Learning Languages Ruined My Life — Transcript

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1. 0:00in summer 2015 when i was walking by
2. 0:02maggots books my favorite bookstore in
3. 0:04seattle at three o'clock in the morning
4. 0:07my eyes were immediately caught by the
5. 0:09title of a book and the yellow glen
6. 0:11behind the window
7. 0:12so i went there the next morning
8. 0:14bought it and read it
9. 0:17the book is probably not the best
10. 0:18collection of essays i've ever read
11. 0:21but the title has since then stayed with
12. 0:23me
13. 0:24the moral obligation to be intelligent
14. 0:28what does that have to do with learning
15. 0:29languages
16. 0:31do speaking foreign languages make you
17. 0:32more intelligent
18. 0:34it depends
19. 0:35is the ability to speak another language
20. 0:37part of intelligence
21. 0:39not necessarily
22. 0:41but be intelligent
23. 0:43and knowing for all languages do share
24. 0:45one thing in common
25. 0:47they're both painful
26. 0:50and by painful i don't mean the annuity
27. 0:52of tediously long lectures or vocabulary
28. 0:55and grammatical studies
29. 0:57or the expanse of time for the pursuit
30. 0:59of wisdom and knowledge
31. 1:01nor even
32. 1:02the loneliness your dedication to the
33. 1:04endeavor could bring up on you
34. 1:07the pain
35. 1:08the true torment
36. 1:09is the
37. 1:10confusion for the bigger the circle of
38. 1:13the known the greater the contact with
39. 1:15the unknown
40. 1:16and the more firmly unlearned beliefs
41. 1:18used to stand the more helplessly your
42. 1:21new identity totters
43. 1:23if you're lucky enough to study farsi
44. 1:26you may realize that not all the
45. 1:28beautiful poetry is written in your
46. 1:30mother tongue
47. 1:31the persian epics written in the
48. 1:33sassanid empire
49. 1:34are as beautiful as poems of the tang
50. 1:37dynasty if you happen to study spanish
51. 1:40you may realize that what you thought so
52. 1:42unique an aspect of your culture has a
53. 1:45similar counterpart in another culture
54. 1:48that the puerto rican amortia is almost
55. 1:52identical with the korean sunday if
56. 1:55russian is your language
57. 1:57you may realize that not all the
58. 1:59important battles that change the course
59. 2:01of human history were fought on your
60. 2:03native land
61. 2:05that the russian defeat of the golden
62. 2:07horde at the field of kulikuova is no
63. 2:10less significant than the reconquest of
64. 2:12granada in spain
65. 2:14can't you do this by reading history
66. 2:17one may ask
67. 2:18yes but history written by whom
68. 2:21and for whom
69. 2:22because you see after learning a
70. 2:24language
71. 2:26if you care enough
72. 2:28part of you becomes the member of the
73. 2:29tribe to which the language belongs
74. 2:32and that cultural schizophrenia
75. 2:35can be truly excruciating
76. 2:38that pain however
77. 2:40can be easily offset but the better
78. 2:41chances of employment in your job market
79. 2:44or the simple pleasures of impressing
80. 2:46your friends at the dinner table with
81. 2:49political intrigues and historical
82. 2:51anecdotes played out in five different
83. 2:52languages why then
84. 2:54would anyone was not a crazy masochist
85. 2:58want to learn a foreign language yes to
86. 3:00communicate with people
87. 3:02yes to travel to different places yes to
88. 3:05advance your career in a globalized
89. 3:07world yes it is good for your brain but
90. 3:10more importantly
91. 3:12as potentially excruciating as it is it
92. 3:15is for those curious enough to see the
93. 3:17world as it is and those brave enough to
94. 3:20tear down the veils of bigotry instead
95. 3:22of
96. 3:23comfortably hiding behind the linguistic
97. 3:25barrier and refusing to step forward and
98. 3:28know your fellow human beings or even
99. 3:31the so-called enemies
100. 3:32i am by no means accusing those not fond
101. 3:35of foreign languages of being cowards if
102. 3:38anything they have to be forever more on
103. 3:40their guard of the bigotries the
104. 3:42fatuities and the language barrier
105. 3:45and constantly seek more reliable
106. 3:47sources of information
107. 3:50indeed the pursuit of knowledge is
108. 3:52almost by definition a sort of masochism
109. 3:56and language learning is no exception
110. 3:58but in such pain
111. 4:00and perhaps only in such pain
112. 4:02can we overcome
113. 4:04misunderstandings bridge cultures and
114. 4:06civilizations
115. 4:07and find a world of peace and prosperity
116. 4:23you