를 만들고 있으며, 그것들은 공기 중에 공기 진동을 생성합니다. Estou a fazer sons, assobios e sopros, e estes estão a criar vibrações no ar. Those air vibrations are traveling to you, they're hitting your eardrums, and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums and transforms them into thoughts. 空気の振動があなたに伝わり、鼓膜に当たり、脳が鼓膜から振動を受け取り、思考に変換します。 그 공기 진동은 당신에게로 이동하고, 당신의 고막을 때리고, 그러면 당신의 뇌는 고막에서 그 진동을 받아 생각으로 변환합니다. Essas vibrações do ar viajam até si, atingem os seus tímpanos, e depois o seu cérebro pega nessas vibrações dos tímpanos e transforma-as em pensamentos. I hope. 나는 희망. (Laughter)

I hope that's happening. 나는 그것이 일어나고 있기를 바랍니다. Espero que isso esteja a acontecer. So because of this ability, we humans are able to transmit our ideas across vast reaches of space and time. したがって、この能力のおかげで、私たち人間は私たちのアイデアを広大な空間と時間に伝達することができます。 그래서 이 능력 덕분에 우리 인간은 우리의 아이디어를 시공간의 광대한 범위에 걸쳐 전달할 수 있습니다. Assim, devido a esta capacidade, nós, humanos, somos capazes de transmitir as nossas ideias através de vastas extensões de espaço e tempo. We're able to transmit knowledge across minds. 私たちは知識を心を超えて伝えることができます。 우리는 마음을 통해 지식을 전달할 수 있습니다. Somos capazes de transmitir conhecimentos através das mentes. I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now. 私は今あなたの心に奇妙な新しいアイデアを置くことができます。 나는 지금 당신의 마음에 기이한 새로운 아이디어를 넣을 수 있습니다. Posso colocar uma ideia nova e bizarra na tua mente agora mesmo. I could say, "Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library while thinking about quantum mechanics. 「量子力学について考えながらクラゲが図書館でワルツを踊っているのを想像してみてください。 "양자 역학에 대해 생각하면서 도서관에서 왈츠를 추는 해파리를 상상해 보세요. Poderia dizer: "Imaginem uma medusa a dançar numa biblioteca enquanto pensa em mecânica quântica. "    (Laughter) Now, if everything has gone relatively well in your life so far, you probably haven't had that thought before. さて、これまでの人生ですべてが比較的うまくいっていれば、おそらく以前はその考えを持っていなかったでしょう。 지금까지 모든 것이 비교적 순조롭게 진행되었다면 아마도 이전에는 그런 생각을 해보지 않았을 것입니다. Agora, se tudo correu relativamente bem na sua vida até agora, provavelmente nunca teve esse pensamento antes. Теперь, если до сих пор в вашей жизни все шло относительно хорошо, у вас, вероятно, не было такой мысли раньше. (Laughter)

But now I've just made you think it, through language. しかし今、私は言葉を通してあなたにそれを考えさせました。 하지만 지금은 언어를 통해 여러분이 생각하게 만들었습니다. Mas agora fiz-te pensar nisso, através da linguagem. Now of course, there isn't just one language in the world, there are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world. É claro que não existe apenas uma língua no mundo, existem cerca de 7000 línguas faladas em todo o mundo. And all the languages differ from one another in all kinds of ways. そして、すべての言語はさまざまな点で互いに異なります。 그리고 모든 언어는 모든 면에서 서로 다릅니다. E todas as línguas diferem umas das outras em todo o tipo de aspectos. Some languages have different sounds, they have different vocabularies, and they also have different structures -- very importantly, different structures. 일부 언어는 소리가 다르고 어휘가 다르며 구조도 다릅니다. 매우 중요하게는 구조도 다릅니다. That begs the question: Does the language we speak shape the way we think? それは疑問を投げかけます:私たちが話す言語は私たちの考え方を形作っていますか? 그것은 질문을 던집니다. 우리가 말하는 언어가 우리가 생각하는 방식을 형성합니까? Isso levanta a questão: Será que a língua que falamos molda a nossa forma de pensar? Now, this is an ancient question. Nun, das ist eine uralte Frage. さて、これは昔からの質問です。 자, 이것은 오래된 질문입니다. Esta é uma questão antiga. People have been speculating about this question forever. 사람들은 이 질문에 대해 영원히 추측해 왔습니다. As pessoas têm especulado sobre esta questão desde sempre. Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said, "To have a second language is to have a second soul" -- strong statement that language crafts reality. 神聖ローマ皇帝シャルルマーニュは、「第二の言語を持つことは第二の魂を持つことである」と述べました-言語が現実を作り上げるという強い声明。 신성로마제국의 황제 샤를마뉴는 "제2의 언어를 갖는다는 것은 제2의 영혼을 갖는 것"이라고 말했습니다. Carlos Magno, imperador do Sacro Império Romano, disse: "Ter uma segunda língua é ter uma segunda alma" -- forte afirmação de que a linguagem cria a realidade. But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say, "What's in a name? しかしその一方で、シェイクスピアはジュリエットに「名前には何が含まれているのか? 그러나 반면에 셰익스피어는 줄리엣에게 "이름에 무엇이 들어 있습니까? Mas, por outro lado, Shakespeare faz Julieta dizer: "O que há num nome? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. 他の名前のバラは甘い香りがします。 다른 이름의 장미는 달콤한 냄새가 난다. Uma rosa com qualquer outro nome teria um cheiro tão doce quanto. " Well, that suggests that maybe language doesn't craft reality. „Nun, das deutet darauf hin, dass die Sprache vielleicht nicht die Realität erschafft. 「まあ、それは多分言語が現実を作り上げないことを示唆している。 " 글쎄요, 그것은 아마도 언어가 현실을 만들어내지 못한다는 것을 암시합니다. " Bem, isso sugere que talvez a linguagem não crie a realidade. These arguments have gone back and forth for thousands of years. これらの議論は何千年もの間行ったり来たりしてきました。 이러한 주장은 수천 년 동안 왔다갔다했습니다. Estas discussões têm-se sucedido durante milhares de anos. But until recently, there hasn't been any data to help us decide either way. しかし、最近まで、どちらかを決定するのに役立つデータはありませんでした. 그러나 최근까지 어느 쪽이든 결정하는 데 도움이 되는 데이터가 없었습니다. Mas, até há pouco tempo, não existiam dados que nos ajudassem a decidir de uma forma ou de outra. Recently, in my lab and other labs around the world, we've started doing research, and now we have actual scientific data to weigh in on this question. 最近、私の研究室や世界中の他の研究室で研究を始めましたが、今ではこの問題を検討するための実際の科学データがあります。 최근에 제 연구실과 전 세계의 다른 연구실에서 연구를 시작했으며 이제 이 질문에 무게를 실을 수 있는 실제 과학적 데이터가 있습니다. Recentemente, no meu laboratório e noutros laboratórios em todo o mundo, começámos a fazer investigação e agora temos dados científicos reais para avaliar esta questão. So let me tell you about some of my favorite examples. それでは、私のお気に入りの例をいくつか紹介しましょう。 Por isso, deixem-me falar-vos de alguns dos meus exemplos favoritos. I'll start with an example from an Aboriginal community in Australia that I had the chance to work with. 私が一緒に仕事をする機会があったオーストラリアのアボリジニ コミュニティの例から始めましょう。 제가 함께 일할 기회가 있었던 호주 원주민 커뮤니티의 예부터 시작하겠습니다. These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people. これらはクーク・サヨーレの人々です。 이들은 Kuuk Thaayorre 사람들입니다. Este é o povo Kuuk Thaayorre. They live in Pormpuraaw at the very west edge of Cape York. 彼らはヨーク岬の最西端にあるポンプラウに住んでいます。 그들은 케이프 요크의 가장 서쪽 가장자리에 있는 Pompuraaw에 살고 있습니다. Vivem em Pormpuraaw, no extremo oeste de Cape York. What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is, in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don't use words like "left" and "right," and instead, everything is in cardinal directions: north, south, east and west. Kuuk Thaayorreのクールなところは、Kuuk Thaayorreでは「左」や「右」などの単語を使用せず、代わりにすべてが北、南、東、西という基本的な方向にあることです。 Kuuk Thaayorre의 멋진 점은 Kuuk Thaayorre에서 "왼쪽" 및 "오른쪽"과 같은 단어를 사용하지 않고 대신 모든 것이 기본 방향인 북쪽, 남쪽, 동쪽 및 서쪽에 있다는 것입니다. And when I say everything, I really mean everything. そして私がすべてを言うとき、私は本当にすべてを意味します。 그리고 내가 모든 것을 말할 때, 나는 정말로 모든 것을 의미합니다. You would say something like, "Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg. 「ああ、あなたの南西の脚にアリがいます。 "오, 남서쪽 다리에 개미가 있어요. Dir-se-ia algo como: "Oh, está uma formiga na tua perna sudoeste. " Or, "Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit. 」 または、「カップを北北東に少し移動します。 " 또는, "컵을 북북동쪽으로 조금 움직여봐. " Ou: "Move a tua chávena um pouco para norte-nordeste. " In fact, the way that you say "hello" in Kuuk Thaayorre is you say, "Which way are you going? 実際、Kuuk Thaayorre で「こんにちは」と言う方法は、「どちらに行くのですか? " 사실 Kuuk Thaayorre에서 "안녕하세요"라고 말하는 방식은 "어느 방향으로 가십니까? " De facto, a forma de dizer "olá" em Kuuk Thaayorre é dizer: "Para que lado vais? " And the answer should be, "North-northeast in the far distance. “ Und die Antwort sollte lauten: „Nord-Nordost in weiter Ferne. 」 そして答えは、「遠く離れた北北東。 " 그리고 대답은 "저 멀리 북-북동쪽. " E a resposta deveria ser: "Norte-nordeste, ao longe. How about you?" 당신은 어떤가요?" E tu?" So imagine as you're walking around your day, every person you greet, you have to report your heading direction. だから、あなたがあなたの一日を歩き回っているとき、あなたが挨拶するすべての人があなたの方向を報告しなければならないことを想像してください。 따라서 하루 종일 걸을 때 인사하는 모든 사람이 방향을 보고해야 한다고 상상해 보십시오. Imagine que, ao longo do seu dia, cada pessoa que cumprimenta tem de indicar a direcção em que se dirige. (Laughter)

But that would actually get you oriented pretty fast, right? しかし、それは実際にあなたをかなり速く指向させるでしょう? 하지만 실제로는 꽤 빨리 방향을 잡을 수 있습니다. 그렇죠? Mas isso orientá-lo-ia muito rapidamente, certo? Because you literally couldn't get past "hello," if you didn't know which way you were going. どちらに向かっているのかわからなかった場合、文字通り「こんにちは」を超えることができなかったからです。 당신이 가고 있는 방향을 모른다면 문자 그대로 "안녕하세요"를 지나칠 수 없었기 때문입니다. Porque, literalmente, não se conseguia passar do "olá", se não se soubesse para que lado se estava a ir. In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well. 実際、このような言語を話す人々は、非常にうまく指向しています。 사실, 이와 같은 언어를 구사하는 사람들은 방향성을 매우 잘 유지합니다. De facto, as pessoas que falam línguas como esta mantêm-se muito bem orientadas. They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could. 彼らは、人間が考えていたよりもずっと指向性を維持しています。 그들은 우리가 인간이 할 수 있다고 생각했던 것보다 더 나은 방향성을 유지합니다. Mantêm-se orientados melhor do que pensávamos que os humanos conseguiriam. We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures because of some biological excuse: "Oh, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales. 私たちは以前、生物学的な言い訳のために、人間は他の生き物よりも悪いと考えていました。 우리는 생물학적 변명 때문에 인간이 다른 생물보다 더 나쁘다고 생각하곤 했습니다. "오, 우리는 부리나 비늘에 자석이 없습니다. Costumávamos pensar que os humanos eram piores do que outras criaturas por causa de alguma desculpa biológica: "Ah, não temos ímãs em nossos bicos ou em nossas escamas. " No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it, actually, you can do it. 「いいえ。あなたの言語と文化があなたにそれをするように訓練するなら、実際、あなたはそれをすることができます。 " 아니요. 당신의 언어와 문화가 당신을 훈련시킨다면 실제로 당신은 할 수 있습니다. " Não; se a sua língua e a sua cultura o treinam para o fazer, de facto, pode fazê-lo. There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well. 世界中には、方向性を非常によく保っている人間がいます。 세상에는 방향을 정말 잘 잡는 사람들이 있습니다. Há seres humanos em todo o mundo que se orientam muito bem.

And just to get us in agreement about how different this is from the way we do it, I want you all to close your eyes for a second and point southeast. そして、これが私たちのやり方とどれほど違うかについて私たちに同意してもらうために、皆さんに目を閉じて南東に向けてほしい。 E para que todos concordemos em como isto é diferente da forma como o fazemos, quero que fechem os olhos por um segundo e apontem para sudeste. (Laughter)

Keep your eyes closed. Point. Ponto. OK, so you can open your eyes. I see you guys pointing there, there, there, there, there ... I don't know which way it is myself --    (Laughter) 皆さんが指さしているのが見えます、あそこ、あそこ、あそこ… 自分がどちらを向いているかわかりません-(笑) Eu vejo vocês apontando para lá, para lá, para lá, para lá... Eu não sei para que lado é -- (Risos) You have not been a lot of help. あなたはあまり助けになりませんでした。 Não tem sido uma grande ajuda. (Laughter)

So let's just say the accuracy in this room was not very high. ですから、この部屋の精度はあまり高くありませんでした。 Digamos que a precisão nesta sala não era muito elevada. This is a big difference in cognitive ability across languages, right? これは言語による認知能力の大きな違いですよね? Esta é uma grande diferença na capacidade cognitiva entre as línguas, certo? Where one group -- very distinguished group like you guys -- doesn't know which way is which, but in another group, I could ask a five-year-old and they would know. あるグループ(皆さんのような非常に著名なグループ)がどちらの方法かわからない場合でも、別のグループでは、5歳の子供に聞いてみるとわかります。 Um grupo - um grupo muito distinto como vocês - não sabe qual é o caminho, mas noutro grupo, posso perguntar a uma criança de cinco anos e ela saberá. (Laughter)

There are also really big differences in how people think about time. また、時間に対する考え方にも大きな違いがあります。 Existem também diferenças muito grandes na forma como as pessoas pensam sobre o tempo. So here I have pictures of my grandfather at different ages. Aqui tenho fotografias do meu avô em diferentes idades. And if I ask an English speaker to organize time, they might lay it out this way, from left to right. 英語話者に時間を整理するように頼んだら、彼らは左から右にこのように配置するかもしれません. E se eu pedir a um falante de inglês para organizar o tempo, ele pode fazer o seguinte esquema, da esquerda para a direita. This has to do with writing direction. これは、書き方と関係があります。 Isto tem a ver com a direcção da escrita. If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic, you might do it going in the opposite direction, from right to left. あなたがヘブライ語やアラビア語を話す人なら、右から左へと反対方向に話すかもしれません。 Se fosse um falante de hebraico ou árabe, poderia fazê-lo na direcção oposta, da direita para a esquerda.

But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre, this Aboriginal group I just told you about, do it? しかし、先ほどお話ししたアボリジニのグループであるクーク・サヨーレは、どのようにそれを行うのでしょうか? Mas como é que os Kuuk Thaayorre, este grupo aborígene de que vos falei, o fariam? They don't use words like "left" and "right. " Let me give you hint. 「ヒントをあげましょう。 " Deixem-me dar-vos uma dica. When we sat people facing south, they organized time from left to right. Quando sentámos as pessoas viradas para sul, elas organizaram o tempo da esquerda para a direita. When we sat them facing north, they organized time from right to left. 私たちが彼らを北向きに座らせたとき、彼らは右から左に時間を整理しました。 When we sat them facing east, time came towards the body. 東向きに座ると、時が体の方へと向かった。 Quando os sentámos virados para leste, o tempo veio na direcção do corpo. What's the pattern? Qual é o padrão? East to west, right? De leste para oeste, certo? So for them, time doesn't actually get locked on the body at all, it gets locked on the landscape. So for them, time doesn't actually get locked on the body at all, it gets locked on the landscape. 彼らにとって、時間は身体に固定されるのではなく、風景に固定されるのです。 Assim, para eles, o tempo não se fixa no corpo, mas sim na paisagem. So for me, if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way, and if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way. だから私にとっては、こちらを向いていれば時間はこちらに進み、こちらを向いていれば時間はこちらに進んでいます。 Por isso, para mim, se eu estiver virado para este lado, o tempo passa para este lado, e se eu estiver virado para este lado, o tempo passa para este lado. I'm facing this way, time goes this way -- very egocentric of me to have the direction of time chase me around every time I turn my body. Ich schaue in diese Richtung, die Zeit vergeht in diese Richtung – sehr egozentrisch von mir, dass die Richtung der Zeit mich herumjagt, jedes Mal, wenn ich meinen Körper drehe. 私はこちらを向いていて、時間はこのように流れていて、体を向けるたびに時間の方向に追いかけられるのはとても自己中心的です。 Estou virado para este lado, o tempo vai para este lado - muito egocêntrico da minha parte ter a direcção do tempo a perseguir-me sempre que viro o meu corpo. For the Kuuk Thaayorre, time is locked on the landscape. Für den Kuuk Thaayorre ist die Zeit an die Landschaft gebunden. Kuuk Thaayorre にとって、時間は風景に固定されています。 It's a dramatically different way of thinking about time. É uma forma dramaticamente diferente de pensar sobre o tempo. Here's another really smart human trick. Hier ist ein weiterer wirklich kluger menschlicher Trick. これは、もう 1 つの非常に賢い人間のトリックです。 Aqui está outro truque humano muito inteligente. Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there. ペンギンが何羽いるか尋ねたとします。 Imagina que te pergunto quantos pinguins existem. Well, I bet I know how you'd solve that problem if you solved it. ええと、あなたがその問題を解決した場合、あなたがその問題をどのように解決するかを知っているに違いありません。 Bem, aposto que sei como resolveria esse problema, se o resolvesse. You went, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. あなたは、「1、2、3、4、5、6、7、8. Disseste: "Um, dois, três, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito. " You counted them. " Contou-os. You named each one with a number, and the last number you said was the number of penguins. あなたはそれぞれに番号を付けました、そしてあなたが最後に言った番号はペンギンの数でした。 Atribuíste a cada um deles um número, e o último número que disseste foi o número de pinguins. This is a little trick that you're taught to use as kids. これはあなたが子供として使うように教えられている小さなトリックです。 Este é um pequeno truque que nos ensinam a usar quando somos crianças. You learn the number list and you learn how to apply it. Du lernst die Zahlenliste und du lernst, wie man sie anwendet. あなたは番号リストを学び、それを適用する方法を学びます。 A little linguistic trick. Well, some languages don't do this, because some languages don't have exact number words. 一部の言語には正確な数の単語がないため、これを行わない言語もあります。 Bem, algumas línguas não o fazem, porque algumas línguas não têm palavras com números exactos. They're languages that don't have a word like "seven" or a word like "eight. それらは、「7」や「8」などの単語を持たない言語です。 São línguas que não têm uma palavra como "sete" ou uma palavra como "oito". " In fact, people who speak these languages don't count, and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities. „Tatsächlich zählen Menschen, die diese Sprachen sprechen, nicht und sie haben Schwierigkeiten, genaue Mengen im Auge zu behalten. 実際、これらの言語を話す人は数えられず、正確な量を把握するのに苦労しています. " De facto, as pessoas que falam estas línguas não sabem contar e têm dificuldade em registar quantidades exactas. So, for example, if I ask you to match this number of penguins to the same number of ducks, you would be able to do that by counting. たとえば、この数のペンギンと同じ数のアヒルを一致させるように頼んだ場合、あなたは数えることでそれを行うことができます. Assim, por exemplo, se eu te pedir para fazeres corresponder este número de pinguins ao mesmo número de patos, serás capaz de o fazer contando. But folks who don't have that linguistic trick can't do that. しかし、その言語的トリックを持っていない人はそれができません。 Mas as pessoas que não têm esse truque linguístico não o conseguem fazer. Languages also differ in how they divide up the color spectrum -- the visual world. Sprachen unterscheiden sich auch darin, wie sie das Farbspektrum – die visuelle Welt – aufteilen. 言語によって、色のスペクトル (視覚世界) を分割する方法も異なります。 As línguas também diferem na forma como dividem o espectro de cores - o mundo visual. Some languages have lots of words for colors, some have only a couple words, "light" and "dark. Algumas línguas têm muitas palavras para cores, outras têm apenas um par de palavras, "claro" e "escuro". " And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors. „Und Sprachen unterscheiden sich darin, wo sie Grenzen zwischen Farben ziehen. 」 そして言語は、色の境界を置く場所が異なります。 " E as línguas diferem na forma como colocam os limites entre as cores. So, for example, in English, there's a word for blue that covers all of the colors that you can see on the screen, but in Russian, there isn't a single word. たとえば、英語には、画面に表示されるすべての色を表す青を表す単語がありますが、ロシア語には単語が 1 つもありません。 Assim, por exemplo, em inglês, há uma palavra para azul que abrange todas as cores que se podem ver no ecrã, mas em russo não há uma única palavra. Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate between light blue, "goluboy," and dark blue, "siniy. Em vez disso, os falantes de russo têm de distinguir entre o azul claro, "goluboy", e o azul escuro, "siniy". " So Russians have this lifetime of experience of, in language, distinguishing these two colors. " Assim, os russos têm uma vida inteira de experiência, na linguagem, para distinguir estas duas cores. When we test people's ability to perceptually discriminate these colors, what we find is that Russian speakers are faster across this linguistic boundary. これらの色を知覚的に識別する人々の能力をテストすると、ロシア語を話す人はこの言語の境界を越えるのが速いことがわかります。 Quando testamos a capacidade das pessoas para discriminar perceptualmente estas cores, o que descobrimos é que os falantes de russo são mais rápidos a atravessar esta fronteira linguística. They're faster to be able to tell the difference between a light and dark blue. ライトブルーとダークブルーの違いをより速く見分けることができます。 São mais rápidos a conseguir distinguir entre um azul claro e um azul escuro. And when you look at people's brains as they're looking at colors -- say you have colors shifting slowly from light to dark blue -- the brains of people who use different words for light and dark blue will give a surprised reaction as the colors shift from light to dark, as if, "Ooh, something has categorically changed," whereas the brains of English speakers, for example, that don't make this categorical distinction, don't give that surprise, because nothing is categorically changing. そして、人々が色を見ているときの脳を見ると、たとえば、色が明るい青から濃い青にゆっくりと変化しているとします。明るい青と濃い青に異なる言葉を使用している人の脳は、色として驚くべき反応を示します。まるで「ああ、何かが決定的に変化した」と明から暗に変化しますが、例えば英語話者の脳は、この決定的な区別をしない場合、何も決定的に変化していないため、その驚きを与えません. E quando olhamos para os cérebros das pessoas enquanto olham para as cores - digamos que as cores mudam lentamente de azul claro para azul escuro - os cérebros das pessoas que usam palavras diferentes para azul claro e azul escuro dão uma reacção de surpresa quando as cores mudam de claro para escuro, como se dissessem: "Ooh, alguma coisa mudou categoricamente", enquanto os cérebros dos falantes de inglês, por exemplo, que não fazem esta distinção categórica, não dão essa surpresa, porque nada está a mudar categoricamente. Languages have all kinds of structural quirks. 言語にはあらゆる種類の構造的な癖があります。 As línguas têm todo o tipo de peculiaridades estruturais. This is one of my favorites. Este é um dos meus favoritos. Lots of languages have grammatical gender; every noun gets assigned a gender, often masculine or feminine. 多くの言語には文法上の性別があります。すべての名詞には性別が割り当てられます。多くの場合、男性または女性です。 Muitas línguas têm género gramatical; a cada substantivo é atribuído um género, frequentemente masculino ou feminino. And these genders differ across languages. そして、これらの性別は言語によって異なります。 So, for example, the sun is feminine in German but masculine in Spanish, and the moon, the reverse. Assim, por exemplo, o sol é feminino em alemão, mas masculino em espanhol, e a lua, o inverso. Could this actually have any consequence for how people think? Do German speakers think of the sun as somehow more female-like, and the moon somehow more male-like? ドイツ語を話す人は、太陽はどちらかというと女性的で、月は男性的だと思いますか? Será que os falantes de alemão pensam no sol como algo mais feminino e na lua como algo mais masculino? Actually, it turns out that's the case. 実際、そうであることが判明しました。 De facto, parece que é esse o caso. So if you ask German and Spanish speakers to, say, describe a bridge, like the one here -- "bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German, grammatically masculine in Spanish -- German speakers are more likely to say bridges are "beautiful," "elegant" and stereotypically feminine words. Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say they're "strong" or "long," these masculine words. (Laughter)

Languages also differ in how they describe events, right? You take an event like this, an accident. あなたはこのような出来事、事故を起こします。 In English, it's fine to say, "He broke the vase. " In a language like Spanish, you might be more likely to say, "The vase broke," or, "The vase broke itself. " Numa língua como o espanhol, é mais provável que se diga "O vaso partiu-se" ou "O vaso partiu-se". " If it's an accident, you wouldn't say that someone did it. " Se for um acidente, não se diria que alguém o fez. In English, quite weirdly, we can even say things like, "I broke my arm. 英語では、奇妙なことに、「腕を骨折しました。 Em inglês, muito estranhamente, podemos até dizer coisas como: "I broke my arm. " Now, in lots of languages, you couldn't use that construction unless you are a lunatic and you went out looking to break your arm -- (Laughter) and you succeeded. 多くの言語では、あなたが狂人で腕を骨折しようと外に出ない限り、その構文を使用することはできませんでした-(笑い)そして成功しました. " Ora, em muitas línguas, não se poderia usar essa construção, a não ser que se fosse um lunático e se saísse à procura de partir um braço - (Risos) e conseguisse. If it was an accident, you would use a different construction. それが事故だった場合は、別の構造を使用します。

Now, this has consequences. さて、これは結果をもたらします。 Ora, isto tem consequências. So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things, depending on what their language usually requires them to do. したがって、異なる言語を話す人々は、その言語で通常何をする必要があるかに応じて、異なることに注意を払います。 Assim, as pessoas que falam línguas diferentes prestam atenção a coisas diferentes, consoante o que a sua língua lhes exige. So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers, English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase. 同じ事故を英語話者とスペイン語話者に見せれば、英語話者は誰が事故を起こしたか覚えているでしょう。 Se mostrarmos o mesmo acidente a falantes de inglês e a falantes de espanhol, os falantes de inglês lembrar-se-ão de quem foi, porque o inglês exige que se diga: "Foi ele; ele partiu o vaso. " Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident. 「スペイン語を話す人は、それが事故だった場合、誰がそれをしたかを覚えている可能性は低いかもしれませんが、それが事故だったことを覚えている可能性は高い. " Enquanto que os falantes de espanhol podem ter menos probabilidades de se lembrarem de quem o fez se for um acidente, mas têm mais probabilidades de se lembrarem de que foi um acidente. They're more likely to remember the intention. É mais provável que se lembrem da intenção. So, two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event. つまり、2 人が同じ出来事を見て、同じ犯罪を目撃しても、その出来事について異なることを思い出すことになります。 Assim, duas pessoas assistem ao mesmo acontecimento, testemunham o mesmo crime, mas acabam por se lembrar de coisas diferentes sobre esse acontecimento. This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony. もちろん、これは目撃証言にも影響を与えます。 Isto tem implicações, evidentemente, para o depoimento de testemunhas oculares. It also has implications for blame and punishment. また、非難と処罰の意味合いもあります。 Tem também implicações em termos de culpa e castigo. So if you take English speakers and I just show you someone breaking a vase, and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke," even though you can witness it yourself, you can watch the video, you can watch the crime against the vase, you will punish someone more, you will blame someone more if I just said, "He broke it," as opposed to, "It broke. Por isso, se eu mostrar aos falantes de inglês que alguém partiu um vaso e eu disser "Ele partiu o vaso", em vez de "O vaso partiu-se", apesar de poderem testemunhar o facto, de poderem ver o vídeo, de poderem ver o crime contra o vaso, punirão mais alguém, culparão mais alguém se eu disser apenas "Ele partiu-o", em vez de "Partiu-se". " The language guides our reasoning about events. „Die Sprache leitet unser Denken über Ereignisse. " A linguagem orienta o nosso raciocínio sobre os acontecimentos. Now, I've given you a few examples of how language can profoundly shape the way we think, and it does so in a variety of ways. さて、言語がどのように私たちの考え方を大きく形成するかについて、いくつかの例を挙げてきました。 Já vos dei alguns exemplos de como a linguagem pode moldar profundamente a forma como pensamos, e fá-lo de várias maneiras. So language can have big effects, like we saw with space and time, where people can lay out space and time in completely different coordinate frames from each other. したがって、言語は、空間と時間で見たように、人々が互いに完全に異なる座標フレームで空間と時間をレイアウトできるという大きな効果をもたらす可能性があります。 Por isso, a linguagem pode ter grandes efeitos, como vimos com o espaço e o tempo, em que as pessoas podem dispor do espaço e do tempo em quadros de coordenadas completamente diferentes uns dos outros. Language can also have really deep effects -- that's what we saw with the case of number. 言語はまた、非常に深い影響を与えることができます。これは、数の場合に見られたものです。 Having count words in your language, having number words, opens up the whole world of mathematics. Wenn Sie Wörter in Ihrer Sprache zählen, Zahlenwörter haben, öffnet sich die ganze Welt der Mathematik. あなたの言語で数の単語を持つこと、数の単語を持つことは、数学の全世界を開きます. Ter palavras para contar na nossa língua, ter palavras para números, abre todo o mundo da matemática. Of course, if you don't count, you can't do algebra, you can't do any of the things that would be required to build a room like this or make this broadcast, right? もちろん、数えなければ代数もできませんし、このような部屋を作ったり、この放送をしたりするために必要なことは何もできませんよね? Claro que, se não contares, não podes fazer álgebra, não podes fazer nenhuma das coisas que seriam necessárias para construir uma sala como esta ou fazer esta emissão, certo? This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone into a whole cognitive realm. この数字の言葉のちょっとしたトリックは、認知領域全体への足がかりを与えてくれます。 Este pequeno truque de palavras numéricas dá-lhe um trampolim para todo um domínio cognitivo.

Language can also have really early effects, what we saw in the case of color. 色の場合に見られたように、言語も非常に初期の影響を与える可能性があります。 A linguagem também pode ter efeitos muito precoces, como vimos no caso da cor. These are really simple, basic, perceptual decisions. これらは実に単純で、基本的な、知覚的な決定です。 Trata-se de decisões perceptivas muito simples e básicas. We make thousands of them all the time, and yet, language is getting in there and fussing even with these tiny little perceptual decisions that we make. Wir machen die ganze Zeit Tausende von ihnen, und doch dringt die Sprache ein und stört selbst diese winzigen Wahrnehmungsentscheidungen, die wir treffen. 私たちは常に何千ものことをしますが、それでも、言語が私たちが行うこれらの小さな小さな知覚的な決定でさえ、そこに入り込み騒ぎ始めています。 Fazemos milhares deles o tempo todo e, no entanto, a linguagem está chegando lá e atrapalhando até mesmo com essas pequenas decisões perceptivas que tomamos. Language can have really broad effects. 言語は非常に幅広い影響を与えることができます。 A língua pode ter efeitos muito amplos. So the case of grammatical gender may be a little silly, but at the same time, grammatical gender applies to all nouns. したがって、文法上の性別のケースは少しばかげているかもしれませんが、同時に、文法上の性別はすべての名詞に適用されます。 Portanto, o caso do género gramatical pode ser um pouco disparatado, mas, ao mesmo tempo, o género gramatical aplica-se a todos os substantivos. That means language can shape how you're thinking about anything that can be named by a noun. つまり、名詞で名前を付けられるものすべてについて、言語がどのように考えているかを形作ることができます。 Isso significa que a língua pode moldar a forma como pensamos sobre tudo o que pode ser designado por um substantivo. That's a lot of stuff. それはたくさんのことです。 É muita coisa. And finally, I gave you an example of how language can shape things that have personal weight to us -- ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory. そして最後に、言語が私たちに個人的な重みを持つものを形作る方法の例を与えました-非難と罰または目撃者の記憶のようなアイデア。 E, finalmente, dei um exemplo de como a linguagem pode moldar coisas que têm peso pessoal para nós – ideias como culpa e punição ou memória de testemunha ocular. These are important things in our daily lives. Estas são coisas importantes na nossa vida quotidiana.

Now, the beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is. さて、言語の多様性の素晴らしさは、人間の心がいかに独創的で柔軟であるかを明らかにしてくれることです。 Ora, a beleza da diversidade linguística reside no facto de nos revelar o quão engenhosa e flexível é a mente humana. Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000 -- there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world. 人間の心は 1 つの認知宇宙を発明したのではなく、7,000 の認知宇宙を発明しました。世界中で 7,000 の言語が話されています。 As mentes humanas inventaram não um universo cognitivo, mas 7.000 - há 7.000 línguas faladas em todo o mundo. And we can create many more -- languages, of course, are living things, things that we can hone and change to suit our needs. そして、私たちはさらに多くを作成することができます-もちろん言語は生き物であり、私たちのニーズに合わせて磨き、変更できるものです。 E podemos criar muito mais -- linguagens, é claro, são coisas vivas, coisas que podemos aprimorar e mudar para atender às nossas necessidades. The tragic thing is that we're losing so much of this linguistic diversity all the time. 悲劇的なことは、この言語の多様性が常に失われつつあることです。 O que é trágico é o facto de estarmos a perder constantemente esta diversidade linguística. We're losing about one language a week, and by some estimates, half of the world's languages will be gone in the next hundred years. 私たちは 1 週間に約 1 つの言語を失いつつあり、いくつかの推定では、世界の言語の半分が今後 100 年で失われるでしょう。 Estamos a perder cerca de uma língua por semana e, segundo algumas estimativas, metade das línguas do mundo desaparecerá nos próximos cem anos. And the even worse news is that right now, almost everything we know about the human mind and human brain is based on studies of usually American English-speaking undergraduates at universities. さらに悪いことに、今のところ、人間の心と人間の脳について私たちが知っているほとんどすべてのことは、通常アメリカの英語を話す大学の大学生の研究に基づいています。 E a notícia ainda pior é que, actualmente, quase tudo o que sabemos sobre a mente humana e o cérebro humano se baseia em estudos de estudantes universitários, geralmente americanos, de língua inglesa. That excludes almost all humans. それはほとんどすべての人間を除外します。 Isso exclui quase todos os seres humanos. Right? So what we know about the human mind is actually incredibly narrow and biased, and our science has to do better. したがって、人間の心について私たちが知っていることは、実際には信じられないほど狭く偏っていて、私たちの科学はもっと上手くやらなければなりません。 Assim, o que sabemos sobre a mente humana é, de facto, incrivelmente limitado e tendencioso, e a nossa ciência tem de fazer melhor.

I want to leave you with this final thought. この最終的な考えをあなたに残したいと思います。 Quero deixar-vos com esta última reflexão. I've told you about how speakers of different languages think differently, but of course, that's not about how people elsewhere think. 異なる言語の話者が異なる考え方をすることについてお話ししましたが、もちろん、それは他の場所の人々の考え方についてではありません。 Já vos falei de como os falantes de línguas diferentes pensam de forma diferente, mas é claro que isso não tem a ver com a forma como as pessoas pensam noutros locais. It's about how you think. それはあなたがどう思うかについてです。 Tem a ver com a forma como se pensa. It's how the language that you speak shapes the way that you think. それはあなたが話す言語があなたが考える方法を形作る方法です。 É a forma como a língua que se fala molda a maneira como se pensa. And that gives you the opportunity to ask, "Why do I think the way that I do? そして、それはあなたに尋ねる機会を与えてくれます。 E isso dá-nos a oportunidade de perguntar: "Porque é que eu penso assim? " "How could I think differently? ""私はどのように違うと思いますか? " "Como é que eu poderia pensar de forma diferente? " And also, "What thoughts do I wish to create?" 「また、「私はどのような考えを作りたいですか?」 Thank you very much.

(Applause)