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

Translator: Carme Paz Reviewer: Xusto Rodriguez

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

Vouvos falar usando a linguaxe...,

because I can.

porque podo.

This is one these magical abilities that we humans have.

Esta é unha desas habilidades máxicas que temos os humanos.

We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another.

Podemos transmitirlles pensamentos moi complexos a outros.

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

O que estou facendo agora mesmo é facer sons coa boca

as I'm exhaling.

mentres expiro.

I'm making tones and hisses and puffs,

Fago tons, asubíos e sopros

and those are creating air vibrations in the air.

e todo iso crea vibracións no aire.

Those air vibrations are traveling to you,

Esas vibracións no aire viaxan cara a vós,

they're hitting your eardrums,

acadan os vosos tímpanos,

and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums

e logo o voso cerebro recolle esas vibracións nos tímpanos

and transforms them into thoughts.

e transfórmaas en pensamentos.

Iso espero.

I hope.

(Risos)

(Laughter)

Espero que ocorra iso.

I hope that's happening.

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

Así que, grazas a esta habilidade, os humanos somos quen de transmitir ideas

a través do espazo e do tempo.

across vast reaches of space and time.

We're able to transmit knowledge across minds.

Somos capaces de transmitir coñecemento a través das mentes.

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

Podo poñer unha idea nova e estraña na vosa mente agora mesmo.

I could say,

Podería dicir:

"Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library

"Imaxinade unha medusa bailando un valse nunha biblioteca

while thinking about quantum mechanics."

mentres pensa en mecánica cuántica."

(Laughter)

(Risos)

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

Se todo vos foi relativamente ben na vida ata agora,

you probably haven't had that thought before.

pode que nunca pensarades niso antes.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

But now I've just made you think it,

Pero agora fíxenvolo pensar,

a través da linguaxe.

through language.

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

Por suposto, non hai só unha lingua no mundo,

fálanse ao redor de 7000 linguas arredor del.

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

E todas as linguas difiren unhas doutras de xeitos moi distintos.

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

Algunhas linguas teñen sons diferentes,

Some languages have different sounds,

they have different vocabularies,

teñen vocabularios diferentes,

and they also have different structures --

e teñen diferentes estruturas,

moi importante, diferentes estruturas.

very importantly, different structures.

That begs the question:

Iso implica a pregunta:

Does the language we speak shape the way we think?

A linguaxe que falamos conforma o xeito en que pensamos?

Now, this is an ancient question.

É unha pregunta moi antiga.

People have been speculating about this question forever.

A xente sempre especulou sobre esta cuestión.

Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said,

Carlomagno, emperador do Sacro Imperio Romano, dixo:

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

"Ter unha segunda lingua é ter unha segunda alma"

strong statement that language crafts reality.

unha opinión categórica de que a lingua modela a realidade.

But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say,

Pero, por outra parte, Shakespeare fixo que Xulieta dixera:

"What's in a name?

"Que hai nun nome?

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

Unha rosa con outro nome ule igual de ben."

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

Ben, isto suxire que talvez a lingua non modela a realidade.

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

Estes argumentos estiveron aí durante miles de anos.

But until recently, there hasn't been any data

Pero ata hai pouco, non había ningún dato

to help us decide either way.

que nos axudase a tomar partido.

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

Hai pouco, no meu laboratorio e noutros polo mundo,

we've started doing research,

comezamos a investigar

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

e agora temos datos científicos reais para avaliar a cuestión.

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

Vouvos contar algúns dos meus exemplos preferidos.

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

Comezarei co dunha comunidade aborixe en Australia

that I had the chance to work with.

coa que puiden traballar.

Estes son os Kuuk Thaayorre.

These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people.

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

Viven en Pormpuraaw, no límite oeste do cabo York.

What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is,

O que máis me gusta deles é que

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

en Kuuk Thaayorre non usan palabras como "esquerda" e "dereita",

and instead, everything is in cardinal directions:

en lugar diso, todo se sitúa en puntos cardinais:

north, south, east and west.

norte, sur, leste e oeste.

And when I say everything, I really mean everything.

E cando digo todo, digo todo de verdade.

You would say something like,

Poden dicir algo como:

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

"Eh, tes unha formiga na perna do suroeste."

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

Ou "Move a cunca un pouco cara ao nor-nordeste."

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

De feito, "ola" en Kuuk Thaayorre dise:

"Which way are you going?"

"En que dirección vas?"

And the answer should be,

E a resposta debería ser:

"Nor-nordeste ao lonxe.

"North-northeast in the far distance.

How about you?"

E ti?"

So imagine as you're walking around your day,

Así que imaxinade que ides paseando

every person you greet,

e a cada persoa que saudades,

you have to report your heading direction.

tedes que dicirlle en que dirección ides.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

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

Pero iso obrigaríavos a orientarvos bastante rápido, non si?

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

Porque non poderiades pasar dicindo só: "Ola",

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

se non soubésedes en que dirección iades.

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

De feito, os que falan linguas como esta oriéntanse moi ben.

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

Fano mellor do que pensabamos que podían facelo os humanos.

We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures

Pensabamos que os humanos eran peores que outros animais

because of some biological excuse:

por algunha escusa biolóxica:

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

"Non temos imáns no bico ou na pel."

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

Non, se a vosa linguaxe e a vosa cultura vos adestran para iso,

actually, you can do it.

podedes facelo.

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

Hai humanos que se orientan moi ben.

E só para que vexades

And just to get us in agreement

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

o diferente que é a como o facemos nós,

I want you all to close your eyes for a second

quero que pechedes os ollos por un segundo

and point southeast.

e apuntedes ao sueste.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Keep your eyes closed. Point.

Pechade os ollos. Apuntade.

OK, so you can open your eyes.

Ben, podedes abrir os ollos.

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

Vexo xente apuntando alí, alí, alí...

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

Nin eu mesma sei onde está.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

You have not been a lot of help.

Non me axudastes moito.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

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

Digamos que a precisión nesta sala non foi moita.

Hai unha gran diferenza de capacidade cognitiva entre linguas.

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

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

Mentres un grupo, un tan distinguido coma vós,

doesn't know which way is which,

non sabe que dirección é cal,

but in another group,

noutro grupo,

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

ata o sabería un neno de 5 anos se llo pregunto.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

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

Tamén hai diferenzas moi grandes en como a xente pensa sobre o tempo.

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

Aquí teño imaxes do meu avó a diferentes idades.

And if I ask an English speaker to organize time,

E se lle pido a un falante de inglés que as ordene temporalmente,

they might lay it out this way,

podería aliñalas así,

from left to right.

de esquerda a dereita.

This has to do with writing direction.

Ten que ver coa dirección da escrita.

If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic,

Pero para un falante de hebreo ou árabe,

you might do it going in the opposite direction,

a dirección sería a contraria,

from right to left.

de dereita a esquerda.

But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre,

Como o farían os Kuuk Thaayorre,

este grupo aborixe do que vos falei?

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

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

Non usan palabras como "esquerda" e "dereita".

Let me give you hint.

Vouvos dar unha pista.

When we sat people facing south,

Cando sentamos a xente cara ao sur,

they organized time from left to right.

organizan o tempo de esquerda a dereita.

When we sat them facing north,

Cando os sentamos cara ao norte,

they organized time from right to left.

organízano de dereita a esquerda.

When we sat them facing east,

Cando os sentamos de cara ao leste,

time came towards the body.

o tempo vén cara a eles.

What's the pattern?

Cal é o padrón?

East to west, right?

Leste a oeste, non?

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

Así que para eles, o tempo non se aloxa no corpo,

it gets locked on the landscape.

alóxase na paisaxe.

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

Para min, se me sitúo así,

then time goes this way,

o tempo vai así,

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

e se me sitúo así, o tempo vai así.

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

Sitúome así, o tempo vai así,

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

é moi egocéntrico facer que a dirección do tempo me siga

every time I turn my body.

cada vez que xiro o corpo.

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

Para os Kuuk Thaayorre, o tempo está na paisaxe.

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

É un xeito moi diferente de pensar sobre o tempo.

Here's another really smart human trick.

Aquí hai outro truco humano moi bo.

Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there.

Supoñede que vos pregunto cantos pingüíns hai.

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

Aposto a que sei como resolvestes o problema, se o fixestes.

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

Fixestes: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8."

You counted them.

Contástelos.

Nomeástelos cun número,

You named each one with a number,

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

e o último número que dixestes era o número de pingüíns.

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

Este é un truquiño que nos ensinaron de pequenos.

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

Aprendestes a lista de números e aprendestes como aplicala.

A little linguistic trick.

Un truquiño lingüístico.

Well, some languages don't do this,

Algunhas linguas non fan isto,

because some languages don't have exact number words.

algunhas linguas non teñen palabras para os números.

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

Hai linguas que non teñen unha palabra como "sete"

or a word like "eight."

ou unha palabra como "oito".

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

De feito, os falantes destas linguas non contan,

and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities.

e teñen problemas para manexar cantidades exactas.

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

Por exemplo, se vos pido que fagades coincidir os pingüíns

to the same number of ducks,

co mesmo número de patos,

you would be able to do that by counting.

poderiades facelo contando.

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

Pero a xente que non ten ese truquiño lingüístico non pode.

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

As linguas tamén difiren en como dividen o espectro das cores,

the visual world.

o mundo visual.

Some languages have lots of words for colors,

Algunhas teñen moitas palabras para as cores,

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

outras só teñen un par: "claro" e "escuro".

And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors.

E hai linguas que difiren en onde poñen os límites entre cores.

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

Por exemplo, en inglés hai unha palabra para o azul

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

que cobre todas as cores que vedes na pantalla,

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

pero en ruso, non hai unha soa palabra.

Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate

Os falantes de ruso teñen que diferenciar

between light blue, "goluboy,"

entre azul claro, "goluboy",

and dark blue, "siniy."

e azul escuro "siniy".

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

Os rusos teñen toda unha vida de experiencia de diferenciar,

distinguishing these two colors.

na lingua, estas dúas cores.

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

Cando examinamos a capacidade para diferenciar esas cores,

vemos que os falantes de ruso son máis rápidos

what we find is that Russian speakers are faster

across this linguistic boundary.

nesta fronteira lingüística.

They're faster to be able to tell the difference

Son máis rápidos ao diferenciar

between a light and dark blue.

entre azul claro e escuro.

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

E cando vemos o cerebro das persoas mentres miran cores,

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

se poñemos cores que cambian lentamente de azul claro a escuro,

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

os cerebros de quen usa palabras distintas para azul claro e escuro

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

mostran unha reacción sorprendente cando as cores cambian,

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

algo como "Oh, algo cambiou totalmente",

whereas the brains of English speakers, for example,

pero os cerebros de falantes de inglés, por exemplo,

that don't make this categorical distinction,

que non fan esa distinción,

don't give that surprise,

non mostran esa sorpresa,

because nothing is categorically changing.

porque nada cambiou totalmente.

As linguas teñen distintas peculiaridades estruturais.

Languages have all kinds of structural quirks.

This is one of my favorites.

Esta é das miñas favoritas.

Lots of languages have grammatical gender;

Moitas linguas teñen xénero gramatical,

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

cada nome ten asignado un xénero, a miúdo masculino ou feminino.

E estes xéneros difiren segundo a lingua.

And these genders differ across languages.

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

Por exemplo, o sol é feminino en alemán pero masculino en español,

and the moon, the reverse.

e a lúa ao revés.

Could this actually have any consequence for how people think?

Podería ter isto consecuencias en como pensa a xente?

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

Os alemáns pensan no sol como en alguén máis feminino,

and the moon somehow more male-like?

e na lúa como máis masculina?

Actually, it turns out that's the case.

Pois resulta que así é.

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

Se lles preguntades a falantes de alemán e español que describan unha ponte,

coma esta,

like the one here --

"bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German,

"ponte" é gramaticalmente feminina en alemán,

grammatically masculine in Spanish --

e masculina en español,

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

os falantes de alemán tenden máis a dicir que as pontes son bonitas, elegantes,

and stereotypically feminine words.

palabras topicamente femininas,

Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say

mentres que os de español tenden máis a dicir

they're "strong" or "long,"

que son fortes ou longas,

these masculine words.

palabras masculinas.

(Laughter)

(Risos)

Languages also differ in how they describe events, right?

As linguas tamén difiren en como describen sucesos.

You take an event like this, an accident.

Collemos un suceso coma este, un accidente.

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

En inglés, está ben dicir: "El rompeu o vaso."

In a language like Spanish,

Nunha lingua como o español,

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

probablemente diriades: "O vaso rompeu."

or, "The vase broke itself."

ou "O vaso rompeuse."

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

Se foi un accidente, non dirías que alguén o causou.

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

En inglés, é raro, incluso podemos dicir:

"I broke my arm."

"Rompín o meu brazo."

Now, in lots of languages,

En moitas linguas,

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

non poderiades usar esa construción a menos que fósedes uns aluados

que andan por aí intentando romper o brazo...

and you went out looking to break your arm --

(Laughter)

E o conseguirades.

and you succeeded.

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

Se fose un accidente, usariades unha construción diferente.

Now, this has consequences.

Isto ten consecuencias.

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

A xente que fala linguas diferentes pon a atención en cousas diferentes

depending on what their language usually requires them to do.

dependendo das necesidades da súa lingua.

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

Así que lles amosamos o mesmo accidente a falantes de inglés e de español,

English speakers will remember who did it,

os falantes de inglés lembrarán quen o fixo,

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

porque o inglés esixe que digas: "El o fixo, el rompeu o vaso."

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

Mentres que os de español, tenden menos a lembrar quen o fixo

se foi un accidente,

if it's an accident,

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

pero tenden máis a lembrar que foi un accidente.

They're more likely to remember the intention.

Tenden máis a lembrar a intención.

So, two people watch the same event,

Dúas persoas ven o mesmo suceso,

witness the same crime,

son testemuñas do mesmo delito,

but end up remembering different things about that event.

pero lembran cousas diferentes dese suceso.

This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony.

Isto ten implicacións no caso de testemuñas oculares.

It also has implications for blame and punishment.

Tamén ten implicacións ao asignar culpas e castigos.

So if you take English speakers

Se colledes falantes de inglés

and I just show you someone breaking a vase,

e lles mostro alguén rompendo un vaso,

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

e digo: "El rompeu o vaso" fronte a "O vaso rompeu",

even though you can witness it yourself,

aínda que o vexan,

you can watch the video,

poidan ver o vídeo,

you can watch the crime against the vase,

poidan ver o que se lle fixo ao vaso,

you will punish someone more,

castigarán máis alguén,

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

culparán máis alguén se digo: "El rompeuno."

as opposed to, "It broke."

no canto de "Rompeu".

The language guides our reasoning about events.

A lingua guía o noso razoamento sobre os sucesos.

Now, I've given you a few examples

Deivos un par de exemplos

of how language can profoundly shape the way we think,

de como a lingua pode modelar a forma en que pensamos,

and it does so in a variety of ways.

e faino de moitas maneiras.

So language can have big effects,

Así, a lingua pode ter grandes efectos,

like we saw with space and time,

como vimos no espazo e no tempo,

where people can lay out space and time

onde a xente pode ordenar o tempo e o espazo

in completely different coordinate frames from each other.

en marcos diferentes completamente uns doutros.

Language can also have really deep effects --

A lingua pode ter efectos profundos,

é o caso que vimos cos números.

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

Having count words in your language,

Ter palabras para contar na vosa lingua,

having number words,

ter palabras número,

opens up the whole world of mathematics.

abre o mundo das matemáticas.

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

Claro, se non contades, non tedes álxebra,

you can't do any of the things

non podedes facer ningunha das cousas

that would be required to build a room like this

que cómpren para construír unha sala así

or make this broadcast, right?

ou para facer esta emisión, non?

This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone

Este truquiño das palabras número dávos un punto de apoio

into a whole cognitive realm.

para un reino cognitivo total.

Language can also have really early effects,

A lingua tamén ten efectos temperáns,

what we saw in the case of color.

como vimos no caso da cor.

These are really simple, basic, perceptual decisions.

Son decisións moi simples, básicas, de percepción.

We make thousands of them all the time,

Tomamos miles continuamente,

and yet, language is getting in there

e aínda así, a lingua entremétese

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

e enlea estas pequenas decisións que tomamos.

Language can have really broad effects.

A lingua pode ter efectos moi amplos.

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

O caso do xénero gramatical pode ser un pouco parvo,

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

pero ao mesmo tempo, o xénero gramatical aplícase a todos os nomes.

That means language can shape how you're thinking

Isto significa que a lingua modela como pensades

about anything that can be named by a noun.

sobre calquera cousa que pode recibir un nome.

That's a lot of stuff.

Iso é moito.

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

E finalmente, deivos un exemplo de como a lingua pode modelar cousas

that have personal weight to us --

que teñen peso persoal para nós,

ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory.

ideas como culpa e castigo ou memoria de testemuñas.

These are important things in our daily lives.

Son cousas importantes na vida diaria.

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

A beleza da diversidade lingüística está en que nos revela

just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is.

o enxeñosa e flexible que é a mente humana.

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

A mente humana non inventou un universo cognitivo, senón 7000,

there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world.

hai 7000 linguas faladas no mundo.

And we can create many more --

E podemos crear moitas máis,

languages, of course, are living things,

as linguas, claro, son cousas vivas,

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

cousas que podemos cambiar para adaptalas ás nosas necesidades.

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

O tráxico é que estamos perdendo moita desta diversidade lingüística

all the time.

continuamente.

We're losing about one language a week,

Estamos perdendo unha lingua por semana,

and by some estimates,

e segundo algunha estimación,

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

a metade das linguas do mundo desaparecerán nos próximos 100 anos.

And the even worse news is that right now,

E o peor é que agora mesmo,

almost everything we know about the human mind and human brain

case todo o que sabemos sobre o cerebro e a mente humanas

is based on studies of usually American English-speaking undergraduates

baséase en estudos feitos a estudantes falantes de inglés americano

at universities.

nas universidades.

That excludes almost all humans. Right?

Iso exclúe a maioría da humanidade, non?

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

Así que o que sabemos da mente humana é moi restrinxido e parcial,

and our science has to do better.

e a nosa ciencia ten que facelo mellor.

I want to leave you with this final thought.

Quero deixarvos con este pensamento final.

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

Conteivos como os falantes de linguas distintas pensan distinto,

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

pero, claro, iso non se refire ao que pensa outra xente.

It's about how you think.

Tamén ao que pensades vós.

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

A como a lingua que falades modela a forma en que pensades.

And that gives you the opportunity to ask,

E iso dávos a oportunidade de preguntar:

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

"Por que penso da forma en que o fago?"

"How could I think differently?"

"Como podería pensar diferente?"

And also,

E tamén,

"What thoughts do I wish to create?"

"Que pensamentos quero crear?"

Thank you very much.

Moitas grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)