TED演讲：谈语言和思想(1)

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　　the Honorary Perpetual Secretary of L'Academie francaise, the French Academy. L'Academie francaise的荣誉终身秘书长--也就是法兰西学院

　　He is splendidly attired¹ in his 68,000-dollar uniform, befitting the role of the French Academy 穿着价值六万八千美元的豪华制服，对法兰西学院来说倒很适合

　　as legislating² the correct usage in French and perpetuating³ the language. 因为它规范着法语的正确用法，使这门语言永世长存

　　The French Academy has two main tasks: it compiles a dictionary of official French. 法兰西学院有两个主要任务，它编纂官方的法语词典

　　They're now working on their ninth edition, which they began in 1930, and they've reached the letter P. 他们目前在编第九部，从1930年就开始了，现在编到了P字头。

　　They also legislate⁴ on correct usage,  他们还规范正确的用法

　　such as the proper term for what the French call "email," which ought to be "courriel." 比如，电子邮件（email）在法语里的正确说法应该是"courriel"

　　The World Wide Web, the French are told, ought to be referred to as 他们告诉法国人，万维网应该被叫做

　　"la toile d'araignee mondiale" -- the Global Spider Web -- recommendations that the French gaily⁵ ignore. "la toile d'araignee modiale"--“环球蜘蛛网”--诸如此类法国人民欣然忽略的建议

　　Now, this is one model of how language comes to be: namely, it's legislated⁶ by an academy. 这是语言产生的众多模型之一：也就是说，由一个学院来进行规范

　　But anyone who looks at language realizes that this is a rather silly conceit⁷, 但任何懂得语言的人都意识到这是愚蠢的自负

　　that language, rather, emerges from human minds interacting from one another.  语言产生于人类心灵间的互动

　　And this is visible in the unstoppable change in language --  而在语言的不停变化中，这是显而易见的

　　the fact that by the time the Academy finishes their dictionary, it will already be well out of date. 事实上，当法兰西学院完成他们的词典时，它早已经过时了。

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