TED Talk Speech

The ability to learn and use a new language is a challenge that many have experienced throughout their life, whether in education or in their private lives. How often have you been convinced to learn a language because of a lecture, discussion, or favorable advice? In a TED talk by professor John McWhorter he attempts to influence and encourage a physical and digital rhetoric audience of the benefits received after developing a new tongue. Through his use of overpowering credibility, intriguing demonstrations, and proper medium, he builds a strong argument on the benefits his physical and digital audience will thrive on from learning a language. We have all been given advice in our lives. Advice from family, friends, and fierce educators,
He uses an example to illustrate his view on how languages change our though process. The example being a French film that he describes as giving its characters as “vibrant, funny, passionate, interesting French speaking women.” He explains how he felt about the characters throughout the film, only to later see these wonderful characters as “husks of themselves” because of scene where they had to speak broken English to communicate. This experience is given to persuade the audience on how they would like to perceive these characters vs. how they would perceive them due their lack of French. They would never come to fully appreciate the beauty and fullness of these characters. They are left out of the culture, evoking a feeling of wanting-to-belong. McWhorter achieves this emotional reaction from his audience to explain that to learn new languages, is to open doors into groups of people and cultures for us to enjoy. A great use of slight pathos to evoke emotion into a discussion built on credibility and expertise, much less to include emotion into such a factual medium of a TED Talk
TED Talks are widely known in any educational institution as an established society that organizes credible and educational “talks” on various topics of discussion that the rhetor wishes to share a message. These messages are recorded and broadcasted all over the world to the millions of users of the internet; yet, what makes this platform a very powerful tool in the hands of the professor is that his discussion will be accompanied by thirty-six different language subtitles. These subtitles provide the opportunity for these viewers to fully grasp the ideas, stories, jokes, and lessons McWhorter attempts to convey, which further empowers his message of being able to experience a culture by providing them a chance see the professor as someone more interesting and intellectual, just like his experience with the French film