You are fluent in this language (and don't even know it) | Christoph Niemann

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2018
  • Without realizing it, we're fluent in the language of pictures, says illustrator Christoph Niemann. In a charming talk packed with witty, whimsical drawings, Niemann takes us on a hilarious visual tour that shows how artists tap into our emotions and minds -- all without words.
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ความคิดเห็น • 1.3K

  • @chasehyaku5090
    @chasehyaku5090 5 ปีที่แล้ว +14270

    *puts bilingual on job application*

    • @crownoftressesorganicsllc5503
      @crownoftressesorganicsllc5503 5 ปีที่แล้ว +155

      ...until spoken to & everyone waits for your response! 😂🤣😂

    • @drakeoh2
      @drakeoh2 5 ปีที่แล้ว +61

      @@crownoftressesorganicsllc5503 How would they know what language to speak to them in?

    • @jackrush1222
      @jackrush1222 5 ปีที่แล้ว +129

      can speak and understand english and wingdings

    • @cmbaz1140
      @cmbaz1140 5 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      English !
      ...do you speak it ?

    • @billybadbean9077
      @billybadbean9077 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      Sabra's Calming Waters - The ASMR Life You just go silent and start pulling whiteboards with cartoons on them and just talking with that

  • @darthbane5676
    @darthbane5676 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3540

    I never thought I would look at an avocado and think it was a catcher’s mitt.

    • @whimsy5623
      @whimsy5623 4 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      No he was throwing the avocado

    • @JasherClark
      @JasherClark 4 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      @@whimsy5623 he's catching the pit with the avocado

    • @bachlamtung5131
      @bachlamtung5131 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The FBI err are you joking or just... stupid

    • @whimsy5623
      @whimsy5623 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Bách Lâm take a wild guess

    • @lov3hurts943
      @lov3hurts943 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@whimsy5623 Some people huh? Lol

  • @resveries_
    @resveries_ 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2987

    this is how we communicate using memes without captions xD

    • @uselessshroob
      @uselessshroob 4 ปีที่แล้ว +64

      | || || | __

    • @kirkkek
      @kirkkek 4 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      @@uselessshroob *gasp* The memes

    • @meltinggoo3272
      @meltinggoo3272 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@uselessshroob wow, that was funny

    • @retrothecake
      @retrothecake 4 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      @@uselessshroob is this loss

    • @LemonChad
      @LemonChad 4 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      Now explain how we communicate memes without the image

  • @andrasfogarasi5014
    @andrasfogarasi5014 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7349

    Jokes on you, Ted. I'm blind.

    • @Vokieeeee
      @Vokieeeee 5 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      Then why do You reply in Writing ? Liar !!!

    • @theunfair8925
      @theunfair8925 5 ปีที่แล้ว +505

      You can ask someone to write for you.

    • @NinaNooneknows
      @NinaNooneknows 5 ปีที่แล้ว +538

      There are also programs that help you write by saying the letters aloud, etc. Or maybe even Braille keyboards? Aside from the text-to-speech reading programs on the other side of the issue of course.

    • @v7ran
      @v7ran 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      James R can I please be the person circled in green and with my name stroked out in green?

    • @TahreyUK
      @TahreyUK 5 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      I can only congratulate you on your tenacity for hanging out on a _video streaming site,_ therefore.
      ...does your screen reader even highlight italics?

  • @ironbarsjack7977
    @ironbarsjack7977 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1432

    “They inexplicably start rotating” if this ain’t a mood

    • @motlesluna1857
      @motlesluna1857 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      😂😂yeah that's a mood

    • @atticus52
      @atticus52 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Lol

    • @izzy-oc6nh
      @izzy-oc6nh 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      TBH I'm a kid and I don't just rotate, I turn into a helicopter that's why it's called "helicopter mode"

    • @xexpaguette
      @xexpaguette 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      When my brother stopped using a cot, you'd see him in the morning upside down on his bed??? His feet were on the pillow and it was so confusing every time i woke up

  • @karasira2696
    @karasira2696 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5087

    He's not only an artist, he is also a good stand-up comedian!

    • @snowman7514
      @snowman7514 5 ปีที่แล้ว +128

      Stand up artist lol

    • @robertsmith5095
      @robertsmith5095 5 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      I'd like to hear more if his jokes they tickled me

    • @joe1813
      @joe1813 5 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      KARASIRA comedy is an art

    • @pagansunite4005
      @pagansunite4005 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      He's so funny that I'm crying. Lmao!!! X'D

    • @kirbylover_6
      @kirbylover_6 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      #ActionsSpeakLouderThanWords

  • @davetate1155
    @davetate1155 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4165

    That fukushima image was genius.

    • @SakuraMoonflower
      @SakuraMoonflower 5 ปีที่แล้ว +224

      Elegant and sorrowful. :(

    • @cmbaz1140
      @cmbaz1140 5 ปีที่แล้ว +82

      Serene

    • @glanni
      @glanni 5 ปีที่แล้ว +136

      It really sent shivers down my spine.

    • @holocaust_2.0
      @holocaust_2.0 5 ปีที่แล้ว +156

      I keep reading your post as "That fucking sushi image was genius."

    • @gideonbowman2689
      @gideonbowman2689 5 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      And emotionally powerful.

  • @AvangionQ
    @AvangionQ 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1513

    This is why emojis are so popular.

    • @cobalius
      @cobalius 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      Telegram stickers..

    • @allanrichardson1468
      @allanrichardson1468 5 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      I still don't like the one that looks like chocolate ice cream ... but isn't!

    • @cornyboi4434
      @cornyboi4434 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      ☝️☝️😱👌✌️

    • @theunfair8925
      @theunfair8925 5 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    • @trangha3904
      @trangha3904 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Allan Richardson 💩

  • @MelliaBoomBot
    @MelliaBoomBot 4 ปีที่แล้ว +76

    see how comfortable his shoes are? that is where you're aiming.

  • @RamzaBeoulves
    @RamzaBeoulves 5 ปีที่แล้ว +991

    I'm mind blown by how creative this guy is. Seriously, check out his stuff
    How do you come up with that!?

    • @bennemann
      @bennemann 5 ปีที่แล้ว +87

      Did you not watch the video? He says it himself: several hours of frustration and writer's block, every day. Creativity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

    • @viswavijeta5362
      @viswavijeta5362 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Struggle is the inevitable part of an artist life. This is what baroques and jewels him.

    • @pietrayday9915
      @pietrayday9915 5 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      Most people can do it pretty easily from a young age - we go through a lot of effort to educate it out of them until they finally learn how to stop, as part of their preparation for joining an industrial-era workforce of balance books, assembly lines, and corporate offices.

    • @easytoslip
      @easytoslip 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      creativity doesn't just pop out of thin air usually, it's about pushing out lots of content, and a small percentage of it will be good. So like anything else you want to get good at, work toward quantity and with it will come quality.

    • @roflmows
      @roflmows 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      99% of what we create goes nowhere...wasted time, work, and effort. but the 1%....oh, that's the golden moment that makes the anger, frustration, tears, struggle, doubt, and anxiety all worth it. and for that reason, the 99% is never wasted :)

  • @groznyentertainment
    @groznyentertainment 5 ปีที่แล้ว +362

    The part where he say that a Design should collapse if one element is removed is very enlightening for me as an artist

    • @tacticalsapper
      @tacticalsapper 5 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      Old saying (at least at my university): It is design (not art) when you can't remove anything anymore".

    • @JaapVersteegh
      @JaapVersteegh 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Interesting enough I think that this is probably true for any design, not just the ones with a big D. Whether it be text, structures or software. The absolute minimum to convey meaning or function usually seems the best.

    • @eklectiktoni
      @eklectiktoni 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I feel like he didn't say *should* but rather that is what he strives for personally.

    • @kristypolymath1359
      @kristypolymath1359 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I find this enlightening. My art journey started as an attempt to draw what was in a profound dream I had just awoken from. My current waypoint in my journey is to copy exactly what I see in painting still life subjects, or at least attempt to. That's too far to the right in my journey. I want to take a few steps back, and paint realistic things with less detail.

  • @e4r281
    @e4r281 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3428

    You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.

    • @loganmadison1640
      @loganmadison1640 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      e4r omfg

    • @Shopokun
      @Shopokun 5 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      It's hard to Roll with the Changes when I can't even tuna fish....

    • @boiledcheetos7359
      @boiledcheetos7359 5 ปีที่แล้ว +54

      It should be instead; "I can't tune a piano, but I can tuna fish"

    • @MrCScottie
      @MrCScottie 5 ปีที่แล้ว +87

      Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.

    • @elr4f436
      @elr4f436 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      No you didnt

  • @uditabhattacharya2824
    @uditabhattacharya2824 5 ปีที่แล้ว +461

    Chris: "You are fluent in the language of reading images"
    Me: I'm blind

    • @allisond.46
      @allisond.46 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      That’s why they have tactile images. And also people who can verbally describe it to you.

    • @mr_dirt3434
      @mr_dirt3434 4 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@allisond.46 bruh he still cant see

    • @MagixxzDC
      @MagixxzDC 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@mr_dirt3434 ..that's like saying you can't speak Spanish if there are no Spanish people around you.. you can... you are still fluent in reading images if it is described to you

    • @mr_dirt3434
      @mr_dirt3434 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@MagixxzDC I'm sorry to say but he would still have no concept of sight if you verbally described it to them its like asking a blind person what they see. Answer is they don't see at all they "see" nothing blank but you will never know what that is like because you were not born blind

    • @mr_dirt3434
      @mr_dirt3434 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@MagixxzDC and that was a horrible analogy

  • @StrongButAwkward
    @StrongButAwkward 5 ปีที่แล้ว +61

    "You're all fluent in Memes"
    John Oliver: "Cool"

  • @amiri7392
    @amiri7392 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2637

    Title was a bit clickbaity, but the presentation was pretty good.

    • @MrBoubource
      @MrBoubource 5 ปีที่แล้ว +115

      That is the only way to gather people who were not interested in the topic in the first place.

    • @ConstantinKlose-sj4mb
      @ConstantinKlose-sj4mb 5 ปีที่แล้ว +187

      Clickbait is not bad in itself, it's more about what comes after the clickbait

    • @JLConawayII
      @JLConawayII 5 ปีที่แล้ว +56

      I don't think you understand what "clickbait" is.

    • @geministargazer9830
      @geministargazer9830 5 ปีที่แล้ว +39

      There's a fine line between attention grabbing and clickbait and I think this one is fine, technically it's right although most people don't think of this as a language

    • @vitaspieler469
      @vitaspieler469 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Agreed. Thumbs down for the clickbaity title.

  • @heal0152
    @heal0152 4 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    4:01 When i was a kid, i could say that this is _really accurate_

  • @annag6400
    @annag6400 5 ปีที่แล้ว +337

    Based on the photo I thought it meant we were all fluent in cat language 😂

  • @isabelbogdan4202
    @isabelbogdan4202 4 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    "They start rotating" lmao, I always rotated when I was a child sleeping in the bed of my parents. I lay in bed normally. When I woke up, My head was there where my feet should be and the feet where my head should be. I always was so confused about that😂😂

  • @allanc750
    @allanc750 5 ปีที่แล้ว +395

    i thought language of cats

    • @klarag7059
      @klarag7059 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Allan C mrowww prrrroow - that’s cat for, “clickbaited again”.

    • @suzyexol1424
      @suzyexol1424 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      😂😂 Allan I thought the same thing

    • @englahimla9451
      @englahimla9451 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Yeah, I thought that or just basic body language. Because (at least most people) do in some way understand other people through their body language - consciously or not.

    • @trappedkitty5335
      @trappedkitty5335 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I saw the cat in the image, knew it was a book (maybe about cat language), but thought he probably wrote it. I do everything my cat wants. We don't speak, but she has me well-trained.

    • @juuls7082
      @juuls7082 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's the other way around, they are fluent in ours th-cam.com/video/tVx2uCcDXX0/w-d-xo.html

  • @TheSentientCloud
    @TheSentientCloud 5 ปีที่แล้ว +379

    God I just grinned widely at the Tetris reference.
    I find what he's saying is more relevant today than it ever has been. Why? One word. Memes. Memes have not just become random unrelated images that have a *very specific* type of caption associated with it. They've become nonsensical to the point of dadaism, where the nonsensical nature of the image is part of the image itself (deep fried memes). I can remove all captions from Hide the Pain Harold, and to someone who doesn't know memes at all, they'd say "oh, just a stock image." But to anyone who remotely does know memes, we immediately know what this image means, and its context, what it is to be used for. It's amazing how well we live in a society where memes are just... understood, to the point you probably raised an eyebrow at the fact I said "we live in a society."
    Memes are fascinating.

    • @adamyoung6797
      @adamyoung6797 5 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      You actually picked the topic apart concisely at a pretty advanced level. I'd completely forgotten what dadaism was until you said it. You should make a click baity youtube essay or something with a feel-good ending. Also, +rep for profile picture, but the House always wins.

    • @TheSentientCloud
      @TheSentientCloud 5 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      What's more fascinating is how some memes take off and some memes don't. A lot of memes, especially captioned memes, aren't created by celebrities. Some Redditor or Imgurian posts a picture, and under the picture people caption it with various types of captions. Take the Anti-Joke Chicken meme from 10 years ago. Unlike with humans, it's not like the chicken's expression says that it takes everything literally. If you tried captioning with, say, something that belongs on a Philosoraptor quote, people will get mad at you for "using the meme incorrectly." I was part of the generation that was a teenager during the Impact font days of memes. So why did none of my funny cat pictures take off as memes? They're no "different" than someone else's cat pictures, and if I tossed the same caption on a slightly different cat, it suddenly might become popular.
      There's something more than just a hidden "language" behind memes. We as humans look at a meme and somehow say "this image has nothing to do with this caption but the caption fits the image perfectly" en masse which means there's a more psychological (with cultural variance) meaning to memes. We as humans are able to read into images more deeply than just what's on the surface, and even beyond the intention of photographs. It's fascinating how good we are at this.
      In fact we are so good at finding details where they don't exist, that we can see and hear things when there's nothing at all. This is why people see the Virgin Mary on their toast, or even in complete static. This is why people hear voices through white noise (known as an electronic voice phenomenon, not to be confused with how "ghost hunters" think it's "actual ghosts" talking)--white noise has frequencies from the entire audio spectrum--especially the frequencies human voice is in. Because we're tuned to hear other human voices, our brains pick up on the white noise's human voice spectrum and it almost sounds like someone is whispering sometimes, when really, it's just your computer fan whirring.
      If you want to watch more about that, I recommend you watch a different TED talk, called "Believing in Strange Things" by Michael Shermer. (Or that was what I thought it was called but you can watch it here: th-cam.com/video/8T_jwq9ph8k/w-d-xo.html). My dad showed me this when I was a kid. I think it was new, back then. But it helped me think critically and to not believe everything I see or hear (in a literal sense, not just an information sense).
      And I'm sorry, Robert, but you've been dismantled from the inside out, the puppet master himself being puppeteered into his own destruction. No gods, no masters, long live Independent New Vegas! (Also I just think Yes Man is the cutest robot ever so...)

    • @NilesBlackX
      @NilesBlackX 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      | |l
      || |_

    • @originalname8541
      @originalname8541 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@NilesBlackX why do I understand this

    • @sarcasm-83
      @sarcasm-83 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Milhouse.jpg

  • @sharonmills1013
    @sharonmills1013 4 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    When I taught preschool, I was always amazed how, by age 2 to 3, the children could distinguish among cat, bunny, and dog in simple illustrations in children’s books. Even if the child had never seen these animals in real life, there was something consistent in the characteristics of each animal drawing that allowed the child to discern which animal was in the illustration.

  • @alixm1n1
    @alixm1n1 4 ปีที่แล้ว +194

    “Every time a image like this is made a baby panda dies “
    Everyone
    H a h a h a h a h a h a

    • @zeptmagazines2088
      @zeptmagazines2088 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      actually i didn't get that one. why do the baby panda dies?

    • @zeptmagazines2088
      @zeptmagazines2088 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@plixplop i see

    • @enchantedgamer9428
      @enchantedgamer9428 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@zeptmagazines2088 For example you might say to a kid, in order to keep them from saying cuss words, that every time you say a cuss word, a unicorn disappears.

    • @zeptmagazines2088
      @zeptmagazines2088 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@enchantedgamer9428 aaaaa i understand it clearly now! thanks~!!

    • @Gigatless
      @Gigatless 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Ted: Literally. I will find a baby panda and kill it.
      The audience: [keeps laughing]

  • @maddy2811
    @maddy2811 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Welcome to: what i watch at 4 am in quarentine

  • @EctoGamer
    @EctoGamer 4 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    2:53 that laugh is like a rooster

  • @berni1602
    @berni1602 5 ปีที่แล้ว +320

    Wow, I wasn't expecting this, I actually think it's a wonderful talk. I've seen his art, but I didn't know it was from him, but he has a very simple, but at the same time, out-of-the-box way to make us amaze by what he does.
    I also loved that TED has sign language translators, I hadn't seen them before.

  • @headcrab4
    @headcrab4 5 ปีที่แล้ว +389

    As a motion graphics animator, I know the feeling of "Business Man climbing a ladder shaped like increasing stocks towards a dollar sign" all too well. I cannot tell you how many times I've animated a "Network" consisting of bathroom-stall characters in circles with lines connecting those circles. It's gotten so bad I decided to create a project filled with all of the "Tropes" so I can just copy-paste as needed. I do hope more businesses begin to understand that their audience is capable of understanding more abstract concepts than they get credit for.

    • @klarag7059
      @klarag7059 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      headcrab4 and no baby pandas are harmed in the creating of your motion graphics.

    • @Chreeq
      @Chreeq 5 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Im an IT consultant. My job is to do basically the same thing with another tool. Explain a customer what is best for them with the options that are available.
      I feel there is a need for Art Consultants as a business. Because most people who make design decisions in companies are nowhere close to being capable artists. Make it a profession and you will find success in it.

    • @pietrayday9915
      @pietrayday9915 5 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      There's a reason I try not to let other people find out that I enjoy writing and drawing and so on: the moment they do, there's always at least one person who jumps at the chance to drag me into some sort of unrewarding, bland, generic use for those "talents" - "you can draw? PERFECT - I really need someone to draw this business man climbing a ladder shaped like a stock graph towards a dollar sign, and you're just the person to do it!" "You like writing music? PERFECT! I really need you to write something exactly like this pop song, but write my girlfriend's name into the lyrics instead! And don't do any of that weird avant-garde stuff this time, that crap's kind of creepy...." "Ooh, a writer! I have this idea I need you to write for me, it's exactly like the plot to Harry Potter, except the character looks just a little bit more like this famous actor, and this bit is a little more like this TV show, and this character was just a bit like me...."
      Maybe a general audience really is capable of understanding something more extract and not enough people making the decisions give audiences enough credit, but there IS still a huge part of the audiences made up of people like those managers, editors, focus-group managers, and whatever who ARE satisfied with those generic Business Men on their Stock Ladders reaching for their Golden Dollar Signs, and there's an opportunity there somewhere, for those artists capable of swallowing their pride, letting their souls die a little, and just embrace this lucrative target audience.
      I just can't do it, myself....

  • @braydenday9770
    @braydenday9770 5 ปีที่แล้ว +436

    That makes sense. Think of hieroglyphs and walls of caves that have drawings from “cavemen.” We’ve had to learn this to survive, to learn. It makes complete sense why we have this ability

    • @chadoftoons
      @chadoftoons 5 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Cavemen and cavewoman tend to be really underestimated - plants didn't make the same produce that they do now yet we moved to agriculture anyway possibly because we wanted to make alcohol from it just think of cavepeople being able to ferment plants into a drink that gives men courage on the hunt and that could "feed" you aswell. They probably thought just as much to be ontop of the world that we think of ourselves today and so probably there has been quite little change from thoose times compared to now other then children being fed well enough to properly develop and some minor mutations

    • @perkypears
      @perkypears 5 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      chadoftoons a bit off topic but the concept of how cavemen are considered dumb nowadays but were actually pretty creative and smart at the time reminds me of how Neil deGrasse Tyson has explained a few times how, many of us think cavemen are idiots even though that was only a few thousand years ago, imagine how stupid and caveman-like we are even today compared to something like an alien race that has been around very slightly longer than us lol. if you showed a cellphone to someone a couple hundred years ago they’d think you’re a witch but really that’s only a few generations of humans back. in just a couple hundred years from today we will have some technology we couldn’t imagine nowadays

    • @maddiesiegmund5623
      @maddiesiegmund5623 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Then you have Chinese script which is drawing images rather than writing phonetic words

    • @TaiFerret
      @TaiFerret 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@chadoftoons I think there are definitely more idiots today than back in prehistoric times.

    • @pietrayday9915
      @pietrayday9915 5 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      I've been saying for decades that "cavemen" were, on average, almost certainly smarter than modern man. The consequences for stupidity would have been higher in an age before formal education, before doctors to patch you up, before lawyers and police, before governments to provide safety nets, before fully-developed language, before all the other great apex predator-monsters of the age of the Megafauna were rendered all but extinct by naked savages armed with little more than sticks and stones: eat the wrong thing, sleep in the wrong place, step into the wrong forest without seeing the hidden dangers, and you're moments away from a fast and difficult doom.
      We've forged a world where being stupid or ignorant for just a moment of inattention need no longer be an instant death sentence, and stupid people can live to ripe old ages and become fabulously wealthy successes.
      Those "cavemen" lived in a world where that sort of luxury was far too expensive to afford, and even being just a little bit smarter and cleverer and able to think and react fast was no guarantee of survival, and every little bit better than that counted.
      So, anyway, the skill being demonstrated by this video is definitely a survival skill: the ability to see the hidden possibilities in the seeming random chaos of our natural environments can spell the difference between life and death, whether it's a matter of spotting well-camouflaged predators or food, or of spotting new ways of using and combining the natural objects around us into tools for survival, or recognizing the danger that seemingly harmless things in isolation have when combined together. The ability to forge order out of the chaos of nature has been one of the major skills that have kept human beings alive and flourishing in great comfort today in spite of early stiff competition from the many faster, larger, stronger, and scarier creatures that grew up in the cradle next to us, like saber-tooth tigers, dire wolves, monstrous cave bears, and so on.
      There's a very good, hard-coded reason why we can either take great pleasure in seeing the "faces" "hidden" in ordinary, every-day random objects in the context of a funny picture, or great terror in seeing them in the context of what seems like a ghostly photograph, and why the drawings in this video delight and amuse us so much, while people viewing the random assembly of unrelated things in the TH-cam conspiracy theory video down the street quake in paranoid terror of the sinister patterns they think they see in the chaos: there is both delight and terror in the ability to see hidden dangers and opportunities in the wilderness before they see us, and because the capacity to recognize patterns even where they might not exist can give us an edge on survival, it's only natural that there will be a built-in reward system for doing so, as well as a close link to our fight-or-flight responses!

  • @ashi6742
    @ashi6742 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    When at the wifi he said "uneasy and panic" my WiFi suddenly disconnected and timed out

  • @BlubbryVM
    @BlubbryVM 4 ปีที่แล้ว +142

    My dumb self:
    *"why is there an avocado?..wow that's a big avocado"*

  • @kittykat490
    @kittykat490 5 ปีที่แล้ว +117

    this guy’s art is super good!!! perfect level of simplicity and meaning, just as he explains he aims for.

    • @kittykat490
      @kittykat490 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      moreover this is a very well given talk! not pedantic like so many are

  • @lowercase_ash
    @lowercase_ash 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    9:05 at the bottom, in the middle to the left a little bit.
    This makes me so happy

  • @jerri1918
    @jerri1918 5 ปีที่แล้ว +66

    Video title: "you are fluent in this language but you don't know it"
    Speaker: "i am an artist"
    me: "oh okay i know what this video is about now and im not even 10 seconds in"

    • @f.d.6667
      @f.d.6667 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Your point is?

    • @cormanec210
      @cormanec210 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      F. D. Who said he had a point? He just wants to comment on his thoughts

    • @josephlinaldiyos9.779
      @josephlinaldiyos9.779 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Me too!

    • @deamy5186
      @deamy5186 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@f.d.6667 you don't get his point. He means "Visual Language"

  • @blackblade8357
    @blackblade8357 5 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    9:07 never ever thought meetings have people(very left bottom, the girl in blue sitting towards people) to translate words to sign language for their ease of understanding. It blow my mind when i found it.

    • @HelenavV_
      @HelenavV_ 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Of course they do, interpreters do stuff like that all the time

    • @HelenavV_
      @HelenavV_ 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Geth270 they can't if they don't know the context

  • @_zeroman
    @_zeroman 4 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    theres two types of people:
    1) those who can extrapolate from incomplete data

  • @NotWithThatAttitude
    @NotWithThatAttitude 4 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    9:05 I noticed this lady in a long sleeve shirt translating his speech into sign language for those deaf people in the audience and I wanted to just point her out, I think some things that are done are small but kind and sometimes they don't get recognition. Yes maybe she was hired but I like to remember the people behind the scenes that make some things possible, even if it's as small as translating🙂

  • @austingainesburrow678
    @austingainesburrow678 5 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    4:12 "We like to call this to helicopter mode.." 🤣🤣..

  • @user-rd6dh4hq1j
    @user-rd6dh4hq1j 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    'You're fluent in the language of reading images.'

  • @asharockz7
    @asharockz7 5 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Some things cannot be EXPLAINED but EXPRESSED through Art! 💗

    • @RowanOakley
      @RowanOakley 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ashu .. what if your blind

  • @JPAnor
    @JPAnor 5 ปีที่แล้ว +253

    quite an entertaining speech

    • @xBreeze12
      @xBreeze12 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      sonic says: "furries should be euthanized"

    • @dazzlingsky8863
      @dazzlingsky8863 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      isn't sonic a furry tho
      O that's a old comment

    • @toyseal5665
      @toyseal5665 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Sonic Says, people who hate people for what they like are assoholic bitches!

  • @JovanLemon
    @JovanLemon 4 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    I was 99% sure this will be about cats, I guess I was wrong...

    • @clemclam481
      @clemclam481 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      LemonGamer omg same. I was already set to comment ‘meow’

  • @thetangerine5747
    @thetangerine5747 4 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    4:10 omg I use to sleep in my parents bed all the time and I would do this, my mom still complains to this day about me sleeping horizontal

  • @ikimihimiri633
    @ikimihimiri633 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    5:53 This is probably what anime industries taught to their employees. 2D is a perfection.

  • @NetAndyCz
    @NetAndyCz 4 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    7:15 I really appreciate the Ionic columns supporting the ancient TV, those are my favourite columns!

  • @TaylorLincoln401
    @TaylorLincoln401 5 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    I’m not the biggest art fan however I appreciate it and know that it’s important for us to evolve and to understand that art also plays a huge part in almost every part of our existence. Interesting ted talk thank you.

    • @John-ti2xr
      @John-ti2xr 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Taylor Lincoln Alvarado I like to think theres art in far more places then just pictures. A chef can make art out of a meal. video games, movies, music, were all art fans of one sort or another if you think about it.

    • @cham-prisc
      @cham-prisc 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      next time you buy a dress think about the process that made people create them as you see them, when you see everything that someone made, like a bottle of water, well.. you'll better think that someone spent hours designing them and that is art. If a famous designer tomorrow chose to make beds diagonal and people followed this trend probably you would have to sleep in un uncomfortable diagonal bed (but obviously designer's work is not intended to be uncomfortable) this is just to let you know that everything you look or buy has given work to many artists and art is everywhere.

  • @KateHolloman
    @KateHolloman 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    That was fantastic!

  • @Lunareon
    @Lunareon 5 ปีที่แล้ว +377

    The problem is, there is no universal language of pictures, neither are we fluent in it. Pictures rely on cultural conventions to code meaning, and it requires cultural knowledge to extract those meanings. It's all about context. If anything, there have been more misunderstandings and outrages caused by pictures lately precisely because people are not fluent in understanding them.

    • @kurimsonkitsune4408
      @kurimsonkitsune4408 5 ปีที่แล้ว +66

      like people who don't understand memes.

    • @YuliyValenko
      @YuliyValenko 5 ปีที่แล้ว

      You smashed the 'sharp' button

    • @stevenedy2085
      @stevenedy2085 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      The keyword here as the guy in the video said is “empathy“

    • @kurimsonkitsune4408
      @kurimsonkitsune4408 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@stevenedy2085 which is why some people just can't understand memes

    • @cheungch1990
      @cheungch1990 5 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      e.g. Swastika used in asia to denote buddhism is misunderstood as nazism in the West.

  • @sirMAXX77
    @sirMAXX77 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    When your nerdy lecture turns into a comedy routine. I think this guy is on to something. I think he should work on this more and take it to some stand up clubs.

  • @jcirelli3311
    @jcirelli3311 5 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    As a semi-frequent flyer I am proclaiming this RIGHT NOW. These are the benefits of each seat in a 3 seat plane booth.
    Aisle- Extra leg room & left armrest
    Middle- Two armrests
    Window- Window control and right armrest
    This is the LAW, y'all don't fight over it! :P

  • @thestarrypoet
    @thestarrypoet 5 ปีที่แล้ว +39

    I'm fluent in cat. Meow meow mew mow maui mau.

    • @f.d.6667
      @f.d.6667 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You need to work on your pronunciation: it's meowr not meow ... I'm actually kinda serious here. Cat's find "R" sounds in a "meow" interesting - you are signalling that you like something and that makes them curious...

    • @akaa-6151
      @akaa-6151 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      nya~

    • @fuitbythefoot
      @fuitbythefoot 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@akaa-6151 WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY MOM

    • @bacon6734
      @bacon6734 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Que?! N-Nani?!

    • @hazelquart
      @hazelquart 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Woah, woah, calm down dude! That's kinda racist...

  • @eleanorclifford5087
    @eleanorclifford5087 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I saw the thumbnail of the cat and thought “wait? I’m fluent in cat and don’t even know it?!”- turns out this talk wasn’t about cats at all 🤦🏼‍♀️

  • @jimreynolds2399
    @jimreynolds2399 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    One of the best TED talks. Too many of them are by people who just want to do a TED talk and, as a result, they come up with contrived and boring topics. This was interesting from the subject perspective but then the humour really made it. Could be the best TED talk I've watched.

  • @DarrenD777
    @DarrenD777 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Christoph you ROCK dude! I LOVE your work!
    Yes, it is sad that the magazine editors won't let you produce more complex/abstract images. You are right, the average reader has much more intelligence than they are giving us credit for!
    Keep going and thanks for the TED Talk!

  • @doonomac7514
    @doonomac7514 4 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    7:54
    "...a baby panda will die"
    *obviouse satisfaction*

  • @deathrodamus9608
    @deathrodamus9608 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What a great artist. The world needs more people like you.

  • @blythetroke
    @blythetroke 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Probably one of the best ted talks I’ve seen. Fun and informative.

  • @ivanljujic4128
    @ivanljujic4128 5 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    Jokes were on point 😂😂

  • @kuanlinpaihan
    @kuanlinpaihan 4 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    1:00 "you're fluent in the language of reading images" thank me later

  • @margeryriviers3432
    @margeryriviers3432 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Quite possibly my favorite Ted talk of all...utterly brilliant and totally enjoyable. Watching Cristoph Niemann give this talk is a marvelous gift.

  • @shruggzdastr8-facedclown
    @shruggzdastr8-facedclown 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is one of the best TED-Talk videos I've ever had the pleasure of viewing!

  • @ceciliaspears161
    @ceciliaspears161 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    This has got be my favorite Ted Talk. Thank you.

  • @InvestingBookSummaries
    @InvestingBookSummaries 5 ปีที่แล้ว +62

    I am now fluent in this language and do know it

  • @dejaliloquy
    @dejaliloquy 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    "The most important skill for an artist is empathy"
    Beautiful

  • @danimontana100
    @danimontana100 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Absolutely brilliant, deep and beautiful!

  • @justabitofjunkie2595
    @justabitofjunkie2595 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I like when an artist tells me that they are an artist.

  • @Zindin-bz9wt
    @Zindin-bz9wt 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    it is superb Ted thank you

  • @anchyi1202
    @anchyi1202 4 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Cool, now I can add that to my resume

  • @SamundraDarion
    @SamundraDarion 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I'm so glad I could see the Abstract-O-Meter again!

  • @nicktheninjaguy
    @nicktheninjaguy 4 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    10:26 accent has left the chat

  • @LeonidasGGG
    @LeonidasGGG 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    "Everything mankind as ever built started with a drawing." - a mantra I tell myself everytime I draw.

  • @omnichrome9784
    @omnichrome9784 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you! I am an artist going through a big slump. You talk was not only very amusing but also very inspiring!

  • @yarvik
    @yarvik 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Gentle, humorous, inspiring talk with an aftertaste of cuteness and softly pleasant shivers down the spine.

  • @leahrose3112
    @leahrose3112 4 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    oh my
    i’m learning 3 languages
    mandarin chinese
    spanish
    french
    and now i can speak a new language
    and also english
    wHOA

    • @shivanshmishra7992
      @shivanshmishra7992 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Well i can speak hindi urdu english punjabi and I am thinking about learning japanese

    • @leahrose3112
      @leahrose3112 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Shivansh mishra Cool! :o

  • @SH0dah
    @SH0dah 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I saw this dude on abstract
    good for him

  • @lesleyanngoslett9774
    @lesleyanngoslett9774 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Delightfully surprised by this talk - best chuckle I have had in ages and now I also have a new respect for my brain's interpretation skills. Very clever man

  • @AntonySimkin
    @AntonySimkin 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That was a real great TED talk. Thank you. I absolutely enjoyed that.

  • @rabindratripathee8085
    @rabindratripathee8085 5 ปีที่แล้ว +94

    I didn’t even know a lot of English when I cane to Usa but now I am one of the smartest kid in class because of all the teds

    • @SH0dah
      @SH0dah 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      wow

    • @vanessafonseca4820
      @vanessafonseca4820 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Good job! :)

    • @a_8486
      @a_8486 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      That is awesome!

    • @nabard1720
      @nabard1720 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Wow..
      ...! Ditto.... My words written by you.
      Although I am from INDIA. And I am a teacher of english.

    • @scwfan08
      @scwfan08 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      So you "cane" to the US?

  • @globalschoolsonline730
    @globalschoolsonline730 5 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    great! Most of us are just not aware that we actually THINK in pictures..... great, entertaining explanation!

  • @stargasm1000
    @stargasm1000 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is an absolutely FANTASTIC explanation of the "science of art"! Very nice!!

  • @helpmeedu
    @helpmeedu 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Easily one of the best TEDs I've ever watched.

  • @wheedler
    @wheedler 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    One Weird Language You Didn't Know You Were Fluent In (#1 WILL SHOCK YOU!)

  • @bluemoon6611
    @bluemoon6611 5 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    3:32 it was so great actually i could never figure it out what to do with that arm😂

    • @choronos
      @choronos 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      It's easy! You put your "extra" arm under the neck of your partner, so it's resting between the pillow and their shoulder. Now you can fully envelop them in your arms and your arm is in no danger of falling asleep.

  • @PlamenBoychev
    @PlamenBoychev 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    The talk itself was as simplistic and beautiful as the art shown, thank you :)

  • @marenkuether-ulberg3311
    @marenkuether-ulberg3311 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is wicked on point. Convey what is necessary, and pare it down. As an artist who moves through different modes- - fine arts, ceramics, commercial interior design and faux surfaces, murals, installations; commercial graphic design/logos and business cards... convey what is necessary and pare it down. I do have my favorite. My favorite, unique, love of my life and my ultimate specialty: archeological illustrator.

  • @justinwalker2460
    @justinwalker2460 5 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I laughed so hard and learned so much at the same time, brilliant!

  • @arah8998
    @arah8998 4 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    6:23
    Indonesians: Excuse me?

    • @figuraine
      @figuraine 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yeah same i was kimda triggered 🤣🤣😅

  • @Freygunnr
    @Freygunnr 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    One of the few Ted Talks I've really loved :) Both the images and the speaker were lovely in their creativity, novelty and humor.

  • @starmazaheri7448
    @starmazaheri7448 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wonderful Talk Christoph. Way to go.

  • @kiminkink6788
    @kiminkink6788 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I'm fluent in sleeping

  • @SnoozingtonnMusic
    @SnoozingtonnMusic 5 ปีที่แล้ว +197

    Okay they clickbaited me

    • @ruben307
      @ruben307 5 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      not really

    • @111vincento
      @111vincento 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Images are really a form of language.

    • @AngiePup
      @AngiePup 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I thought they were gonna talk about cats body language

    • @TimesOfSilence
      @TimesOfSilence 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Ruben Why not? If you already considered images as a language, then you did already know it, and the title was just clickbait.

    • @EchoHeo
      @EchoHeo 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      🙅...👆➡🚫

  • @josemanuelgonzaleznavarro2798
    @josemanuelgonzaleznavarro2798 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is totally inspiring. Thank you very much for your art Cristophe!

  • @Vaibhavsingh-yc5ln
    @Vaibhavsingh-yc5ln 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I just noticed that ted has sign language interpreters. Respect ++

  • @ashleypersaud1244
    @ashleypersaud1244 5 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Well he said he pity us

  • @standwithisof9549
    @standwithisof9549 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

  • @mikeknight42
    @mikeknight42 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    "The Great Wave" really did send a chill through my spine.

  • @tijaplace9228
    @tijaplace9228 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is so inspiring, that I feel I can't watch anything else so that I can absorb it all completely through the day!

  • @SimonS44
    @SimonS44 5 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    Jetzt habe ich Hunger auf ein Mohnbrötchen, vielen Dank auch

    • @christianschweda2530
      @christianschweda2530 5 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Musste lachen, sehr geiler Kommentar! :-)

    • @camelopardalis84
      @camelopardalis84 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      +Simon S. Igitt, Bartstoppeln!

    • @camelopardalis84
      @camelopardalis84 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      +Conchita Mendez Ein Gesicht mit so richtig schön regelmässig verteilten Pickeln, die im Grunde genommen nur gelbliche, mit einer dünnen Membran umhüllte Eiterblasen sind. Die man so schön einzeln ausdrücken kann. Im Bus auf dem Weg von der Arbeit, zur Stosszeit, weil man dann ja nichts anderes zu tun hat. (Ich hör' jetzt auf.)

    • @camelopardalis84
      @camelopardalis84 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      +Conchita Mendez Wenn Du ein Problem damit hast, meinen Kommentar direkt vor dem Einschlafen gelesen zu haben, dann ISS doch zuerst etwas.

    • @camelopardalis84
      @camelopardalis84 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      +Conchita Mendez Ach, das tut mir leid. Bin mir aber doch ziemlich sicher, dass Du seither ein paar Stunden schlafen konntest. Hattest Du Alpträume von, äh, "Dingen, die in diesem Kommentarfeld" erwähnt wurden?

  • @jumbalaka
    @jumbalaka 5 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    09:06 another language... you can see three types of languages happening in this frame

  • @mandalsubha06
    @mandalsubha06 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Enlighted my thoughts. Truly enjoyed each minute!

  • @nickdijcj1
    @nickdijcj1 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Always loved Niemanns work

  • @thirumoorthy
    @thirumoorthy 5 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Tuna sushi 🍣?
    Indonesia 🇮🇩?? Poor Indonesia...(
    Poland 🇵🇱?

    • @flotek5386
      @flotek5386 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      You know that indonesia has pretty much the same flag as Monaco?