with different words in a slightly different order and maybe a different way of writing.

換成不同順序或是寫法不同而已。

Turns out, though, that there are lots of interesting features in other languages, some of which English would really benefit from having.

然而，其他語言有很多有趣的特色，其中一些如果英文有的話將大有益處。

I'm going to talk about four of them.

我現在來介紹其中四種。

Number one: Time-independence.

第一：時間獨立性。

If you want to describe an activity in English you have to say when it happened or when it will happen.

如果你要用英文表達一個動作，你得說出其發生時間或是將發生的時間。

You have to. That's how verbs conjugate.

你必須這樣做，這就是動詞變化。

There is no way in English to describe the concept of a person and dancing, but not to mention anything about time.

在英文裡沒辦法描述關於「人在跳舞」的概念而不提到時間。

Chinese, on the other hand. Verbs don't conjugate.

另一方面，中文沒有動詞變化這回事。

In most cases, the meaning is obvious from context.

通常透過前後文判斷，意思已經很清楚了。

I don't want to imply that Chinese doesn't have a tense system, it does, it's just not a requirement.

我不是說中文完全沒有時態，他有，但並非絕對必要。

It's not baked into every single sentence by default.

它並非自動烙印在每個句子裡。

Side note: tenses aren't as simple as past, present and future, and there are some lovely subtle tenses in other languages. More on that in a later video.

附註：時態並非只有過去、現在、未來那麼簡單，其他語言有些更微妙的時態變化。以後的影片會詳細介紹。

Anyway, if you want to write poetry with a more vague sense of time:

總之，如果你想用比較模糊的時間觀寫詩。

Chinese is one of the languages to choose.

中文是你的選項之一。

Number two: Clusivity.

第二：包含式。

The word "we" is confusing. Imagine going up to someone and saying, "Hey! We've just won the lottery!"

「我們」一詞容易產生混淆。想像你跟一個人說：「欸！我們剛中樂透耶！」

There are two possible meanings there.

這邊有兩種可能性。

Number 1: "we" refers to the speaker and the listener. We've just won the lottery! Brilliant!

第一：「我們」包含說話者和聽者。我們一起中了樂透，讚！

Number 2: "we" refers to the speaker and the speaker's friends but not the listener.

第二：「我們」包含說者和說者的朋友但不包含聽者。

We've just won the lottery! But you haven't.

我們剛中樂透但你沒中。

In languages with clusivity, there are different words for "we," depending on whether you're including the listener or not.

在擁有包含式的語言，「我們」有不同的詞彙，使用方式取決於是否包含聽者。

It shows up in languages in South Asia, Australasia, and all over the world apart from Europe.

這出現在南亞、澳大拉西亞、世界各地的語言，但歐洲除外。

And I really wish English had clusivity, because once you describe it, it's a blindingly obvious missing thing that we, we all could really use.

我超希望英文有包含式，因為當你描述事情，這顯然是我們大家所缺少，但會是很好用上的東西。

Number three: Absolute direction.

第三：絕對方位。

This isn't all that useful, but it is cool.

這不總是實用，但很酷。

In a few languages, notably a couple of Australian ones like Guugu Yimithirr, that's the one that's been extensively studied.

在某些語言中，尤其某些澳洲原住民語言，如其中被廣泛研究的一種語言是辜古依密舍語。

There are no words for left, right, forward and backward.

裡面沒有所謂「左」、「右」、「前」、「後」。

Instead, you always use cardinal directions, the equivalent words for north, south, east and west.

取而代之的是你得使用絕對方位，也就是「東」、「西」、「南」、「北」這些方位。

In this studio, north is that way, so right now, I have a north foot and a south foot.

在這間工作室，北邊是那個方向，所以現在我有一隻北方的腳和南方的腳。

If I turn, I now have a west foot and an east foot.

如果我轉身，我就有一隻西方的腳和東方的腳。

I think. I'm having trouble tracking something simple like that but if you're a native speaker of a language with absolute direction, your brain just handles it.

應該是這樣啦。我連這麼簡單的東西都很難定位，但若你是個有絕對方為概念的母語人士，你的大腦完全應付得來。

You always know which way you're pointing, and if you don't, you have trouble speaking.

你永遠知道你指的是哪方位，否則就講不出話了。

As a language speaker, I'd say, relative directions are a lot more useful,

作為語言使用者，我得說相對方位更實用些，

particularly for those of us that go on the London Underground often, but it would be great to know always, which way was north.

特別是對那些常搭倫敦地鐵的人，但若你想知道哪條路往北絕對方位就很有用了。

And finally Number four: Evidentiality.

最後第四：示證式或言據性。

In the same way that time is baked into English sentences, there are languages all over the world where evidence is baked in.

如同時態被烙印在英文語句，世上有些語言烙印著資訊來源的證據。

If you're reporting something that happened, you have to include whether you personally witnessed it or not.

如果你在回報發生了某事，你得說明你是否親自見到這件事情。

You can do this in English of course. "I saw that", "I heard that", but it's not required.

當然你能用英文表達這些「我看到」、「我聽到」，但這不是必要的。

Some languages have five or more different categories of evidence,

有些語言包含五種或更多種類的消息來源表示法，像是：

based on whether you saw it with your own eyes,

根據你是否親眼目睹，

experienced it firsthand but it didn't involve seeing, whether you inferred it from something else,

或是親身經歷卻沒有用眼睛看到，或者是否從其他資訊推斷，

whether you're reporting what someone else said...all these concepts, which are fairly complicated to explain in English,

或者是否引用他人說法等等，這些在英文裡極其複雜且難以表達的概念，

are expressed just by how you change the ending of a word.

只要改變字尾就可以表示出來。

All these fantastic features are one of the reasons why keeping minor languages alive is important.

這些美妙特性就是為何保留弱勢語言非常重要的原因。

If English had utterly dominated the world and stamped out every other tongue,

要是英文徹底征服世界並消滅所有其他語言，

then we'd lose not only these rich languages, but we'd lose the insights that we gain of what the human mind is capable of.

那我們不僅會失去這些語言，還會失去對人類思維能力的深入洞察。

So here's my question to you: can you think of a brand new language feature?

所以這是我給你的一個問題：你能想出一種新的語言特性嗎？

Something that every language should have, but doesn't.

一個各種語言都應該有的特性，但事實上卻沒有的那種。

Next time: Why things are always black and white, or blue or green?

下集預告：為何事物總是非黑即白，或非藍即綠？