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And in any species that acquired it, it would encourage you to hide your best ideas, lest somebody steal them from you.
在任何獲得這種能力的物種中，它都會鼓勵你隱藏最好的想法，以免有人從你那里偷走它們。
And so some time around 200,000 years ago, our species confronted this crisis.
大約在20萬年前，我們?nèi)祟惷媾R著這場危機(jī)。
And we chose to develop the systems of communication that would allow us to share ideas and to cooperate amongst others.
我們選擇了開發(fā)出交流系統(tǒng)讓我們可以分享想法，與他人展開合作。
Choosing this option would mean that a vastly greater fund of knowledge and wisdom would become available to any one individual than would ever arise from within an individual family or an individual person on their own.
做出這一選擇將意味著，任何個人都能獲得比單獨(dú)的家庭或個人所能獲得的多得多的知識和智慧。
Well, language is the result.
結(jié)果語言出現(xiàn)了。
Language evolved to solve the crisis of visual theft.
語言的演變是為了解決視覺盜竊的危機(jī)。
Language is a piece of social technology for enhancing the benefits of cooperation -- for reaching agreements, for striking deals and for coordinating our activities.
語言是一種社會技術(shù)，可以增進(jìn)合作的好處——達(dá)成共同意見，完成交易，協(xié)調(diào)我們的活動。
And you can see that, in a developing society that was beginning to acquire language, not having language would be like a bird without wings.
你可以看到，在一個開始學(xué)習(xí)語言的正在發(fā)展的社會中，沒有語言就像沒有翅膀的鳥。
As I said at the beginning, language really is the voice of our genes.
正如我一開始所說的，語言確實(shí)是我們基因的聲音。
But, as we spread out around the world, we developed thousands of different languages.
但是，我們散落到世界各地，發(fā)展出數(shù)千種不同的語言。
Currently, there are about seven or eight thousand different languages spoken on Earth. And then another problem occurred.
目前，地球上大約有七千到八千種不同的語言。然后另一個問題出現(xiàn)了。
It seems that we use our language, not just to cooperate, but to draw rings around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and perhaps to protect our knowledge and wisdom and skills from being stolen from outside.
似乎我們使用語言，不僅僅是為了合作，而且是為了圍繞我們的合作群體建立聯(lián)系，建立身份，也許是為了保護(hù)我們的知識、智慧和技能不被外界竊取。
And we know this because when we study different language groups and associate them with their cultures, we see that different languages slow the flow of ideas between groups.
我們之所以知道這一點(diǎn)，是因?yàn)楫?dāng)我們研究不同的語言群體并將他們與他們的文化聯(lián)系起來時，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)不同的語言阻礙了群體之間的思想交流。
Okay, this tendency we have, this seemingly natural tendency we have, goes towards isolation, towards keeping everything to ourselves, whereas our modern world is communicating with itself and with each other more than it has at any time in its past.
好了，我們的這種傾向，這種看起來很自然的傾向，趨向于孤立，趨向于把所有的東西都留給我們自己，而我們的現(xiàn)代世界更多的是在和自己交流，和彼此交流，比過去任何時候都要多。
And that communication, that connectivity around the world, that globalization now raises a burden.
這種交流，這種世界各地的聯(lián)系，這種全球化現(xiàn)在帶來了負(fù)擔(dān)。
Because these different languages impose a barrier, as we've just seen, to the transfer of goods and ideas and technologies and wisdom.
因?yàn)檎缥覀儎偛趴吹降?，這些不同的語言對商品，思想，技術(shù)和智慧的轉(zhuǎn)移造成了障礙。
And they impose a barrier to cooperation. What will be the solution?
他們給合作設(shè)置了障礙。解決方案是什么?
In a world in which we want to promote cooperation and exchange, and in a world that might be dependent more than ever before on cooperation to maintain and enhance our levels of prosperity,
當(dāng)前我們希望促進(jìn)合作與交流，可能比以往任何時候都更加依賴合作以維持和提高我們的繁榮水平，
I think it might be inevitable that we have to confront the idea that our destiny is to be one world with one language.
我認(rèn)為我們不可避免地要面對這樣一個觀點(diǎn)：我們的宿命是同一個世界，用同一種語言。
What do you think of the solution? Okay.
你認(rèn)為這個解決辦法怎么樣？好。
In today's lecture, I have presented to you how language shapes our humanity, what kind of dilemma social learning has created, and the possible solutions to the dilemma.
在今天的演講中，我向你們展示了語言如何塑造我們?nèi)祟?，社會學(xué)習(xí)創(chuàng)造了什么樣的困境，以及可能的解決方案。
In our next lecture, I am going to talk about lingua franca and its functions.
下一講，我將講通用語及其功能。
