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 ...
沙魯克汗:接下來的講者, 是一位比任何人都知道 且了解字詞價值的人。 在超過四十年的寫作職涯中, 這位作家使用的優美辭藻, 就像是生命中綻放的花朵… 就像阿米塔布巴強先生 强有力的拳頭……
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
like a best-selling book of Urdu poetry ... like well ... what do I say, only Javed Akhtar Sahab.
就像最暢銷的烏爾都語詩集…… 就像……嗯……該怎麼說, 他便是絕無僅有的賈維阿克塔先生。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Please welcome onstage, the one and only Javed Akhtar Sahab.
請歡迎獨一無二的賈維阿克塔沙哈。
(Cheers and applause)
(歡呼及掌聲)
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?
賈維阿克塔:朋友們, 這個主題──字詞的力量── 很有趣,也很貼近我的心。 奇怪的是 我們常會忽略了離我們最近的東西。 有多少人問: 「為什麼空氣是透明的?」 或「為什麼水是濕的?」 有多少人想過,過去的是什麼? 時間過去了。 什麼來了?什麼離開了? 有多少人會納悶?
Similarly ... the words that we speak and hear all day, how many times have we really thought, "What exactly are these words?"
同樣的, 我們每天說出來和聽到字詞, 我們有幾次會真正去想: 「這些字詞到底是什麼?」
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.
字詞是很奇怪的東西。 你曾經看到 一隻動物,決定牠叫做「貓」。 但「貓」是一個聲音。 「貓」和那隻動物沒有關係。 但我已決定它就是隻「貓」。 所以牠就是貓。 我把這隻動物的身份賦予這個聲音。 在那之後,我畫了一個半圓形, 一個切一半的金字塔, 接著畫一條直線,下面再一條, 寫出了「CAT(貓)」。 在這些交錯的線中, 我填入了一個聲音, 在那聲音中,填入了意義。
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!
就像這個貓的例子, 甚至愛、憤怒、念頭、 想法、痛苦、苦難、快樂、驚訝、 所有事物都和一個聲音連結起來。 這些聲音再配上一些交錯的線條, 就是我們所謂的字。 三樣完全沒共通性的東西, 被我們結合起來,創造出字詞。 一個沒有意義的聲音被加上去, 還有線條,彎曲的線條, 它們形成了字詞。 了不起!
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.
我相信,隨著時間, 這些字詞已經變得像人類一樣。 要看一個人,就看他交的朋友。 字詞也是一樣的, 它的朋友是什麼? 和它一起使用的其他字詞是什麼? 針對一個一般的名詞, 或一般的動詞,只要是一般人, 都可以快速創造出關聯。 在哪裡聽過它?見過它? 它讓人想起了什麼? 它的連結是什麼? 上次在對話中用到它是何時? 我有什麼和它相關的經驗? 當你聽到你記得的字詞時, 許多記憶會浮現。 一個好的作家或演說家, 就是知道何時該用 某個特定字詞的人, 一般人會把它和某個 特定的關係連結起來, 會喚起特定的記憶。 接著他就可以圍繞著 這個字詞來創造一個世界。
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.
字詞的力量是什麼? 它是母親的催眠曲、 政治家的演說、 你的愛人給你的情書、 或是對某人的抱怨、 抗議的呼喚。 憤怒、悲傷、快樂、驚訝、歸屬、疏遠、 世界上的任何事物, 世界上的任何感受、 任何情緒、任何反應, 在它被用字詞表述出來之後, 才會對你產生意義, 才有可能讓別人了解。
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.
字詞不是思想, 就像磚頭不是家。 但房子是用磚頭建成的。 如果磚頭不多,建的房子就小。 你用越多字詞, 思想就會越清澈, 也就更能清楚地傳遞這些思想。
Nowadays I often hear, especially from young ones, “You know what I mean?" No, I don't know what you mean.
現在,我常常聽到有人, 特別是年輕人,會說: 「你懂我的意思嗎?」 不,我不懂你的意思。
(Laughter) “You know what I mean,” is running out of words.
(笑聲) 「你懂我的意思嗎」 就是沒有字詞可以用了。
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.
現代一切的步調都很快, 所以溝通也得要很快速。 但不幸的是 我們犧牲文字的深度換來這速度。 我們想要說快一點, 這樣一切才會快一點, 所以語言也要快一點, 因此溝通就會快一點。 但這速度已經影響了深度。 也就是說,別管其他的人, 只要看看你自己。 你沒有辦法明確有力地 表達自己的感受、思想、或情緒, 無法細膩或清楚表達。 只要字詞還存在, 這些字詞就不只是一個意義而已。 它們也是語言、 文字的輸送帶。 它們反映出你的文化、 你的傳統、你的傳承、 你數世代以來累積的文化資產, 所有這些都要靠字詞來發揚。 如果你讓一個人失去了一些字詞, 就是讓他失去了文化、歷史。 這就是現今我們遇到的狀況。
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.
所以,語言是非常強大的。 字詞是極強大的。 但它們自己本身並沒有好壞之分。 如果我們開始熱愛字詞, 並了解它們的力量, 我們就會了解到 世界上發生的一切都是因為字詞。 否則,在我們和其他生物、動物之間 就沒有區別了,儘管我們也是動物。 唯一的差別是我們能夠 透過我們的字詞, 把我們的經驗、學習、知識, 傳給下一代。 我們不只靠直覺過活, 還靠我們代代相傳, 慢慢累積而來的經驗與知識傳承。 透過什麼傳遞?字詞。 如果我們沒有這些字詞, 我們比其他物種優勢之處 就會漸漸隨著時間遞減。
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.
我們會進步,只因為我們有語言。 如果沒有, 我們就不會在這裡。 我們就會在我們的起始點。
So what does language mean? Words! So learn to respect words. Love them. Befriend them. Listen to them attentively. And speak attentively.
所以,語言意味什麼? 字詞! 所以,要學會尊敬字詞。 要愛它們。 和它們交朋友。 留心傾聽它們。 且要細心說話。
Thank you!
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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.
沙魯克汗:非常謝謝,賈維先生。 謝謝您來這裡 與我們分享這麼美好的內容。 二十五年前我來孟買時 就認識了賈維先生。
JA: I was really young then.
當時我非常年輕。
賈維:你仍然非常年輕。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
SRK: Yes. You are still very young, Sir.
沙魯克汗:但我許多的教育、 思想意識和其他東西,
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
都是從賈維先生身上學來的。 我來分享一個小故事。 他對我們很生氣, 當時在拍片。 他有時會生氣是因為 像我們這種未受教育的人給他建議, 建議把這個字換成那個字。 我們的片名是 「Kuch Kuch Hota Hai」。
"Kuch Kuch Hota Hai."
(Cheers) And he did not like the title at all.
(台灣譯名:愛情的證明/怦然心動) (歡呼) 他完全不喜歡那個片名。
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?"
有次他對我們這些孩子非常生氣, 即使現在我們也還像他的孩子, 他反駁: 「此刻我的心不是醒著也不是歇著。 我該怎麼做?喔! 我有種奇怪的感覺。 那就是你想要的嗎?」
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.
事實上,這整首歌,所有的字詞, 都是賈維先生在盛怒中丟給我們的。 那首歌接著變得非常熱門。 所以,即使是賈維先生 盛怒時丟給我們的字詞, 也會轉為黃金字詞。 那是他的天賦。
(Cheers)
(歡呼)
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.
賈維:沙魯克汗分享的 這件事的確是真的。 當我聽到片名, 「Kuch Kuch Hota Hai」, 我很震驚。 我覺得它不夠有品味。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
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.
不過,老實說, 我很後悔因為這片名 而退出這部超棒的電影。 我離開了這部片。 之後,我也覺得有點不好意思, 他也不好過。 所以我們決定既往不咎, 繼續合作其他的電影。 因此有了這部:「Kal Ho Naa Ho」 (台灣譯名:愛,沒有明天) 我告訴他,其他一切都沒問題, 但我欠你兩個「kuch」。
Two kuchs.
兩個「kuch」。 (笑聲)(片名前兩字)
(Laughter)
So I’ll write a song and return these two to you. I wrote a song specially for this reason called
所以我會寫一首歌, 把兩個 kuch 還給你。 我為此特別寫了一首歌,歌名是
"Kuch to hua hai, kuch ho gaya hai."
「Kuch to hua hai, kuch ho gaya hai」
(Cheers and applause)
(歡呼和掌聲)
and he returned his two.
他還了他的兩個 kuch。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Ladies and gentlemen, big round of applause for Javed Akhtar Sahab.
各位先生女士,請以熱烈掌聲 謝謝賈維阿克塔先生。
(Applause)
(掌聲)