4 reasons to learn a new language | John McWhorter

Prevoditelj: Jasna Matek Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

The language I'm speaking right now

Jezik koji sada govorim

is on its way to becoming the world's universal language,

postaje univerzalni svjetski jezik.

for better or for worse.

Let's face it,

it's the language of the internet,

To je jezik interneta,

it's the language of finance,

jezik financija,

it's the language of air traffic control,

jezik kontrole zračnog prometa,

of popular music,

popularne glazbe,

diplomacy --

diplomacije --

English is everywhere.

engleski je svugdje.

Now, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more people,

No, mandarinski kineski govori više ljudi,

but more Chinese people are learning English

ali više je kineskog naroda koji uči engleski

than English speakers are learning Chinese.

nego govornika engleskog koji uče kineski.

Last I heard,

Prema posljednjim informacijama,

there are two dozen universities in China right now

u Kini trenutno postoje 24 sveučilišta

teaching all in English.

gdje se podučava na engleskom.

English is taking over.

Engleski preuzima sve.

And in addition to that,

Osim toga,

it's been predicted that at the end of the century

predviđa se da se krajem stoljeća

almost all of the languages that exist now --

gotovo sve jezike koji trenutno postoje --

there are about 6,000 --

ima ih oko 6.000 --

will no longer be spoken.

više neće govoriti.

There will only be some hundreds left.

Ostat će ih samo nekoliko stotina.

And on top of that,

Povrh toga,

it's at the point where instant translation of live speech

došlo je do toga da instant prevođenje govora uživo

is not only possible, but it gets better every year.

nije samo moguće, već je svake godine sve bolje.

The reason I'm reciting those things to you

Razlog zašto vam iznosim ove činjenice

is because I can tell that we're getting to the point

je taj što vidim da dolazimo do toga da

where a question is going to start being asked,

će se početi postavljati jedno pitanje,

which is: Why should we learn foreign languages --

a to je: Zašto bismo morali učiti strane jezike --

other than if English happens to be foreign to one?

osim ako engleski postane strani jezik?

Why bother to learn another one when it's getting to the point

Zašto se truditi naučiti neki drugi kad već dolazi do toga

where almost everybody in the world will be able to communicate in one?

da će gotovo svi u svijetu moći komunicirati na istome jeziku?

I think there are a lot of reasons,

Mislim da postoji puno razloga,

but I first want to address

ali prvo želim navesti onaj razlog

the one that you're probably most likely to have heard of,

koji ste vjerojatno već čuli,

because actually it's more dangerous than you might think.

jer, zapravo je opasnije nego što možda mislite.

And that is the idea

Radi se o ideji

that a language channels your thoughts,

da jezik kanalizira vaše misli,

that the vocabulary and the grammar of different languages

da zbog vokabulara i gramatike različitih jezika

gives everybody a different kind of acid trip,

svi doživljavaju drugačiji "trip",

so to speak.

nazovimo to tako.

That is a marvelously enticing idea,

Primamljiva je to zamisao,

but it's kind of fraught.

ali nosi svoje breme.

So it's not that it's untrue completely.

Nije da je potpuno neistinita.

So for example, in French and Spanish

Tako da, primjerice, na francuskom i španjolskom

the word for table is, for some reason, marked as feminine.

riječ "stol" je, iz nekog razloga, ženskoga roda.

So, "la table," "la mesa," you just have to deal with it.

"La table," "la mesa" ... jednostavno se nosite s time.

It has been shown

Pokazalo se

that if you are a speaker of one of those languages

da ako ste govornik jednog od ovih jezika

and you happen to be asked

i slučajno vas pitaju

how you would imagine a table talking,

kako biste zamislili pričajući stol,

then much more often than could possibly be an accident,

onda bi češće nego što mislite

a French or a Spanish speaker

govornik francuskoga ili španjolskoga

says that the table would talk with a high and feminine voice.

rekao da bi stol pričao visokim i ženstvenim glasom.

So if you're French or Spanish, to you, a table is kind of a girl,

Francuzi i španjolci stol zamišljaju kao djevojku,

as opposed to if you are an English speaker.

za razliku od vas, govornika engleskoga.

It's hard not to love data like that,

Teško je ne voljeti takve podatke

and many people will tell you that that means

i mnogi će vam reći da to znači

that there's a worldview that you have if you speak one of those languages.

da imate određeni svjetonazor ako pričate jedan od tih jezika.

But you have to watch out,

No, pripazite...

because imagine if somebody put us under the microscope,

jer, zamislite da nas netko stavi pod mikroskop...

the us being those of us who speak English natively.

mislim na nas kojima je engleski materinji jezik.

What is the worldview from English?

Koji je svjetonazor engleskoga jezika?

So for example, let's take an English speaker.

Uzmimo, primjerice govornika engleskoga jezika.

Up on the screen, that is Bono.

Na ekranu je Bono.

He speaks English.

On govori engleski.

I presume he has a worldview.

Pretpostavljam da ima svjetonazor.

Now, that is Donald Trump.

Zatim, ovo je Donald Trump.

In his way,

Na svoj način,

he speaks English as well.

i on priča engleski.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And here is Ms. Kardashian,

A tu je i gospodična Kardashian,

and she is an English speaker, too.

i ona je govornica engleskoga jezika.

So here are three speakers of the English language.

To su tri govornika engleskoga jezika.

What worldview do those three people have in common?

Koji svjetonazor te tri osobe imaju zajednički?

What worldview is shaped through the English language that unites them?

Koji svjetonazor se oblikuje engleskim jezikom, a da ih ujedinuje?

It's a highly fraught concept.

Zastrašujuć je to koncept.

And so gradual consensus is becoming that language can shape thought,

Tako se postiže postupni koncenzus da jezik može oblikovati misli,

but it tends to be in rather darling, obscure psychological flutters.

ali češće u obliku dražesnih, mutnih psiholoških treperenja.

It's not a matter of giving you a different pair of glasses on the world.

Ne radi se o pružanju novog para naočala za gledanje na svijet.

Now, if that's the case,

Ako je to tako,

then why learn languages?

zašto učiti jezike?

If it isn't going to change the way you think,

Ako učenje jezika neće promijeniti način razmišljanja,

what would the other reasons be?

koji bi bili ostali razlozi?

There are some.

Evo nekih.

One of them is that if you want to imbibe a culture,

Jedan je da, ako želite usvojiti kulturu,

if you want to drink it in, if you want to become part of it,

ako je želite upiti, ako želite biti dio nje,

then whether or not the language channels the culture --

onda, usmjerava li jezik kulturu ili ne --

and that seems doubtful --

a to se čini sumnjivo --

if you want to imbibe the culture,

ako želite usvojiti kulturu,

you have to control to some degree

morate do neke mjere

the language that the culture happens to be conducted in.

kontrolirati jezik na kojemu se odvija ta kultura.

There's no other way.

Nema drugog načina.

There's an interesting illustration of this.

Postoji zanimljiva ilustracija.

I have to go slightly obscure, but really you should seek it out.

Možda vam bude malo nejasno, ali shvatit ćete.

There's a movie by the Canadian film director Denys Arcand --

Film kanadskog redatelja Denysa Arcanda --

read out in English on the page, "Dennis Ar-cand,"

na engleskom: "Dennis Ar-cand,"

if you want to look him up.

ako ga poželite potražiti na Internetu.

He did a film called "Jesus of Montreal."

Snimio je film "Isus Montreala"

And many of the characters

I mnogi likovi su

are vibrant, funny, passionate, interesting French-Canadian,

živahne, zabavne, strastvene, zanimljive franko-kanađanke,

French-speaking women.

govornice francuskog jezika.

There's one scene closest to the end,

U sceni pri kraju filma

where they have to take a friend to an Anglophone hospital.

prijatelja voze u anglofonu bolnicu.

In the hospital, they have to speak English.

U bolnici moraju pričati engleski.

Now, they speak English but it's not their native language,

Pričaju engleski jezik, ali nije to njihov materinji jezik.

they'd rather not speak English.

Radije bi da ne govore engleski.

And they speak it more slowly,

Govore ga sporije,

they have accents, they're not idiomatic.

imaju naglasak, nije idiomatski.

Suddenly these characters that you've fallen in love with

Odjednom ti likovi u koje ste se zaljubili

become husks of themselves, they're shadows of themselves.

postaju ljuske samih sebe, svoje vlastite sjene.

To go into a culture

Da biste ušli u kulturu

and to only ever process people through that kind of skrim curtain

i ljude promatrali samo kroz tako rijedak zastor

is to never truly get the culture.

znači zapravo nikad ne razumjeti kulturu.

And so to the extent that hundreds of languages will be left,

Stoga, ideja da će preostati samo nekoliko stotina jezika...

one reason to learn them

jedan razlog da se nauče

is because they are tickets to being able to participate

je taj što su oni ulaznice za sudjelovanje

in the culture of the people who speak them,

u kulturi ljudi koji ih govore,

just by virtue of the fact that it is their code.

samom činjenicom što je to njihov kod.

So that's one reason.

To je jedan razlog.

Second reason:

Drugi razlog:

it's been shown

dokazano je

that if you speak two languages, dementia is less likely to set in,

da ako govorite dva jezika

manje je vjerojatno da će uslijediti demencija

and that you are probably a better multitasker.

i vjerojatno vam dobro ide "multitasking".

And these are factors that set in early,

Ovi faktori rano nastupe.

and so that ought to give you some sense

To bi vam trebalo dati uvida

of when to give junior or juniorette lessons in another language.

u to kada dati svoje dijete na satove stranoga jezika.

Bilingualism is healthy.

Bilingualizam je zdrav.

And then, third --

Zatim, treći razlog --

languages are just an awful lot of fun.

jezici su zabavni.

Much more fun than we're often told.

Zabavniji nego što nam ikad kažu.

So for example, Arabic: "kataba," he wrote,

Primjerice, na arapskom: "kataba," napisao je,

"yaktubu," he writes, she writes.

"yaktubu," on piše, ona piše.

"Uktub," write, in the imperative.

"Uktub," piši - imperativ.

What do those things have in common?

Što to sve ima zajedničko?

All those things have in common

Zajednički su im

the consonants sitting in the middle like pillars.

suglasnici u sredini poput stupova.

They stay still,

Ostaju mirno

and the vowels dance around the consonants.

dok samoglasnici plešu oko njih.

Who wouldn't want to roll that around in their mouths?

Tko to ne bi htio kotrljati u ustima?

You can get that from Hebrew,

Isto je i kod hebrejskog

you can get that from Ethiopia's main language, Amharic.

kao i kod etiopijskog glavnog jezika, amharskog.

That's fun.

To je zabavno.

Or languages have different word orders.

Ili to što jezici imaju različit red riječi.

Learning how to speak with different word order

Naučiti govoriti s drugačijim poretkom riječi

is like driving on the different side of a street if you go to certain country,

je kao vožnja na drugoj strani ulice

or the feeling that you get when you put Witch Hazel around your eyes

ili osjećaj koji dobijete kad stavite vještičju lijesku oko očiju

and you feel the tingle.

i osjećate trnce.

A language can do that to you.

Jezik može to izazvati.

So for example,

Primjerice,

"The Cat in the Hat Comes Back,"

"Mačak u šeširu se vraća,"

a book that I'm sure we all often return to,

knjiga kojoj se sigurno mnogi od nas često vraćaju,

like "Moby Dick."

kao i romanu "Moby Dick."

One phrase in it is, "Do you know where I found him?

Jedna fraza u njoj glasi, "Znaš li gdje sam ga pronašao?

Do you know where he was? He was eating cake in the tub,

Znaš li gdje je bio? Jeo je tortu u kadi,

Yes he was!"

jeo je, da!"

Fine. Now, if you learn that in Mandarin Chinese,

U redu. A sad, ako naučite to na mandarinskom kineskom,

then you have to master,

morat ćete naučiti ovo,

"You can know, I did where him find?

"Možeš znati, sam gdje ga našao?

He was tub inside gorging cake,

Bio je kada u žderućoj torti,

No mistake gorging chewing!"

Bez greške žderala žvakala!"

That just feels good.

To je tako dobar osjećaj.

Imagine being able to do that for years and years at a time.

Zamislite da možete to godinama raditi.

Or, have you ever learned any Cambodian?

Ili, jeste ili ikad naučili nešto kambodžanskog?

Me either, but if I did,

Nisam ni ja, ali da jesam,

I would get to roll around in my mouth not some baker's dozen of vowels

mogao bih u ustima kotrljati ne 13 samoglasnika

like English has,

kao u engleskom

but a good 30 different vowels

već dobrih 30 samoglasnika

scooching and oozing around in the Cambodian mouth

koji se premještaju i preljevaju u kambodžanskim ustima

like bees in a hive.

poput pčela u košnici.

That is what a language can get you.

To vam jezik može donijeti.

And more to the point,

Konkretno,

we live in an era when it's never been easier to teach yourself another language.

živimo u doba u kojemu nikada nije bilo lakše naučiti drugi jezik.

It used to be that you had to go to a classroom,

Nekad ste morali odlaziti u učionicu

and there would be some diligent teacher --

gdje bi bio vrijedan učitelj --

some genius teacher in there --

neki učitelj genijalac --

but that person was only in there at certain times

ali ta osoba je ondje samo u određeno doba

and you had to go then,

pa ste morali odlaziti baš tada

and then was not most times.

a to nije bilo često.

You had to go to class.

Morali ste ići na nastavu.

If you didn't have that, you had something called a record.

Ako niste imali to, imali ste nešto što se nazivalo pločom

I cut my teeth on those.

Ozlijedio sam zube na tome.

There was only so much data on a record,

Samo je određena količina podataka mogla biti na ploči

or a cassette,

ili kaseti

or even that antique object known as a CD.

ili onom antičkom predmetu poznatom kao CD.

Other than that you had books that didn't work,

Osim toga, imali ste knjige koje nisu bile dobre.

that's just the way it was.

Tako je to bilo.

Today you can lay down --

Danas možete prileći --

lie on your living room floor,

leći na pod svojeg dnevnog boravka,

sipping bourbon,

pijuckati burbon

and teach yourself any language that you want to

i samoga sebe naučiti bilo koji jezik koji želite

with wonderful sets such as Rosetta Stone.

uz divne komplete kao što je Rosetta Stone.

I highly recommend the lesser known Glossika as well.

Također preporučujem manje poznatu Glossiku.

You can do it any time,

Možete to činiti bilo kad

therefore you can do it more and better.

što znači, više i bolje.

You can give yourself your morning pleasures in various languages.

Možete si podariti jutarnje užitke u raznim jezicima.

I take some "Dilbert" in various languages every single morning;

Ja svako jutro čitam "Dilberta" na raznim jezicima;

it can increase your skills.

može poboljšati vaše vještine.

Couldn't have done it 20 years ago

To niste mogli prije 20 godina

when the idea of having any language you wanted

kada je ideja da u svome džepu i telefonu

in your pocket,

imate svaki jezik koji poželite

coming from your phone,

sofisticiranim ljudima zvučala

would have sounded like science fiction to very sophisticated people.

kao znanstvena fantastika.

So I highly recommend

Zato preporučujem

that you teach yourself languages other than the one that I'm speaking,

da naučite i jezike osim onoga koji ja sad govorim

because there's never been a better time to do it.

jer nikad nije postojao bolji trenutak da to učinite.

It's an awful lot of fun.

Strašno je zabavno.

It won't change your mind,

Nećete zbog toga promijeniti mišljenje,

but it will most certainly blow your mind.

ali će vas sigurno raspametiti.

Thank you very much.

Puno vam hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)