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Poet Ali: Hi.
Audience: Hi.

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PA: I want to ask you guys a question.
How many languages do you speak?

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This is not a rhetorical question.

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I actually want you to think of a number.

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For some of you, it's pretty easy.

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Inside your head, you're like, "It's one.
You're speaking it, buddy. I'm done."

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Others of you maybe are wondering

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if the language an ex-boyfriend
or ex-girlfriend taught you,

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where you learned all the cusswords,

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if it counts -- go ahead and count it.

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When I asked myself the question,
I came up with four,

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arguably five, if I've been drinking.

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(Laughter)

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(In Italian: With a little bit of wine 
I can speak Italian.)

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(Applause)

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Cheers!

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But on closer examination,
I came up with 83 -- 83 languages,

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and I got tired and I stopped counting.

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And it forced me to revisit
this definition that we have of language.

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The first entry said,

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"The method of human communication,
either spoken or written,

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consisting of the use of words
in a structured or conventional way."

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The definition at the bottom refers
to specialized fields,

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like medicine, science, tech.

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We know they have their own vernacular,

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their own jargon.

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But what most interested me was
that definition right in the center there:

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"the system of communication used
by a particular community or country."

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And I'm not interested
in altering this definition.

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I'm interested in applying it
to everything we do,

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because I believe that we speak
far more languages than we realize.

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And for the rest of our time together,

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I'm going to attempt
to speak in one language

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that is native to every single
human being in this room.

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But that changes things a little bit,

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because then it's no longer
a presentation.

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It becomes a conversation,

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and in any conversation,

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there must be some sort of interaction.

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And for any interaction to happen,

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there has to be a degree
of willingness on both parties.

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And I think if we just are willing,
we will see the magic that can happen

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with just a little bit of willingness.

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So I've chosen a relatively low-risk
common denominator

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that can kind of gauge
if we're all willing.

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If you're happy and you know it,
clap your hands.

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(Claps)

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Now you're talking!

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(In Spanish: For all the people 
who speak Spanish,

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please stand up.

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And look at a person sitting to your side

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and start laughing.)

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(Laughter)

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Thank you so much.
Please be seated.

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Now, if that felt a little bit awkward,

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I promise there was no joke
being had at your expense.

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I simply asked the Spanish-speaking
audience to stand up,

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look at a person that was sitting
close to them and laugh.

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And I know that wasn't nice,
and I'm sorry,

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but in that moment,

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some of us felt something.

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You see, we're often aware
of what language does

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when we speak somebody's language,

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what it does to connect,
what it does to bind.

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But we often forget what it does
when you can't speak that language,

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what it does to isolate,
what it does to exclude.

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And I want us to hold on
as we journey through

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our little walk of languages here.

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(In Farsi: I'd like to translate
the idea of "taarof.")

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I said in Farsi, "I'd like to translate

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this idea of 'taarof'
in the Persian culture,"

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which, really -- it has no equivalent
in the English lexicon.

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The best definition would be
something like an extreme grace

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or an extreme humility.

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But that doesn't quite get the job done.

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So I'll give you an example.

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If two gentlemen
were walking by each other,

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it'd be very common 
for the first one to say,

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(In Farsi: I am indebted to you),

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which means, "I am indebted to you."

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The other gentlemen would respond back,

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(In Farsi: I open my shirt for you)

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which means, "I open my shirt for you."

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The first guy would respond back,

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(In Farsi: I am your servant)

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which means, "I am your servant."

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And then the second guy
would respond back to him,

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(In Farsi: I am the dirt 
beneath your feet)

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which literally means,
"I am the dirt beneath your feet."

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(Laughter)

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Here's an exhibit for you guys,
in case you didn't get the picture.

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(Laughter)

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And I share that with you, because

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with new languages come new concepts
that didn't exist before.

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And the other thing is,

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sometimes we think language is about
understanding the meaning of a word,

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but I believe language is about
making a word meaningful for yourself.

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If I were to flash this series
of words on the screen,

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some of you, you'd know exactly
what it is right away.

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Others of you, you might
struggle a little bit.

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And I could probably draw
a pretty clear-cut line

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right around the age
of 35 and older, 35 and younger.

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And for those of us that are in the know,

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we know that's text-speak,
or SMS language.

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It's a series of characters meant
to convey the most amount of meaning

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with the least amount of characters,

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which sounds pretty similar
to our definition of languages:

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"system of communication
used by a community."

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Now, anyone who's ever got
into an argument via text

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can make a case for how it's maybe
not the best method of communication,

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but what if I told you
that what you saw earlier

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was a modern-day love letter?

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If you follow along:

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"For the time being, I love you lots,

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because you positively bring out
all the best in me,

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and I laugh out loud, in other words,
let's me know what's up.

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'Cause you are a cutie in my opinion,
and as far as I know to see you,

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if you're not seeing someone,
would make happy.

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For your information,
I'll be right there forever.

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In any case, keep in touch,
no response necessary,

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all my best wishes, don't know,
don't care if anyone sees this.

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Don't go there, see you later,
bye for now, hugs and kisses,

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you only live once."

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(Applause)

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Kind of a modern-day Romeo or Juliet.

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In that moment, if you laughed,

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you spoke another language
that needs no explanation: laughter.

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It's one of the most common
languages in the world.

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We don't have to explain it to each other,
it's just something we all feel,

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and that's why things like laughter
and things like music are so prevalent,

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because they seem to somehow
transcend explanation

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and convey a profound amount of meaning.

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Every language we learn is a portal

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by which we can access another language.

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The more you know, the more you can speak.

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And it's something common that we all do.

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We take any new concept,
and we filter it through

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an already existing access
of reality within us.

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And that's why languages are so important,

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because they give us access to new worlds,

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not just people.

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It's not just about seeing or hearing,
it's about feeling, experiencing, sharing.

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And despite these languages
that we've covered,

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I really don't think we've covered

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one of the most profound
languages,

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and that's the language of experience.

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That's why when you're
talking with someone,

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if they've shared something you've shared,
you don't need to explain it much.

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Or that's why, when you're sharing
a story and you finish,

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and the people you're talking to
don't quite get it,

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the first thing we all say is,

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"Guess you had to be there."

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I guess you had to be here this week
to know what this is about.

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It's kind of hard to explain, isn't it?

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And for the sake of our research,
I'm going to close by asking

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that you participate one more time
in this language of experience.

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I'm going to filter
through some languages,

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and if I'm speaking your language,

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I'm going to ask that you just stand
and you stay standing.

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You don't need to ask permission,

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just let me know that you see me,

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and I can also see you

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if you speak this language of experience.

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Do you speak this language?

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When I was growing up in primary school,

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at the end of the year,
we would have these parties,

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and we'd vote on whether we wanted
to celebrate at an amusement park

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or a water park.

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And I would really hope the party
wasn't at a water park,

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because then I'd have
to be in a bathing suit.

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I don't know about you, but sometimes
when I approach a dressing room,

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my sweat glands start
activating on their own,

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because I know the garment is not
going to look on me

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like it did on that mannequin.

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Or how about this?

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When I would go to family functions
or family gatherings,

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every time I wanted a second plate --

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and I usually did --

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(Laughter)

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it was a whole exercise
in cost-benefit analysis,

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my relatives looking at me like,

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"I don't know. Do you really need that?
Looks like you're doing OK there, bud."

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Did my cheeks have a big
"Pinch me" sign that I didn't see?

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And if you're squirming
or you're laughing or you stood up,

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or you're beginning to stand,

186
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you're speaking the language
that I endearingly call

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"the language of growing up a fat kid."

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And any body-image issue
is a dialect of that language.

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I want you to stay standing.

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Again, if I'm speaking your language,
please go ahead and stand.

191
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Imagine two bills in my hand.

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One is the phone bill,

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and one is the electric bill.

194
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Eeny, meeny, miny, mo,
pay one off, let the other one go,

195
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which means, "I might not have enough
to pay both at the current moment."

196
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You've got to be resourceful.
You've got to figure it out.

197
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And if you're standing, you know
the language of barely making ends meet,

198
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of financial struggle.

199
00:08:47,806 --> 00:08:51,137
And if you've been lucky enough
to speak that language,

200
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you understand that there is
no motivator of greatness like deficiency.

201
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Not having resources,
not having looks, not having finances

202
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can often be the barren soil

203
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from which the most productive seeds
are painstakingly plowed and harvested.

204
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I'm going to ask
if you speak this language.

205
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The second you recognize it,
feel free to stand.

206
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When we heard the diagnosis,

207
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I thought, "Not that word.

208
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Anything but that word.

209
00:09:25,906 --> 00:09:27,304
I hate that word."

210
00:09:28,638 --> 00:09:30,648
And then you ask a series of questions:

211
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"Are you sure?"

212
00:09:33,633 --> 00:09:35,021
"Has it spread?"

213
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"How long?"

214
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"Doctor, how long?"

215
00:09:39,237 --> 00:09:42,821
And a series of answers
determines a person's life.

216
00:09:44,230 --> 00:09:47,655
And when my dad was hungry,
we'd all rush to the dinner table to eat,

217
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because that's what we did before.

218
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We ate together, so we were
going to continue doing that.

219
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And I didn't understand
why we were losing this battle,

220
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because I was taught if you fight
and if you have the right spirit,

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you're supposed to win.

222
00:10:00,207 --> 00:10:01,502
And we weren't winning.

223
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For any of you that stood up,

224
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you know very well that
I'm speaking the language

225
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of watching a loved one battle cancer.

226
00:10:09,123 --> 00:10:13,180
(Applause)

227
00:10:14,445 --> 00:10:18,417
Any terminal illness
is a derivative of that language.

228
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I'm going to speak one last language.

229
00:10:27,843 --> 00:10:29,236
Oh -- no, no, I'm listening.

230
00:10:30,264 --> 00:10:33,330
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no no, no no,
me and you, right here, yup.

231
00:10:33,354 --> 00:10:35,012
(Laughter)

232
00:10:35,036 --> 00:10:37,164
No, I'm with ya. I'm with ya!

233
00:10:37,188 --> 00:10:38,941
(Laughter)

234
00:10:38,965 --> 00:10:42,745
Or, imagine the lights are all off and
a blue light is just shining in your face

235
00:10:42,769 --> 00:10:44,501
as you're laying on the bed.

236
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And I know some of you, like me,

237
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have dropped that phone
right on your face.

238
00:10:48,210 --> 00:10:50,413
(Laughter)

239
00:10:51,174 --> 00:10:52,878
Or this one, right?

240
00:10:54,060 --> 00:10:57,459
Passenger seat freaking out,
like, "Can you watch the road?"

241
00:10:57,483 --> 00:10:59,929
And for anybody that stood up,

242
00:10:59,953 --> 00:11:04,717
you speak the language that I like to call
"the language of disconnection."

243
00:11:05,987 --> 00:11:08,814
It's been called
the language of connection,

244
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but I like to call it
the language of disconnection.

245
00:11:11,325 --> 00:11:13,998
I don't mean disconnection,
I mean disconnection,

246
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human disconnection,

247
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disconnected from each other,

248
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from where we are, from our own thoughts,

249
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so we can occupy another space.

250
00:11:24,930 --> 00:11:26,497
If you're not standing,

251
00:11:28,901 --> 00:11:31,295
you probably know what it's like
to feel left out.

252
00:11:32,382 --> 00:11:35,333
(Laughter)

253
00:11:35,357 --> 00:11:38,211
(Applause)

254
00:11:38,235 --> 00:11:43,320
You probably -- you know what it's like
when everybody's a part of something,

255
00:11:45,260 --> 00:11:46,926
and you're not.

256
00:11:46,950 --> 00:11:49,043
You know what it's like
being the minority.

257
00:11:49,401 --> 00:11:51,356
And now that I'm speaking your language,

258
00:11:51,356 --> 00:11:52,782
I'm going to ask you to stand,

259
00:11:52,782 --> 00:11:54,642
since we're speaking the same language.

260
00:11:54,715 --> 00:11:57,186
Because I believe that language
of being the minority

261
00:11:57,186 --> 00:12:00,564
is one of the most important languages
you can ever speak in your life,

262
00:12:00,564 --> 00:12:02,961
because how you feel
in that position of compromise

263
00:12:02,968 --> 00:12:06,214
will directly determine how you act
in that position of power.

264
00:12:07,937 --> 00:12:09,366
Thank you for participating.

265
00:12:09,390 --> 00:12:12,027
If you'd take a seat,
I want to speak one last language.

266
00:12:12,051 --> 00:12:14,074
(Applause)

267
00:12:17,449 --> 00:12:19,107
This one, you don't need to stand.

268
00:12:19,131 --> 00:12:21,734
I just want to see if you recognize it.

269
00:12:23,783 --> 00:12:26,492
Most the girls in the world
are complainin' about it.

270
00:12:27,279 --> 00:12:30,150
Most the poems in the world
been written about it.

271
00:12:30,174 --> 00:12:33,283
Most the music on the radio
be hittin' about it, kickin' about it,

272
00:12:33,283 --> 00:12:34,457
or rippin' about it.

273
00:12:34,655 --> 00:12:37,128
Most the verses in the game
people spittin' about it,

274
00:12:37,128 --> 00:12:39,761
most the songs in the world,
people talkin' about it.

275
00:12:39,959 --> 00:12:42,818
Most the broken hearts I know
are walkin' without it,

276
00:12:42,842 --> 00:12:44,106
started to doubt it,

277
00:12:44,130 --> 00:12:45,524
or lost without it.

278
00:12:46,166 --> 00:12:48,855
Most the shadows in the dark
have forgotten about it.

279
00:12:48,879 --> 00:12:51,315
Everybody in the world
would be trippin' without it.

280
00:12:51,319 --> 00:12:53,640
Every boy and every girl
will be dead without it,

281
00:12:53,704 --> 00:12:55,834
struggle without it, nothing without it.

282
00:12:56,735 --> 00:12:59,154
Most the pages that are filled
are filled about it.

283
00:12:59,154 --> 00:13:00,154
["It" = Love]

284
00:13:00,154 --> 00:13:03,011
The tears that are spilled
are spilled about it.

285
00:13:03,035 --> 00:13:05,520
The people that have felt it
are real about it.

286
00:13:05,544 --> 00:13:07,932
A life without it, you'd be lost.

287
00:13:07,956 --> 00:13:10,454
When I'm in it and I feel it,
I be shoutin' about it.

288
00:13:10,478 --> 00:13:12,638
Everybody in the whole world
knowin' about it.

289
00:13:12,662 --> 00:13:14,956
I'm hurt and broke down
and be flowin' about it,

290
00:13:14,980 --> 00:13:17,182
goin' about it wrong
'cause I didn't allow it.

291
00:13:17,206 --> 00:13:19,054
Can the wound or scar heal without it?

292
00:13:19,078 --> 00:13:21,923
Can't the way that you feel
be concealed about it?

293
00:13:21,947 --> 00:13:24,935
Everybody has their own ideal about it,

294
00:13:24,959 --> 00:13:26,402
dream about it,

295
00:13:26,426 --> 00:13:27,816
appeal about it.

296
00:13:28,382 --> 00:13:30,298
So what's the deal about it?

297
00:13:30,322 --> 00:13:32,492
Are you 'bout it to know
that life is a dream

298
00:13:32,516 --> 00:13:33,989
and unreal without it?

299
00:13:34,013 --> 00:13:35,537
But I'm just a writer.

300
00:13:35,561 --> 00:13:37,092
What can I reveal about it?

301
00:13:37,830 --> 00:13:42,419
Why is it that the most spoken-about
language in the world

302
00:13:42,443 --> 00:13:46,242
is the one we have the toughest time
speaking or expressing?

303
00:13:46,266 --> 00:13:48,348
No matter how many books,
how many seminars,

304
00:13:48,372 --> 00:13:50,902
how many life-coaching sessions we go to,

305
00:13:50,926 --> 00:13:52,529
we just can't get enough of it.

306
00:13:53,610 --> 00:13:54,774
And I ask you now:

307
00:13:54,798 --> 00:13:57,820
Is that number that you had
at the beginning, has that changed?

308
00:13:58,476 --> 00:14:00,533
And I challenge you, when you see someone,

309
00:14:00,557 --> 00:14:01,808
to ask yourself:

310
00:14:03,407 --> 00:14:05,480
What languages do we share?

311
00:14:05,504 --> 00:14:07,404
And if you don't come up with anything,

312
00:14:07,428 --> 00:14:09,852
ask yourself: What languages
could we share?

313
00:14:09,876 --> 00:14:12,055
And if you still don't
come up with anything,

314
00:14:12,817 --> 00:14:15,175
ask yourself: What languages can I learn?

315
00:14:16,315 --> 00:14:19,107
And now matter how inconsequential

316
00:14:19,131 --> 00:14:23,679
or insignificant that conversation
seems at the moment,

317
00:14:23,703 --> 00:14:26,250
I promise you it will
serve you in the future.

318
00:14:27,238 --> 00:14:29,347
My name is Poet Ali. Thank you.

319
00:14:29,371 --> 00:14:36,077
(Applause)