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

翻译人员: Peipei Xiang 校对人员: Danyang Luo

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

我们通过语言交流，

because I can.

因为我可以说话。

This is one these magical abilities that we humans have.

这是我们人类拥有的一种神奇能力，

我们可以互相传递非常复杂的思想。

We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another.

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

我现在正在做的是，一边呼气，

as I'm exhaling.

一边用我的嘴巴发出声音。

I'm making tones and hisses and puffs,

我在发出各种语调、嘶嘶声、呼气，

and those are creating air vibrations in the air.

而这些引起周边的空气振动。

Those air vibrations are traveling to you,

这些空气振动传到你那里，

they're hitting your eardrums,

它们到达你的耳鼓，

然后你的大脑会 将你耳鼓接收到的振动

and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums

and transforms them into thoughts.

转化成思想。

I hope.

至少我希望是这样的，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I hope that's happening.

我希望如此。

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

正是因为这种能力， 人类能够将我们的思想

跨越时间和空间，传递下去

across vast reaches of space and time.

We're able to transmit knowledge across minds.

我们能够将知识互相传递。

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

比如，我现在就可以给你传递一个奇怪的想法。

I could say,

我可以说，

"Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library

“想象一只水母在一个图书馆里 一边跳着华尔兹，

while thinking about quantum mechanics."

一边思考着量子力学。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

当然如果大家的生活 到目前为止都还比较顺利的话，

you probably haven't had that thought before.

你之前应该没有这样想过。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But now I've just made you think it,

而我现在让你们有了这个想法，

through language.

正是通过语言做到的。

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

当然，世界上不是只有一种语言，

全球有大约7000种语言。

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

这些语言有着各式各样的区别。

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

有些语言有不同的发音，

Some languages have different sounds,

they have different vocabularies,

不同的词汇，

and they also have different structures --

还有不同的结构——

very importantly, different structures.

不同的结构很重要。

That begs the question:

于是，我们会问：

Does the language we speak shape the way we think?

我们说的语言是否 塑造了我们的思维方式？

Now, this is an ancient question.

这其实是个很古老的问题。

People have been speculating about this question forever.

人们一直以来都在思考这个问题。

Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said,

神圣罗马帝国的查理曼大帝曾说，

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

“学会了第二种语言 就拥有了第二个灵魂”——

strong statement that language crafts reality.

这是相信语言会创造现实。

But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say,

但另一方面， 莎士比亚笔下的朱丽叶又说，

“名字本来没有意义，

"What's in a name?

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

一朵玫瑰花换个名字也照样芬芳。”

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

这就指也许语言不能创造现实。

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

这些争论已经持续了几千年。

But until recently, there hasn't been any data

但一直以来，都没有任何数据

to help us decide either way.

能够帮助我们确定孰是孰非。

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

最近，在我的实验室 和全球其它一些实验室，

we've started doing research,

我们开始做研究，

现在我们有真实的科学数据， 可以帮助回答这个问题。

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

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

让我给大家举一些我喜欢的例子。

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

先从澳大利亚的一个土著社群开始，

that I had the chance to work with.

我有机会跟他们接触过。

他们是 Kuuk Thaayorre 人，

These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people.

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

他们住在约克角城最西边的 Pormpuraaw。

What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is,

Kuuk Thaayorre 人有意思的一点是，

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

在这个土著文化里面， 他们没有“左”和“右”这样的词，

and instead, everything is in cardinal directions:

所有的东西都是 通过基本方向来表达的：

north, south, east and west.

东南西北，

And when I say everything, I really mean everything.

是的，我说的是“所有的东西”。

You would say something like,

比如，你可以说：

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

“哦，你西南方的那条腿上有一只蚂蚁”，

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

或者“把你的杯子往东北偏北边移一下。”

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

事实上，他们打招呼的方式也是：

"Which way are you going?"

“你往哪里去？”

And the answer should be,

而回答会是：

"North-northeast in the far distance.

“远处东北偏北处，你呢？”

How about you?"

So imagine as you're walking around your day,

想象一下，你走在路上，

every person you greet,

你遇见每一个人

you have to report your heading direction.

都要报告一下你朝什么方向前进。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

但这会让你很快获得方向感，不是吗？

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

因为如果你不知道你前行的方向的话，

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

你连打招呼都没法进行。

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

事实上，说这类语言的人 他们的方向感非常好，

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

远比我们以为人类可以做到的要好。

We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures

我们曾经以为人类的方向感 要比其他生物差，

because of some biological excuse:

而我们也找了生物原因方面的借口：

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

“哦，我们没有 可以感测磁场的鸟嘴或鱼鳞”。

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

事实并非如此。如果你的语言和文化 给了你这方面的训练，

actually, you can do it.

你是可以做到的。

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

世界上有些人的方向感就非常好。

And just to get us in agreement

为了确保我们大家都同意

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

在这点上我们的思维方式有多大差异，

I want you all to close your eyes for a second

请大家闭上眼睛，

and point southeast.

然后指向东南方。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Keep your eyes closed. Point.

先不要睁开眼睛，请指向东南方。

OK, so you can open your eyes.

现在，你们可以睁开眼睛了。

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

我看到你们有指向 那儿、那儿、那儿、那儿的……

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

我自己也不知道哪边是东南方，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You have not been a lot of help.

你们也没能帮到我。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

暂且就说，在座的大家 在这个问题上的准确度不是很高。

这就是不同语言之间的 认知能力的巨大差异，

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

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

一群像在座的各位一样 非常优秀的人

doesn't know which way is which,

分不清哪里是哪里，

but in another group,

而如果换做另一群人，

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

一个5岁的孩子也知道答案。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

人们思考时间的方式也非常不同。

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

这里是几张我的祖父 在不同年龄段的照片。

And if I ask an English speaker to organize time,

如果我让一个英语使用者 将它们按时间进行排列，

they might lay it out this way,

他们可以会这样排，

from left to right.

从左到右。

This has to do with writing direction.

这跟写字的方向有关。

If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic,

如果你说的是希伯来语或阿拉伯语，

you might do it going in the opposite direction,

你则可能会以相反的方向排列，

from right to left.

从右到左。

But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre,

那 Kuuk Thaayorre 人——

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

我刚才提到的土著民会怎么排呢？

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

他们没有“左”和“右”的概念。

Let me give you hint.

我来提示一下大家。

When we sat people facing south,

当我们让他们面朝南方的时候，

they organized time from left to right.

他们将时间顺序从左向右排；

When we sat them facing north,

当面朝北方的时候，

they organized time from right to left.

他们将时间顺序从右到左排；

When we sat them facing east,

当他们面朝东方的时候，

time came towards the body.

他们将时间从远到近排。

What's the pattern?

发现规律了么？

East to west, right?

从东到西，对吗？

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

因此对他们来说， 时间跟身体的方向无关，

it gets locked on the landscape.

而是跟地理有关。

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

对我来说，如果我面向这边， 时间就是这样走的；

then time goes this way,

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

如果我面向这边， 时间就是这样走的；

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

如果我面向这边， 时间就是这样走的——

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

完全以我为中心， 我每次一转身，

every time I turn my body.

时间也要跟着我改变方向。

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

对 Kuuk Thaayorre 人来说， 时间是跟地理有关的。

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

这是一种思考时间的 截然不同的方式。

Here's another really smart human trick.

再给大家说一个人类的聪明之处。

Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there.

假设我问你，这里有多少只企鹅，

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

我敢说我知道你会怎么解决这个问题。

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

你会“一二三四五六七八”地

You counted them.

数过去。

你让每一只企鹅对应一个数字，

You named each one with a number,

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

你念出的最后一个数字就是企鹅的总数。

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

这是你小时候就学会了的技巧，

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

你学会了数数， 你也学会了怎么用它。

A little linguistic trick.

这是一种语言学的技巧。

Well, some languages don't do this,

但有些语言不是这样的，

because some languages don't have exact number words.

因为有些语言没有精确的数字词汇。

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

有一些语言是没有比如“七”

or a word like "eight."

或者“八”之类的数字的。

事实上，对那些使用没有数字的语言的 人来说，他们不会数数，

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

and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities.

计算精确的数量 对他们来说是很难的。

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

比如，如果我让你把这么多的企鹅

to the same number of ducks,

跟同一数量的鸭子匹配起来，

you would be able to do that by counting.

你数一下就可以做到了。

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

但对那些没有这一语言特征的人来说 却无法做到。

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

语言的差异还体现在 我们如何分辨颜色，

the visual world.

那些视觉的东西。

Some languages have lots of words for colors,

有些语言有很多的颜色词汇，

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

有的则很少，就只有“浅色”和“深色”。

And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors.

这些语言差异体现在 不同颜色之间的界限在哪里。

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

比如，在英语里面， 我们有蓝色这个词，

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

它包含了 你在屏幕上看到的所有颜色。

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

但是在俄语里面， 却没有这样的一个词。

Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate

相反，俄语使用者要把

between light blue, "goluboy,"

浅蓝色 “goluboy” 和

and dark blue, "siniy."

深蓝色 “siniy” 区别开来。

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

所以俄语使用者一生都会在语言上

distinguishing these two colors.

区别这两种颜色。

当我们测试人们 辨别这些颜色的能力的时候，

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

我们发现俄语使用者能够更快地

what we find is that Russian speakers are faster

across this linguistic boundary.

进行这种概念切换，

They're faster to be able to tell the difference

他们能够更快地分辨

between a light and dark blue.

浅蓝色和深蓝色。

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

当你观察人们在看这些颜色的大脑时，

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

假设你给他们看 从浅蓝色到深蓝色的渐变，

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

那些用不同词形容 “浅蓝”和“深蓝”的人的大脑

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

会在颜色从浅到深的转换时 表现出惊讶，

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

仿佛“哦，某些事情发生了根本的变化”，

而不做这种分辨的英语使用者的大脑

whereas the brains of English speakers, for example,

that don't make this categorical distinction,

则不会表现出惊讶，

don't give that surprise,

because nothing is categorically changing.

因为没发生什么根本的变化。

Languages have all kinds of structural quirks.

语言还有各种各样的结构特征。

This is one of my favorites.

这个是我最喜欢的。

Lots of languages have grammatical gender;

很多语言都有语法上的词性，

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

每个名词都有一个指定的词性， 通常是阳性或阴性。

And these genders differ across languages.

这些词性在不同语言中有所不同。

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

比如，太阳在德语中是阴性的， 在西班牙语中则是阳性的，

and the moon, the reverse.

月亮则相反。

Could this actually have any consequence for how people think?

那这会不会影响人们的思考方式呢？

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

德语使用者会觉得太阳更女性化，

and the moon somehow more male-like?

而月亮更男性化吗？

Actually, it turns out that's the case.

事实的确如此。

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

如果你让德语使用者和西班牙语使用者 描述一座桥，

like the one here --

就像这一座，

"bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German,

“桥”在德语中是阴性的，

grammatically masculine in Spanish --

在西班牙语中则是阳性的。

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

德语使用者更倾向于说桥 “美丽”或“优雅”

and stereotypically feminine words.

以及其他很女性化的词，

Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say

而西班牙语使用者则倾向于说桥

they're "strong" or "long,"

“强壮”或“绵长”，

these masculine words.

那些更男性化的词。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Languages also differ in how they describe events, right?

语言的差异还体现在 它们对事件的描述上。

You take an event like this, an accident.

以这件事为例，一个意外。

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

在英语里面， 你可以说“他打碎了花瓶”。

In a language like Spanish,

在西班牙语里面，

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

你更可能会说“花瓶碎了”，

or, "The vase broke itself."

或者“花瓶自己碎了”。

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

如果这是一个意外，你不会说 是谁打碎的。

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

在英语里面，很奇怪的是， 我们甚至会说，

”我弄伤了我的手臂“。

"I broke my arm."

Now, in lots of languages,

在很多语言里面，

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

你完全不会这样说， 除非你是一个疯子，

你试图弄伤自己的手臂， 而且还成功了。

and you went out looking to break your arm --

(Laughter)

and you succeeded.

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

如果它是一场意外， 你会使用不一样的语言结构。

Now, this has consequences.

这会造成不同的结果。

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

使用不同语言的人 关注的点会不一样，

depending on what their language usually requires them to do.

这取决于他们的语言是怎么要求的。

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

如果我们让英语使用者和西班牙语使用者 看同样的意外事件，

English speakers will remember who did it,

英语使用者会记得这件事是谁干的，

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

因为英语需要你说 “是他做的，他打碎了花瓶”；

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

而西班牙语使用者则 不太可能会记得是谁干的——

如果这是一个意外事件的话，

if it's an accident,

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

他们更可能会记得这是一个意外，

They're more likely to remember the intention.

他们更可能记得意图。

So, two people watch the same event,

所以两个人看同样的事件，

witness the same crime,

目睹同样的罪行，

but end up remembering different things about that event.

但记得的却不一定一样。

This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony.

在目击证词方面，这是值得深思的，

It also has implications for blame and punishment.

这对责备和惩罚也有影响。

So if you take English speakers

如果我给英语使用者

and I just show you someone breaking a vase,

看一个人不小心打碎花瓶，

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

然后我说“他打碎了花瓶”， 而不是说“花瓶碎了”，

even though you can witness it yourself,

即使你自己亲眼看到了事件的经过，

you can watch the video,

你看了那段视频，

you can watch the crime against the vase,

你可以看到花瓶的“罪行”，

you will punish someone more,

但是你却会更倾向于惩罚、 责备那个人——

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

仅仅因为我说“他打碎了花瓶”，

as opposed to, "It broke."

而不是“花瓶碎了”。

The language guides our reasoning about events.

语言会引导我们对事件的认知。

Now, I've given you a few examples

那我给了大家几个

of how language can profoundly shape the way we think,

语言如何影响我们思考的例子，

and it does so in a variety of ways.

它主要通过几个方式。

So language can have big effects,

语言可以造成大的影响，

like we saw with space and time,

我们举了时间和空间的例子，

where people can lay out space and time

人们对时间和空间的排列

in completely different coordinate frames from each other.

可以迥然不同。

Language can also have really deep effects --

语言还可以有很深的影响，

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

我们举了数字的例子。

Having count words in your language,

如果你的语言里有数量词，

having number words,

有数字，

opens up the whole world of mathematics.

这会开启一个全新的数学世界。

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

如果你不能数数， 你自然也不会代数学，

you can't do any of the things

你将不能做任何

that would be required to build a room like this

需要数学的事情， 像建一个这样的演讲厅，

or make this broadcast, right?

或进行转播，对吧？

This little trick of number words gives you a stepping stone

小小的数字给我们提供了

踏进一整个认知领域的垫脚石。

into a whole cognitive realm.

Language can also have really early effects,

语言的影响还可能很早就发生，

what we saw in the case of color.

我们举了颜色的例子。

These are really simple, basic, perceptual decisions.

这是非常简单、基本、感知型的决定，

We make thousands of them all the time,

我们无时无刻不在做这样的决定，

and yet, language is getting in there

而语言就在那里

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

影响着我们做的这些小小的决定。

Language can have really broad effects.

语言可以有很广阔的影响，

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

我们举了语法上的词性的例子 看似微不足道，

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

但它却适用于所有名词。

That means language can shape how you're thinking

这意味着语言可以影响你

about anything that can be named by a noun.

如何思考所有能用名词表达的东西。

那可是很多东西。

That's a lot of stuff.

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

最后，我举了一个语言可以如何影响

that have personal weight to us --

跟我们切身相关的事件的例子，

ideas like blame and punishment or eyewitness memory.

如责备、惩罚和目击证词。

These are important things in our daily lives.

这些是我们的日常生活中 非常重要的方面。

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

语言多样性的美丽在于 它向我们揭示了

just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is.

人类的大脑是多么巧妙和灵活。

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

人类大脑创造的不是一个认知体系， 而是7000个，

there are 7,000 languages spoken around the world.

世界上有7000种语言。

And we can create many more --

而我们还可以创造更多。

languages, of course, are living things,

语言是有生命的，

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

是我们可以打磨和改变 以满足我们需求的东西。

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

不幸的是，这种语言多样性 正在不断丧失。

all the time.

We're losing about one language a week,

大概平均每个星期 就有一种语言消失，

and by some estimates,

据估计，

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

在接下来的100年里 世界上一半的语言将会消失。

And the even worse news is that right now,

更糟糕的是，现在

almost everything we know about the human mind and human brain

几乎我们所知道的 所有关于人类大脑和思维的东西

is based on studies of usually American English-speaking undergraduates

都是基于大学中说美式英语的

学生的研究。

at universities.

That excludes almost all humans. Right?

这就几乎排除了所有人类，不是吗？

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

所以其实我们对人类思维的了解 是非常狭隘和具有偏见的，

and our science has to do better.

而我们的科学应该做得更好。

I want to leave you with this final thought.

最后，我想再让大家思考一个问题。

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

我已经讲了不同语言的使用者 思考的不同方式，

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

当然，这不是是关于 其他地方的人怎么思考，

It's about how you think.

而是关于你怎么思考，

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

关于你说的语言 如何影响了你的思维方式。

And that gives you the opportunity to ask,

大家可以问问自己：

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

“我为什么是这样思考问题的？”

"How could I think differently?"

“我能换种方式思考吗？”

And also,

还有，

"What thoughts do I wish to create?"

“我想创造什么样的想法？”

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

（鼓掌）

(Applause)