Why language is humanity's greatest invention | David Peterson

Prevodilac: Kristina Radosavljević Lektor: Ivana Krivokuća

Spoons.

Kašike.

Cardboard boxes.

Kartonske kutije.

Toddler-size electric trains.

Dečji električni vozići.

Holiday ornaments.

Praznični ukrasi.

Bounce houses.

Dvorci na naduvavanje.

Blankets.

Ćebad.

Baskets.

Korpe.

Carpets.

Tepisi.

Tray tables.

Podmetači.

Smartphones.

Pametni telefoni.

Pianos.

Klaviri.

Robes.

Ogrtači.

Photographs.

Fotografije.

What do all of these things have in common,

Šta sve ove stvari imaju zajedničko,

aside from the fact they're photos that I took in the last three months,

osim što su to fotografije koje sam ja slikao poslednja tri meseca,

and therefore, own the copyright to?

te stoga imam autorska prava na njih?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

They're all inventions

To su sve izumi

that were created with the benefit of language.

koji su stvoreni zahvaljujući jeziku.

None of these things would have existed without language.

Nijedna od ovih stvari ne bi postojala bez jezika.

Zamislite da stvarate bilo koju od ovih stvari

Imagine creating any one of those things

or, like, building an entire building like this,

ili da zidate celu zgradu, kao što je ova,

without being able to use language

a da ne možete da koristite jezik

or without benefiting from any knowledge that was got by the use of language.

ili bilo koje znanje koje je stečeno kroz upotrebu jezika.

Basically, language is the most important thing

U suštini, jezik je najvažnija stvar

in the entire world.

na celom svetu.

All of our civilization rests upon it.

Cela naša civilizacija počiva na njemu.

And those who devote their lives to studying it --

A oni koji posvete život njegovom izučavanju -

both how language emerged, how human languages differ,

kako se jezik pojavio, u čemu se ljudski jezici razlikuju,

how they differ from animal communication systems --

kako se razlikuju od sistema komunikacije kod životinja -

are linguists.

su lingvisti.

Formal linguistics is a relatively young field, more or less.

Formalna lingvistika je, manje-više, relativno novo područje.

And it's uncovered a lot of really important stuff.

Otkrila je mnogo izuzetno bitnih stvari.

Like, for example, that human communication systems

Kao na primer, da se ljudski sistemi komunikacije

differ crucially from animal communication systems,

veoma razlikuju od sistema komunikacije životinja,

that all languages are equally expressive,

da su svi jezici podjednako izražajni,

even if they do it in different ways.

čak i kada to čine na različite načine.

And yet, despite this,

Ipak, uprkos svemu tome,

there are a lot of people who just love to pop off about language

postoje brojni ljudi koji vole da popuju o jeziku

like they have an equal understanding of it as a linguist,

kao da imaju podjednako razumevanje o njemu kao lingvisti,

because, of course, they speak a language.

zato što, bože moj, govore taj jezik.

And if you speak a language, that means you have just as much right

I ako govorite jezik, to znači da imate sva prava

to talk about its function as anybody else.

da pričate o njegovoj upotrebi kao i bilo ko drugi.

Imagine if you were talking to a surgeon,

Zamislite da pričate sa hirurgom

and you say, "Listen, buddy.

i kažete: „Slušaj, drugar.

I've had a heart for, like, 40 years now.

Ja imam srce, pa, nekih 40 godina.

I think I know a thing or two about aortic valve replacements.

Mislim da znam par stvari o zameni aortnog ventila.

I think my opinion is just as valid as yours."

Smatram da je moje mišljenje jednako vredno kao i tvoje.”

And yet, that's exactly what happens.

Pa ipak, upravo to se dešava.

This is Neil deGrasse Tyson, saying that in the film "Arrival,"

Ovo je Nil de Gras Tajson, koji kaže da bi u filmu „Dolazak”

he would have brought a cryptographer --

on doveo kriptografa -

somebody who can unscramble a message in a language they already know --

nekog ko može dešifrovati poruku na jezik koji već zna -

rather than a linguist,

pre nego lingvistu,

to communicate with the aliens,

da razgovara sa vanzemaljcima,

because what would a linguist --

zato što, šta će nam lingvista -

why would that be useful in talking to somebody

zašto bi to bilo korisno ako pričamo sa nekim

speaking a language we don't even know?

ko govori jezik koji čak i ne znamo?

Though, of course, the "Arrival" film is not off the hook.

Iako, naravno, film „Dolazak” nije baš bajan.

I mean, come on -- listen, film. Hey, buddy:

Mislim, molim vas - slušaj, film. Hej, druže:

there are aliens that come down to our planet in gigantic ships,

vanzemaljci dolaze na našu planetu u ogromnim svemirskim brodovima,

and they want to do nothing except for communicate with us,

i ne žele ništa drugo osim da razgovaraju sa nama,

and you hire one linguist?

i vi angažujete jednog lingvistu?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

What's the US government on a budget or something?

Zar je vlada SAD-a spala na nizak budžet ili nešto slično?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

A lot of these things can be chalked up to misunderstandings,

Mnoge ovakve stvari se mogu pripisati nerazumevanju

both about what language is and about the formal study of language,

toga šta je jezik, kao i formalnog izučavanja jezika,

about linguistics.

same lingvistike.

And I think there's something that underlies a lot of these misunderstandings

Mislim da postoji nešto što je u osnovi dosta ovakvih nerazumevanja,

that can be summed up by this delightful article in "Forbes,"

a što je sažeto u divnom članku Forbsa,

about why high school students shouldn't learn foreign languages.

o tome zašto srednjoškolci ne bi trebalo da uče strane jezike.

I'm going to pull out some quotes from this,

Izvući ću nekoliko citata iz njega,

and I want you to see if you can figure out

da vidite da li možete da shvatite

what underlies some of these opinions and ideas.

šta se nalazi u osnovi nekih od ovih mišljenja i ideja.

"Americans rarely read the classics, even in translation."

„Amerikanci retko čitaju klasike, čak i kada su prevedeni.”

So in other words, why bother learning a foreign language

Drugim rečima, zašto se mučiti učenjem stranog jezika,

when they're not even going to read the classic in the original anyway?

kada ionako neće čitati klasike u originalu?

U čemu je poenta?

What's the point?

"Studying foreign languages in school is a waste of time,

„Učenje stranih jezika u školi je gubljenje vremena,

compared to other things that you could be doing in school."

u poređenju sa drugim stvarima koje biste mogli raditi u školi.”

"Europe has a lot of language groups clustered in a relatively small space."

„Evropa ima mnogo jezičkih grupa svrstanih na relativno malom prostoru.”

So for Americans, ah, what's the point of learning another language?

Dakle, po Amerikancima, ma, u čemu je poenta učenja drugog jezika?

You're not really going to get a lot of bang for your buck out of that.

Ionako nećete imati neku veliku korist od toga.

This is my favorite,

Ovo je moj omiljeni:

"A student in Birmingham would have to travel

„Student iz Birminhema bi trebalo da putuje

oko 1600 kilometara da bi došao do meksičke granice,

about a thousand miles to get to the Mexican border,

and even then, there would be enough people who speak English to get around."

pa čak i u tom slučaju, naišao bi na dovoljno ljudi

koji govore engleski jezik."

In other words, if you can kind of wave your arms around,

Drugim rečima, ako umete da mlatite rukama naokolo,

and you can get to where you're going,

i to vas može dovesti tamo gde idete,

onda stvarno nema svrhe učiti drugi jezik.

then there's really no point in learning another language anyway.

What underlies a lot of these attitudes is the conceptual metaphor,

Ono što se ističe u dosta ovakvih stavova je konceptualna metafora

language is a tool.

da je jezik sredstvo.

And there's something that rings very true about this metaphor.

Postoji nešto što zvuči veoma istinito u ovoj metafori.

Language is kind of a tool

Jezik jeste neka vrsta sredstva po tome što, ako znate lokalni jezik,

in that, if you know the local language, you can do more than if you didn't.

možete da postignete više nego kada ne znate.

But the implication is that language is only a tool,

Ali iz toga proizilazi da je jezik samo sredstvo,

and this is absolutely false.

što je potpuno netačno.

If language was a tool, it would honestly be a pretty poor tool.

Kada bi jezik bio samo sredstvo, iskreno, bio bi prilično loše sredstvo.

And we would have abandoned it long ago for something that was a lot better.

Zamenili bismo ga davno nečim mnogo boljim. Evo primera.

Think about just any sentence.

Pomislite na bilo koju rečenicu.

Here's a sentence that I'm sure I've said in my life: "Yesterday I saw Kyn."

Evo rečenice koju sam sigurno već izgovarao: „Juče sam video Kina”.

Imam prijatelja po imenu Kin.

I have a friend named Kyn.

Kada ja izgovorim rečenicu: „Juče sam video Kina”,

And when I say this sentence, "Yesterday I saw Kyn,"

do you think it's really the case

da li stvarno mislite

that everything in my mind is now implanted in your mind

da je sad sve što mi je na pameti presađeno u vaš mozak

via this sentence?

putem ove rečenice?

Hardly, because there's a lot of other stuff going on.

Teško, zato što se tu dešava mnogo drugih stvari.

Like, when I say "yesterday,"

Na primer, kada kažem „juče”,

I might think what the weather was like yesterday because I was there.

mogu razmišljati kakvo je vreme bilo juče, zato što sam bio tamo.

And if I'm remembering,

A ako se prisećam,

I'll probably remember there was something I forgot to mail, which I did.

verovatno ću se setiti da sam nešto zaboravio da pošaljem,

što se upravo i desilo.

This was a preplanned joke, but I really did forget to mail something.

Ovo je bila smišljena šala, ali zaista sam zaboravio da pošaljem nešto.

And so that means I'm going to have to do it Monday,

Što znači da ću to morati da uradim u ponedeljak,

because that's when I'm going to get back home.

jer se tada vraćam kući.

And of course, when I think of Monday,

I naravno, kad pomislim na ponedeljak,

setim se pesme „Manični ponedeljak” od Banglsa. Odlična pesma.

I'll think of "Manic Monday" by the Bangles. It's a good song.

And when I say the word "saw," I think of this phrase:

Kada izgovorim reč „video”, pomislim na izraz:

"'I see!' said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw."

„'Vidim!', reče slepi čovek dok je kupio svoj čekić i testeru.”

I always do.

Uvek mi to padne na pamet.

Anytime I hear the word "saw" or say it, I always think of that,

Kad god čujem ili izgovorim reč „video”, odmah pomislim na to,

zato što je to moj deda imao običaj da govori,

because my grandfather always used to say it,

so it makes me think of my grandfather.

pa onda mislim i na njega.

Vraćamo se opet, iz nekog razloga, na „Manični ponedeljak”.

And we're back to "Manic Monday" again, for some reason.

And with Kyn, when I'm saying something like, "Yesterday I saw Kyn,"

Sa Kinom, kada govorim nešto kao: „Juče sam video Kina”,

pomisliću na okolnosti pod kojima sam ga video.

I'll think of the circumstances under which I saw him.

And this happened to be that day. Here he is with my cat.

To bi bio ovaj dan. Evo ga sa mojom mačkom.

And of course, if I'm thinking of Kyn,

Naravno, ako razmišljam o Kinu,

I'll think he's going to Long Beach State right now,

misliću o njegovom odlasku na Univerzitet Long Bič,

and I'll remember that my good friend John and my mother

i setiću se da su i moj dobar drug Džon i moja majka

diplomirali na Univerzitetu Long Bič,

both graduated from Long Beach State,

my cousin Katie is going to Long Beach State right now.

a moja rođaka Kejti ga upravo pohađa.

I evo opet „Maničnog ponedeljka”.

And it's "Manic Monday" again.

Ali to je samo delić onoga što se odvija u vašoj glavi

But this is just a fraction of what's going on in your head

at any given time while you are speaking.

svaki put dok govorite.

And all we have to represent the entire mess

Sve što imamo za predstavljanje celog tog haosa

that is going on in our head, is this.

koji se odvija u našoj glavi je ovo.

I mean, that's all we got.

Mislim, to je sve što imamo.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Is it any wonder that our system is so poor?

Zar je čudno što nam je sistem tako oskudan?

So imagine, if I can give you an analogy,

Zamislite, poređenja radi,

imagine if you wanted to know what is it like to eat a cake,

da želite da saznate kakav je osećaj jesti tortu,

if instead of just eating the cake,

na taj način što ćete, umesto da jedete tortu,

you instead had to ingest the ingredients of a cake,

morati da svarite sastojke za tortu,

one by one,

jedan po jedan,

along with instructions

zajedno sa uputstvima

about how these ingredients can be combined to form a cake.

o tome kako ove sastojke treba izmešati da bi se dobila torta.

You had to eat the instructions, too.

Morate da pojedete i uputstvo.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

If that was how we had to experience cake,

Kada bismo na takav način morali da doživimo tortu,

we would never eat cake.

verovatno je nikada ne bismo jeli.

And yet, language is the only way -- the only way --

Pa opet, jezik je jedini način - jedan jedini način -

that we can figure out what is going on here, in our minds.

da shvatimo šta se to dešava ovde, u našim mislima.

This is our interiority,

To je naša unutrašnjost,

the thing that makes us human,

ono što nas čini ljudima,

the thing that makes us different from other animals,

ono što nas razlikuje od ostalih životinja,

is all inside here somewhere,

sve je to ovde negde unutra,

and all we have to do to represent it is our own languages.

i sve što nam je potrebno da bismo to predstavili je naš jezik.

A language is our best way of showing what's going on in our head.

Jezik je najbolji način da pokažemo šta se dešava u našim glavama.

Imagine if I wanted to ask a big question, like:

Zamislite da želite da pitate neko važno pitanje, na primer:

"What is the nature of human thought and emotion?"

„Kakva je priroda ljudskih misli i osećanja?”

What you'd want to do

Ono što želite da uradite

is you'd want to examine as many different languages

je da uporedite što je moguće više jezika.

as possible.

One isn't just going to do it.

Jedan neće biti dovoljan.

To give you an example,

Da bih vam dao primer,

here's a picture I took of little Roman,

evo slike malog Romana,

that I took with a 12-megapixel camera.

koju sam napravio kamerom od 12 megapiksela.

Now, here's that same picture with a lot fewer pixels.

Evo sad iste slike sa mnogo manje piksela.

Obviously, neither of these pictures is a real cat.

Očigledno, ni na jednoj od ovih slika nije prava mačka,

But one gives you a lot better sense of what a cat is than the other.

ali jedna daje mnogo bolji osećaj toga šta je mačka, nego ona druga.

Language is not merely a tool.

Jezik nije samo puko sredstvo.

It is our legacy,

To je naše nasleđe.

it's our way of conveying what it means to be human.

To je naš način saopštavanja toga šta znači biti čovek.

And of course, by "our" legacy, I mean all humans everywhere.

Naravno, pod „našim” nasleđem, mislim na ceo ljudski rod.

And losing even one language makes that picture a lot less clear.

Gubitak samo jednog jezika čini sliku mnogo manje jasnom.

So as a job for the past 10 years

Dakle, za posao u prethodnih 10 godina,

and also as recreation, just for fun,

a takođe i radi razonode, zabave radi,

I create languages.

ja stvaram jezike.

These are called "conlangs,"

Oni se zovu „konjezici”,

short for "constructed languages."

skraćeno od „konstruisani jezici”.

Now, presenting these facts back to back,

Predstavljajući ove činjenice, rame uz rame,

that we're losing languages on our planet

da gubimo jezike na našoj planeti

and that I create brand-new languages,

i da stvaram potpuno nove jezike,

you might think that there's some nonsuperficial connection

možete pomisliti da postoji neka dublja veza između ta dva.

between these two.

In fact, a lot of people have drawn a line between those dots.

Zapravo, mnogo ljudi je ovo spojilo.

This is a guy who got all bent out of shape

Ovo je lik koji se mnogo uzdrmao

that there was a conlang in James Cameron's "Avatar."

time da u filmu Džejmsa Kamerona „Avatar” postoji konjezik.

He says,

On tvrdi:

"But in the three years it took James Cameron

„Kroz tri godine, koliko je trebalo Džejmsu Kameronu

to get Avatar to the screen, a language died."

da snimi Avatar, jedan jezik je umro.”

Probably a lot more than that, actually.

U stvari, verovatno mnogo više od jednog.

"Na'vi, alas, won't fill the hole where it used to be ..."

„Na'vi, avaj, neće ispuniti prazninu tamo gde je ona postojala...”

A truly profound and poignant statement --

Istinski duboka i dirljiva izjava -

if you don't think about it at all.

ako uopšte ne razmišljate o tome.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But when I was here at Cal,

Ali kad sam ja bio ovde na univerzitetu,

I completed two majors.

diplomirao sam na dva predmeta.

One of them was linguistics, but the other one was English.

Jedan od njih je bio lingvistika, ali je drugi bio engleski jezik.

And of course, the English major, the study of English,

Naravno, smer engleskog jezika, studiranje engleskog,

is not actually the study of the English language, as we know,

nije u stvari studiranje engleskog jezika, kao što vam je poznato,

it's the study of literature.

to je studiranje književnosti.

Literature is just a wonderful thing,

Književnost je divna stvar,

because basically, literature, more broadly, is kind of like art;

zato što u suštini, književnost u širem smislu je kao umetnost:

it falls under the rubric of art.

spada u kategoriju umetnosti.

And what we do with literature,

A u književnosti se dešava

authors create new, entire beings and histories.

da autori stvaraju kompletna nova bića i istorije.

And it's interesting to us to see

Nama je interesantno da gledamo

what kind of depth and emotion and just unique spirit

kakve misli i osećanja, kao i jedinstveni duh,

authors can invest into these fictional beings.

autori mogu uložiti u ova izmišljena bića.

So much so, that, I mean -- take a look at this.

Toliko mnogo da, mislim - pogledajte ovo.

There's an entire series of books

Postoje čitavi serijali knjiga

that are written about fictional characters.

koje su napisane o izmišljenim likovima.

Like, the entire book is just about one fictional, fake human being.

Cela knjiga samo o jednom izmišljenom, lažnom ljudskom biću.

There's an entire book on George F. Babbitt

Postoji čitava knjiga o Džordžu F. Babitu,

from Sinclair Lewis's "Babbitt,"

iz knjige „Babit” Sinklera Luisa,

and I guarantee you, that book is longer than "Babbitt,"

i kladim se da je knjiga duža nego „Babit”,

koja je kratka knjiga.

which is a short book.

Does anybody even remember that one?

Da li se iko uopšte seća te knjige?

It's pretty good, I actually think it's better than "Main Street."

Veoma je dobra, mislim čak da je bolja od „Glavne ulice”.

Eto, rekoh svoje mišljenje.

That's my hot take.

So we've never questioned the fact that literature is interesting.

Dakle, nikad nismo dovodili u pitanje da je književnost interesantna.

But despite the fact,

Ali uprkos toj činjenici,

not even linguists are actually interested in what created languages can tell us

čak ni lingvisti nisu zainteresovani da saznaju

šta nam to stvoreni jezici mogu reći

about the depth of the human spirit just as an artistic endeavor.

o dubinama ljudske duše kroz umetničko nastojanje.

I'll give you a nice little example here.

Daću vam jedan mali primer.

There was an article written about me

Postojao je jedan članak o meni

in the California alumni magazine a while back.

u magazinu Kalifornijski alumni, pre dosta vremena.

And when they wrote this article,

Kada su pisali taj članak,

they wanted to get somebody from the opposing side,

želeli su da dovedu nekog ko se ne slaže sa mnom,

što, iz ove perspektive, izgleda malo čudno.

which, in hindsight, seems like a weird thing to do.

You're just talking about a person,

Pričaš o nekoj osobi,

i želiš da nađeš nekog ko se ne slaže sa tom osobom.

and you want to get somebody from the opposing side of that person.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Essentially, this is just a puff piece, but whatever.

U suštini, to je samo promotivni članak, ali nema veze.

So, they happened to get

Tako se desilo da su došli

one of the most brilliant linguists of our time,

do jednog od najsjajnijih lingvista našeg vremena,

George Lakoff, who's a linguist here at Berkeley.

Džordža Lejkofa, koji je lingvista ovde na Berkliju.

And his work has basically forever changed the fields of linguistics

Njegov rad je, u suštini, zauvek promenio oblasti lingvistike

and cognitive science.

i kognitivne nauke.

And when asked about my work and about language creation in general,

Kada su ga pitali o mom radu i o stvaranju jezika uopšte,

he said, "But there's a lot of things to be done in the study of language.

on je rekao: „Postoji toliko stvari koje treba da se prouče o pitanju jezika.

You should spend the time on something real."

Treba da trošite vreme na nešto što je stvarno."

Yeah.

Aha.

"Something real." Does this remind you of anything?

„Nešto stvarno”. Da li vas ovo podseća na nešto?

To use the very framework that he himself invented,

Da upotrebim isti okvir koji je on lično izmislio,

let me refer back to this conceptual metaphor:

vratiću se ovoj konceptualnoj metafori:

language is a tool.

jezik je sredstvo.

And he appears to be laboring under this conceptual metaphor;

A on, izgleda, radi pod ovom konceptualnom metaforom,

that is, language is useful when it can be used for communication.

što znači da je jezik koristan kada može biti upotrebljen za komunikaciju.

Language is useless when it can't be used for communication.

Jezik je beskoristan kada ne može biti upotrebljen za komunikaciju.

It might make you wonder: What do we do with dead languages?

Možda vam padne na pamet: šta da radimo sa mrtvim jezicima?

But anyway.

Ali nije bitno.

So, because of this idea,

Zbog ove ideje,

it might seem like the very height of absurdity

može se činiti prilično apsurdno

to have a Duolingo course on the High Valyrian language

imati na Duoligu kurs valirijskog jezika

that I created for HBO's "Game of Thrones."

koji sam stvorio za seriju „Igra prestola” na HBO-u.

You might wonder what, exactly, are 740,000 people learning?

Možda se onda zapitate šta to onda 740 000 ljudi uči?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Well, let's take a look at it.

Pogledajmo.

What are they learning?

Šta to oni uče?

What could they possibly be learning?

Šta bi uopšte mogli da uče?

Well, bearing in mind that the other language for this --

Imajući u vidu drugi jezik za ovo -

it's for people that speak English --

to je za ljude sa engleskog govornog područja -

oni koji govore engleski jezik uče baš dosta toga.

English speakers are learning quite a bit.

Here's a sentence that they will probably never use for communication

Evo rečenice koju verovatno nikad neće upotrebiti u komunikaciji

in their entire lives:

za ceo svoj život:

"Vala ābre urnes."

„Vala abre urnes.”

"The man sees the woman."

„Čovek vide ženu.”

The little middle line is the gloss,

Mala srednja linija je napomena,

so it's word for word, that's what it says.

poručuje da je u pitanju doslovno ono što piše.

And they're actually learning some very fascinating things,

Oni u stvari uče neke prilično fascinantne stvari,

especially if they're English speakers.

posebno ako govore engleski jezik.

Uče da se glagol može staviti i na sam kraj rečenice.

They're learning that a verb can come at the very end of a sentence.

To baš i ne može u engleskom jeziku kada imate složeniju rečenicu.

Doesn't really do that in English when you have two arguments.

They're learning that sometimes

Uče da, ponekad,

a language doesn't have an equivalent for the word "the" -- it's totally absent.

jezik nema svoj paritet za određeni član - on je potpuno odsutan.

That's something language can do.

To je nešto što može da se desi sa jezikom.

They're learning that a long vowel can actually be longer in duration,

Uče da dugi samoglasnici mogu zaista biti duži u trajanju,

as opposed to different in quality,

umesto razlike u kvalitetu,

which is what our long vowels do; they're actually the same length.

što naši dugi samoglasnici i rade: oni su u stvari iste dužine.

Uče da postoje one male promene.

They're learning that there are these little inflections.

Hmm? Hmm?

Hm? Hm?

There are inflections called "cases" on the end of nouns --

Postoje promene zvane „padeži” na kraju imenice -

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

that tell you who does what to whom in a sentence.

koje vam govore ko šta radi kome u rečenici.

Even if you leave the order of the words the same

Čak i ako ostavite isti red reči,

and switch the endings,

ali zamenite krajeve,

it changes who does what to whom.

to menja ko kome šta radi.

What they're learning is that languages do things, the same things, differently.

Ono što uče jeste da jezici rade iste stvari na različite načine.

And that learning languages can be fun.

I da učenje jezika može biti zabavno.

What they're learning is respect for Language: capital "L" Language.

Ono što uče je poštovanje prema Jeziku, sa velikim slovom „J”.

And given the fact that 88 percent of Americans only speak English at home,

S obzirom na činjenicu da 88% Amerikanaca govori samo engleski jezik kod kuće,

I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

ne mislim da je to nužno loše.

You know why languages die on our planet?

Znate li zašto jezici umiru na našoj planeti?

It's not because government imposes one language on a smaller group,

Ne zato što vlade nametnu jedan jezik manjoj grupi,

or because an entire group of speakers is wiped out.

niti zato što je cela grupa govornog jezika zbrisana.

That certainly has happened in the past, and it's happening now,

To se svakako dešavalo u prošlosti, a dešava se i danas,

but it's not the main reason.

ali to nije glavni razlog.

The main reason is that a child is born to a family

Glavni razlog je što se dete rodi u porodici

that speaks a language that is not widely spoken in their community,

koja govori jezik koji nije široko rasprostranjen u njihovoj zajednici,

and that child doesn't learn it.

i dete ga ne nauči.

Why?

Zašto?

Because that language is not valued in their community.

Zato što taj jezik nije cenjen u njihovoj zajednici.

Because the language isn't useful.

Zato što taj jezik nije koristan.

Because the child can't go and get a job if they speak that language.

Zato što to dete ne može naći posao ako govori taj jezik.

Because if language is just a tool,

Zato što, ako je jezik samo sredstvo,

then learning their native language

onda je učenje njihovog maternjeg jezika

is about as useful as learning High Valyrian,

korisno otprilike kao i učenje visoko valirijskog,

so why bother?

pa zašto se mučiti onda?

Now ...

Sad...

Maybe language study isn't going to lead to a lot more linguistic fluency.

Možda izučavanje jezika neće dovesti do znatnog lingvističkog ovladavanja.

But maybe that's not such a big deal.

Ali možda to i nije tako bitno.

Maybe if more people are studying more languages,

Možda će, ako više ljudi bude učilo više jezika,

it will lead to more linguistic tolerance

to dovesti do veće jezičke tolerancije

and less linguistic imperialism.

i smanjiti jezički imperijalizam.

Maybe if we actually respect language for what it is --

Možda, ako budemo poštovali jezik zbog onog što on zapravo i jeste -

literally, the greatest invention in the history of humankind --

bukvalno, najveći izum u istoriji čovečanstva -

then in the future,

tada u budućnosti

we can celebrate endangered languages as living languages,

možemo slaviti ugrožene jezike kao žive jezike,

as opposed to museum pieces.

a ne kao deo muzejske zbirke.

(High Valyrian) Kirimvose. Thank you.

(Visoko valirijski) Kirimvose. Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)