0:00:20.579,0:00:21.865
Hi everyone.

0:00:21.865,0:00:26.241
I'm here to wake you up, because[br]I'm speaking in English about Chinese.

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So, could get a little complicated, but --

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I want to take you with me on a search[br]for traces of culture in language.

0:00:35.016,0:00:38.005
Because I feel that this[br]can help us overcome

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the outer limits of cultural difference.

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I'm taking Chinese[br]because I study Chinese,

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and Chinese is often thought,

0:00:48.806,0:00:51.045
Chinese characters are often thought of,

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as very simple pictures representing[br]what they're supposed to refer to.

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because Chinese doesn't have[br]a phonetic alphabet.

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So, if we look at this sign,

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we can try to guess what it means,

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and maybe you guessed right,[br]it's actually just a painting of water.

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So, the sign for water looks like water.

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However, there are many characters[br]in Chinese

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which will have much more profound[br]and poetic meaning,

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because they actually refer back[br]to their cultural and historic context.

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So, I want to take an example,[br]this is the word "xiang";

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it means "to miss someone".

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So, it's composed[br]of 3 different characters.

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On the bottom we have heart,

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which is obvious[br]when you are missing someone.

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On the top we have, on the left, a tree,[br]and on the right, an eye.

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So, it's kind of weird.[br]Why do we have tree and eye

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or wood and sight together in the word,[br]which means to miss someone?

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So to find this out, we have to go back[br]around 3,000 years in history,

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and look at a Chinese divination book,[br]the "I Jing",

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which is also called[br]the "Book of Changes",

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I'm sure you've all heard of it,[br]or some of you.

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And in it there is one sentence,[br]which is quite banal,

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and it combines these two words.

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So, the sentence goes something like this:

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What we can see most of[br]on Earth are trees.

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So, it's a very banal sentence.

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But ever since this sentence,[br]these two characters have been combined

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in different Chinese words[br]to have the meaning "to see".

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So, if you remember this,

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we can look at this character[br]and think of a story.

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Basically, in my heart,[br]I'm thinking of a person,

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I've missed this person.

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I get up, I go to the window,[br]and look out,

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hoping to see this person,

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but all I see is trees.

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Before I continue to the next character,

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I wanted to talk about another thing:[br]Memory.

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Memory is very important in our connection[br]to thought and language,

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and what I notice[br]when I was intensively studying Chinese,

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is that my memory started to change.

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I started to get a photographic memory.

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That means that[br]when I remembered words,

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I started to remember[br]how they looked on the page.

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This is something I couldn't do before.

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Another thing is,[br]that when I started to dream in Chinese,

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which happened around a year after I was[br]studying the language and living in China,

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I actually started to have[br]a different dreamscape,

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which felt and looked differently[br]in my dreams.

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So, these are all just different examples

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of the neurological[br]and psychological process

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which goes on in our brain[br]when we're learning a new language.

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Scientists have done[br]a lot of research on this,

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and we found out that language is actually[br]the fundament of our memory.

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And so when you learn a new language,

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actually, you're also learning[br]a new way of remembering things,

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and also you have a new perspective[br]on what it is you remember.

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So, the next character[br]I want to talk about,

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is one about individuality,[br]because it means I or me.

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And before I explain the character[br]I want to ask --

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just think about it --[br]why has China --

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why have Chinese scientists[br]and researchers and artists

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won so few Nobel Prizes?

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Because the truth is that China has won[br]remarkably few Nobel Prizes

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compared to the size of its population.

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You can count them on your hands.

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So why is this so?

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Is it because China is not[br]an innovative country?

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I think far from it.[br]There's actually a different reason.

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Let's take an example, in the 60's,

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a Chinese research team developed[br]a new way of producing synthetic insulin,

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and they were supposed[br]to be nominated for the Nobel Prize.

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Now, the Nobel Prize Committee[br]asked the Chinese institute

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to submit the exact names[br]of the researchers

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who had made this discovery.

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And what the noble prize committee got,[br]was a list of 230 names.

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So, it was everyone[br]in that Research Institute,

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from the director down[br]to the cleaning lady.

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(Laughter)

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So, basically they weren't nominated[br]and didn't win.

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But this this is a different perspective[br]on individual achievement,

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and the way individual achievement[br]contributes to the group.

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We can still find it today in,[br]for example, the political context

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when harmony is emphasized.

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Or we find it in the scientific context

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when we're talking about the difficulty[br]of intellectual property rights

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being put in place in China.

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So, basically this sign reflects[br]all of these thoughts.

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Because it's composed of two characters:

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On the left, we have a hand[br]which is grasping;

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on the right, I don't know[br]if you can recognize it, an ax.

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So, basically, an ax can be a weapon,

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but it can also be an instrument, a tool.

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I interpret this sign as meaning[br]that an individual, I or me,

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is someone who actually contributes[br]to the group,

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either by working for the group,[br]or by protecting the group.

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To explain this sense of community,[br]I wanted to take another example,

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which is eating.

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Food is so important in Asian culture,[br]we could talk about it until dinner time,

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but I'm just going to take[br]this simple example,

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and say that you'll never see[br]a person eating alone in China.

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So, this is actually something,[br]if you think about it,

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we do quite often ourselves.

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We grab a sandwich on the go,[br]we have a snack, we eat alone.

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But in China, there's a sentence,[br]there's a phrase,

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it's "吃獨食",[br][Pinyin: chī dú shí]

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it means "to eat alone" word-for-word,[br]"to eat alone".

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But if you say it about another person,

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if you say, "This person is eating alone,"

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it actually means this person[br]is very egotistical,

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and only thinks of him or herself.

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So, if you reflect on that,

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you notice that eating together[br]with other people

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is a responsibility,[br]a way of taking care of others,

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but it's also the prerequisite[br]to experiencing culinary pleasures.

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So, to enjoy the food,[br]you have to eat it with others.

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That's why Chinese tables[br]are mostly round.

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And even the act of paying for a dinner --

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When you're out in a group,[br]you've eaten dinner,

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they'll be one person, so: I will pay,[br]I will pay because -- for everyone --

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because I know that next time,[br]someone else will pay for everyone.

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Now, you may think this is of no interest[br]and it's like banal,

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but actually it inscribes the relationship[br]between me and this group

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into a continuity, into time,

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and it produces a stability[br]and a sustainability

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to the relationship[br]I have with this group.

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Finally, I want to come[br]to the third character I want to present

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which is love,[br]so representing all emotions today.

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And love is often thought to be universal,

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so we're supposed to[br]recognize it everywhere,

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and it has the power[br]to overcome all limits.

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But, actually, if we start thinking about[br]the way love is lived and perceived

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by individuals,[br]and inside of different cultures,

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there's actually a big difference[br]the way we understand love to be.

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For example, already in the West,[br]83% of Americans feel

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that true love is possible[br]without physical fulfillment.

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However, only 34% of French people[br]agree to this.

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So, we see then in France,[br]romantic words, language, literature,

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is very important in relation to love.

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Coming back to China, I would say[br]that it's almost the opposite,

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because in China many couples,[br]and also many married couples,

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actually, have never told each other the[br]three magic words "I love you".

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If we look at this sign --

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oh, yeah, by the way, being too romantic[br]in China, it seems insincere --

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so guys remember this, could be useful.

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(Laughter)

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So, if we come back to the character --

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you've already seen[br]two different characters --

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so this one has the hand on top,

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it's held over a roof.

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And under that roof we have one[br]which we could recognize,

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it's the heart -- again.

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And under the heart,[br]we have the sign for friendship,

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which is actually two hands[br]clasped into each other.

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So, if we take this thing seriously,

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we understand that[br]the Chinese notion of love,

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which is embedded in this word,

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is a notion of a feeling,[br]which is living together as a family,

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and which becomes more valuable over time.

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This is relevant, because our idea[br]of romantic love is actually the opposite,

0:10:03.118,0:10:06.060
it's something which is special[br]in the beginning.

0:10:06.060,0:10:08.960
That's why, for example,[br]young couples in China,

0:10:08.960,0:10:12.476
they will try to marry very fast[br]after they've met each other,

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maybe even two or three months[br]after they first met.

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You will never see a Chinese couple[br]splitting the bill,

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each person paying for themselves.

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Why? Because, already,[br]they have associated the concept of love

0:10:26.564,0:10:30.489
with the concept of family being one.

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Before I conclude, I wanted[br]to talk about fighting

0:10:35.280,0:10:38.397
because fighting is important in emotion.

0:10:38.397,0:10:43.223
And there's actually a quite -- almost --

0:10:43.223,0:10:46.613
well, many Chinese couples fight[br]in a special way,

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which is called "几天不说话",[br][Pinyin: jǐ tiān bù shuō huà]

0:10:49.759,0:10:53.653
and it means not to speak[br]for several days --

0:10:53.653,0:10:55.976
so it actually means[br]not to speak to each other.

0:10:55.976,0:10:58.553
It's the silent treatment.

0:10:58.553,0:11:01.701
I've actually witnessed this[br]with a middle-aged couple,

0:11:01.701,0:11:04.937
and they didn't speak to each other,[br]after they got angry with each other,

0:11:04.937,0:11:06.421
for 7 days.

0:11:06.421,0:11:09.347
So, 7 days they were cooking,[br]making meals for their kids,

0:11:09.347,0:11:12.441
doing everything as usual,[br]except in silence.

0:11:12.441,0:11:15.421
And after 7 days,[br]they suddenly started to talk again

0:11:15.421,0:11:17.077
as if everything was back to normal

0:11:17.077,0:11:23.130
and they didn't talk about[br]what they were upset about or the past.

0:11:23.130,0:11:26.690
So, it's just from this type of phenomena,

0:11:26.690,0:11:31.030
we recognize that, actually,[br]words and language

0:11:31.030,0:11:35.797
influence the way,[br]we, as individuals, feel emotions.

0:11:35.797,0:11:40.769
And also that words are important,[br]just as important as objects,

0:11:40.769,0:11:43.938
they have just as much meaning[br]for others, and weight,

0:11:43.938,0:11:47.649
so we should be just as careful[br]handling our words,

0:11:47.649,0:11:54.340
as we do when we're handing[br]material objects.

0:11:54.340,0:11:57.654
So, to finish I took this image.

0:11:57.654,0:12:03.196
This is a pictogram[br]from the Chinese sign for you,

0:12:03.196,0:12:04.567
it's only part of the sign,

0:12:04.567,0:12:09.161
and it actually represents,[br]with some imagination maybe we --

0:12:09.161,0:12:15.019
it represents threads on a loom,[br]métier à tisser,

0:12:15.019,0:12:17.810
a cross into a pattern.

0:12:17.810,0:12:22.389
So, I wanted to take this image[br]as a symbol of our own personalities,

0:12:22.389,0:12:25.588
our own personalities made up[br]of many different strands,

0:12:25.588,0:12:28.247
and they're woven into a certain pattern,

0:12:28.247,0:12:32.504
in the way we grew up[br]in our family and our culture.

0:12:32.504,0:12:34.792
And, basically, learning[br]a different language

0:12:34.792,0:12:38.152
gifts you the opportunity[br]to untangle these strands,

0:12:38.152,0:12:42.651
and weave them again[br]in your own new and authentic pattern.

0:12:42.651,0:12:46.829
So, what I want us to remember,[br]is that learning a language

0:12:46.829,0:12:49.939
is not learning[br]another professional skill,

0:12:49.939,0:12:53.676
it's actually giving yourself[br]the opportunity to change.

0:12:53.676,0:12:56.652
For example,[br]I'm actually a German-American,

0:12:56.652,0:12:58.895
and I live in France and in China,

0:12:58.895,0:13:01.773
and each time[br]I switch languages or places,

0:13:01.773,0:13:06.631
I actually show a slightly new side[br]of my own personality.

0:13:06.631,0:13:10.299
So, basically, learning[br]a different culture or different language

0:13:10.299,0:13:12.253
is an opportunity for change,

0:13:12.253,0:13:16.888
and I want you to think that if you learn[br]an exotic language,

0:13:16.888,0:13:18.853
it might just be your own gateway

0:13:18.853,0:13:22.421
to a different way of dreaming,[br]eating and loving.

0:13:22.421,0:13:23.562
Thanks.

0:13:23.562,0:13:25.562
(Applause)