Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds English: The pen is mightier than the sword Spanish: La pluma es la lengua del alma - The pen is the tongue of the soul Mandarin: 笔扫千军 - the stroke of a pen sweeps away a thousand troops Italian: Opera naturale è ch’uom favella -It is a natural thing for humans to speak English: Words are loaded pistols [Onscreen] Italian: Chi ha lingua in bocca, può andar per tutto - He who knows a language can go anywhere Mandarin: 笔扫千军 - The stroke of a brush sweeps away a thousand troops Arabic: لسانك حصانك إن صنته صانك - Your tongue is like your horse: if you take care of it, it will take care of you German: Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen - he who doesn’t know foreign languages knows nothing about his own.
Skip to 0 minutes and 11 seconds Japanese: 言霊 - The power of language Arabic: لسانك حصانك إن صنته صانك - Your tongue is like your horse; if you take care of it, it will take care of you French: Les paroles s’envolent, les écrits restent -Spoken words fly away; written words remain German: Ein Volk hat keine Idee, zu der es kein Wort hat - A people has no understanding of a thing for which it has no word [Onscreen] Galician: A lingua é como a auga, vai onde ten que ir - a language is like water, it goes where it has to go Zapotec: Diidxa nacasini guiiba ni hrucaalú - Words are like weapons Japanese: 言霊 - The power of language The quotes you’ve just seen and heard are all in different languages, and they all have different meanings, but they speak to the same idea, that language is more than just a tool for communication.
Skip to 0 minutes and 28 seconds It’s powerful and plays an important role in global politics, nation building, and identity. In this course, we will explore the role that languages play in every facet of life and how they can be used, for good or for ill, to shape the world. We’ll learn about the world’s major languages like English, Spanish, French and Mandarin, but we’ll also see how lesser studied languages have their own impact on the world. We’ll look at the question of influence, both how languages influence each other and how they can be used as a tool of influence. Then we will investigate the issue of status, what gives languages their status and in some cases, how they lose it.
Skip to 1 minute and 8 seconds Finally, we’ll consider how languages can be used to create a sense of belonging and personal identity. You’ll learn about a lot of languages in this course, but there are thousands more. We encourage you to think about the languages you know about and how they might fit into each week’s conversation. And together, we will investigate what makes each language unique as well as what binds them. So join us in our exploration of the power of languages.
