What makes a language... a language? - Martin Hilpert

Dig into the distinction between a language and a dialect, and uncover the history of standardized languages.

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Outside of China, Mandarin and Cantonese are often referred to as Chinese dialects, despite being even more dissimilar than Spanish and Italian. On the other hand, speakers of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, which are three distinct languages, can usually communicate with each other in their native tongues. So, when is speech considered a dialect versus a language? Martin Hilpert investigates.

Lesson by Martin Hilpert, directed by Luísa M H Copetti, Hype CG.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer, Javid Gozalov, Kyanta Yap, Rebecca Reineke, William Biersdorf, Patricia Alves Panagides, Valeria Sloan Vasquez, Yvette Mocete, Cyrus Garay, Samuel Barbas, Brighteagle, LadyGeek, Curtis Light, Dianne Palomar, Marin Kovachev, Fahad Nasser Chowdhury, Penelope Misquitta, Hans Peng, Gaurav Mathur, Erik Biemans, Tony, Michelle, Katie and Josh Pedretti, Sunny Patel, Hoai Nam Tran, Stina Boberg, Kack-Kyun Kim, Michael Braun-Boghos, zjweele13, Jurjen Geleijn, Anna-Pitschna Kunz, Edla Paniguel, Elena Crescia, Thomas Mungavan, Jaron Blackburn, Venkat Venkatakrishnan, ReuniteKorea, Aaron Henson, Rohan Gupta, Begum Tutuncu, Mikhail Shkirev, Brian Richards, Cindy O., Jørgen Østerpart, Tyron Jung, Carolyn Corwin, Carsten Tobehn and Katie Dean.

[kh-fg]

The animator deserves a raise. The animation gives the video so much more depth. Just amazing

[Michaelonyoutub]

I learned french as a kid and in university I spent a year in germany in a region near the french border, and during that time was when I started to realize that what really makes languages different is just where someone drew the lines on the map. Before the idea of nations became a huge thing, people in any area likely could talk similar enough to communicate with people in any neighbouring area until someone drew lines between them and started educated them in a language similar to their own but different to the one across the border.

[matthewjzack.]

As a Language major (English) living here in the Philippines, I LOOOVE that this video talked about the politics that goes behind the "standardization" of a language, as well as talked about the distinction of language and dialect in a very nuanced and contextualized manner.

For years, Filipinos were taught that languages outside Tagalog – the language that was spoken mainly in the capital of Manila, were Filipino "dialects." With the standardization and legislation of Filipino (with Tagalog as its base) and English as the official languages of the Philippines – meaning, the languages that were going to be used in official documents, as well as the main medium of instruction in schools sort of colonized and gentrified the *hundreds* of distinct regional languages of the Philippines. Language teaching bodies, as well as the academe, has been advocating to properly educate Filipinos that there are *languages* outside Tagalog, as a way to also acknowledge their distinct culture and heritage as well as advocate for the rise of more linguistic studies of these languages and their variations so that they don't die out.

[MartinHilpert]

Author here, thanks a lot for the great discussions in the comments, and major props to the TED-Ed team who worked on this project. This was fun!

[Zibouloubloub]

Narrator: "Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish can communicate in their native tongues together"

also Swedes: "Imagine Danes speaking a comprehensible language"

[whizzerbrown]

Everyone’s talking about the animator, but how about some love to the sound design guy? Sounds incroyable :D

[sakshitandel]

As an Indian the "varieties" in a language is so fundamental of our culture ..throughout my life I have seen the way languages are sculptured in different areas of the same state especially in the border areas.

[jasontungjw]

The Chinese language has so many dialects that we Chinese ourselves are so confused at times lol.

[epiclegodude]

wow the ending lines about language was absolutely beautiful

[indigoeyes]

"...dynamic, diverse, and dazzling..." THE AMOUNT OF ALLITERATION THIS SENTENCE HAS

[nayanaaaaaa]

As someone who is interested in languages and have been confused about accent/dialects (bcs ppl say I don't speak malay English) this is very intriguing. Thank you TedEd

[solarwind]

Standard languages are important. Imagine if contracts could just be interpreted randomly because some words mean something different in different dialects/varieties. But we shouldn't look down on varieties. I do think that learning of the standard version should be encouraged though. Here in Germany, people from regions where they don't speak standard German usually speak good standard German with people from other areas, but switch back to their respective dialects when talking to family. Not teaching a standard dialect excludes people who don't speak it because it's important as I wrote in the beginning. However, speaking your home dialect shouldn't be discouraged/punishes either.

[Scott-wdcq]

I'm studying a masters in translation studies, and I really needed a reminder of why I love what I'm doing. Thank you so much TED-Ed <3

[baglmonstr]

Max Weinreich didn't say that. Rather it was an anonymous member of his audience, which he gave due credit to.

[mohamadalrashed]

Malaysian English is just English but you end every sentence with " La " XD

[elly.b]

In my country, Tanzania we have over 127 tribes which all speak their own tribal languages but when need arises we all communicate in our national language Swahili, but because the tribal languages are the first/mother tongues to all children, this goes on to affect the accent in which they speak the Swahili language, so you can know someone's tribe or region of origin by listening to their accent as they speak Swahili.
Fact: with more than 120 tribes with different languages, Tanzania 🇹🇿 is still one of the most peaceful Nations in Africa and the world!

[ariana_]

My dad speaks schwäbisch, to other Germans it sounds like he’s speaking gibberish

[EliStettner]

“A language is a dialect with an Army and a Navy.”
— Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich

[JessyingAround]

Props to the animator(s) for doing such an amazing job!😯

[ecclesiasticman]

The Philippines calls other languages within the country as dialects even though they're unintelligible to eachother.