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So, I'll be speaking to you using language ...
好的,我會運用語言對你們說話
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because I can.
因為我會
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This is one of these magical abilities that we humans have.
這是我們人類擁有的其中一項神奇能力
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We can transmit really complicated thoughts to one another.
我們能夠把複雜的想法傳達給他者
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So what I'm doing right now is, I'm making sounds with my mouth
我現在在做的,其實就是在用嘴巴發出聲音
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as I'm exhaling.
同時呼氣
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I'm making tones and hisses and puffs,
我發出聲調、嘶嘶聲和氣聲
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and those are creating air vibrations in the air.
這些都會在空氣中造成空氣震動
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Those air vibrations are traveling to you,
這些震動傳達到你
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they're hitting your eardrums,
他們到達你的鼓膜
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and then your brain takes those vibrations from your eardrums
然後你的大腦透過鼓膜接收到震動
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and transforms them into thoughts.
將之轉換為想法
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I hope.
我是這樣希望啦!
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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I hope that's happening.
我希望情況是這樣
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So because of this ability, we humans are able to transmit our ideas
因著這項能力,我們人類能夠傳遞想法
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across vast reaches of space and time.
穿越時空的疆界
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We're able to transmit knowledge across minds.
我們能夠傳遞知識到別人心裡
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I can put a bizarre new idea in your mind right now.
我現在就能將一個詭異的新想法植入你的心裡
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I could say,
我可以說
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"Imagine a jellyfish waltzing in a library
「想像一隻水母在圖書館邊跳華爾滋,
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while thinking about quantum mechanics."
邊思考量子力學。」
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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Now, if everything has gone relatively well in your life so far,
嗯,如果目前為止你的人生都還正常
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you probably haven't had that thought before.
你應該從沒想過這個
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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But now I've just made you think it,
但就在剛剛我讓你開始想了
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through language.
透過語言
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Now of course, there isn't just one language in the world,
當然,那並非全世界唯一一種語言
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there are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world.
世界上約有 7,000 個被使用的語言
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And all the languages differ from one another in all kinds of ways.
而這所有語言都各自不同
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Some languages have different sounds,
有些語言有不同的聲音
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they have different vocabularies,
他們有不同的詞彙
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and they also have different structures --
也有不同的結構
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very importantly, different structures.
不同的結構,這點很重要
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That begs the question:
這點出了這道問題:
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Does the language we speak shape the way we think?
我們使用的語言是否會形塑我們思考的方式?
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Now, this is an ancient question.
這是一個久被探討的問題
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People have been speculating about this question forever.
人們總是在探究這個問題
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Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, said,
神聖羅馬帝國的皇帝查理曼大帝曾說過
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"To have a second language is to have a second soul" --
「擁有第二語言就如同擁有第二靈魂。」
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strong statement that language crafts reality.
強烈聲明語言能構成現實
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But on the other hand, Shakespeare has Juliet say,
但另一方面,莎士比亞的茱麗葉說
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"What's in a name?
「名字有何意義?
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A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
玫瑰不叫玫瑰,依然芬芳如故。」
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Well, that suggests that maybe language doesn't craft reality.
這又或許聲明了語言不能構成現實
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These arguments have gone back and forth for thousands of years.
這些言論在千年之間輾轉輪迴
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But until recently, there hasn't been any data
但直到最近為止,還沒有任何資料
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to help us decide either way.
能夠幫助我們佐證任一方
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Recently, in my lab and other labs around the world,
最近,在我的實驗室以及其他遍佈世界各地的實驗室中
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we've started doing research,
我們已經開始研究
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and now we have actual scientific data to weigh in on this question.
而現在,我們有了確切的科學數據能夠參與解答這道問題
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So let me tell you about some of my favorite examples.
讓我來告訴你們一些我最喜歡的例子
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I'll start with an example from an Aboriginal community in Australia
我會從這個例子開始,我曾經有幸能夠
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that I had the chance to work with.
和澳洲一個原住民部落一起工作
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These are the Kuuk Thaayorre people.
這些是 Kuuk Thaayorre 族人
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They live in Pormpuraaw at the very west edge of Cape York.
他們居住在 Pormpuraaw ,位於約克角的最西邊
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What's cool about Kuuk Thaayorre is,
有關 Kuuk Thaayorre 族很酷的一點是
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in Kuuk Thaayorre, they don't use words like "left" and "right,"
在他們的語言裡,並沒有「左」和「右」這類詞彙
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and instead, everything is in cardinal directions:
取而代之地,所有東西都是用方位標明:
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north, south, east and west.
北、南、東、西
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And when I say everything, I really mean everything.
我指的所有東西真的就是所有東西
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You would say something like,
你可能會說這類的話
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"Oh, there's an ant on your southwest leg."
「噢,在你的西南腳上有一隻螞蟻。」
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Or, "Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit."
或「把你的杯子往北北東移一點。」
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In fact, the way that you say "hello" in Kuuk Thaayorre is you say,
事實上在 Kuuk Thaayorre 語中,你說「你好」的方式是
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"Which way are you going?"
「你要去哪裡?」
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And the answer should be,
回答可能是
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"North-northeast in the far distance.
「遙遠的北北東方,
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How about you?"
你呢?」
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So imagine as you're walking around your day,
所以想像看看,當你走來走去時
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every person you greet,
每遇到一個你打招呼的人
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you have to report your heading direction.
你都必須回答你正前往的方向
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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But that would actually get you oriented pretty fast, right?
但那其實可以幫助你迅速找到方向感,對吧?
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Because you literally couldn't get past "hello,"
因為要是你不知道你要走的方向
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if you didn't know which way you were going.
你根本無法回答別人的問好
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In fact, people who speak languages like this stay oriented really well.
事實上,這類語言的使用者擁有很好的方向感
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They stay oriented better than we used to think humans could.
他們擁有更好的定位能力,比我們過去以為人類所能達到的還要好
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We used to think that humans were worse than other creatures
我們過去因著一些生理原因
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because of some biological excuse:
以為人類比其他生物都要遜色
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"Oh, we don't have magnets in our beaks or in our scales."
「噢,我們沒有帶有磁力的喙或是鱗片呀。」
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No; if your language and your culture trains you to do it,
不,若是你的語言及你的文化訓練你
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actually, you can do it.
你實際上辦得到
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There are humans around the world who stay oriented really well.
世界上有很多方向感很好的人類
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And just to get us in agreement
為了讓大家都知道
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about how different this is from the way we do it,
這跟我們習慣的有多不一樣
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I want you all to close your eyes for a second
我想要你們全都閉上眼睛
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and point southeast.
然後指出東南方
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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Keep your eyes closed. Point.
閉上眼睛。指出來
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OK, so you can open your eyes.
好,現在睜開眼
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I see you guys pointing there, there, there, there, there ...
看得出你們有些人指這裡、那裡,還有好多不同方向
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I don't know which way it is myself --
我自己其實也不知道到底是哪裡
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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You have not been a lot of help.
你們沒幫上什麼忙啊
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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So let's just say the accuracy in this room was not very high.
那我們就說這間房裡的人們方位精確程度不是很高
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This is a big difference in cognitive ability across languages, right?
不同語言之間的感知能力還真是不一樣,是吧?
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Where one group -- very distinguished group like you guys --
對於一群人來說,比如你們特定一群
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doesn't know which way is which,
並不知道哪個方位是哪裡
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but in another group,
但對於另一群人
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I could ask a five-year-old and they would know.
一個五歲小朋友都知道答案
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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There are also really big differences in how people think about time.
人們對時間的認知也有很多差異
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So here I have pictures of my grandfather at different ages.
這些是我祖父在不同年齡時的照片
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And if I ask an English speaker to organize time,
若是我要一個英語使用人士按時間排列
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they might lay it out this way,
他們或許會按這個順序排列
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from left to right.
由左到右
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This has to do with writing direction.
這是和寫字方向有關
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If you were a speaker of Hebrew or Arabic,
要是你是一個希伯來語或是阿拉伯語使用者
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you might do it going in the opposite direction,
你或許會用相反的方向排
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from right to left.
由右到左
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But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre,
但如果是 Kuuk Thaayorre 族人
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this Aboriginal group I just told you about, do it?
這個我剛和你們介紹的原住民族群呢?
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They don't use words like "left" and "right."
他們不用「左」和「右」這類的字
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Let me give you hint.
讓我給你點提示
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When we sat people facing south,
當我們讓人面向南方
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they organized time from left to right.
他們由左至右排列時間順序
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When we sat them facing north,
當他們面向北邊時
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they organized time from right to left.
他們由右至左排列
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When we sat them facing east,
當他們面向東方時
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time came towards the body.
時間是朝向身體
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What's the pattern?
模式是什麼?
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East to west, right?
由東至西,對吧?
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So for them, time doesn't actually get locked on the body at all,
所以對他們而言,時間軸並非依據身體
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it gets locked on the landscape.
而是依據地景
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So for me, if I'm facing this way,
對我來說,要是我朝這邊
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then time goes this way,
時間軸就是這樣
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and if I'm facing this way, then time goes this way.
若是我朝這邊,時間就是這樣
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I'm facing this way, time goes this way --
朝這邊,時間就是這樣
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very egocentric of me to have the direction of time chase me around
我每轉身一次,就要時間軸跟著我轉
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every time I turn my body.
這樣還頗自我中心主義的
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For the Kuuk Thaayorre, time is locked on the landscape.
對於 Kuuk Thaayorre 族來說,時間軸是依據地景
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It's a dramatically different way of thinking about time.
這是一個非常不一樣的時間思考方式
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Here's another really smart human trick.
下面是另一個非常聰明的人類技巧
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Suppose I ask you how many penguins are there.
假設我問你這裡有幾隻企鵝
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Well, I bet I know how you'd solve that problem if you solved it.
我想我知道你如何解答,要是你已經完成了
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You went, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight."
你數,「一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八」
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You counted them.
你數出他們
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You named each one with a number,
你用數字命名每一個
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and the last number you said was the number of penguins.
你最後一個講到的數字就是企鵝的數量
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This is a little trick that you're taught to use as kids.
這是你還是小孩時就被教導的技巧
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You learn the number list and you learn how to apply it.
你學習數字順序,你學習如何應用
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A little linguistic trick.
一個小小的語言技巧
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Well, some languages don't do this,
但有些語言不會那麼做
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because some languages don't have exact number words.
因為有些語言沒有確切的數字詞彙
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They're languages that don't have a word like "seven"
這些語言有些沒有「七」這個字
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or a word like "eight."
或是「八」
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In fact, people who speak these languages don't count,
事實上,這些語言的使用者不數數
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and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities.
他們就沒辦法計算確切的數量
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So, for example, if I ask you to match this number of penguins
所以,舉例來說,要是我要你們把這些數量的企鵝
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to the same number of ducks,
對應到一樣多的鴨子
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you would be able to do that by counting.
你可以透過數數辦到
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But folks who don't have that linguistic trick can't do that.
但是沒有這種語言技巧的人就辦不到
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Languages also differ in how they divide up the color spectrum --
區別顏色光譜的方式也因語言而異
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the visual world.
也就是視覺世界
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Some languages have lots of words for colors,
有些語言有很多顏色詞彙
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some have only a couple words, "light" and "dark."
有些只有一些字,「亮」和「暗」
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And languages differ in where they put boundaries between colors.
分隔顏色的方法因語言而不同
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So, for example, in English, there's a word for blue
舉個例子,在英語有「藍色 (blue)」這個字
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that covers all of the colors that you can see on the screen,
涵蓋了你在銀幕上能看到的所有顏色
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but in Russian, there isn't a single word.
但在俄語中,並不只有一個字
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Instead, Russian speakers have to differentiate
取而代之,俄語使用者必須分別
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between light blue, "goluboy,"
亮藍色 (goluboy)
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and dark blue, "siniy."
和暗藍色 (siniy)
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So Russians have this lifetime of experience of, in language,
所以俄語使用者終其一生都在經歷
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distinguishing these two colors.
利用語言區別這兩類顏色
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When we test people's ability to perceptually discriminate these colors,
當我們測驗人們憑感覺區別這些顏色的能力時
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what we find is that Russian speakers are faster
我們發現俄語使用者
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across this linguistic boundary.
在這方面比較迅速
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They're faster to be able to tell the difference
他們判斷亮藍和暗藍
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between a light and dark blue.
的速度比較快
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And when you look at people's brains as they're looking at colors --
而要是你在他們觀察顏色時看他們的腦部活動
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say you have colors shifting slowly from light to dark blue --
假設你讓顏色慢慢從亮藍變到暗藍
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the brains of people who use different words for light and dark blue
會使用不同詞彙表示亮藍和暗藍的語言使用者的腦部
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will give a surprised reaction as the colors shift from light to dark,
會在顏色由亮轉暗的時候發出驚人的反應
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as if, "Ooh, something has categorically changed,"
比如,「噢,類別不同了」
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whereas the brains of English speakers, for example,
而英語使用者的腦部,舉例來說
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that don't make this categorical distinction,
並不會區別這種類別差異
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don't give that surprise,
也不會感到驚訝
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because nothing is categorically changing.
因為類別並沒有改變
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Languages have all kinds of structural quirks.
語言有許多結構雙關
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This is one of my favorites.
以下是我最喜歡的一種
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Lots of languages have grammatical gender,
許多語言有文法性別
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so every noun gets assigned a gender, often masculine or feminine.
每一個名詞被分配到一個性別,通常是陽性和陰性
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And these genders differ across languages.
而這些性別因語言而異
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So, for example, the sun is feminine in German but masculine in Spanish,
舉例來說,在德語中太陽是陰性,但是在西班牙語是陽性
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and the moon, the reverse.
月亮則相反
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Could this actually have any consequence for how people think?
這會不會影響人們思考的方式呢?
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Do German speakers think of the sun as somehow more female-like,
德語使用者會不會覺得太陽比較有女性傾向
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and the moon somehow more male-like?
而月亮則比較傾向男性?
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Actually, it turns out that's the case.
事實上結果正是如此
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So if you ask German and Spanish speakers to, say, describe a bridge,
舉例,若是你要一個說德語的和一個說西語的人描述一座橋
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like the one here --
像是這裡這座
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"bridge" happens to be grammatically feminine in German,
「橋」在德語的文法性別剛好是陰性
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grammatically masculine in Spanish --
在西語則是陽性
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German speakers are more likely to say bridges are "beautiful," "elegant"
德語使用者比較可能用「美麗」、「優雅」來描述橋
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and stereotypically feminine words.
這些刻板印象中偏女性向的字
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Whereas Spanish speakers will be more likely to say
然而西語使用人士比較可能說
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they're "strong" or "long,"
「強壯」或是「長」
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these masculine words.
這些男性向字眼
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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Languages also differ in how they describe events, right?
不同語言描述事件的方式也不一樣,對吧?
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You take an event like this, an accident.
你覺得這種事件是一場意外
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In English, it's fine to say, "He broke the vase."
用英語,你可以說「他打破了花瓶」(He broke the vase.)
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In a language like Spanish,
用西班牙語這個語言
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you might be more likely to say, "The vase broke,"
你比較可能說「花瓶破了。」
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or, "The vase broke itself."
或是,「花瓶自己破了。」
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If it's an accident, you wouldn't say that someone did it.
如果是意外,你就不會說是誰造成的
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In English, quite weirdly, we can even say things like,
在英語,很奇怪地我們甚至可以說
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"I broke my arm."
「我打斷了我的手。」( I broke my arm.)
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Now, in lots of languages,
在很多語言裡
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you couldn't use that construction unless you are a lunatic
你不能這樣構句,除非你是一個瘋子
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and you went out looking to break your arm --
試圖打斷你的手臂
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(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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and you succeeded.
而且還成功了
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If it was an accident, you would use a different construction.
如果是一場意外,你會用不同的句構
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Now, this has consequences.
這其實會有影響
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So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things,
說不同語言的人會注意不同的事
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depending on what their language usually requires them to do.
取決於他們的語言通常要求他們什麼
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So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers,
所以我們把同樣的意外拿給英語人士和西語人士
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English speakers will remember who did it,
英語人士會記得是誰做的
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because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase."
因為用英文你必須說「他做的,他打破了花瓶」( He did it; he broke the vase. )
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Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it
而西語人士較不可能記得是誰做的
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if it's an accident,
若那是一場意外
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but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident.
但他們會比較可能記得這是一場意外
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They're more likely to remember the intention.
他們比較可能記得意圖
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So, two people watch the same event,
因此,兩組不同的人目睹一樣的事件
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witness the same crime,
目睹一樣的犯罪
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but end up remembering different things about that event.
但最後卻記得有關事件的不同事情
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This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony.
當然,這可能就目擊證人說詞另有意涵
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It also has implications for blame and punishment.
在歸咎和懲罰方現也是
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So if you take English speakers
所以,若是找來一位英語使用者
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and I just show you someone breaking a vase,
給他看某人打破花瓶
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and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke,"
然後,比起說「花瓶破了」(The vase broke.),我說「他打破了花瓶」(He broke the vase.)
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even though you can witness it yourself,
就算親眼目睹了事件
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you can watch the video,
看了影片
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you can watch the crime against the vase,
也看了對花瓶犯下的罪行
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you will punish someone more,
你會較多地懲罰某人
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you <