How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky | TED

Translator: Elisabet Delgado Mas Reviewer: Anna Comas-Quinn

So, I'll be speaking to you using language ...

Parlaré amb vosaltres fent servir el llenguatge...

perquè puc.

because I can.

This is one these magical abilities that we humans have.

Aquesta és una de les màgiques habilitats que tenim els humans.

We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another.

Podem transmetre pensaments complexos als altres.

So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth

Ara estic creant sons amb la boca

as I'm exhaling.

al exhalar.

I'm making tones and hisses and puffs,

Emeto tons, xiulets i bufs,

and those are creating air vibrations in the air.

que creen vibracions en l'aire.

Those air vibrations are traveling to you,

Aquestes vibracions en l'aire viatgen fins a tu,

they're hitting your eardrums,

colpegen el teu timpà

and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums

i llavors el cervell recull aquestes vibracions del timpà

and transforms them into thoughts.

i les transforma en pensaments.

Espero.

I hope.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

I hope that's happening.

Espero que sigui així.

So because of this ability, we humans are able to transmit our ideas

Degut a aquesta habilitat, som capaços

de transmetre les nostres idees

across vast reaches of space and time.

a través de la vastitud de l'espai i el temps.

We're able to transmit knowledge across minds.

Som capaços de transmetre coneixement entre ments.

I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now.

Puc fer-vos pensar ara mateix en una idea estrambòtica i nova.

I could say,

Puc dir,

"Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library

"Imagineu una medusa ballant un vals en una biblioteca

while thinking about quantum mechanics."

mentre pensa en mecànica quàntica".

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Now, if everything has gone relatively well in your life so far,

Si tot ha anat prou bé a la vostra vida,

you probably haven't had that thought before.

probablement no hi havíeu pensat mai.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

But now I've just made you think it,

Però ara us hi he fet pensar,

through language.

a travès del llenguatge.

Now of course, there isn't just one language in the world,

Certament no hi ha només un idioma al món,

there are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world.

se'n parlen uns 7000.

And all the languages differ from one another in all kinds of ways.

I es diferencien l'un de l'altre de mil i una maneres.

Some languages have different sounds,

Alguns idiomes tenen sons diferents,

they have different vocabularies,

vocabularis diferents,

and they also have different structures --

i també estructures diferents;

very importantly, different structures.

molt important, estructures diferents.

That begs the question:

Això ens du a la qüestió:

Does the language we speak shape the way we think?

Dona forma l'idioma que parlem a la manera com pensem?

Now, this is an ancient question.

Aquesta pregunta ve de lluny.

People have been speculating about this question forever.

Hi hem estat especulant des de sempre.

Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said,

Carlemany, emperador de l'Imperi Romà, va dir:

"To have a second language is to have a second soul" --

"Tenir una segona llengua és tenir una segona ànima"

strong statement that language crafts reality.

contundent declaració de com modela la realitat.

But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say,

D'altra banda, Shakespeare fa dir a Julieta

"What's in a name?

"Què val un nom?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Amb un altre nom, la rosa faria la mateixa dolça olor"

Well, that suggests that maybe language doesn't craft reality.

Bé, això suggereix que potser l'idioma no modela la realitat.

These arguments have gone back and forth for thousands of years.

Aquests arguments s'han discutit des de fa milers d'anys.

But until recently, there hasn't been any data

Però fins fa poc, no hi havia prou informació

to help us decide either way.

per emetre cap judici.

Recently, in my lab and other labs around the world,

Al meu laboratori i en d'altres al voltant del món,

we've started doing research,

hem començat a fer recerca,

and now we have actual scientific data to weigh in on this question.

i ara tenim evidència científica per inclinar-nos en aquesta qüestió.

So let me tell you about some of my favorite examples.

Deixin-me que els presenti alguns dels meus exemples preferits.

I'll start with an example from an Aboriginal community in Australia

Començaré amb el d'una comunitat aborigen d'Austràlia amb la qual

that I had the chance to work with.

vaig tenir l'ocasió de treballar.

These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people.

Són la gent que parla Kuuk Thaayorre.

They live in Pormpuraaw at the very west edge of Cape York.

Viuen a Pormpuraaw al cantó més occidental de Cape York.

What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is,

El que és interessant del Kuuk Thaayorre és

in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don't use words like "left" and "right,"

que no tenen "dreta" ni "esquerra",

and instead, everything is in cardinal directions:

tot s'expressa fent servir els punts cardinals:

north, south, east and west.

nord, sud, est i oest.

And when I say everything, I really mean everything.

I quan dic tot, vull dir literalment tot.

You would say something like,

Diries: "Tens una formiga

"Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg."

a la cama sud-oest"

Or, "Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit."

O, "Mou una mica la tassa cap a nord nord-est"

In fact, the way that you say "hello" in Kuuk Thaayorre is you say,

De fet, la manera de dir "hola" és

"Which way are you going?"

"Cap a on vas?"

And the answer should be,

I la resposta seria,

"North-northeast in the far distance.

"Nord nord-est lluny enllà.

How about you?"

I tu?"

So imagine as you're walking around your day,

Imagina que quan vas caminant

every person you greet,

a cada persona que saludes,

you have to report your heading direction.

li has de dir cap a quina direcció vas.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

But that would actually get you oriented pretty fast, right?

Això faria que estiguessis orientat ben ràpid, oi?

Because you literally couldn't get past "hello,"

Perquè literalment no podries dir ni "hola"

if you didn't know which way you were going.

si no saps on vas.

In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well.

De fet, la gent que parla idiomes com aquest s'orienta molt bé.

They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could.

Millor del que pensàvem que era possible en humans

We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures

Solíem pensar que els humans èrem pitjors que altres éssers

because of some biological excuse:

per alguna excusa biològica:

"Oh, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales."

"Oh, no tenim imans als becs o a les escates."

No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it,

No; si la teva llengua i cultura t'entrenen per fer-ho

actually, you can do it.

realment pots fer-ho.

There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well.

Hi ha persones al món que s'orienten molt bé.

And just to get us in agreement

I només per posar-nos d'acord

about how different this is from the way we do it,

en com és de diferent de la manera com ho fem,

I want you all to close your eyes for a second

vull que tothom tanqui els ulls un moment

and point southeast.

i senyali el sud-est.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Keep your eyes closed. Point.

Manteniu-los tancats. Senyaleu.

OK, so you can open your eyes.

Ja els podeu obrir.

I see you guys pointing there, there, there, there, there ...

Us veig senyalant cap allà, allà, allà, allà, allà...

I don't know which way it is myself --

Ni jo sé cap on queda.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

You have not been a lot of help.

I no heu sigut de gaire ajuda.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

So let's just say the accuracy in this room was not very high.

Diguem que aquí la precisió no és gaire alta.

This is a big difference in cognitive ability across languages, right?

Hi ha una gran diferència d'habilitat cognitiva entre idiomes.

Where one group -- very distinguished group like you guys --

En un grup —un de tan eminent com vosaltres—

doesn't know which way is which,

no sabeu la direcció,

but in another group,

però en un altre grup,

I could ask a five-year-old and they would know.

podria preguntar a un nen de 5 anys i ho sabria.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

There are also really big differences in how people think about time.

També hi ha diferències enormes en com la gent pensa en el temps.

So here I have pictures of my grandfather at different ages.

Aquí tinc fotografies del meu avi a diferents edats.

And if I ask an English speaker to organize time,

Si demano a un angloparlant que les ordeni cronològicament,

they might lay it out this way,

ho farà d'esquerra a dreta.

from left to right.

This has to do with writing direction.

Això té a veure amb la direcció d'escriptura.

If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic,

Si fossis parlant d'hebreu o àrab,

you might do it going in the opposite direction,

ho faries en la direcció oposada,

from right to left.

de dreta a esquerra.

But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre,

Però i els Kuuk Thaayorre,

this Aboriginal group I just told you about, do it?

els aborígens que us deia, com ho farien?

They don't use words like "left" and "right."

Ells no fan servir paraules com "esquerra" o "dreta".

Let me give you hint.

Deixeu que us doni una pista.

When we sat people facing south,

Quan els asseiem cap al sud,

they organized time from left to right.

ordenen el temps d'esquerra a dreta

When we sat them facing north,

Quan els asseiem cap al nord,

they organized time from right to left.

ordenen el temps de dreta a esquerra.

When we sat them facing east,

Quan els asseiem cap a l'est,

time came towards the body.

el temps vé cap al cos.

What's the pattern?

Quin és el patró?

East to west, right?

De l'est a l'oest, oi?

So for them, time doesn't actually get locked on the body at all,

Així que, per a ells, el temps no està en absolut vinculat al cos,

it gets locked on the landscape.

sinó a l'espai.

So for me, if I'm facing this way,

Per mi, si em poso així,

then time goes this way,

el temps va cap aquí,

and if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way.

però si em poso així, llavors el temps va cap aquí.

I'm facing this way, time goes this way --

Si em poso així, el temps va cap aquí.

very egocentric of me to have the direction of time chase me around

Molt egocèntric per part meva que la direcció del temps

em segueixi cada cop que em giro.

every time I turn my body.

For the Kuuk Thaayorre, time is locked on the landscape.

Pels Kuuk Thaayorre, el temps està vinculat a l'espai.

It's a dramatically different way of thinking about time.

És una manera molt diferent de concebre'l.

Here's another really smart human trick.

Aquí tenim un altre truc enginyós.

Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there.

Suposem que et pregunto quants pinguins hi ha.

Well, I bet I know how you'd solve that problem if you solved it.

Apostaria que sé com resoldries aquest problema.

You went, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."

Començaries "Un, dos, tres, quatre, cinc, sis, set, vuit."

You counted them.

Els has contat anomenant-los

You named each one with a number,

un per un amb un número,

and the last number you said was the number of penguins.

i l'últim número que has dit era el número de pingüins.

This is a little trick that you're taught to use as kids.

Un petit truc que ens han ensenyat des de petits.

You learn the number list and you learn how to apply it.

Aprenem la llista de números i a aplicar-la.

A little linguistic trick.

Un petit truc lingüístic.

Well, some languages don't do this,

Doncs bé, alguns idiomes no ho fan,

because some languages don't have exact number words.

perquè en alguns idiomes no hi ha paraules pels números exactes.

They're languages that don't have a word like "seven"

No tenen una paraula com "set"

or a word like "eight."

o una paraula com "vuit".

In fact, people who speak these languages don't count,

De fet, els que parlen aquests idiomes no conten,

and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities.

i tenen problemes per fer servir quantitats exactes.

So, for example, if I ask you to match this number of penguins

Així, per exemple, si et demano que relacionis aquest nombre de pingüins

to the same number of ducks,

amb el mateix nombre d'ànecs,

you would be able to do that by counting.

series capaç de fer-ho contant.

But folks who don't have that linguistic trick can't do that.

Però la gent que no té aquest truc lingüistic no poden fer-ho.

Languages also differ in how they divide up the color spectrum --

Els idiomes també difereixen en com dividir l'espectre de colors,

the visual world.

el mòn visual.

Some languages have lots of words for colors,

Alguns idiomes tenen molts colors,

some have only a couple words, "light" and "dark."

d'altres un parell de paraules, "clar" i "fosc"

And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors.

I els idiomes també difereixen en on posar fronteres entre colors.

So, for example, in English, there's a word for blue

Així, per exemple, en anglès, hi ha una paraula per a blau

that covers all of the colors that you can see on the screen,

que cobreix tots els colors que es poden veure projectats,

but in Russian, there isn't a single word.

però en rus, no hi ha una sola paraula.

Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate

En comptes, els russoparlants diferencien

between light blue, "goluboy,"

entre blau clar, "goluboy",

and dark blue, "siniy."

i blau fosc, "siniy".

So Russians have this lifetime of experience of, in language,

Així els russos tenen l'experiència de tota una vida per, lingüísticament

distinguishing these two colors.

distingir aquests dos colors.

When we test people's ability to perceptually discriminate these colors,

Quan posem a prova les habilitats per discriminar entre colors

what we find is that Russian speakers are faster

resulta que els russoparlants són més ràpids

across this linguistic boundary.

a travessar aquest llindar lingüístic.

They're faster to be able to tell the difference

Són més ràpids en diferenciar

between a light and dark blue.

entre blau clar i blau fosc.

And when you look at people's brains as they're looking at colors --

I quan mirem el cervell dels que estan observant colors

say you have colors shifting slowly from light to dark blue --

— posem per cas un blau clar que s'enfosqueix lentament —

the brains of people who use different words for light and dark blue

al cervell dels que fan servir diferents paraules per blau clar i blau fosc

will give a surprised reaction as the colors shift from light to dark,

hi haurà una reacció de sorpresa quan el color passa de clar a fosc,

as if, "Ooh, something has categorically changed,"

com "Oo, alguna cosa ha canviat de categoria"

mentre que al cervell d'un angloparlant, per exemple,

whereas the brains of English speakers, for example,

that don't make this categorical distinction,

que no fa aquesta distinció,

don't give that surprise,

no hi ha la mateixa sorpresa,

because nothing is categorically changing.

perquè res està canviant de categoria.

Els idiomes tenen tot tipus de peculiaritats estructurals.

Languages have all kinds of structural quirks.

This is one of my favorites.

Aquesta és de les meves preferides:

Lots of languages have grammatical gender;

molts idiomes tenen gènere gramatical;

every noun gets assigned a gender, often masculine or feminine.

a cada nom li assignem un gènere, normalment masculí o femení.

And these genders differ across languages.

I el gènere canvia d'un idioma a l'altre.

So, for example, the sun is feminine in German but masculine in Spanish,

Per exemple, el sol és femení en alemany però masculí en castellà.

and the moon, the reverse.

i la lluna, al revès.

Could this actually have any consequence for how people think?

Podria ser que això tingui conseqüències en com pensem les persones?

Do German speakers think of the sun as somehow more female-like,

Pensen els alemanys en el sol com una figura més femenina

and the moon somehow more male-like?

i la lluna com més masculina?

Actually, it turns out that's the case.

De fet, resulta que és així.

So if you ask German and Spanish speakers to, say, describe a bridge,

Si demanes a parlants d'alemany i castellà que descriguin un pont,

like the one here --

com aquest d'aquí

"bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German,

— "pont" resulta ser gramaticalment femení en alemany

grammatically masculine in Spanish --

i masculí en castellà —

German speakers are more likely to say bridges are "beautiful," "elegant"

els que parlen alemany són més propensos a considerar els ponts bonics o elegants

and stereotypically feminine words.

paraules estereotípicament femenines.

Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say

I els que parlen castellà són més propensos a dir

they're "strong" or "long,"

que són sòlids o llargs,

these masculine words.

paraules masculines.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

Languages also differ in how they describe events, right?

Els idiomes també difereixen en com descriure els fets.

You take an event like this, an accident.

Per exemple, en un accident com aquest,

In English, it's fine to say, "He broke the vase."

en anglès diem "Ell va trencar el gerro".

In a language like Spanish,

En un idioma com el castellà

you might be more likely to say, "The vase broke,"

és més comú dir que "es va trencar" o

or, "The vase broke itself."

"el gerro es va trencar".

If it's an accident, you wouldn't say that someone did it.

Si és un accident, no diríeu que algú ho ha fet.

In English, quite weirdly, we can even say things like,

En anglès, estranyament podem dir coses com:

"I broke my arm."

"Vaig trencar el meu braç."

Now, in lots of languages,

En molts idiomes,

you couldn't use that construction unless you are a lunatic

no es fa servir aquesta construcció a no ser que siguis boig

and you went out looking to break your arm --

i et vulguis trencar el braç,

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

and you succeeded.

i ho hagis aconseguit.

If it was an accident, you would use a different construction.

Si és un accident, fas servir una construcció diferent.

Now, this has consequences.

Això té conseqüències.

So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things,

Persones que parlen idiomes diferents, pararan atenció a coses diferents

depending on what their language usually requires them to do.

depenent del que cada idioma requereixi.

So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers,

Per tant, si ensenyem un mateix accident a angloparlants i castellanoparlants,

English speakers will remember who did it,

els angloparlants recordaran qui l'ha fet,

because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase."

perquè l'anglès fa necessari dir "Ell ho va fer; ell va trencar el gerro".

Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it

Els castellanoparlants potser no recordaran tant qui ho ha fet

if it's an accident,

si és un accident,

but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident.

però recordaran més que és un accident.

They're more likely to remember the intention.

Tenen més tendència a recordar la intenció.

So, two people watch the same event,

Així doncs, dues persones que veuen el mateix fet,

witness the same crime,

i poden ser testimonis d'un mateix crim,

but end up remembering different things about that event.

acaben recordant el que ha passat de manera diferent.

This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony.

Això té implicacions pels testimonis oculars

It also has implications for blame and punishment.

i també per a la culpa i el càstig.

So if you take English speakers

Si agafes angloparlants

and I just show you someone breaking a vase,

-i acabes d'ensenyar algú trencant un gerro-

and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke,"

i dic "Ell va trencar el gerro" en comptes de "El gerro es va trencar",

even though you can witness it yourself,

tot i que en sou testimonis,

you can watch the video,

podeu veure el vídeo,

you can watch the crime against the vase,

i el crim contra el gerro,

you will punish someone more,

vosaltres imposareu un càstig més sever,

you will blame someone more if I just said, "He broke it,"

i ho condemnareu més si us he dit "Ell el va trencar"

as opposed to, "It broke."

en comptes de "S'ha trencat".

The language guides our reasoning about events.

L'idioma guia el nostre raonament sobre els fets.

Now, I've given you a few examples

Us he donat alguns exemples

of how language can profoundly shape the way we think,

de fins a quin punt l'idioma pot modelar la manera com pensem

and it does so in a variety of ways.

i ho fa de moltes i diverses maneres.

So language can have big effects,

L'idioma pot tenir un impacte important,

like we saw with space and time,

com hem vist amb l'espai i el temps,

where people can lay out space and time

sobre com els administrem i ordenem

in completely different coordinate frames from each other.

amb marcs de coordenades absolutament diferents.

Language can also have really deep effects --

L'idioma pot així també tenir un efecte profund,

that's what we saw with the case of number.

com hem vist amb els nombres.

Having count words in your language,

Tenir mots per comptar en el teu idioma

having number words,

i paraules pels nombres

opens up the whole world of mathematics.

ens dona accés a tot un món de matemàtiques.

Of course, if you don't count, you can't do algebra,

Obviament, si no comptes, no pots fer àlgebra,

you can't do any of the things

ni pots fer tot allò

that would be required to build a room like this

que seria necessari per construir un espai com aquest

or make this broadcast, right?

o fer aquesta transmissió, ¿oi?

This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone

Tenir mots per als nombres representa el primer esglaó

into a whole cognitive realm.

a tot un nou reialme cognitiu.

Language can also have really early effects,

L'idioma també pot tenir efectes precoços,

what we saw in the case of color.

com hem vist amb el color:

These are really simple, basic, perceptual decisions.

decisions perceptuals, simples i bàsiques.

We make thousands of them all the time,

En fem milers alhora

and yet, language is getting in there

i, tot i així, l'idioma hi intervé

and fussing even with these tiny little perceptual decisions that we make.

i influeix en aquestes petites decisions perceptuals que prenem,

Language can have really broad effects.

L'idioma pot tenir efectes molt amplis.

So the case of grammatical gender may be a little silly,

El cas del gènere gramatical pot ser absurd

but at the same time, grammatical gender applies to all nouns.

però també és quelcom que s'aplica a tots els substantius.

That means language can shape how you're thinking

Això significa que l'idioma pot modelar com penses

about anything that can be named by a noun.

sobre qualsevol cosa que pugui ser anomenada.

That's a lot of stuff.

I en són un munt.

And finally, I gave you an example of how language can shape things

Per últim, us he donat un exemple de com l'idioma pot modelar coses

that have personal weight to us --

amb una càrrega emocional

ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory.

com la culpa, el càstig, o el record d'un testimoni.

These are important things in our daily lives.

Són aspectes importants en la nostra vida quotidiana.

La bellesa de la diversitat lingüística és

Now, the beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us

que ens desvela l'enginy i la flexibilitat

just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is.

que pot tenir la ment humana.

Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000 --

Hem inventat no pas un univers cognitiu, sinó 7000.

there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world.

Es parlen 7000 idiomes arreu del món.

And we can create many more --

I en podem crear molts més.

languages, of course, are living things,

Els idiomes són entitats vives,

things that we can hone and change to suit our needs.

que podem polir i adaptar a les nostres necessitats.

The tragic thing is that we're losing so much of this linguistic diversity

La tragèdia és que estiguem perdent

tanta d'aquesta diversitat lingüística

all the time.

constantment.

We're losing about one language a week,

Es perd prop d'un idioma a la setmana,

and by some estimates,

i segons algunes estimacions,

half of the world's languages will be gone in the next hundred years.

la meitat dels idiomes del món

desapareixeran en els pròxims 100 anys.

And the even worse news is that right now,

Encara pitjor és que ara mateix

almost everything we know about the human mind and human brain

gairebé tot el que coneixem de la ment humana i el cervell

is based on studies of usually American English-speaking undergraduates

està basat en l'estudi

d'universitaris americans i angloparlants.

at universities.

That excludes almost all humans. Right?

Això exclou a gairebé tots els éssers humans, ¿oi?

So what we know about the human mind is actually incredibly narrow and biased,

El que se sap de la ment humana és poc i subjectiu.

and our science has to do better.

i la nostra ciència ho ha de fer millor.

I want to leave you with this final thought.

I us vull deixar amb aquesta darrera idea.

I've told you about how speakers of different languages think differently,

Hem vist que al parlar idiomes diferents

pensem de manera diferent.

but of course, that's not about how people elsewhere think.

Però no es tracta de com pensen els altres,

It's about how you think.

es tracta de com pensem nosaltres.

It's how the language that you speak shapes the way that you think.

Es tracta de com el nostre propi idioma modela la manera com pensem.

And that gives you the opportunity to ask,

I com això dona peu a preguntar-nos:

"Why do I think the way that I do?"

"Per què penso com penso?"

"How could I think differently?"

"Com podria pensar diferent?"

And also,

I també:

"What thoughts do I wish to create?"

"Quins pensaments vull crear?"

Thank you very much.

Moltíssimes gràcies.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)