0:00:05.759,0:00:09.459
What color do you see[br]on the left side of the board?

0:00:10.037,0:00:11.127
(Audience) Blue.

0:00:11.570,0:00:14.898
Right. What color do you see[br]on the right side of the board?

0:00:14.898,0:00:17.170
(Audience) Blue, light blue.

0:00:17.170,0:00:20.040
(Laughter)

0:00:20.290,0:00:23.110
Okay, let's say this[br]is dark blue and light blue,

0:00:23.110,0:00:24.314
does everyone agree?

0:00:24.314,0:00:25.314
(Audience) Yeah.

0:00:25.314,0:00:28.674
Okay, so what would you[br]call them in general?

0:00:29.330,0:00:30.340
(Audience) Blue.

0:00:30.340,0:00:33.540
All right. Now, are there any people[br]who speak Russian?

0:00:34.620,0:00:35.640
Yeah?

0:00:35.640,0:00:37.960
Great. See a couple of hands.

0:00:37.960,0:00:42.580
All right, so what would you call[br]the color on the on the left in Russian?

0:00:42.620,0:00:43.539
Cиний.

0:00:43.569,0:00:46.190
So what about the color on the right?

0:00:46.230,0:00:47.480
(Audience) Rолубой.

0:00:47.490,0:00:50.820
Uh-huh. Now, what would[br]you call them together?

0:00:52.366,0:00:54.806
(Laughter)

0:00:54.806,0:00:56.814
I got you trapped because in Russian

0:00:56.814,0:00:58.628
you can't call them together.

0:00:58.628,0:01:01.022
In Russian, you can't say just "blue."

0:01:01.242,0:01:03.891
You have to either say "синий," dark blue,

0:01:03.891,0:01:05.982
or "голубой," light blue.

0:01:06.662,0:01:10.126
Now, I know that there are two or three[br]Armenian speakers too, right?

0:01:10.126,0:01:13.960
So I'm giving you a sentence,[br]and you translate it to Armenian.

0:01:13.960,0:01:15.699
"I have an uncle."

0:01:16.102,0:01:17.632
(Audience member) Ես քեռի ունեմ.

0:01:17.632,0:01:19.967
See, now Nana said "Ես քեռի ունեմ,"

0:01:19.967,0:01:21.687
but she's not correct.

0:01:21.687,0:01:24.436
(Laughter)

0:01:24.592,0:01:26.798
Because "I have an uncle" can mean

0:01:27.162,0:01:29.198
"I have an uncle from my mother side,"

0:01:29.198,0:01:31.171
or "I have an uncle from my father side."

0:01:31.171,0:01:34.752
What Nana said is "I have[br]an uncle from my mother side."

0:01:34.805,0:01:38.225
But I can say "Ես հորեղբայր ունեմ,"

0:01:38.225,0:01:40.895
which would mean "I have an uncle[br]from my father's side,"

0:01:40.895,0:01:43.267
and that would also[br]be a correct translation.

0:01:43.695,0:01:48.458
So Armenian, just like Russian[br]doesn't allow you to say just "blue,"

0:01:48.458,0:01:52.061
Armenian doesn't allow you[br]to say just "uncle."

0:01:52.061,0:01:55.465
You have to specify what uncle[br]you are talking about.

0:01:55.955,0:01:58.674
There are these differences in languages,

0:01:58.674,0:02:03.357
but when I was reading "Harry Potter"[br]by J.K. Rowling in Armenian,

0:02:03.695,0:02:06.465
I generally understood[br]what was going on in the book,

0:02:06.715,0:02:08.292
even though it was a translation,

0:02:08.292,0:02:10.829
even though there were[br]these differences in languages.

0:02:11.770,0:02:14.757
I read the same book,[br]almost the same book,

0:02:14.757,0:02:16.681
as English people did.

0:02:16.681,0:02:21.373
And you might be wondering[br]why I was holding this ruler, right?

0:02:21.373,0:02:25.272
Well, the reason is that translation[br]is like measurement.

0:02:25.675,0:02:29.153
So when you measure something,[br]let's say it's 20 centimeters,

0:02:29.153,0:02:31.873
but, most of us know that it's not 20.

0:02:31.873,0:02:35.026
It's 20 plus or minus 0.005.

0:02:36.250,0:02:37.250
Yeah.

0:02:37.250,0:02:39.739
Chemistry, physics, 10th grade.

0:02:39.948,0:02:41.633
(Laughter)

0:02:41.633,0:02:43.921
So it's very similar to translation.

0:02:43.921,0:02:47.952
When I read "Harry Potter,"[br]I was also seeing the same 20 centimeters,

0:02:47.952,0:02:50.887
but there was this small uncertainty.

0:02:51.127,0:02:53.587
Because languages[br]are different for a reason,

0:02:53.587,0:02:57.021
you can't just move ideas between them[br]without losing something.

0:02:57.021,0:03:02.155
So I lost that 0.005, but it's so minor,[br]that it doesn't really, really matter.

0:03:02.702,0:03:06.702
But is there a case[br]where it's not just 0.005,

0:03:06.702,0:03:10.745
but it's one centimeter[br]or maybe even 10?

0:03:10.745,0:03:14.745
Well, do you think this person[br]over here is a boy or a girl?

0:03:15.238,0:03:16.958
(Audience) Girl.

0:03:16.958,0:03:19.868
Yeah, most of you said "girl,"[br]and you were correct.

0:03:20.192,0:03:21.174
But -

0:03:21.474,0:03:25.827
she's actually the main character[br]of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird,"

0:03:25.827,0:03:28.264
and when I was reading this book,

0:03:28.833,0:03:30.900
there was something really weird.

0:03:31.110,0:03:35.859
I couldn't understand the gender[br]of the main character until about page 60,

0:03:35.859,0:03:38.595
because the author was only giving clues,

0:03:38.595,0:03:42.425
and the author was even[br]confusing me by quotes like:

0:03:42.425,0:03:46.425
"I swear, Scout, sometimes you act[br]so much like a girl, it's mortifying."

0:03:46.653,0:03:50.203
And when you say, "You act so much[br]like a girl it's mortifying,"

0:03:50.203,0:03:53.965
we understand that the person[br]is not supposed to act like a girl, right?

0:03:53.965,0:03:58.937
Or Scout was saying, "I beat him up[br]one time but he was real nice about it."

0:03:59.293,0:04:00.992
Beating up and girls?

0:04:01.593,0:04:04.763
In 1960? They are miles away, really?

0:04:04.763,0:04:06.413
(Laughter)

0:04:06.413,0:04:09.160
So that's why the author[br]really confused me,

0:04:09.160,0:04:11.449
and I was thinking,[br]"Maybe my English is too bad,

0:04:11.449,0:04:13.599
maybe I don't understand[br]this book correctly,"

0:04:13.599,0:04:17.338
but then I realized that this[br]is an essential part of the theme.

0:04:17.635,0:04:20.075
Because halfway through the book,

0:04:20.075,0:04:22.746
this character comes[br]whose name is Aunt Alexandra.

0:04:23.035,0:04:27.895
So she's Scout's aunt,[br]and she tries to make a girl out of Scout.

0:04:28.195,0:04:32.732
So first in the book,[br]Scout identifies herself as just a child.

0:04:32.838,0:04:35.345
I'm not a girl, I'm not a boy,[br]but just a child.

0:04:35.635,0:04:38.470
But then, Aunt Alexandra[br]trains her into a girl,

0:04:38.470,0:04:41.710
and at the end of the [book],[br]you can see Scout wearing dresses

0:04:41.710,0:04:44.340
and drinking coffee[br]with her auntie and her friends.

0:04:44.340,0:04:47.800
So just like Scout reveals her gender,

0:04:47.800,0:04:49.260
discovers her gender,

0:04:49.260,0:04:52.535
the reader does the same,[br]so we have the same journey

0:04:52.535,0:04:55.407
as the main character does,[br]we really live with her.

0:04:55.890,0:04:58.074
But then, let's take a look[br]at this example:

0:04:58.074,0:05:02.147
So when I say, "Mariam went home"[br]in English, Russian, or Armenian,

0:05:02.147,0:05:06.007
I know that I'm talking about a girl[br]because Mariam is the name of a girl.

0:05:06.007,0:05:10.907
All right, now let's change Mariam[br]with a pronoun, with "she."

0:05:11.071,0:05:13.077
"She went home," I know that it's a girl.

0:05:13.077,0:05:15.676
"Она пошла домой,"[br]I know that it's a girl.

0:05:15.676,0:05:19.173
But when I say "Նա գնաց տուն,"[br]it's just a question mark,

0:05:19.173,0:05:22.065
because in Armenian, as Nana[br]probably knows,

0:05:22.065,0:05:27.035
the pronoun "նա" represents[br]both boys and girls.

0:05:27.529,0:05:31.348
But even if I really want to hide[br]the gender of a person,

0:05:31.348,0:05:35.293
and I just give Mariam a nickname,[br]let's say "Scout" -

0:05:35.293,0:05:38.936
so "Scout went home" -[br]I don't know if it's a boy or a girl.

0:05:38.936,0:05:41.585
"Մեձաչքանին գնաց տուն,"[br]I still don't know.

0:05:41.585,0:05:45.114
But then when I say,[br]"Глазастик пошла домой,"

0:05:45.114,0:05:50.161
"Глазастик пошла домой, пошла домой,"[br]I know that it's a girl.

0:05:50.161,0:05:53.811
Because, just like you can't say[br]just "go" in Russian,

0:05:53.811,0:05:56.547
you cannot say just "went" in Russian,

0:05:56.547,0:05:58.501
or just any verb in Russian.

0:05:58.501,0:06:03.095
Because you have to either say[br]"пошёл," or "пошла."

0:06:03.385,0:06:06.955
"Пошёл" would be about boys,[br]and "пошла" would be about girls.

0:06:07.145,0:06:09.878
So when I want to translate[br]this sentence into Russian,

0:06:10.275,0:06:15.145
I have to say "Я избил его,"[br]or "Я избилa его."

0:06:15.145,0:06:17.288
And, wait ...

0:06:17.288,0:06:21.235
So does this mean that in Russian[br]you cannot hide someone's gender?

0:06:21.439,0:06:22.841
Yes, it does.

0:06:22.841,0:06:26.424
And when I was reading[br]the Russian book, guess what?

0:06:26.424,0:06:30.364
The gender of Scout was revealed[br]since the very first page.

0:06:30.777,0:06:33.576
So if I were to discuss this book

0:06:33.576,0:06:35.355
with my Russian friend,

0:06:35.355,0:06:39.214
who doesn't know about[br]the "hiding of Scout's gender,"

0:06:39.214,0:06:42.019
we would have complete different[br]understandings of the book.

0:06:42.019,0:06:45.339
So it's no longer 0.005 -[br]it's already a huge difference,

0:06:45.383,0:06:50.346
because my friend didn't get[br]that part of the theme that I did.

0:06:52.553,0:06:55.106
That is why reading[br]"Harry Potter" in Armenian,

0:06:55.293,0:06:58.723
and reading "To Kill a Mockingbird,"

0:06:58.723,0:07:02.025
Убить пересмешника, in Russian,[br]are a bit different.

0:07:02.025,0:07:06.423
Because even though there[br]are the differences in "Harry Potter" too,

0:07:06.423,0:07:08.198
they don't matter so much.

0:07:08.714,0:07:11.871
But Harper Lee decided[br]to use this uniqueness

0:07:11.871,0:07:17.526
that English has and the opportunity[br]that it gives her to convey a theme.

0:07:18.663,0:07:20.530
So when you read it in Russian,

0:07:20.530,0:07:23.525
you don't really get the theme[br]that she wanted to convey.

0:07:24.255,0:07:27.608
Another example of this[br]would be "Room," by Emma Donoghue.

0:07:27.608,0:07:31.157
But before going into the book,[br]I want to tell you something.

0:07:31.367,0:07:35.277
For example, this ruler would be[br]feminine in Russian,

0:07:35.277,0:07:37.317
because it's "линейка,"

0:07:37.317,0:07:43.070
and if it finishes with "а,"[br]then it's feminine, or with "я."

0:07:43.070,0:07:44.405
So that's how Russian works.

0:07:44.405,0:07:46.925
Spanish works the same way;[br]German works the same way.

0:07:46.925,0:07:50.465
These languages have a thing[br]that's called "grammatical gender."

0:07:52.795,0:07:55.072
In this book, in "Room" by Emma Donoghue,

0:07:55.072,0:07:58.585
a mother and her son are trapped[br]in a room for five years

0:07:58.585,0:08:02.282
and her son has never seen the world[br]outside of the room,

0:08:02.282,0:08:05.544
so it's logical to think[br]that he should be a little bit weird.

0:08:05.829,0:08:08.211
How is the weirdness[br]expressed in the book?

0:08:08.586,0:08:09.597
Well,

0:08:09.597,0:08:14.323
he thinks that all the objects[br]around him have genders.

0:08:14.323,0:08:17.605
So for example, this rug[br]wouldn't be just "it";

0:08:17.605,0:08:20.315
it would be a "she."

0:08:20.315,0:08:24.215
He has kind of a Russian mind,[br]but it's really weird for English people,

0:08:24.215,0:08:26.826
because when you say[br]"rug, she" in English,

0:08:26.826,0:08:28.516
then "rug" is personified.

0:08:29.206,0:08:31.966
When he says, "We've been making[br]labyrinth since I was two.

0:08:31.966,0:08:35.336
She's all toilet roll insides[br]taped together in tunnels

0:08:35.336,0:08:36.906
that twist lots of ways,"

0:08:37.456,0:08:39.207
now labyrinth is "she."

0:08:39.207,0:08:41.867
Fine. Now let's try[br]to translate this to Russian.

0:08:42.039,0:08:46.997
First of all, "лабиринт" would be "he,"[br]because it finishes with the letter "т."

0:08:47.366,0:08:49.041
But that's not what really matters.

0:08:49.746,0:08:51.956
You can argue that it doesn't matter

0:08:51.956,0:08:55.666
if you think of labyrinth[br]as "she" or "he."

0:08:55.666,0:08:58.632
The thing is that in Russian[br]it's completely natural

0:08:59.216,0:09:03.216
to say that "лабиринт" is "he"[br]because that's what people do.

0:09:03.216,0:09:08.242
So the thing that is seen as weirdness[br]in English in Emma Donoghue's book

0:09:08.392,0:09:10.892
is seen as a complete[br]normal thing in Russian.

0:09:11.626,0:09:13.707
That is why I want to connect it

0:09:13.707,0:09:16.220
to this thing that[br]Roman Jakobson has said:

0:09:16.220,0:09:19.480
"Languages differ essentially[br]in what they must convey,

0:09:19.480,0:09:21.274
and not in what they may convey."

0:09:21.810,0:09:25.151
So in Russian, I must convey[br]the gender of a person;

0:09:25.151,0:09:28.640
in Armenian, I must convey[br]the side of my uncle.

0:09:28.960,0:09:31.070
I can't just hide it.

0:09:32.154,0:09:36.112
So now I have a question for you:

0:09:36.112,0:09:37.605
Is it really the same book?

0:09:38.073,0:09:39.559
Thank you.

0:09:39.559,0:09:41.830
(Applause).