What You Didn’t Know about Language Barriers | Roxanne Pomerantz | TEDxBGU
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025
- In the spirit of the event, “TedxBGU2015: Breaking Barriers”, Roxanne brings our attention to language barriers. In a very interesting talk, she takes examples from linguistics, cognitive sciences, and her personal experience as an American living in Israel, to make a case for replenishing the world with multi-lingual people. Imagine a world without language barriers, and ponder whether the amazing ability that all children have to learn languages may be a helpful tool in conflict resolution.
Roxanne lived in Beersheva, Israel for six months to participate in the Overseas Student Program at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Roxanne was the winner of a campus-wide competition to be the Student Speaker representative at TedxBGU 2015. Her talk was inspired by her intensive Hebrew-language learning program (Ulpan) experience and by being part of an international student body that developed strong connections quickly with the help of a new common language. Exposure to the Hebrew language at a very young age through Jewish traditions gave Roxanne a natural advantage in the language learning process: an advantage which, through her debut-Ted talk, she wishes people will be inspired to give to others, simply by making a conscious effort to expose the children in their lives to foreign languages.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx
Oh!! Her voice, her pitch, intonation, pronunciation and above all her dazzling smile and the life like colours that her beautiful face emits .....for all..... Cheer and applause!!!
I think this is one of the most beautiful, unprepared , tension less, and natural, speech in TEDX
I thought she was drink.....
Roxanne is awesome while sharing his love for the languages. Nobody can not communicate without learning a language. The more languages you learn the less difficulty you feel connecting to others. There's endless linguistic and dialectical diversity in the world.
And what of the nonverbal languages?
These days it is hard to find happy and smiling faces that are not fake. The speaker seems to be in love with life. I wish she stays this way.
She is very much like my wife, with her genuine smile, natural beauty and a love of languages.
Education about baptism from the women.
She’s ga
One of the cutest Jewish girls I have ever seen!
@@merc340sr w
I just came here to learn English and discover the minds of the people who are taking. ❤️🇮🇶
The whole comment section is in love with her😍
One of the best TEDx Talk I have heard so far.
This speech contains everything, good voice, humor, emotion, information, teaching, quotes, pauses, attention grabbing, logic, authority, and everything which makes a speech excellent.
Keep Going...
KR,
Adnan.
being Filipino gave me an opportunity to be born bilingual because here in the Philippines my native tongue maybe is Filipino, but still we grew up learning like we are really exposed in English language at the same time. And we have almost 175 dialects here too that I can consider another language too. It's fascinating that I haven't think about it until you said it, now I'm learning korean and like the word 안녕하세요 that can translated to 'Hello' in English but my korean teacher who grew up here in the Philippines said that it's not just 'Hello' like in English that we used to, it's more like 'Kamusta ka?' in Tagalog which can be translated to English as well, 'How are you?' see the difference? the degree of emotion and meaning behind and how you used and view it can be really different and it will just know if we really learn and exposed ourselves in different languages.
She is such a smiling and happy girl.Felt good seeing and listening her.
Ms Roxanne pomerantz,
One is a lucky one who can know all about your way of clarifying many things on learning processes leading to appreciate differences in languages and their impactfully conveying a message to the watchers that language learning is not problematic despite linguistic barriers. Really, you are a good and an aesthetically beautiful language learning inspiring instructor to your virtual audience, globally.
Fortunately, have heard you on Tedz Talks.Thanks for shedding light on relative and deterministic theories relating to linguistics. A sweet performance by a beautiful Hebrew teacher, a language one has no passion for Not respondig to be learning it with such performer assuring that one can learn as many languages as one wishes if one goes as Ms Roxanne Pomerantz has advised.
Best wishes from Islamabad Pakistan.
She might be a professional, thats why spoke fluently relaxed and she could maintain a smiling face in entire time. Love you.
I too love her dear
I think this is one of the most beautiful, unprepared , tension less, and natural, speech.....
Lovely people falling in love with her rather than her talk! 😃 Beauty of a person does not remain for long unless that is retained in the character!
Her mellifluous voice, beautiful face, and irresistible charm is what makes her a charismatic speaker.
My first language Malayalam doesn't have the word "sorry" ( with an exception of an archaic word "kshamikkanam" that no one uses) So the previous generation was kinda okay to hurt other people and not apologizing at all. the next generation, because of their exposure to English, created a word "saramilla" (literally "not serious") and started being nicer to each other. The current generation, on the other hand, found that even this word isn't enough and borrowed the word "sorry" to our language and started being nicer than our ancestors. The same thing happened with the word "thank you" which we did not have a generation before. Everything makes perfect sense in light of your presentation. Thank you
Satheesh Kumar പൂയ്
Your language seems to be very brutal and un-civilized sorry to state that.
In my language, we have different synonymous terms to apologize and to show gratefulness.
My has not sorry and please and we borrowed from Arabic and we use it, but some people don't like these 2 words because they think that u are not honest or coward!
Somali
Satheesh Kumar oi
Thank-you, Satheesh. Your comment is both interesting and insightful. I live in a city in England which has many people from around the world who moved here within the past 25 years. There have people within 100 metres of here speaking many different languages, including Malayalam, as well as Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese, Tamil, Urdu, Portuguese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovak Slovenian, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Xhosa, Arabic, and more. It has been fascinating and educational to become acquainted with many of them, and to learn a little about their cultures and words from some of their tongues.
This video makes me wish that opportunities to learn other languages had been available to me more than 50 years ago. :-)
When i look at your face carefully i see a full moon
when i look at your smiling face i see shining stars there
when i look at your eyes carefully
i see a shining sun there.
you are everything. you are the owner of natural beauty.
You look soooo honest , gentle and polite at all. Love you and appreciate you from my authentic heart and soul!
This girl is one of the most beautiful souls I have ever witnessed. We are all blessed that she exists.
If this gentle lady teach me I can learn not only 25 but 100 languages. She is the language of beauty.
Languages are the soul of a country which reveals the beautiful culture and tradition followed by people
Speaker is amazingly genius . She speaks crystal clear.
Regards
Iqbal USA
this is such a great video. very insightful and true. the speaker makes the listeners to do what they need to do after listening to her. she is a wonderful and effective speaker indeed. thank you.
Couldn't agree more!
it's not about just speaking it's about how far you can go fluently with the language
Emi Molhida Yeah!
Oh yeah
Md Amzad Hossain good morning
Morning+هاشم البهادلي
I am an Arab from Iraq. I want to learn English Md Amzad Hossain
I found this presentation and I learned a lot about the ability and the consequences that children in early ages be able to speak different languages....being an spanish speaking person and having this very rich language I think your comments and ideas are very useful , Thank you
this video is actually includes abeautfull way to understand the subject,thank you!!!
Juan Angelo cv
Thank you young lady for opening my mind to new possibilities. May the Almighty bless you. Amen
This video should be way more popular. You're absolutely lovely, and thank you for this all
+Francisco Cano thank you so much for your comment francisco! please share :)
Hi Linda, thank you so much! I would love to chat about the topic. I sent you an email but didn't get a response. Would love if you post the questions here! :)
Francisco Canoli imnului 8n
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Francisco Cano g bwh
Francisco Cano what about? I don't think so.
I loved the speech. I also agree that being multilingual is very useful because of globalization. It helps people to communicate more fruitfully with each other.It makes your mind more flexible. It is just interesting to learn a new language coz it is both challenging and rewarding. It is like a key to a treasure and a feast for the brain.
Thank you so much, Diana! Thank you, your comments totally nailed the point of the topic!!
Roxanne Pomerantz thanks for this
+Roxanne Pomerantz Your speech is really helpful for me..... if u don't mind could I contact with you??
Diana.Nikolova z
It was an excellent speech. Languages bring down barriers.
Wow what a girl! She exudes love, knowledge and elegance eloquently.
I searched this up, here's a reason why.
Well I'm a Filipino who was born in a country where most people spoke in Arabic, and both my parents speak in another language which was is considered a part of our ethnicity.
The philippines has 7107 islands, with 3 divisions:Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. and a vast variety of languages. It's also considered the 3rd largest English speaking country in the world. So if you plan coming here, you won't have much trouble with the language barriers. Especially in really city-urban places like Manila. Well I'm from Mindanao, a place where many Muslims and many distinct cultures form this big bond of love of culture. Were most Christian but I'm a muslim, who has parents who speak different languages and me and my sister speaks only English. Where in my place, speaking in English while being pale or white skinned is considered a sign of wealth and beauty. But being a 12 year old. I didn't give much importance. Yes since we both speak English we are called English speakers. We were teased as children for not being able to speak like them. This further led us to not speak the language but distant ourselves from our culture and real roots. We became isolated from people who wanted to speak to us but just is too afraid that we might not like them. At this age people ask why do I speak in English when both my parents are native from here. Well I was born from another country, left that country at age 9 and was afraid if people would bully me because I was different. Well actually they teased me, but I rose up from them all. I became top of the class for the first time. One time there we had an exam in Filipino, where none of my classmates in my new school got perfect but me, and I barely knew most of the language. Filipino.
"I may not speak same as you, but I can understand you" is what would I say when I make friends. I hope more people would understand the way language barriers affect children who are migrating to another country. Just the bullying was so bad, yeah it really is. But just remember that YOU DONT NEED TO CHANGE WHO YOU ARE COMPLETELY JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT 'BELONG' HERE.
I always believe that the language you speak shapes the way you think and influences your behaviors and thank you for your brilliant explanation!! I feel like I have a completely different personality when I speak English instead of my first language. I find it interesting that people always start the convo with How are you/How's everything etc. when speaking English but I would just jump into the topic when speaking Mandarine. Even though you can translate "how are you" into Mandarine easily you would never do that coz it's just not part of the Chinese culture. and the way you start a conversation then influences where the conversation goes, which can lead to a completely different result depending on the language. This is so amazing.
and I love the fact she pointed out that the ability to access your memory is related to the knowledge of your vocab. Many people think reading and going to school is useless. but now I can tell them that we do that to learn more vocabularies in order to create a more colorful memory before we die :)
KARIM Lyndi sax
So how do you start a conversation in mandarin, if you don't start with the question of how are you?
@@monap378 we would just jump into the topic without greeting
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” - Flora Lewis
As a Spanish teacher with German and English proficiency, I totally agree with this.
wonderful and valuable speech. A beautiful smile and very calmly spoken
I like your smiling face in whole speech....What a relax person you are .......
Great talks and fascinating subject. We are teaching Chinese as a second language online in North America. Your comments and ideas are very useful .
Ah, she has a wonderful voice. And she's speaking about a really interesting topic.
ahhh yes and to think I got down her pants and you didn't.
it is very nice thank you !!!
My take home message:
1. Children is able to learn up to 25 languages before they reach 7 years old (critical period)
2. language shapes the way your perception, recognition and behaviours (linguistic relativity)
Experiment: key? In German is a muscular word, whereas in Spanish is feminine.
They will describe this word based on their interpretation
3. Language is part of our identity.
4. By overcome language barrier in the young generation, will reduce the increasing gap between languages as they are all evolving, fast! And by doing so, eliminate unnecessary misunderstanding and discriminations between cultrues.
Also, your ability to access your memory is directly related to your breadth and knowledge of your vocabulary.
Every decision you make is just a consequence of memories.
i think i fall in love with the speaker omg
The first time i had a trouble in speaking, I was shy whenever i think about it... But now everything has changed !
Thanks Ms Roxanne .when we a learn a language , we get one more culture and increase memory and expression power
She is beautiful, that's what I noticed during her whole lecture about language
Then you would not have listened what she taught.
@@georgekurien5018 you got me
Ilove you
She would very beutyful
@@georgekurien5018 and I
English language from heart and soul.
Thank you very much.
That gesture is not really an insult in Italy. It just means that you do not know what somebody is saying or why he or she is acting in a certain way. But it is not something you would consider as offensive unless you are hypersensitive.
i don't understand anything she said, but still i watched her till end, just to see her smiling face. couldn't find a suitable word, to describe how beautiful her smile is.
I had never seen such a beautiful girl even person with grief can come out just by seeing her face
So true
Hi friends?
I need a friend who speak with me in English
One of the best speech ever. Thank you maam.
I love your speech. No, i fall in love with your speech!!
Hi I fall in Love you lol
me too
Hy
Me too
My honorable Sister, I'm seeing from Bangladesh. Thank you so much 🥰
but your sister so beutifull
but your sister is so beutifull
I'M SORRY...I AM ITALIAN (4.46)...THAT IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A GREAT INSULT IN ITALY...MOVING YOUR HAND LIKE THAT MEANS THAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR SOMETHING.
3LAMESTUDIO Vai a cagare va'
Secondo me 3LAMESTUDIO ha ragione. Il video è interessante però mi sembra un po' esagerato definire quel gesto come un insulto. Può essere al massimo un modo colloquiale per esprimere sorpresa in base a ciò che si è sentito o per comunicare di non aver capito qualcosa.
Trias Andriani Soegiharto Here in Rome that gesture is used to say: What do you want?
Not to insult you but you need to practice your listening she said greet insult not great
4:46 In the United Arab Emirates, it's an act that requires people to wait without being polite.
I was feeling sad before
when i start watching your speech
i auto happy cause your
smiling face ampact and encourage
me to cross over
my struggling with smile face
thank you so much!
Approaching of this speech is not pretty good but I've watched just because of her expression 😍
Age of "7" fact may be applicable for many. However I am an exception in this criteria. I learnt 4 languages after I turned 15
The charm of her face with her leanings are just mind blowing...love from India...
Wow! 👏 What a beautiful speech. The Helen Keller words are exceptional.
This girl is so true.. she's not fake,she is real,natural what a beauty?!!
Dear I never saw so impressive girl in my life..u r the most precious diamond of god..u r verrrry beautiful
Simp
You are amazing@Roxane Pomerantz and your smile is amazing
...
Super cool talk - loved the way how you can learn one new language (here Italian) by trying to connect the words with the language you are trying to perfect (Yiddish or Hebrew) - double thumbs up !!
harshal jadhav
The
Language barrier; that influence our behaviour, thought and feeling, when we need link in with our memories before, language is an important part to call it back, because language influence our interpretation definition about our feeling
Wonderful, Amizing And attractive speech with smiling face... Sty bless with this smiling face for ever...
everything has a new name and it gather in thoughts. absolutely greaaaaat
Loved it. Please create many more videos. You are so natural. Good luck!
They way she speaks shows that she is a very intelligent woman,
I am thoroughly impressed and inspired! I will pass this on! You named the value of language!
hi😮!
xxx
She has wonderful voice and very interested topic given to us
what a lovely pitch, you should absolutely make a living of giving lectures
amazing Lady
Hello, Roxanne! Regards from Brazil! Congratulations on your talk!
Brilliant talk! As a language enthusiast and English teacher myself, I've made friends with people from a lot of other countries and I explore into music from other languages a lot - even if I don't learn or speak that language. I studied music at university and did my final essay paper on ethnomusicology.
Thanks, Robbie! I love that this video reached you. Keep spreading the love and power of languages, music and friends around the world :)
Beautiful impressive interesting n informative talk. Thank you, bless you. All your dreams come true.
I can see her smiling all day long.
Great talk thx. We need more people to think and act towards removing human barriers!
7:06 - That word does exist, it's called wanderlust.
Ironically also borrowed from German. Fernweh (literally "far-hurt") is more of a feeling of longing, almost a sadness or malaise that you're missing something by not traveling. In contrast, in German at least, Wanderlust connotes more of a restless impulse to go exploring.
I like the way she speaks very kind
The critical period only relates to accent. Yes children do learn a language with out an accent if they have access to both languages.
Yet native like can happen after adulthood minors the accent.
g m
I'm not sure even that matters unless you want to be a foreign spy! I think the presenter was just trying to find an interesting "hook", but I personally really don't believe it at all.
Yeah it’s not accurate. Neither is that determinism is universally and completely proven - it’s divided in two soft and hard determinism and hard determinism is confirmed to not be true - as is taught in most linguistics 101 classes. :/
He is must talanted and very quit girl l like
tu
r
You are so grateful and beautiful speech
You're absolutely lovely and thank you for this method.
انها تتحدث بطريقه جذابة و تتحدث بطلاقة عجيبة، شي مدهش جدا ， أعجبني اسلوبها في الكلام ❤️
她说话说得真好啊她让我感到喜欢她。
She is an amazing speaker, she speaks very fluent and the topics is so interesting, I really admire her.
٠
Poetry is indeed the key that shapes language and our worldview: the Power of Metaphores and Methonymies is amazing, very cool video!!!
such a out standing pesonality
Brilliant!! Thank you..!
I really amazed listening your speech... It’s an awesome speech what you delivered...
Patrick Mc Nally.
Regarding gender association and it's impact on people's perception. This is interesting, my first language is English, and my native language is Irish.
In Irish the word for girl is cailín which is masculine.
If any other European language has a word for girl which is feminine, then we could carry out an interesting experiment. Get two native speakers of the two different languages to describe the word GIRL in their own language
In one language it is masculine and in the other it is feminine. Then we could see what impact it has on peoples' perception. Patrick
could you explain me the differences between first language and native language, please?
natura092
Hi natura092,
thank you for your question.
I will try to keep it simple and short about what I meant
I was brought up speaking English like most people living in Ireland. But the indigenous or native language of Ireland is the Gaelic language, also called Irish.
Gaelic or Irish is the official state language along with English in the southern part of Ireland, also known as The Irish Republic.
I was born and live in the northern part of the island.
People still speak the Gaelic our native tongue, but it has declined in the face of the dominance of the English language. Many factors played a part in its decline.
The cards were stacked against it.
It is coming back and reviving through the country.
Only time will tell if it returns to its former status.
Obviously, I am learning the Gaelic like thousands of other people to various degrees and levels, because it is a difficult language to master.
So Natura 092 you can see my mother spoke in English my first language but as you can see, I hope, that I am learning my native language with another language parent as best I can.
I hope this helps. If you would like to ask me any other questions regarding this matter, that's fine.
Thank you again for your question.
Slán agus beannacht.
Patrick
patrick mcnally In German Das Mädchen is the words for The Girl. It is considered a neutral or neuter noun, thusfar, receiving the adjective das which is for neuter nouns.
patrick mcnally
Wow!! sweet voice you have. Really golden words you have been told us.
Fascinating subject, captivatingly delivered, thematically adjacent to context-driven language switching by bilingual siblings that produce different results in childhood conflict scenarios, and whether switching to the mother's or the father's language produces a different result, and does it do so in some languages and not in others. Phew. Incidentally, that "Italian gesture" is a 3-D matrix like lasagne, with many potential nuances depending on which part you taste. The gesture is tempting for non-Italians because it is so cinematographically Italian, but it does require practice. Most polite Italians would use the gesture only embryonically, the fingers instantly opening flowerlike downwards with an interrogative outwards twist and raising of the wrist, while pressing the elbow to the body's side, and a slight shoulder shrug with questioningly raised eyebrows and the head moving backwards in mock surprise. The gesture itself can convey a vast range of meanings, from merely curious to in-your-face-rude, from "I'm sincerely interested to know what you mean" to "Are you messing with me" to more genealogical insinuations relative the interlocutor's family. It can also be expanded by using both arms while looking around the room in an appeal to the general public, or to the divine, for sympathy in the face of such stupidity. The height of the hand, it's speed, and its spatial positioning are essential parameters that can totally change the meaning. Use with care, and mind the height of your chin.
I like so much
Well described, and gave me a good insight dude... thankyou.
Can you speak with me when you're free
Dear rox... You are a great spaker. You voice is ready to change the people who listen to you in anyway. I am very much interested in the topic you discussed.
I am thankful to you about the learning languages. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Everyone talk about her love and smile.. Let her read it and replay to all...hopefully
My second crush 😍
The way of she talking is awesome
English is very important for anyone in the world to communicate. Thank your very much for communicative English. I am from Bangladesh. MY Name in Rafiue Ullah Bhuiyan. I Want To Connect With Different People Around The World who Will Work For People.
Great! "Could we by reducing language barriers, reduce other barriers in society? "
Very nice..and thoughtful.....the idea of language learning to reduce the gaps in society is a great point to pursue
Спасибо, Роксана! Ты озвучила мои мысли.
Wonderful✨😍✨😍✨😍✨😍
I'm a spanish speaker an I'd never describe a key like that. Indeed if I were to do it, it would be closer to the german description. Maybe because in spanish "key" have several words associated and different meanings (something like password can be a key (contraseña), the "key" of a keyboard (tecla), the "key" that you use to open a door (llave), "key" as a tone in music (tono), etc).
Great speech I wish I could attend speeches like this where I live.
hello Roxanne, Thanks for your beautiful explanation. I am Korean speaking Japanese English. Send love from Seoul! :D
The way u explain about multi language is very well and that of course continue allows to over come that pleasant ideas thank u
Really i like this girl D way she speaking keep going dear
I love the way she speaks❤❤❤
First I want to tell One thing you are looking very beautiful and your way of presenting was awesome
I'm amused. Very much informative.
Excellent video!! Roxanne, you are very kind, to give us this oportunity to learn more languages. You really inspired me. It's possible to find other videos where you are the host (producer)? Thank you, for this brilliant video!! Thank you to inspire us to break out languages barriers.
+Tarcisio English Learner thank you!!! This was actually my solo debut. I look forward to any future opportunities I may get to speak, learn, and inspire. Please share! :)
Thank you, for your answer!! You are so kind and an excellent, brilliant, awesome comunicator. People all the world love you. Please, produce more videos for us. We are waiting anxiously.
+Tarcisio English Learner :)
Tarcisio English Learner j
I am tuktuk driver to Phnom Penh city. Thank you so much
Hi Roxanne, you have now German subtitles. :-)
+Thomas Seibt Thank you so much, Thomas!!!
BTW, Roxanne, that gesture you made it's not an insult par se in Italian. It kinda means "what?" but in a rude manner.
Like "what the f*** you want?". That's why it's offensive for us Italians :)
Lol I always thought that gesture you made always meant something really rude in Italian since Russel Peter's mentioned it. Great video, it was easy to listen to.
@@roxannepomerantz3799 u will have subtitles in portuguese too. I speak german too, but u already have in this languaje. I'll put it in portuguese.
@@roxannepomerantz3799 you are cute... As well intelligent..
I like very much the voice of the speech & personality.thanks Roxanne ma'm
is this girl in love or something?!
She's in love with Languages. What you see is her passion for them. Amazing right?
it is tedx teaching
hah! i think you got it right
she's smiling the whole time because she thinks it's good for her audience even thought it helps nothing.
Abdelrahman Mohamed what i know is I m in love with her