The power of our tongue | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata
-
0:20 - 0:26The tongue is the most powerful
organ of our body. -
0:27 - 0:32Not only because it has 17 muscles,
but for all the things that it can do. -
0:34 - 0:37With your tongue
you can make them fall in love, -
0:38 - 0:40you can convince,
-
0:41 - 0:43you can humiliate,
-
0:45 - 0:46you can heal
-
0:47 - 0:50and even bring somebody down.
-
0:51 - 0:55Once, when my son was 5,pp
-
0:57 - 0:59he got mad at me because I told him off.
-
1:00 - 1:04It was Father's Day and he said:
-
1:05 - 1:09"You know what? Happy NOTHING's Day."
-
1:09 - 1:11(Laughter)
-
1:12 - 1:14He tore me up.
-
1:17 - 1:20He was tall as my knee
and he brought me down, -
1:20 - 1:22like David to Goliath.
-
1:22 - 1:23Just with his tongue.
-
1:26 - 1:29On the other hand, a friend of mine
-
1:29 - 1:33used to sell rings
and earrings in the bars of Palermo. -
1:35 - 1:41He is of those "smart talkers"
who can make easy compliments. -
1:43 - 1:45He'd go from one table to another
-
1:45 - 1:48and girls tried the rings,
and maybe one of them would say: -
1:48 - 1:51"How do I look with this earrings?"
-
1:51 - 1:54And he'd look at her and say:
-
1:55 - 1:56"You're something else."
-
1:56 - 1:58(Laughter)
-
1:59 - 2:05Truth is maybe the rings
and the earrings weren't so nice -
2:05 - 2:08but what was worth
there were my friend's words. -
2:10 - 2:15I mean, language has a really
strong persuasive power. -
2:17 - 2:22However, sometimes it seems like we make
all we can to take away that strength. -
2:24 - 2:27Some time ago
-
2:27 - 2:32I used to dictate
writing courses for professionals. -
2:32 - 2:36And the biggest mistake that I noticed
-
2:36 - 2:39was the use of the language in autopilot.
-
2:40 - 2:41What is this?
-
2:41 - 2:44It is when somebody starts to specialize
-
2:44 - 2:46in a certain field and starts to use
-
2:48 - 2:52some kind of vocabulary,
like an almost personal language. -
2:53 - 2:55And when they communicate with somebody
-
2:55 - 2:58who is not that much
into the subject, they fail. -
2:59 - 3:03I remember once I had an allergy
and I went to the doctor -
3:04 - 3:07and they tell me:
-
3:07 - 3:09"I'm going to prescribe you a cream,
-
3:09 - 3:13you will apply it on the pruritic area."
-
3:16 - 3:20"What is the pruritic area?"
-
3:20 - 3:21"The place that itches!"
-
3:23 - 3:26Well, he should have said
that from the beginning. -
3:26 - 3:28That is communication.
-
3:28 - 3:32I don't want to know where the people
who didn't ask applied the cream. -
3:35 - 3:42So, when the doctor speaks as a doctor,
a lawyer speaks as a lawyer, -
3:43 - 3:46the computer technician speaks
as a computer technician, -
3:46 - 3:50and they try to communicate
with each other, they can't. -
3:50 - 3:54They need some kind of translator
to help them understand each other. -
3:55 - 4:00It's very important to try
to adapt the message, -
4:00 - 4:04to make the language fit
so the other understands me. -
4:05 - 4:10And this capacity language has
of adapting and transforming -
4:10 - 4:13is one of the secrets of its strength.
-
4:14 - 4:20Think that we speak Spanish,
-
4:22 - 4:25which actually derives
from spoken Latin, right? -
4:27 - 4:31Roman Empire disseminates all its power,
-
4:32 - 4:36distributes that spoken Latin
they used to trade, -
4:38 - 4:43and also to dominate I guess,
and to legislate, -
4:45 - 4:49and in the 3rd century,
Romans' Wi-Fi failed, -
4:51 - 4:54the Empire falls, the roads are blocked,
-
4:55 - 5:02but that daily used Latin
remains and in each isolated province -
5:03 - 5:06people start to speak Latin
in a particular way. -
5:06 - 5:09As they didn't need to communicate,
-
5:09 - 5:13or they couldn't, with the other
provinces, in each place Latin derives -
5:13 - 5:16in a specific direction, mixed up
with the conquered tongues. -
5:18 - 5:24That's how Italian, French,
Portuguese, Spanish are formed. -
5:26 - 5:31I mean, we speak a slang Latin.
-
5:33 - 5:34A "fierita" Latin.
-
5:37 - 5:38What happened?
-
5:38 - 5:39It started to transform
-
5:39 - 5:42like some kind of mutant virus
through the ages -
5:42 - 5:47that spoken Latin changed
from generation to generation, -
5:47 - 5:49adapting to the new needs
-
5:51 - 5:55and we ended in this Spanish
that keeps transforming, -
5:55 - 5:58because language transforms constantly.
-
6:00 - 6:02I'll give you an example.
-
6:03 - 6:06In my writing workshop,
-
6:06 - 6:10sometimes I tell the participants:
-
6:10 - 6:13"Be careful with this part of the text,
-
6:13 - 6:17the "needle kind of jumps out"
in that part of the text. -
6:18 - 6:20And now, people in their 20s
look at me and say: -
6:20 - 6:23"What does "the needle jumps out" mean?"
-
6:23 - 6:24(Laughter)
-
6:24 - 6:29Unless they are retro
and they like vinyls. -
6:29 - 6:32And if you update that and you say:
"The CD jumps in that part." -
6:32 - 6:36That will last for some time now,
but CDs are getting out of use. -
6:39 - 6:41I end up saying:
-
6:41 - 6:44"Watch out, in that part
the text kind of makes some noise." -
6:44 - 6:45That still works.
-
6:45 - 6:48Or the expression
"their Wi-Fi fails to connect", -
6:48 - 6:51it will be understood for some years
until something else comes -
6:52 - 6:54and people don't know anymore
what Wi-Fi is. -
6:54 - 6:58So this capacity of the language,
-
6:58 - 7:03of being all the time adapting
in order to shine, -
7:03 - 7:06or to call our attention,
-
7:06 - 7:09to make us laugh,
-
7:09 - 7:15to let us keep insulting each other
as we always do, -
7:15 - 7:16to keep falling in love,
-
7:16 - 7:19it's like the language
sharpens all the time. -
7:19 - 7:21It gets renewed.
-
7:22 - 7:25We live inside our language,
-
7:25 - 7:31it's hard to see how much
are we made of our language, -
7:31 - 7:35because we grew up inside a language
and that language grows inside us. -
7:38 - 7:43And we can only see how much
we are made of that language -
7:43 - 7:47with people that has some kind
of neurological disease -
7:47 - 7:50like aphasia.
-
7:50 - 7:52Aphasia is the loss of language.
-
7:52 - 7:55When the aphasia is gradual,
-
7:55 - 8:00we notice that the person's dictionary
gets deleted little by little. -
8:01 - 8:03So, at first,
-
8:03 - 8:06they want to say something
but they don't remember the word, -
8:06 - 8:07"Pass me the..."
-
8:09 - 8:13Later, they won't know
what they want to say -
8:13 - 8:15because their inner dictionary
is being deleted, -
8:16 - 8:18the internal language
structures are being erased. -
8:19 - 8:25And that causes a gradual absence,
they become absent. -
8:26 - 8:30They start to be like lost to themselves,
-
8:30 - 8:32because they can't think themselves.
-
8:33 - 8:37Language is a way we have to be in time.
-
8:38 - 8:41For example, I know that today I am here,
-
8:41 - 8:44yesterday I did some things,
tomorrow I will do other things. -
8:44 - 8:45I can think myself
-
8:45 - 8:47and language helps me to do that,
-
8:47 - 8:50it's like a big GPS that guides me
-
8:50 - 8:54through all my emotions and memories.
-
8:57 - 9:00And you have your whole life inside you.
-
9:00 - 9:04There is a verse at the end of a poem
by Dylan Thomas that says: -
9:04 - 9:07"The ball I threw
while playing in the park -
9:07 - 9:09has not yet reached the ground."
-
9:11 - 9:14There is childhood floating there.
-
9:14 - 9:17Or he hit it so hard
and the ball stayed in a roof, -
9:17 - 9:19or he tries to say that,
-
9:19 - 9:21that your childhood is still happening,
-
9:21 - 9:24the child you were is still with you.
-
9:25 - 9:28You are all your life put together,
-
9:28 - 9:30your whole life is with you.
-
9:30 - 9:33The little child, the teenager you were,
-
9:33 - 9:34the one you are,
-
9:34 - 9:37the one you want to be
or you are afraid to be. -
9:38 - 9:39Accumulated time, that's what we are.
-
9:39 - 9:43And the thing that let us
sense that is the language. -
9:45 - 9:46Now.
-
9:50 - 9:53Something really important
-
9:54 - 9:56that I believe is the way we...
-
9:58 - 9:59Well, let's see.
-
10:00 - 10:01I'll tell you something.
-
10:01 - 10:03Why do I know this?
-
10:04 - 10:06I talk about aphasia.
-
10:06 - 10:08It happened to my mom.
-
10:11 - 10:15And her illness made me
notice that language -
10:17 - 10:19is something you can't take for granted.
-
10:19 - 10:23Language is a gift
-
10:26 - 10:33that we have to make real,
apply it, enjoy it, take care of it. -
10:33 - 10:34Excercise it.
-
10:38 - 10:43And think that we are all the time
crossed by speeches of others. -
10:43 - 10:46I mean, TV, education, family,
-
10:46 - 10:50all the time they are trying to tell you
-
10:50 - 10:53what you should think
-
10:53 - 10:59and the only way to know
what you do think is by saying it. -
10:59 - 11:02What would you say about that?
-
11:02 - 11:04Because if you don't speak,
-
11:04 - 11:07there's a risk that somebody
will speak for you. -
11:09 - 11:12And to say your version of things,
you don't have to be a writer. -
11:14 - 11:18You can do it talking to other people,
-
11:18 - 11:20writing a journal that nobody will see.
-
11:21 - 11:25You can write a blog,
or have a twitter account, whatever. -
11:25 - 11:27The important thing is that it is yours.
-
11:30 - 11:35All our brain energy can be there,
in the tip of our tongue. -
11:36 - 11:41We can use the language as a weapon
-
11:42 - 11:44or we can use it
-
11:45 - 11:50like a hand that goes through the dark
-
11:50 - 11:53to reach out to someone, to communicate.
-
11:54 - 11:59Each of us has to discover
-
11:59 - 12:02our own verbal power.
-
12:03 - 12:05Nobody can do that for you.
-
12:06 - 12:07Like a Jedi Master would say:
-
12:09 - 12:12"May the force of language be with you".
-
12:12 - 12:14Thank you very much.
-
12:14 - 12:17(Applause)
- Title:
- The power of our tongue | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata
- Description:
-
Pedro Mairal things language accumulates time: "Languages is a way of being in time" and we are ourselves made of words.
- Video Language:
- Spanish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 12:36
Amaranta Heredia Jaén approved English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén accepted English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata | ||
Amaranta Heredia Jaén edited English subtitles for El poder de la lengua | Pedro Mairal | TEDxRiodelaPlata |