Ted Talk Analysis

     Tim Doner is a polyglot, which is a person who knows and uses several languages. His TED talk happened about two years ago. Two years prior, the New York Times published an article about his talent of language learning, called Adventures of a Teenage Polyglot. He begins by explaining how the media twisted his story, making it essentially a sensational about a neat trick he could do, on a level with "a skate boarding bulldog in a baby suit." 

     Next Doner explains his real interest in language. He claims that, contrary to the popular opinion among linguists, language is very strongly tied to worldview, and thus to culture. He wants to learn about other cultures and world views, and that is one of his major reasons for learning languages. 

     Doner was immersed in language diversity from a very young age, being a child voice actor. His family and friends found that he had a knack for accents and inflections. Next, throughout middle school and high school, he studied Latin, French, and Arabic. But he was having trouble with them. After several years of a language, he was still not comfortable conversing in it. This made language learning frustrating. Essentially, he had only thought of language as lists of rules and grammar. 

     So, he tried a different method. In an effort to learn about the crises in the middle east, he began learning Hebrew. Instead of the usual method, he began watching television in Hebrew. Within a short amount of time, he could converse in Hebrew. This is often called an immersion method, which focuses on learning in the context of conversation. So, his success led him to try another language, and then another, and then another. 

     Another method he used to help him learn used Youtube. He posted videos of him speaking in various languages, and invited comments. Many who already spoke those languages would give him tips and encouragement. Essentially, he found a way to converse with people in languages which he could not usually. 

     Next he went over various methods for keeping vocabulary straight, and basically the logistics of learning languages. As a student of Latin and Greek, this was helpful for me! I really appreciated his tips, but I and the audience were more effected by his main point. He explained that languages are dying. He claimed that every two weeks a language dies, and with it, a culture. This is very sad to any linguist. And he calls the audience, not to fix the dying, but to learn languages as a way to open and expand your worldview. Learning about other cultures makes us good citizens and friends, but it also improves our understanding of the world and ideas around us. 

Doner giving his TED talk. A year ago, he knew twenty languages!

     Moving on! Doner's execution of the speech was excellent. He tastefully included humor, and his audience clearly enjoyed it. He also included an excellent call to action, appealing to the emotions and reason of his audience. The only area I can see for improvement would be that he could benefit from seeming a little more humble. Despite the fact that he has reason to be very proud, humility of speech appeals to audiences more.

     As a lover of languages and of learning about culture, I strongly appreciated this TED talk, and encourage anyone to watch it!