4 reasons to learn a new language | John McWhorter

Translator: Nazarbek Nazarov Reviewer: Parvina Khujaeva

The language I'm speaking right now

Hozir men gapirayotgan til,

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

baxtgami yoki aksincha, vaqt sayin

for better or for worse.

asosiy dunyo tiliga aylanmoqda.

Let's face it,

Keling buni tan olamiz:

it's the language of the internet,

butun internet bu tilda,

it's the language of finance,

bu tilda moliyachilar gaplashishadi,

it's the language of air traffic control,

aviadispetcherlar,

of popular music,

unda mashhur qo'shiqlar kuylashadi,

diplomacy --

diplomatlar muloqot qiladi...

English is everywhere.

Ingliz tili hamma joyda.

Hozirda ko'plab insonlar shimoliy xitoychada gapirishadi.

Now, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more people,

but more Chinese people are learning English

Lekin shunda ham xitoyliklar ingliz tilini

than English speakers are learning Chinese.

ingliz tilida gapiruvchilar xitoychani o'rgangandan-da ko'proq o'rganishadi.

Last I heard,

Bilishimcha,

there are two dozen universities in China right now

hozir Xitoyda ta'lim faqat ingliz tilida olib boriladigan

teaching all in English.

o'nlab universitetlar bor.

English is taking over.

Ingliz tili dunyoni egallamoqda.

And in addition to that,

Qo'shimcha qilib aytganda,

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

tahmin qilinishicha, asr so'ngigacha

almost all of the languages that exist now --

hozirda mavjud deyarli barcha tillar —

there are about 6,000 --

ular hozirda 6 000 ta —

will no longer be spoken.

foydalanilmay qo'yiladi,

There will only be some hundreds left.

shulardan bir necha yuztasi qoladi.

And on top of that,

So'ngida,

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

biz hozir tezkor nutq tarjimasini nafaqat amalga oshirsa bo'ladigan,

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

balki, yildan-yilga yaxshilanib borayotgan davrda yashayapmiz.

The reason I'm reciting those things to you

Men sizga sabablarni keltirib o'taman.

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

Biz yashayotgan paytda borgan sari

where a question is going to start being asked,

"biz nega boshqa tillarni o'rganishimiz kerak?

which is: Why should we learn foreign languages --

Agar ular qaysidir xalqniki bo'lsa, ingliz tilidan boshqasi bizga kerakmi?"

other than if English happens to be foreign to one?

kabi savollar beriladigan vaqtga yaqinlashmoqdamiz.

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

Borgan sari hamma bir tilda gaplasha boshlayotgan bir vaqtda,

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

nega kuch sarflab boshqa tilni o'rganishimiz kerak?

I think there are a lot of reasons,

O'ylashimcha, bunga sabab ko'p.

but I first want to address

Lekin oldin bir narsaga e'tiborimizni qarataylik,

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

menimcha siz buni bilsangiz ham kerak,

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

lekin bu ma'lumotda ham bir hiyla bor:

And that is the idea

bu har xil tillarning leksikoni va

that a language channels your thoughts,

grammatikasi insonning fikrlash shaklini va yo'nalishini

that the vocabulary and the grammar of different languages

o'zgartira olishga qodirligi, va hattoki, o'ziga xos bir

gives everybody a different kind of acid trip,

astral holatidan chiqishga yordam bera olishi

so to speak.

haqidagi ma'lumot.

That is a marvelously enticing idea,

Bu quvonarli ma'lumot,

but it's kind of fraught.

lekin unda bir muammo bor.

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

Bu ma'lumotni inkor etolmaymiz.

So for example, in French and Spanish

Masalan, fransuz va ispan tillarida

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

"stol" so'zi negadir jenskoy rodda:

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

"la table", "la mesa". Buni faqat qabul qilish kerak.

It has been shown

Aniqlanishicha,

that if you are a speaker of one of those languages

agar bu tillarda gapiruvchilardan

and you happen to be asked

ularning fikricha, stol gapira olganida, qanday ovozda

how you would imagine a table talking,

gapirishi mumkinligi borasidagi savolga ko'pchilikning

then much more often than could possibly be an accident,

javoblariga ko'ra, fransuzlar va ispanlar aytadiki,

a French or a Spanish speaker

stol ayol ovozida, baland tonda

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

gapirgan bo'lar edi. Shu sabab,

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

agar siz fransuz yoki ispan bo'lsangiz, qaysidir ma'noda stol siz uchun —

as opposed to if you are an English speaker.

stol siz uchun —qiz bola, ingliz bo'lganingizda esa aksincha bo'lar edi.

It's hard not to love data like that,

Kimga bu kabi ma'lumotlar yoqmaydi?

and many people will tell you that that means

Shunday xulosa hosil bo'ladiki, agar siz

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

bu tillardan birida muloqot qilsangiz, siz dunyoni boshqacha ko'rasiz.

But you have to watch out,

Lekin ehtiyot bo'lish kerak,

because imagine if somebody put us under the microscope,

chunki, o'ylab ko'ring, agar kimdir bizni o'rganishni boshlasa,

the us being those of us who speak English natively.

ingliz tilida go'daklikdan gapiruvchilarni:

What is the worldview from English?

inglizlar dunyoni qanday ko'radi?

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

Keling, misol uchun ingliz tili ona tilisi bo'lgan insonni olsak.

Up on the screen, that is Bono.

Hozir siz Bononi ko'ryapsiz.

He speaks English.

U inglizcha gapiradi.

I presume he has a worldview.

Uning qandaydir o'z dunyoqarashi bor.

Now, that is Donald Trump.

Ekranda Donald Tramp.

In his way,

Unda ham o'ziga yarasha.

he speaks English as well.

U ham inglizcha gapiradi.

(Laughter)

(Kulgu)

And here is Ms. Kardashian,

Mana miss Kardashyan,

and she is an English speaker, too.

u ham shu tilda gapiradi.

So here are three speakers of the English language.

Xo'sh, bu yerda uchta ingliz tilida muloqot qiluvchi inson.

What worldview do those three people have in common?

Ular dunyoni qanday ko'radi? Bu ularni qanday farqlaydi?

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

Ingliz tilidagi qanday dunyoqarash ularni birlashtiradi?

It's a highly fraught concept.

Bu o'ziga xos muammoli g'oya.

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

Ko'pchilik shunday xulosaga kelmoqdaki, til fikrlarni shakllantiradi,

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

lekin bu nozik va tushunarsiz psixologik aspektlarda namoyon bo'ladi.

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

Bu chet tili sizga boshqacha dunyoqarash taqdim etadi degani emas.

Now, if that's the case,

Shunday ekan,

then why learn languages?

o'zi nega tillarni o'rganishimiz kerak?

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

Agar bu sizning fikrlashingizni o'zgartirmasa,

what would the other reasons be?

unda bunga qanday sabablar bor?

There are some.

Ular bir nechta.

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

Birinchidan, siz qandaydir madaniyatni o'rganmoqchi,

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

o'zlashtirmoqchi bo'lsangiz, uning bir qismi bo'lishni istasangiz,

then whether or not the language channels the culture --

til bunda rol o'ynaydimi yo'qmi,

and that seems doubtful --

jamiyatni o'rganish uchun,

if you want to imbibe the culture,

siz qaysidir bir darajada

you have to control to some degree

o'sha tildan foydalanishingizga,

the language that the culture happens to be conducted in.

unda muloqot qilishingizga to'g'ri keladi.

There's no other way.

Boshqa yo'li yo'q.

There's an interesting illustration of this.

Qiziq bir misol bor.

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

Men hozir sal tushunarsiz gapiraman, lekin siz mazmunini tushunishingiz kerak.

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

Kanadalik rejissyor Deni Arkan tomonidan suratga olingan bitta film bor.

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

Ingliz tilida uning ismi "Dennis Arcand" deb yoziladi,

if you want to look him up.

agar qidirishni xohlasangiz.

He did a film called "Jesus of Montreal."

U "Monreallik Iso" deb nomlanadigan film suratga olgan.

And many of the characters

Undagi ko'pchilik qahramonlar —

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

chaqqon, tez, kulgili, qizg'in, fransuzcha gapiruvchi, qiziqarli

French-speaking women.

franko-kanadaliklar edi.

There's one scene closest to the end,

Yakuniga oz qolganda, bitta sahna bor, unda ular

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

do'stini hamma inglizcha gapiradigan shifoxonaga oborishlari kerak bo'ladi.

In the hospital, they have to speak English.

U yerda ular shu tilde gapirishlari kerak bo'ladi.

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

Ular shunday qilishadi ham, lekin bu ularning ona tili emas.

they'd rather not speak English.

Odatda ular unda gapirmaslikni ma'qul ko'rishadi.

And they speak it more slowly,

Va ular sekin gapirishadi,

they have accents, they're not idiomatic.

aksent bilan, oddiy so'zlar orqali.

Suddenly these characters that you've fallen in love with

Hamma yoqtiradigan qahramonlar endi birdan

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

o'zlarining oddiy, kulrang soyalariga aylanishadi.

To go into a culture

Jamiyatga sho'ng'ish va

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

insonlarni bunday xira oyna orqali tushunishga harakat qilish —

is to never truly get the culture.

ularni chindan tushuna olmaslikka olib keladi.

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

Agar bor-yo'g'i bir necha yuzta til qoladigan bo'lsa,

one reason to learn them

ularni o'rganish uchun birinchi sabab:

is because they are tickets to being able to participate

ularning har biri — alohida chipta,

in the culture of the people who speak them,

u sizga biror bir tilda gapiruvchi jamiyatning bir qismi

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

bo'lishga yo'l ochadi, chunki u chinakam kod vazifasini bajaradi.

So that's one reason.

Bu birinchi sabab.

Second reason:

Ikkinchi sabab:

it's been shown

isbotlanganki, agar siz ikki xil tilda gapirsangiz,

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

demensiya kasalligiga chalinish ehtimoli sizda ancha kam,

and that you are probably a better multitasker.

va menimcha, siz bir vaqtning o'zida nechta vazifani uddalay olasiz.

And these are factors that set in early,

Bu bolalikdan aniq bo'la boshlaydi,

and so that ought to give you some sense

va siz endi tushunasiz,

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

farzandlaringizni qachonda til o'rganishga yuborishingizni.

Bilingualism is healthy.

Bilingvizm sog'liq uchun foydali.

And then, third --

Uchinchi sabab:

languages are just an awful lot of fun.

chet tillari — judayam qiziq.

Much more fun than we're often told.

Bizga tushintirishlaridan ko'p marta qiziqarliroq.

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

Masalan, arab tilida "kataba" — "u yozdi",

"yaktubu," he writes, she writes.

"yaktubu" — "u yozayapti".

"Uktub," write, in the imperative.

"Uktub" — "yozing", buyruq so'z.

What do those things have in common?

Bu soz'larda qanday umumiylik bor?

All those things have in common

Hammasida bir xil undoshlar,

the consonants sitting in the middle like pillars.

va ular so'zning markazida, xuddi ustundek.

They stay still,

Ular joyida qoladi,

and the vowels dance around the consonants.

unlilar esa ular atrofida raqsga tushmoqda.

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

Kimga bu so'zlar orqali til o'rganish yoqmaydi?

You can get that from Hebrew,

Ivritda ham shunday,

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

Efiopiya davlat tili — amxarchada ham.

That's fun.

Bu juda qiziqarli.

Or languages have different word orders.

Yana har tilda har xil so'z joylashuvi bor.

Learning how to speak with different word order

So'zlarni boshqa tartibda qo'yib gapirishni

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

o'rganish, bu xuddi chap tarafga harakatlanadigan mamlakatda mashina

haydashdek gap,

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

yoki ko'zga gamamelis ekstraktli suyuqlikni tomizgandan keyin paydo

and you feel the tingle.

bo'ladigan hissiyotga o'xshaydi.

A language can do that to you.

Chet tili sizni shunday bir boshqacha tuyg'ularni his

qilishga majbur qila oladi.

So for example,

Masalan,

"The Cat in the Hat Comes Back,"

"Shlyapa kiygan mushukning qaytishi" —

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

ko'pchiligimiz sevib o'qigan, va yana takror o'qiydigan kitob,

like "Moby Dick."

xuddi "Mobi Dik" kabi.

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

U yerda shunday so'zlar bor: "Bilasanmi, uni qayerdan topib oldim?

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

U nimagadir yuvinishga kirib ketdi. Vannada o'tirib pirog yerdi.

Yes he was!"

Xa. U qila oldi."

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

Agar siz buni xitoycha variantini o'qisangiz,

then you have to master,

quyidagini eslab qoling:

"You can know, I did where him find?

"Uni qayerdan topganimni topa olasanmi?

He was tub inside gorging cake,

U chala yeyilgan tortda yuvinayotgan edi.

No mistake gorging chewing!"

Shubhasiz, tortni u ishtaha bilan yeyayotgandi!"

That just feels good.

Bu menga yoqadi.

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

Tasavvur qiling, til o'rganish bilan yillab shug'ullana olasiz.

Or, have you ever learned any Cambodian?

Siz qachondir kxmer tilini o'rganganmisiz?

Me either, but if I did,

Men ham yo'q. Lekin agar o'rganganimda edi,

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

men og'zimda 13 ta undosh harfni emas,

like English has,

ingliz tilida bo'lganidek,

but a good 30 different vowels

balki kambodjaliklar tilida jaranglaydigan

scooching and oozing around in the Cambodian mouth

30 ta undosh harfni his qilgan bo'lardim,

like bees in a hive.

xuddi arilarga o'xshab.

That is what a language can get you.

Mana sizga nima bera oladi chet tillari.

And more to the point,

Undan tashqari,

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

hozirda chet tillarini o'rganish har qachongidan-da oson.

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

Oldinlari darslarga borish kerak bo'lardi,

and there would be some diligent teacher --

u yerda qandaydir bir o'qituvchi o'tirardi,

some genius teacher in there --

zo'r o'qituvchi, — lekin u yerda

but that person was only in there at certain times

u ma'lum bir paytda bo'lardi va uning oldiga

and you had to go then,

aynan shu payt borish kerak bo'lardi.

and then was not most times.

Darslar esa unchalik tez bo'lavermasdi.

You had to go to class.

Siz darslarga qatnashishga majbur edingiz.

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

Agar bunday imkoniyat bo'lmasa, sizga plastinka asqotardi.

I cut my teeth on those.

Men buning ustasi edim.

There was only so much data on a record,

Plastinkalar, kassetalar, xattoki CD-disc deb ataluvchi

or a cassette,

eskicha bir uskuna,

or even that antique object known as a CD.

unda ma'lumotlar chegaralangan edi.

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

Ulardan tashqari, kitoblar bor edi — foydasiz kitoblar.

that's just the way it was.

Hammasi shunday edi.

Today you can lay down --

Bugun esa bir joyga o'rnashib olib,

lie on your living room floor,

masalan, mehmonxona polida,

sipping bourbon,

burbon ichgan holda,

and teach yourself any language that you want to

mustaqil ravishda xohlagan bir tilni o'rganish mumkin,

with wonderful sets such as Rosetta Stone.

Rosetta Stone kabi ajoyib dasturlar yordamida.

I highly recommend the lesser known Glossika as well.

Yana men Glossika deb nomlanadigan bitta kursni maslahat beraman.

You can do it any time,

Istalgan bir vaqtda,

therefore you can do it more and better.

xohlaganingizcha o'rganishingiz mumkin. Siz ertalablari chet

You can give yourself your morning pleasures in various languages.

tillariga bog'liq bo'lgan nimadir bilan o'zingizni hursand

qilishingiz mumkin,

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

bu sizga qobiliyatingizni yanada oshirishga yordam beradi.

Men har kuni ertalab "Dilbert" komikslarini o'qiyman,

it can increase your skills.

har xil tillarda.

Couldn't have done it 20 years ago

20 yil oldin buning iloji yo'q edi.

when the idea of having any language you wanted

Til o'rganish materiallarining

in your pocket,

hammasi cho'ntagimizga sig'ishi,

coming from your phone,

ya'ni telefonimizga,

would have sounded like science fiction to very sophisticated people.

xattoki rivojlangan insonlar uchun ham fantastikadek ko'rinardi.

So I highly recommend

Shuning uchun ham men sizlarga

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

tillarni o'rganishingizni maslahat beraman, chunki buning uchun

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

hozirgidek imkoniyatlar hech qachon bo'lmagan.

It's an awful lot of fun.

Bu judayam qiziqarli.

It won't change your mind,

Bu balki fikrlashingizni o'rgartirmas,

but it will most certainly blow your mind.

lekin bu sizni hayratlantirishi aniq.

Thank you very much.

Katta rahmat.

(Applause)

(Qarsaklar)