Shah Rukh Khan: The speaker you are about to meet is someone who knows and understands the value of words like no one else does. In his writing career spanning over four decades, this man has chosen words with beauty and versatility, like a flower springing to life ... like Mr. Bachchan’s memorable punches ...
Shah Rukh Khan: 你们即将见到的演讲者是 一个比任何人都更了解语言的价值的人。 在超过40多年的写作生涯中, 这位作家使用的优美的辞藻, 就像是生命中绽放的花朵... 像是巴强有力的拳头一般...
(Laughter)
(笑声)
like a best-selling book of Urdu poetry ... like well ... what do I say, only Javed Akhtar Sahab.
就像是乌尔都语诗歌畅销书一般... 就像是...该怎么说呢, 他就是绝无仅有的 Javed Akhtar Sahab。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Please welcome onstage, the one and only Javed Akhtar Sahab.
现在请欢迎著名的 Javed Akhtar Sahab 上台。
(Cheers and applause)
(欢呼和掌声)
Javed Akhtar: Friends, this topic -- the power of words -- is an interesting one, and one that's very close to my heart. It’s strange how we often overlook things that are so close to us, near us. How many people question, "Why is air transparent?" Or, "Why is water wet?" How many think about what is it that has passed? Time has passed. What came? What went away? How many of us wonder?
朋友们,今天的主题是语言的力量—— 这是一个很有趣的话题, 也是我最喜欢的话题。 有一件事情很奇怪, 我们经常会忽略那些与我们息息相关的事情。 有多少人曾发问“为什么空气是透明的?” 或者“为什么水是湿的?” 又有多少人思考过“过去是什么?” 哪些东西伴随着时间而来,又随着时间而逝? 有多少人对此感到好奇?
Similarly ... the words that we speak and hear all day, how many times have we really thought, "What exactly are these words?"
同样, 那些我们每天用来交流和倾听的词语, 我们有多少次真正的思考过“这些词语到底是什么?”
Words are a strange thing. You once saw an animal and decided it’s a "cat." But cat is a sound. This cat has nothing to do with the animal. But I have decided it’s a cat. So a cat it is. So I gave the sound the identity of this animal. After that I made a semicircle, a pyramid, cut into half, then a straight line, then another below it, and wrote: "cat." In these criss-crossed lines, I filled a sound and into that sound, a meaning.
词语是非常不可思议的。 你看到一只动物, 然后就认为那是“猫”。 但是“猫”只是声音而已。 “猫”和动物没有任何实际的联系。 但我们把这个动物称为“猫”。 因而这个动物就是“猫”。 因此我便认为这一语音便是这只动物的身份。 然后,我画了一个半圆, 一个椎体,把它对半分, 然后画一条直线, 在下面又加了一条,然后写上“猫”。 在这个十字交叉线中, 我放入了一个语音, 然后给这个语音赋予了意义。
Now like with this cat, even with love, anger, a thought, an idea, pain, suffering, happiness, surprise, everything has been linked with a sound. And then sounds were fit into some criss-crossed lines that we call a script. So three things that had nothing in common were joined by us to create a word. A sound that is actually gibberish has been added onto it. And the lines, crooked lines, they formed a word. Incredible!
不仅仅是猫这个例子, 甚至爱情、愤怒、思想、 概念、疼痛、苦楚、幸福、惊喜, 所有事物的都和语音有着联系。 然后这些语音又被写入十字交叉线中, 我们称之为字母。 因而我们将这三件 完全毫无共同之处的事物, 组合在了一起,然后创造了单词。 有一些实际上模糊不清的 语音也被添加进去。 然后这些线条, 这些歪歪斜斜的线条便形成了单词。 令人难以置信!
And I have come to believe that with time, these words have become like human beings. A man is known by the company he keeps. Similarly, with words, what is the company it has been keeping? What are the other words being used with it? For an average noun or an average verb, an average mind can quickly create reference. Where did they hear it? See it? What does it remind them of? What is its connection? When was it last used in conversation? What has been my experience with it? A host of memories appear when you hear a word you remember. And a good writer or orator is one who knows that when he uses a certain word, an average mind will associate it with a certain reference, specific memories will be evoked. Then he can create a world around a word.
并且我渐渐的开始相信, 这些单词在某些方面如同人类一样。 我们可以从他所交的朋友去了解他的为人。 同样,单词也是这样, 它同哪些单词为伴? 它和哪些其它的单词一起使用? 在获取一个普通的名词和 一个普通的动词的情况下, 一个普通的大脑可以 很快联想到对应的东西。 他们是在哪里听过?哪里见过? 这让他们联想起什么? 之间有着什么联系? 最后一次在谈话中使用到这个单词是在什么时候? 这个单词让我有着怎样的体验呢? 当你听到一个熟悉单词的时候, 会有很多回忆涌上来。 好的作家或者演说家, 他们很清楚, 当他们使用一个特定的单词的时候, 一个普通的大脑会由此联想到什么, 会激发怎样的记忆。 然后,他用单词创造了一个世界。
What is the power of a word? Be it a mother’s lullaby, a politician’s speech, love letters from your beloved, or a complaint against someone, a protest call ... anger, sadness, happiness, surprise, belonging, alienation anything in the world, any feeling in the world, any emotion, any reaction, until it is expressed in a word, it will not have any meaning for you, forget getting across to anyone else.
单词的力量是什么呢? 它是母亲的摇篮曲, 政治家的演说, 你的爱人给你的情书, 或者是一封对别人的投诉, 一通抗议电话... 愤怒,悲伤,幸福, 惊喜,归属感,疏离感, 任何存在于这个世界的事物, 任何存在于这个世界中的感觉, 任何情绪,任何反应, 除非有具体的语言去表达这些东西, 不然它们对你毫无意义, 更不要谈去跟别人分享这些。
Words are not thoughts, just like bricks are not homes. But houses are made with bricks. If you have less bricks, you will make a small house. The more words you have, the clearer your thoughts, and the more clearly you can convey them.
单词不是思想, 就像砖头不是房子一样。 但是房子确实由砖砌成的。 如果你的砖头很少, 你的房子也相应的会很小。 你知道越多的单词, 你的思想就会越清晰, 你就越能清楚的去表达自己。
Nowadays I often hear, especially from young ones, “You know what I mean?" No, I don't know what you mean.
现今,我经常听到有人说,特别是年轻人, “你懂我的意思吧?” 不,我并不知道你什么意思。
(Laughter) “You know what I mean,” is running out of words.
(笑声) “你懂我的意思”是词穷的表现。
Everything is now moving fast so communication has to be fast as well. But the tragedy is that we have attained this speed at the cost of depth of words. We want to speak faster, so everything is faster, so the language is also faster, hence communication is faster. But this speed has affected depth. Which means that forget about other people, just look at yourself. You are not being able to articulate your own feelings, thoughts or emotions in a detailed manner or clearly. And these words, as long as words exist, they aren’t there just for a meaning. They are also a conveyer belt of language, words. They reflect your culture, your traditions, your inheritance, your cultural wealth accumulated over generations, all of that is carried forward with words. If you cut a man off from some words, you cut him off from a culture, a history. This is exactly what is happening with us today.
当下,一切都进展得飞快, 交流也同样变得很快。 但是可悲的是, 我们交流速度变快了, 单词的深度却丢失了。 我们希望可以快速的进行交流, 所以将所有的事情的速度加快, 语言加速了,沟通速度也加快了。 但是这一速度却影响了交流的深度。 暂且不管其它的人, 先反省自身。 你已经无法清楚而详尽地说明, 自己的感受、想法或者情绪。 所有的这些存在着的单词, 它们除了具有一定的意义之外, 还是语言和单词的 输送带。 它们反映了你的 通过一代代积累起来的文化、 传统、遗产, 所有的这些都是由语言作为媒介。 如果你把一个人的某些词汇删去, 你同时删去了他部分文化和历史。 而这一现象恰恰发生在我们这个时代。
So language is a very powerful thing. Words are extremely powerful. But by themselves, they are neither good nor bad. If we start loving words and understand their power, we would realize that everything that happens in the world is because of words. Or there would be nothing between us and the rest of the creatures, the rest of the animals, although we too are animals. The only difference is that we can pass on, through our words, our experience, our learning and our knowledge to the next generation. So we don’t only live on instinct but our slowly accumulated experience and knowledge over generations is passed on to the next. Through what? Through words. And if we didn’t have these words our advantage is gradually over other species would diminish over time.
语言是强有力的。 而单词却更为强大。 词语本身并无好坏之分。 如果我们开始爱上词语, 并且了解它的力量, 我们会意识到 世界上发生的所有的事情都起源于词语。 没有词语,我们和其它的生物之间不会有任何联系, 尽管我们也是动物,但和其它的动物相比。 我们有一个特点: 我们可以通过我们的词语去传承, 将我们的经验, 学问和知识传承给下一代。 我们不仅是凭着本能生存, 我们也将那些 经过每一代而积累下来的 经验和知识传承给下一代。 通过什么传承呢?词语! 如果我们没有这些词语的话, 我们的优势会逐渐消失, 其它的物种也会逐渐减少。
We advanced only because we have language. And if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t be here. We would be right where we started.
我们之所以不断发展, 是因为我们有语言。 如果我们没有语言, 我们也就不会出现在这里。 我们会在开始的地方止步不前。
So what does language mean? Words! So learn to respect words. Love them. Befriend them. Listen to them attentively. And speak attentively.
那么,语言究竟是什么呢? 词语! 学会敬畏词语。 热爱词语。 与之为友。 用心去聆听它们。 用心去表达。
Thank you!
谢谢!
(Applause)
(掌声)
SRK: Thanks a lot, Javed Sahab, for coming here today and sharing such wonderful things with us. I have known Javed Sahab since I came to Mumbai about 25 years ago.
SRK:非常感谢您,Javed Sahab。 感谢您来到这里, 并且同我们分享如此精彩的演说。 25年前,我来到孟买的时候, 认识了 Javed Sahab。
JA: I was really young then.
那个时候我还很年轻。
(Laughter)
JA:你现在也很年轻。
SRK: Yes. You are still very young, Sir.
(笑声)
But I have got a lot of my education, my ideologies and many more things from Javed Sahab. I’ll share a small incident. He got angry with us while working on a film. He sometimes gets angry when unlettered people like us give him suggestions that maybe we could use this word or that instead. So our film was called
SRK:Javed Sahab 教给了我很多, 给我灌输了很多思想, 从他那里我还获得了很多其它的。 我想跟大家讲述一个小插曲。 那时我们在拍一部电影, 他非常的生气。 他有时候会因为 我们这些没有文化的人 在给他建议的时候, 使用了不恰当的词语而生气。 我们的片名是
"Kuch Kuch Hota Hai."
“怦然心动 (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai)”。
(Cheers) And he did not like the title at all.
(欢呼声) 他完全不喜欢这个片名。
So once when he was really mad at us kids, who are like his kids even now, he retorted: "Now my heart remains neither awake nor rests. What do I do? Oh! I feel something strange. Is that what you want?"
所以当我们这些孩子 让他非常恼火得时候, 事实上现在我们 仍然如同他的孩子一般, 他说道: “现在我的内心无法平静。 要怎么办?哦!我有些奇怪的感觉。 难道这就是你想要的吗?”
In fact the entire song, all the words, were thrown at us by Javed Sahab in anger. And that song went on to become extremely popular. So even when Javed Sahab throws out words in anger, they turn into golden words. That’s his gift.
事实上,这整首歌,所有的词语, 都是 Javed Sahab 在愤怒之下 责备我们的话语。 这首歌后来变得相当的有名。 所以,即使是 Javed Sahab 愤怒的时候说出的话, 都会成为人生箴言。 这就是他的天赋。
(Cheers)
(欢呼声)
JA: Well, the incident that Shah Rukh Sahab shared is indeed true. So on hearing this title, "'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai," I was shocked. I felt it wasn’t dignified enough.
JA:Shah Rukh Sahab 所讲述的的确是事实。 当我听到 “怦然心动”这个名字的时候, 我感到非常震惊。 我觉得他还不够“庄严高贵”。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Though to be honest, I regret leaving such a super hit film over its title. So I left the film. Later I also felt a little embarrassed, and he too felt bad. So we decided to let bygones be bygones and work on some other film. Hence, the film "Kal Ho Naa Ho." I told him that everything else is still fine but I owe you two kuchs.
说实话, 我很后悔仅仅因为 影片的名字而拒绝这部电影。 我离开了这部电影的制作。 后来,我觉得有点不好意思, 他也觉得过意不去。 因此,我们决定过去的就让它过去, 我们开始做别的影片。 因此,有了这部电影 “爱,没有明天 (Kal Ho Naa Ho)”。 我告诉他,其它的一切都很好, 但是我还欠你两个 Kuch。
Two kuchs.
两个 Kuch。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So I’ll write a song and return these two to you. I wrote a song specially for this reason called
所以,我要写一首歌, 然后把这两个 Kuch 归还给你。 我也因为这个原因特别写了一首,
"Kuch to hua hai, kuch ho gaya hai."
歌名为"Kuch to hua hai, kuch ho gaya hai"的歌。
(Cheers and applause)
(欢呼声和掌声)
and he returned his two.
因此他获得了他的两个 Kuch。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Ladies and gentlemen, big round of applause for Javed Akhtar Sahab.
女士们,先生们, 再次将热烈的掌声献给 Javed Akhtar Sahab。
(Applause)
(掌声)