Language: The Bridge Between Cultures | Grant Cho | TEDxYouth@Conejo
Summary
TLDRGrant Chavez shares his belief that language is not a barrier but a bridge to understanding and connection. Through two personal experiences in South Korea, he illustrates how knowing Chinese and Korean enabled him to help others and immerse in their culture. Chavez emphasizes the importance of language in preserving cultural heritage and encourages learning new languages to foster unity and insight into diverse perspectives.
Takeaways
- đ Language is a bridge, not a barrier, that enables understanding and communication across cultures.
- đ« The speaker's experience on a flight to South Korea highlighted the importance of language in providing assistance to those in need.
- đ” An elderly Chinese woman's struggle on a plane demonstrated the practical challenges of language barriers in daily life.
- đȘ The speaker's rudimentary Chinese helped to bridge the gap between the woman and the flight crew, showing the power of even basic language skills.
- đ°đ· Growing up as a Korean-American, the speaker's limited Korean initially hindered deeper cultural engagement.
- đ„ Joining a local program in Korea allowed the speaker to immerse in the language and culture, leading to personal growth and connection.
- đ€ The confusion over the use of 'Sam' in Korea underscored the importance of understanding cultural nuances in language use.
- đ Learning languages like Chinese and Korean provided the speaker with new lenses to view the world and participate in different cultures.
- đïž Language loss is a significant issue, with a language dying every 14 days, leading to the loss of cultural perspectives.
- đŁïž The speaker encourages overcoming the fear of language learning to preserve and appreciate cultural diversity.
- đșđž The script concludes with a call to action for Americans to embrace language learning to better understand and connect with diverse cultures within their own country.
Q & A
What does the speaker believe language should be instead of a barrier?
-The speaker believes that language should be a lens that helps us understand one another, communicate, and learn about different cultures.
What was the first experience the speaker had that solidified their belief about language?
-The first experience was on a flight to South Korea where the speaker noticed an elderly Chinese woman struggling to move around due to a blocked pathway by a baby bed, and the language barrier preventing her from getting help.
How did the speaker assist the elderly woman on the flight?
-The speaker used their rudimentary knowledge of Chinese to communicate with the woman and convey her issues to the flight attendants, who then adjusted her seat and helped her.
Outlines
đ Overcoming Language Barriers to Connect Cultures
The speaker, Grant Chavez, introduces the concept that language is not a barrier but a tool for understanding and communication. He shares two personal experiences that solidified his belief. The first was assisting an elderly Chinese woman on a flight to South Korea who was struggling due to a language barrier. Despite limited Chinese, Grant was able to communicate with her and help resolve her issue with the flight crew. The second experience occurred during his visit to Korea, where he immersed himself in the local culture and language, leading to a deeper understanding and connection with the people. These anecdotes illustrate the power of language in bridging gaps between cultures.
đŁïž The Importance of Language in Cultural Preservation
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄLanguage
đĄCultural Lens
đĄCommunication
đĄBarrier
đĄHeritage
đĄMentorship
đĄSlang
đĄFear
đĄVanishing
đĄDiversity
đĄEmpowering
Highlights
Language is not a barrier but a tool for understanding and communication.
The speaker's belief that language provides lenses to understand and learn about other cultures.
Personal experience on a flight to South Korea highlighting the importance of language in assisting others.
Using rudimentary Chinese to help an elderly woman on a plane.
The impact of learning Chinese on the speaker's ability to help someone in need.
The speaker's realization of the importance of language during a trip to Korea.
The experience of being in a Korean community and the encouragement to practice the language.
Understanding signs, jokes, and slang in Korean as a result of immersion.
The confusion caused by the use of 'Sam' as a term for teachers in Korea.
Learning the local slang 'Sam' to better understand and communicate with Korean peers.
The transformative effect of language on the speaker's cultural immersion and participation.
The importance of language for fully understanding a culture.
The alarming rate at which languages are disappearing and the cultural loss that accompanies it.
The potential loss of cultural perspectives as languages die out.
The speaker's personal journey of learning languages to preserve cultural heritage.
The diversity of languages spoken in the United States and the low percentage of bilingual adults.
The call to action for understanding and embracing the diverse languages within local communities.
The empowerment and enlightenment that come with learning new languages.
The final message emphasizing the importance of learning languages to connect with others.
Transcripts
annyeonghaseyo Chonan Jo Seungyeon Amida
pan gaffes NIDA hello everyone my name
is grant Chavez nice to meet you all
today in the world today language is
often seen as a barrier that divides
groups and keeps us all up I believe
however that language is not a barrier
and it doesn't have to be rather
language provides us with the lenses
that we need in order to understand one
another and to communicate and learn
about other cultures two recent
experiences on the same trip has
solidified my beliefs
the first experience was on my flight to
South Korea this past summer there was
an elderly Chinese woman sitting to my
right just a few rows ahead of me and
naturally wouldn't have thought any less
about I think on a plane packed with
passengers but the reason why this woman
stood out to me in particular is because
I noticed that every time she left her
seat to use a restroom she had to
literally climb over her armrest and
with great difficulty because her
pathway had been blocked by a baby bed
attached to the pathway in front of her
now the woman was becoming incredibly
distressed at her inability to have easy
access to the restroom and she wasn't
able to get any help from the crew
members because they could only speak
English and Korean neither of which this
woman could understand much less speak
herself and so I sat and they watched
her come and go several times and of
course I felt really bad because I
couldn't help her and then I realized
hey wait a minute I listen with my
rudimentary knowledge from four
semesters of Chinese in the tones over
and over and over in my mind and finally
I mustered up the courage to walk up
gently tap on the shoulder and ask
jinglun excuse me meow touloool Shama
would you like to sit down okay Ching
ego confusion bunk Junie I can call over
a flight attendant to come and help you
and upon hearing this she looked at me
and she smiled and she kindly declined
explaining that she
had a bad leg and would prefer to stand
in the aisle until she had to go to the
restroom again and a flight attendant
who noticed we were both out of our
seats came over to ask us to sit down
and so I took the opportunity to convey
her issues and luckily the crew members
were able to adjust her seat and help
her out although I wasn't able to solve
a problem in his entirety I was at least
able to provide a connection or at least
some comfort by using my facility in the
Chinese language I was able to provide a
link between her and the crew and more
importantly I was able to aid someone
who needed help yet couldn't ask for it
learning Chinese allowed me to
positively impact and interact in
someone else's life that I wouldn't have
been able to if I did not know any
Chinese whatsoever
my second experience of languages
insight came during that same trip to
Korea now growing up as korean-american
born and raised in the States
besides the customary annyeong haseyo
and the bow that accompanies that when
greeting adults that was the basic
extent of my knowledge of Korean
language and culture I had visited Korea
several times as a young boy but I never
really interacted with a local community
besides my grandmother and maybe a few
extended family members but during this
fourth visit something changed I had the
opportunity to join a program and hang
out with a group of kids my own age and
being in a scenario where nobody spoke
English you might say I was highly
encouraged to begin practicing learning
and speaking and all of a sudden it was
like a switch in my mind had been turned
on and suddenly things made sense I was
actually reading and understanding signs
on the streets making jokes with my new
friends and even catching on to popular
slang words and phrases in Korean now I
met most of my friends in a sub program
headed by a group of college students at
home ich university and for the most
part they served as mentors and all of
us younger kids were mentees and it was
all fine and all until I kind of noticed
something a little bit strange and it
was that every time a student needed
something they would call the teacher by
Sam in fact to me utter horror every
mentoring the program was named Sam I
mean that guy over there Sam dock girl
over there Sam how do I know which time
I want to talk to if they all have the
same name
I mean it's crazy okay
luckily my friends finally cleared it up
for me the word that I was used to
hearing all the time from my short
little studies in Korean school was a
son saying name which word for teacher
again but most Koreans didn't use the
word stem which is a slang word for
short by communicating to my new friends
in their own language and their own
words I was really able to get a better
grasp and understanding about their
daily life and culture in Korea
speaking Korean not only allowed me to
become closer with them but also I was
no longer a foreigner looking from the
outside in I was able to change myself
from being an observer who could only
guess at what is going around him into
becoming an active participant in his
surroundings and immerse myself in their
society in order to fully understand a
culture you have to know its language
because language is the written and
verbal manifestation and reflection of
any group of people this task becomes
increasingly more difficult however as
we begin to encounter different
languages and cultures that are less and
less related to or similar to our own
but the key to overcoming these
differences is through language language
is not a barrier but rather it is a
bridge a bridge between our differences
between different cultures and customs
so if language is so empowering and
eye-opening why don't more people
attempt to make these linguistic
connections with others then mystic and
called Lenz's I strongly believe we why
people are still hesitant to learn new
language is due to fear the fear that
they might mess up speak fumble over
pronunciation and tones or just aren't
good with language so why even try if
you want something real to fear I think
that it should be this every 14 days a
language dies yes
dies this means that there is no longer
a single living person on this planet to
speak that language and even more
disturbing is that according to national
Geographics vanishing sis by the next
century nearly half of the roughly 7,000
tongues
spoken on this earth
will likely disappear as communities
abandon Native Tongues in favor for
English Mandarin or Spanish so then this
does post is this poses a question what
happens when a language goes silent what
is lost when a language dies an entire
culture dies with it and when that
happens we lose the opportunity to see
the world from another perspective and
thus we lose another cultural lens I
think that my message is best
encapsulated by Marcel Proust a French
novelist who observed that the true
voyage of discovery is not by seeing new
lands but rather through seeing with new
eyes learning the Chinese and Korean
languages gave me two lenses that
changed myself from being an observer
into an active participant in another
culture and by having knowledge in
multiple languages not only was I able
to become closer to those around me but
especially with learning more Korean I
was able to gain and preserve a piece of
my heritage that I almost lost
completely as American citizens I am
sure that we are all well aware of the
fact that America as a nation celebrated
with an incredibly diverse and
multi-ethnic population in fact
according to the US Census Bureau there
are over 350 languages spoken in this
country alone however only 18% of adults
are reported to be bilingual I strongly
believe that in order to begin
understanding other entire cultures and
other entire peoples we must begin with
understanding the diverse people around
us in our local communities and perhaps
even revisiting our own cultures and
heritage language isn't is empowering
language is enlightening and language is
uniting and now all we have to do is
learn it thank you
you
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