Tiangong space station launches, and many other things (link roundup)

Time to get rid of some open tabs. There's a lot of interesting news to reference today.

First the big news: China has successfully launched the first part of its Tiangong (天宫) space station. We already have a much larger space station in orbit right now (China wasn't invited to participate in the ISS, by the way) so having a space station in orbit is nothing new. However, the ability to launch and maintain a space station is nothing to sneeze at, and China is capable of sending humans to and from a location like that, as is Russia. The US at the moment cannot, and this will be a reminder of that.

I doubt that Tiangong is jarring enough to launch another space race, however. What might be capable of this is Chang'e in 2013: this lunar rover will be the first probe on the surface of the moon since Luna 24 in 1976. It is most likely that no other country will have such a craft on the surface then (just two years from now), so China will be the only country exploring the surface there and that might be unsettling. I hope it is.


Next up is SpaceX's new plan for a fully reusable Falcon 9. It works by...well, by doing what you see in this video. Advantages to reusability are obvious: reduced costs and less time in between launches.



Next is news from WISE: the probably second-most interesting thing about the WISE mission (after discovering brown dwarf stars) is the large number of asteroids it has been able to uncover, and thanks to WISE we now know an estimated 90% of the potentially Earth-threatening (100+ metres) in the inner Solar System. The total number of estimated asteroids has been lowered slightly, but that still leaves tens of thousands left to find.

Chinese news:

An article here on a new Mandarin immersion program in South Orange County, and

an article here in German on how Chinese turns out to be easier for students than they thought. According to the article there are at least 232 schools that offer Chinese, a 45% increase over four years ago.


And finally, a good article here from TIME explaining how Korea's hagwon (cram school) addiction works, and how the government is attempting to fight this. The article lists a number of methods that are being used, and while each of them is an improvement, none of them focus on the main problem: that going to Good University A means a guaranteed awesome career and life, while ending up at Crappy University B more or less spells doom for a person's ambitions in the business world. Almost all of these methods they use can be counteracted, and may only make the planning for entrance to these universities more comprehensive.

They are:

"It is working to improve normal public schools by putting teachers and principals through rigorous evaluations — which include opinion surveys by students, parents and peer teachers — and requiring additional training for low-scoring teachers." -- this and the next are completely positive.

"At the same time, the government hopes to reduce the strain on students. Corporal punishment, an entrenched and formalized ritual in South Korean schools, is now prohibited." -- nothing wrong with that.

"Admissions tests for prestigious, specialized high schools (like foreign-language schools) have been eliminated. Middle schoolers are now judged on the basis of their regular grades and an interview." -- this one is iffy. Judging students on their regular grades is good, but the interview seems like just another test to ace.

And 500 admissions officers have been appointed to the country's universities, to judge applicants not only on their test scores and grades but also other abilities. -- Same here; another test that can be passed.

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Kepler needs to be extended

Read about why here, in an article that touches on every point worth mentioning in this issue...enough that I have nothing further I need to add.

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New German book teaches Chinese to children through songs

At first sight perhaps not the most newsworthy event, but a new textbook for German children to learn Chinese through songs is a good example of how diversified language learning resources become as a language becomes more and more popular. Instead of just Colloquial (Teach Yourself, Berlitz, etc.) Language as is the case with many small to medium-sized languages, students now have the option to learn the language in the way they see fit - through a textbook, interlinear translations, songs, dramas (complete with textbook instead of just the drama), etc.

Not bad for children. Such songs are usually unbearable for an adult to listen to more than once or twice though so something else is needed. Bands with fairly clear lyrics and nothing overly reminiscent of a single date are the best. Something like this for German:

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The definite and indefinite article in Mondial

Robert Winter has written two posts lately with a few phrases translated into more than one auxlang, and the discussion on this one has ventured into the usage of the definite and indefinite article. I see it as a mistake to not specify when and when it can't be used, given how usage differs from language to language. Ich bin ein Berliner and the jelly doughnut misconception is a good example of this.

Luckily, Mondial is quite specific in how these two are to be used. For fun I'll start with a short excerpt from the French concise grammar (this isn't from the complete grammar, which goes into much more detail):

L'article

L'article indéfini est un: un patre un père,un matre une mère.

L'article défini est le, pour une notion neutre lo: le patre le père, le patres les pères, le matre la mère, le matres les mères; le animal l'animal, le animales les animaux; lo bel le beau, lo tute le tout.

Les prépositions de, «de», et a, «à», se contractent avel le à del et al: le autor del libre l'auteur du livre. Da le flores al amicos! Donne les fleurs aux amis!

L'article défini ne s'emploie pas:

1) devant un titre suivi d'un nom de personne au singulier: colonel Martel; mais: le mercante Bertin le marchand B. (métier).
2) devant les noms de pays (parties du monde, provinces, grandes îles) au singulier, non qualifiés par un complément ou un adjectif: France la France; mais: le dulce France la douce France.

Si le sens le permet, le second de deux noms, réunis par une préposition, peut prendre l'article: le cante de(l) strada le coin de la rue.

L'article partitif. Il n'y a pas d'article partitif ou de «de» partitif: Il ha (non ha) corage. Il a du (n'a pas de) courage. Il ha bon amicos (plu amicos di tu). Il a de bons amis (plus d'amis que toi). Nulo plu facil! Rien de plus facile!



And from the English grammar...it's probably best to just upload the full four pages here. A lot of Mondial can be learned with little to no effort as possible, but the articles are worth studying for a full few days themselves. If anything can derail a project like this and make the language seem artificial or vague, it's uncertain article usage.

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More eurostat stats: learn who is learning which languages in Europe

See it as a pdf here. The press release shows which countries are studying which languages the most, and the second most. Which language they study the most is not interesting: English in almost all cases, French and German in some very rare cases where a French- or German-speaking country is next door. Or, in the case of Ireland and the UK, because English isn't an option.

But which language is studied the second most is interesting, since there is a lot of room to jostle around there.

Second place stats:

(total 27 countries)

German: 10 (Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Turkey, Netherlands)
French: 8 (Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Romania, Macedonia)
Russian: 4 (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
Spanish: 4 (France, Sweden, UK, Norway)
Italian: 2 (Malta, Austria)
Dutch: 1 (Belgium)
Swedish: 1 (Finland)
Danish: 1 (Iceland)

Actually Portugal doesn't have anything listed for some reason.

Those numbers were actually for primary and lower secondary school, and on the right it goes into the higher grades. One easy assumption to make would be that those on the left reflect the views of the parents and a more long-term outlook on their children's future, while those on the right reflect something more career-oriented, and based on not just parents but children themselves. The numbers on the right would be more susceptible to current trends.

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Radio France International on Esperanto's struggle to be noticed

This just turned up on Google Alerts and I'm embedding it here to listen to it later this afternoon. At 4:21 in length though I doubt there will be much new information for anyone familiar with IALs.

RPT FR Esperanto 26/9

(04:21)

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A bit more on China and Angola

Coincidentally this afternoon I came across an entire BBC documentary on the increasing Chinese influence in Africa, and it begins in Angola:



The video has subtitles as well so if English is your L2 (or L3, L4...) you'll have an easier time understanding it.

Dem Rep Congo is, of course, completely surreal as always.

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More on Macau's role as a bridge between China and Lusophone countries

Another article on Macau and its role as a bridge between China and Portuguese-speaking countries:

Lusophone countries are working to bring in more Chinese investment through initiatives by Macau in a forum in Nanchang, the capital of the province of Jiangxi...Macao has been closely linked with Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and East Timor, in economy and trade, due to being able to provide services to companies in the Chinese mainland to obtain advantages in the markets of these countries...In the 12th five-year plan, the Chinese central government established a policy of developing Macau to accelerate the construction of a better platform for commercial cooperation between the two sides. Since 2003 Macau has organized three ministerial conferences for economic and commercial trade between China and Lusophone countries, making the city the permanent secretariat of the forum. The latest data show that the volume of trade between China and Lusophone countries rose 27% annually to $62.9 billion between January and July 2011.

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Three German teachers to travel through Italy for three months promoting the German language

I found two articles in Italian today (here's one) on something called Deutschwagen which involves three teachers driving across the Italian peninsula for six months promoting the language in 200 schools...about two schools per day for the group. The campaign itself may make some local news when they travel through, but the reason for bringing up this article is that it also shows how popular German is compared to other languages in Italy:

In Italia gli studenti di tedesco sono 403.066, un numero nettamente inferiore a quelli di francese e di spagnolo sottolineano i promotori della campagna. Per fare un confronto, per l’anno scolastico 2008-2009, a fronte di 402.480 studenti di tedesco, ve ne erano 460.047 di spagnolo, 2.067.197 di francese e 7.131.574 di inglese.

402,480 students of German,
460,047 students of Spanish,
2,067,197 students of French, and
7,131,574 students of English.

Now let's compare that to Italy's largest trading partners:

Exports

Germany 12.6%
France 11.6%
US 5.9%
Spain 5.7%
UK 5.1%
Switzerland 4.7%

Imports

Germany 16.7%
France 8.9%
China 6.5%
Netherlands 5.7%
Spain 4.4%
Russia 4.1%
Belgium 4%

So one could make the argument that German is a little underrepresented in Italian schools. Then again, it is that much harder to learn than French and Italian so it's no surprise that many would shy away from it.

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All about the Diocese of Macau

The front page article on the Portuguese Wikipedia at the moment is this one:

It's about the (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Macau, and given that it goes into way more detail than the English version it's worth reading (or using Google Translate to read) for anyone interested in Macau, and Portuguese in Macau in particular.

It has a lot of numbers and other information:

"In 2004, the Diocese of Macau had approximately 18,000 to 27,500 Catholics. In 2008, the number grew to 28,700 - about 5.3% of the total population...the liturgy is usually celebrated in Chinese, Portuguese and English...according to article 34 of the Basic Law of the Special Administrative Region of Macau, "the residents of Macau enjoy freedom of religious belief and the freedom to pray, to promote religious activities in public and to participate in them...(article 128) the government of Macau does not interfere in internal subjects of religious organizations, nor their maintenance or the development of relations of religious organizations and their believers with believers outside Macau..."

and so on. Well worth the time it takes to read.

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Spanish Prime Minister to attend opening of Confucius Institute in Leon; 19 others approved this year

From here in Spanish:

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will attend the opening of the Confucius Institute on 10 October that the Chinese government will be launching at the university in Leon.

The Confucius Institute in Leon is the latest to open, and forms part of the twenty that have been approved this year. Among other cities have been Chicago, Baku (Azerbaijan), University of Wales (UK), and Stockholm. Leon is the smallest city to receive a Confucius institute (note: population is about 337,000), but number of Chinese language students per year is expected to be 200. China has provided 100,000 euros at the beginning to give the centre the necessary resources to begin activity.

The total number of institutes throughout the world is now 256 - a complete list can be seen here.

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Namibia to introduce Portuguese in the curriculum next year (2012)

An article from here in Portuguese, yet another of a great many I have chosen to shine a spotlight on showing how local demand nearly always trumps international prestige when it comes to learning languages. Another one from 2009 was about Zambia (sandwiched between Angola and Mozambique) doing the same thing.

This population map of Namibia shows how much more concentrated the population is in the north (near Angola).

Portuguese will be an optional subject in education in Namibia starting in 2012, and Portugal will train teachers and give support and technical assistance to them.

The announcement to introduce the Portuguese language in the official system of education in Namibia was done by the Minster of Education for the country, who justified the move due to the country's proximity to Angola and Mozambique, and the growing interest amongst Namibians to learn Portuguese in order to better integrate with these countries in diplomatic, business and cultural spheres.

"The government is simply responding to the demand, as was the case with German and French", said Toivo Mvula, spokesman for the Minister of Education.

The Instituto Camões will also provide textbooks and other bibliographic materials such as dictionaries, during the initial phase of introducing Portuguese to the curriculum as an optional language.

This will have a significant impact in the north of Namibia which shares a border with Angola, and where Portuguese is more or less the lingua franca of trade.

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Sample of Ecclesiastes in Mondial

One of the easiest ways to make a translation into a language like Mondial with a given set of source languages is to find a site that shows the same text in multiple languages. For the Bible this is easy: this site will list up to nine translations side by side, and that helps immensely with a language that still has only 7000 words. For this sample I couldn't immediately find a good word for the French "la terre subsiste toujours" but luckily the Latin version I called up as well has "in aeternum stat" - ah, so let's just go with "sta in eternitá", problem solved.

For multiple versions of the Qur'an you'll want to go to this site, and sometimes you will also find non-religious books like The Little Prince that have been translated into multiple languages. Neither a biblical nor a quranic translation would be faithful to the original, but for a quick and easy translation just for the sake of being able to say that Language X has so-and-so books of the Bible this is a really easy way to do it.

The most difficult part would actually be names of people and countries. Here too though it can be easy to just go with the standard another language has used (maybe French or Italian) and mostly copy that, taking out accents and doubled consonants and so on.

The quick sample of a few verses of Ecclesiastes:

Paroles de Qohelet, filio de David, rege in Jerusalem:

Vanitá de vanitás, dica Qohelet; vanitá de vanitás, tuto e vanitá.

Quel profite ha le hom de su tote pena que il fa so le sole?

Un generacion anda, un altre vena, ma le tera sta in eternitá.

Le sole leva se, le sole cucha se, il hasta se al loco u il nasca de novel.

Le vente directa se al midi, turna al norde; poi il turna ancor, i returna se al mem circulacion.

This weekend I plan to reread the grammar and internalize it some more.

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Ulsan has no plans, repeat, no plans to catch street cats

Yesterday the twitterverse in Korea exploded with the news of a plan by the district of Namgu in Ulsan (close to Busan, in the south of the country) to offer cash rewards to people who would capture street cats. The planned campaign was said to be (paraphrasing) a "unique way to reduce the hindrance and damage caused by street cats".

Such a campaign might not have raised much of a fuss a decade or two ago, but as I have written before (here and here for example), Korea is on the verge of becoming a cat-loving country. From personal experience alone I get the impression that a slight majority still sees cats as pests, but this is continuing to decrease.

After the planned campaign hit the news Twitter exploded, and the bulletin boards on the websites of Ulsan and Namgu district filled up with messages on the planned campaign. The most retweeted one was this one that I retweeted as well:

Fast forward a day, and the Namgu website now has the following popup:

What it says is this:

"Announcement about street cats

This is to announce that we have no plans in our city district to order the capture of cats or award money to those who do."

So just one day after the news we either have a backtrack or a clarification in order to calm the flood of emails and messages and tweets that have been coming in.

It is possible that the city was thinking of something along the lines of this article from two years ago - the article details how some cities in Gyeonggi-do (the province surrounding Seoul) have given money to those who capture cats...who are then neutered and released, no harm done. This so-called TNR (trap-neuter-release) program is the only way to achieve a happy balance between those that do and don't like cats, and it is also the only way to assure a stable population.

According to this article from today, the local government is saying that they have been neutering street cats since June and this "campaign" was a mistake - perhaps they were planning to carry out a reward program in the same way the other cities mentioned have. Who knows. In any case, Ulsan would like you to know that it definitely does not pay people to capture street cats and please just leave us alone now we really don't pay people to do that and have no plans to do so....

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French - Mondial dictionary now complete!

At long last, each entry in the French - Mondial dictionary has been entered and the spreadsheet stands at 7031 entries. Now that this task is done, I'll switch the order from French - Mondial to Mondial - French, and then it will be ready to add entries in other languages too. English will certainly be the first, but I am considering just adding English words for terms that are not obvious in order to save time. That means that words like vote and vulgari (vulgar) will be skipped while apena (barely) will see English terms added.

Of course, since this is a Google Docs document anyone else is free to work on it too. Let me know if you want permission to edit it as well.

Thoughts so far on Mondial:

-- Throughout the dictionary it has turned out to be the language I expected it to be: much like Interlingua in appearance, but without doubled consonants and with a bit more predictability. Interlingua will sometimes go back in time a bit to find a common ancestor of its source languages, giving terms like septimana for week where Mondial will use semana instead. The single -ar ending for verbs is also a nice touch. Mondial feels a lot like a cross between Interlingua and Lingua Franca Nova.

-- A strict adherence to orthography results in a difference in spelling between male and female or different types of words sometimes. For example: the word exchange is echange but to exchange is echanjar. There are a very few cases where we end up with a word that might grate on a native Romance speaker, though I'm not certain given that I am not one. One example: subgecte for subject (not subjecte).

-- The dictionary will need a few thousand more words in order to be completely useful, though 7000 words is certainly enough for now. The Mondial grammar never really gets into derivation so we are forced to make educated guesses at times from the dictionary. Mondial follows the pronunciation of words in source languages more than spelling, which resembles LFN somewhat. For example -tion words become -cion (relation = relacion), but not if they are preceded by an s (question = question).

-- Am I happy with Mondial? Most definitely. Whenever I look at a prospective auxlang I consider two questions: 1) can this be promoted to speakers of the source languages, and 2) can this be promoted to others, particularly those from completely different linguistic backgrounds (i.e. Asia)? For #1 a language mostly has to simply not be repulsive (the so-called uncanny valley), and for #2 a language has to be both attractive as well as measurably easier than English (and perhaps Spanish), and obviously so. I was not able to promote Interlingua in Korea for just that reason, while Mondial is a much easier sell.


What's next? In the near future perhaps a summary and rewrite of the grammar, along with the odd post in Mondial here from time to time. Wikipedia pages on Mondial are also in dreadful condition given the lack of information on the language until now.

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Aiming to make Chinese the third most studied foreign language in northern Portugal after Spanish and English

From here:

The Confucius Institute at the University of Minho is starting six Chinese courses in eight schools in the north of the country. The project, under the name "Chinese in Schools", aims to expand the teaching of Mandarin in pre-university institutions and to promote its implementation as a third curricular language in the long term, after English and Spanish. There are about 300 children and students that will have the opportunity to learn the language.

In other news, Dawn has just about reached HAMO - high altitude mapping orbit, the second of the third orbits it will use to observe Vesta. In spite of the word high altitude in the name it is actually quite low in comparison to the previous one, a full four times closer to the surface which will finally shed some light on the surface features of Vesta we've only been able to guess at so far.

And in Mondial news: 6100 words in the dictionary so far, and it should break 7000 by the end. By the end of tomorrow I should be quite close to finishing it.

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11 new images of Vesta, with explanations in Mondial

NASA has released a plethora of new images here from the Dawn mission, and I've translated the explanations or written by own in Mondial. Words not in the dictionary have an asterisk next to them. Given the naturalistic nature of the nature it usually isn't too hard to guess at a new word. I may also have mixed up da and per but am a bit too tired at the moment to bother going through the grammar again to see exactly how one works compared to the other.

Dictionary progress: exactly 5500 words, now up to rendez-vous (apuntamente).

Dawn will soon be viewing Vesta at a distance over three times less than the one these images were taken at so there's still a lot greater detail to look forward to.

Cil image obtenate per le framing camera de Dawn de NASA monstra le pol sude del gigante asteroide Vesta.

Le pol sude revela falesias* con un altur de plure quilometres, crevases* profonde, i crateres.

Cil image in false color monstra un crater in le sud del gigante asteroide Vesta.

Le primer carte mondial de Vesta, composate da images obtenate per le framing camera de Dawn.

Un image-mosaique* del pol sude de Vesta.

Le surface de Vesta in 3-D, monstrante le montanie in le sude.

Un altre image in 3-D del sude de Vesta.

Un image de Vesta in 3-D montra le plure crateres surtuto le surface.

Un image in false color monstrante le topografía del pol sude.

Le montanie in le pol sude, con un alture de 15 quilometres (presque 2 voltes plu grande di Mt. Everest).

Un petite cratere con le nome Claudia - il ha un diametre de 500 metres.

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Random links for 15 September 2011

A lot of interesting news has come in today and the past few days.

This article on French, English and other languages in Montreal is particularly interesting. French is spoken by about 54% of the population at home, and this is set to drop to 47.4%. However, this is not due to English but rather other languages, so-called allophones. This is actually good news for French as long as it is still spoken by more than English is, as speakers of other languages will generally gravitate towards the language spoken in the province they live in.

The numbers (another source here) go as follows:

1971: Francophones 61%, anglophones 27.4%, allophones 11%
2006: Francophones 54%, anglophones 25%, allophones 21%
2031 estimate: Francophones 47.4%, anglophones 23%, allophones 30%

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The Esperanto Wikipedia is having its own conference in October.

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A post here by a missionary who has translated a pamphlet into Papiamentu, apparently the 125th language.

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A school in Melbourn has elected to discard its Latin motto (nisi Dominus frustra) and replace it with.....a graffiti-style motto that says "Inspiring Minds". Bleh. I would have preferred a new Latin motto if nisi Dominus frustra doesn't really fit the school anymore or comes across as vague.

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In Mondial: le dicionario ha ja atingate plu di 4850 paroles; yo espera que yo povaria finar lo in le fine del semana o le comence del semana prochan. Ora yo ha poco besonia por le dicionario sur paper, solmente cuando yo vola un parol dopo P.

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Fewer people learning German than ten years before

Some news here in German from a few days ago on how the numbers of students learning German is continuing to decline. With German I have always stated this to be a positive thing for anyone measuring the economic benefits of learning a language, since German is a language that is concentrated in a particularly small and well off area. With a language like Russian "fewer students are learning Russian" usually means "people in former Soviet republics are electing to stop using Russian" whereas with German it simply means fewer people are learning it.

That is, Germany and its economy aren't going anywhere and fewer students learning German means less competition for positions for non-Germans that require such a skill.

From the article:

The number of people who learn German outside of Germany is declining: according to statistics from the Goethe-Institut, in 2010 there were around 15 million people learning German, compared to 20 million ten years before. In Russia alone the number of people learning German over this period of time has dropped by one million.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the fifteen largest economies during that time to see how things have changed.

United States: 9.9 trillion to 14.1 trillion
China: 1.2 trillion to 5.9 trillion
Japan: 4.7 trillion to 5.0 trillion
Germany: 1.9 trillion to 3.3 trillion
France: 1.3 trillion to 2.7 trillion
UK: 1.5 trillion to 2.1 trillion
Brazil: 0.6 trillion to 1.6 trillion
Italy: 1.1 trillion to 2.1 trillion
Canada: 0.7 trillion to 1.3 trillion
India: 0.5 trillion to 1.3 trillion
Russia: 260 billion to 1.2 trillion
Spain: 580 billion to 1.4 trillion
Australia: 400 billion to 990 billion
Mexico: 670 billion to 1.0 trillion
Korea: 530 billion to 830 billion

First let's add them all up:

2000: about $26 trillion total
2009: about $45 trillion total

Now divide that up by language:

During that time Germany grew at pretty much the exact rate the total GDP of the top fifteen countries did. There really isn't any economic reason to study German less than before.

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More fun with TED.com translations: Norwegian and Icelandic this time

Today I had another go at the kind of simple "phrase book" one can make by using TED.com translations, this time with Norwegian and Icelandic. Hardly any talks there have been translated into Icelandic, and when picking a few languages to compare one must start with the least translated language first. This video has been translated into both Icelandic and Norwegian, and so allows us to make a rough comparison of the two languages. You'll notice that this method works best with languages that have a similar word order as it lets you divide up sentences into quite small parts, making it easier to look from one to the other.

Had today not been a workday I would have added a few others as well: Danish, Swedish, etc. This talk has been translated into quite a few given its popularity and short length.

As a boy, I loved cars.
Som en liten gutt elsket jeg biler.
Þegar ég var yngri elskaði ég bíla.

When I turned 18, I lost my best friend to a car accident.
Da jeg ble 18, mistet jeg min beste venn i en bilulykke.
Þegar ég varð 18, missti ég besta vin minn í bílslysi.

Like this.
Som dette.
Bara sí svona.

And then I decided I'd dedicate my life to saving one million people every year.
Det var da jeg bestemte meg for å vie mitt liv til å redde en million mennesker hvert år.
Það var þá sem ég ákvað að helga líf mitt því að bjarga milljón manns á hverju ári.

Now I haven't succeeded, so this is just a progress report,
Jeg har ikke lykkes ennå, dette er bare en statusrapport,
Mér hefur ekki ennþá tekist það, svo þetta er bara framvinduskýrsla,

but I'm here to tell you a little bit about self-driving cars.
men jeg er her for å fortelle dere litt om selvkjørende biler.
en ég er hér til að segja ykkur dálítið frá bílum sem keyra sig sjálfir.

I saw the concept first in the DARPA Grand Challenges
Jeg så konseptet først i "DARPA Grand Challenges"
Ég varð hugmyndarinnar fyrst var í DARPA keppnunum

where the U.S. government issued a prize
hvor de amerikanske myndighetene gir ut en pris
þar sem ríkisstjórn Bandaríkjanna bauð þeim verðlaun

to build a self-driving car that could navigate a desert.
til de som kan bygge en selvstyrt bil som kan navigere seg gjennom en ørken.
sem gæti búið til ökumannslausan bíl sem keyrt gæti í gegnum eyðimörk.

And even though a hundred teams were there, these cars went nowhere.
Og selv om hundre lag hadde møtt opp, gikk bilene i hytt og pine.
Og þrátt fyrir þau hundrað lið sem þar voru, komust bílarnir ekki neitt.

So we decide at Stanford to build a different self-driving car.
Så vi bestemte oss ved Stanford for å bygge en selvstyrt bil.
Svo við við Standford háskóla ákváðum að byggja öðruvísi sjálfkeyrandi bíl.

We built the hardware and the software.
Vi bygget maskinvaren og programvaren.
Við bjuggum til vélbúnaðinn og hugbúnaðinn.

We made it learn from us, and we set it free in the desert.
Vi fikk den til å lære av oss, og vi satte den fri i ørkenen.
Við létum hann læra af okkur, og við hleyptum honum í eyðimörkina.

And the unimaginable happened:
Og det utrolige skjedde:
Og það óhugsandi gerðist:

it became the first car to ever return from a DARPA Grand Challenge
den ble den førstebilen som noen gang kom tilbake fra et Dharpa Grand Challenge løp
hann varð fyrsti bíllinn til að snúa aftur úr DARPA keppninni

-- winning Stanford 2 million dollars.
-- og vant 2 millioner dollar til Stanford.
-- og varð Stanford háskóla út um 2 milljónir dollara. einasta lífi.

Yet I still hadn't saved a single life.
Men jeg hadde ikke reddet et eneste liv ennå.
En þrátt fyrir það hafði ég ekki bjargað einu

Since, our work has focused on building driving cars
Siden det, har arbeidet vårt fokusert på å lage selvstyrte biler
Eftir það hefur vinna okkar snúist um það að byggja bíla

that can drive anywhere by themselves
som kan kjøre hvor som helst på egen hånd
sem geta keyrt hvert sem er af sjálfsdáðum

-- any street in California. We've driven 140,000 miles.
-- en hvilket som helst gate i California. Vi har kjørt 225.000 kilometer.
-- hvaða götu sem er í Kaliforníu. Við höfum keyrt 225.000 kílómetra.

Our cars have sensors by which they magically can see everything around them
Våre biler har sensorer som tillater dem å se alt rundt dem
Bílar okkar hafa skynjara sem þeir nota til að sjá á undraverðan hátt allt sem í kringum þá er

and make decisions about every aspect of driving.
og ta beslutninger vedrørende alle aspekter rundt kjøring.
og taka ákvarðanir um allt tengt akstrinum.

It's the perfect driving mechanism.
Det er den perfekte kjøremekanismen.
Þetta er hin fullkomna ökutækni.

We've driven in cities, like in San Francisco here.
Vi har kjørt i byer, som i San Francisco her.
Við höfum keyrt í borgum eins og hér í San Francisco.

We've driven from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Highway 1.
Vi har kjørt fra San Francisco til Los Angeles på Highway 1.
Við höfum keyrt frá San Francisco til Los Angeles á Hraðbraut 1.

We've encountered joggers, busy highways, toll booths,
Vi har møtt joggere, travle motorveier, bomveier,
Við höfum glímt við skokkara, þunga umferð á hraðbrautum, tollbása,

and this is without a person in the loop;
og dette uten en person involvert,
og allt þetta án þess að blanda manni í ákvarðanatökuna;

the car just drives itself.
bilen kjører seg selv.
bíllinn keyrir sig bara sjálfur.

In fact, while we drove 140,000 miles, people didn't even notice.
Faktisk, mens vi kjørte de 225.000 kilometrene så merket ikke folk det engang.
Satt best að segja, þegar við keyrðum þessa 225.000 kílómetra, tók fólk ekki einu sinni eftir því.

Mountain roads, day and night,
Fjellveier, dag og natt,
Fjallvegir, dag og nótt,

and even crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco. (Laughter)
til og med svingete Lombard Street i San Francisco. (Latter)
og jafnvel hið hlykkjótta Lombard stræti í San Francisco. (Hlátur)

Sometimes our cars get so crazy, they even do little stunts.
Noen ganger blir bilene våre så gale, at de til og med gjør små stunts.
Stundum eru bílarnir okkar svo villtir, að þeir sýna smá áhættuatriði.

(Video) Man: Oh, my God. What? Second Man: It's driving itself.
(Video) Mann: Åh, herregud. Hva? 2.Mann: Den kjører av seg selv.
(Myndband) Maður: Guð minn góður. Hvað? Annar Maður: Hann keyrir sig sjálfur.

Sebastian Thrun: Now I can't get my friend Harold back to life,
Sebastian Thrun: Jeg kan ikke få tilbake min venn Harold,
Sebastian Thrun: Ég get ekki vakið vin minn Harold upp frá dauðum,

but I can do something for all the people who died.
men jeg kan gjøre noe for alle folkene som døde.
en ég get gert dálítið fyrir allt það fólk sem hefur dáið.

Do you know that driving accidents are the number one cause of death for young people?
Visste du at bilulykker er den største dødsårsaken for unge mennesker?
Vissuð þið að umferðarslys eru algengasta dánarorsök ungs fólks?

And do you realize that almost all of those are due to human error
Og visste du at nesten alle er på grunn av menneskelige feil
Og vissuð þið það að nánast öll þessi slys eru af völdum mannlegra mistaka

and not machine error, and can therefore be prevented by machines?
og ikke tekniske feil, og kan dermed bli forhindret av maskiner?
en ekki vélrænna mistaka, og eru þar af leiðandi fyrirbyggjanleg af vélum?

Do you realize that we could change the capacity of highways by a factor of two or three
Skjøner du at vi kan endre kapasiteten på motorveien med en faktor på to til tre
Áttið þið ykkur á því að við getum breytt flutningsgetu hraðbrauta tvö- eða þrefalt

if we didn't rely on human precision on staying in the lane --
om vi ikke trenger bry oss om menneskelig presisjon for å holde oss i rett fil --
ef við reiddum okkur ekki á mannlega nákvæmni þegar kemur að því að halda sig innan akreinar --

improve body position and therefore drive a little bit closer together
forbedret posisjon og kjør litt nærmere
bæta líkamsstöðu og þar af leiðandi keyrt nær hvert öðru

on a little bit narrower lanes, and do away with all traffic jams on highways?
på smalere filer, og vi er kvitt køer og kaos på motorveiene?
á örlítið mjórri akreinum, og komist hjá öllum umferðarteppum á hraðbrautum?

Do you realize that you spend an average of 52 minutes per day in traffic,
Visste du at du bruker gjennomsnittlig 52 minutter hver dag i kø,
Áttið þið ykkur á því að þið eyðið að meðaltali 52 mínútum á dag í umferðinni,

wasting your time on your daily commute?
kaster bort tid på din daglige tur til jobb?
að sóa tíma ykkar á ykkar daglega ferðalagi?

You could regain this time.
Du kan få tilbake denne tiden.
Þið gætuð endurheimt þennan tíma.

This is four billion hours wasted in this country alone.
Det er fire billioner timer som blir kastet bort i dette landet alene.
Þetta eru fjórir milljarðar klukkutíma sem er sóað í einungis þessu landi.

And it's 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline wasted.
Og det er 9 billioner liter med drivstoff som kastes bort.
Og að það eru 9 milljarðar lítra af bensíni sem er sóað.

Now I think there's a vision here, a new technology,
Jeg tror det er en ny visjon her, en ny teknologi,
Ég tel að hér sé á ferðinni ný framtíðarsýn, ný tækni,

and I'm really looking forward to a time
og jeg ser virkelig fram til en tid
og ég hlakka verulega til þess tíma

when generations after us look back at us and say
hvor generasjoner etter oss ser tilbake på oss og sier
þegar komandi kynslóðir líta til baka á okkur og segja

how ridiculous it was that humans were driving cars.
hvor tullete var det ikke at mennesker kjørte biler.

hversu heimskulegt það hafi verið að menn keyrðu bíla.

Read more...

An article written entirely in Mondial

Hodie un article scribate da me ha aparisate in un interesante site con le nome Lifehacker.com, u on trova informacion sur presque tuto - come far plu bon exercise, come usar un scatul come un antena, come aprendar linguas plu rapidemente, etc. Hodie le dicionario de Mondial ja ha 4273 parolas finque N, i lo sembla a me que far hodie un petite demonstracion seria bon por le lingua.

Bon, un novela por monstrar come scribar in Mondial.

Yer yo dicavi que HARPS fara hodie un anuncie sur exoplanetes, i le novela evi come lo que yo pensavi - un decovre de 50+ planetes, includante 16 super-teras, planetes come notre Tera ma plu grande. Entre li on trova un planete 3.6 voltes plu masiv di Tera.

Come yo pensavi, ci novela e un multo bon novela, ma non le 'Sante Gral' de exoplanetología - lo seria un planete:

- come le notre in masa i grandese, i
- prochan a nos. Forse finque 20 luce-anos, i idealmente non plu di 10.

Naturalmente, 50+ exoplanetes e un multo bon decovre! Solo fa 10 anos on trovavi circa 15 exoplanetes in un ano. Yo e multo contente con lo...ma yo espera ancor le Sante Gral.

Read more...

Mondial dictionary progress, major exoplanet announcement, Canada aerospace under par

Three things to share today:

1) The French - Mondial dictionary is going well, and I it has now surpassed 4000 entries. The most recent one is miroir (mirror, specle in Mondial) and being at the halfway point that means the final number of words should be on the order of 7000 or 8000, a bit more than I had originally estimated. It should be complete in about a week then, hopefully by next Sunday or so.

Robert Winter also wrote an interesting post the other day on how IAL promotion should be done, especially on how the promise of ease is a mistake when promoting a language. I agree to a certain extent in that exaggerating is always a mistake (no language can be learned to fluency in a few weeks), but since without ease of learning IALs have few selling points, it still needs to be mentioned and mentioned often. Relative terms are better: "language X can be learned X times faster than a natural language" is better than "language X can be learned in just a few days".

2) There is going to be a major exoplanet announcement tomorrow. Sometimes these announcements turn out to be a disappointment (that "major announcement on extrasolar life" or something that turned out to be an announcement on a type of life that lives in arsenic) but since this is HARPS, I think it's going to turn out to be quite good. Whether it will be gamechangingly good (a planet so similar and close to ours that humanity itself can't help but change its view on space) or not is impossible to tell until they announce it.

3) No surprise here - Canada is falling behind on aerospace competitiveness. India is now ahead of Canada in the index, and next up to possibly replace it are Brazil, Israel and Korea. Canada could double its space agency's budget and hardly notice.

Read more...

Jon Huntsman speaking fluent Chinese

I read a few articles and saw a few clips of the most recent Republican primary debate, and suddenly remembered that Jon Huntsman is in the race as well. He is very lacking in drama and one of the most interesting candidates considering his fluency in Chinese, and of course none of this has helped him in the standings as he now stands at about 1% or 2% in the polls. Being appointed as Ambassador to China by the Obama administration certainly doesn't count as a plus in the current political climate, and his position on Afghanistan and Iraq (bring troops home from there) plus his "pledge to not make pledges" stance instead of the pledge to not raise taxes one among others the other candidates took is not helpful either. Here's one example of him talking during the debate.



After that the next question was: how easy is it to find examples of him speaking Chinese? The answer is: very easy. Jon Huntsman 中文 gives us this video right at the top. Fast forward to 4:10 minutes in to hear him talking the most in Chinese.



At 4:10 he says he studied right from the time he woke up when he was living in Taiwan and after two years got pretty good...then goes on to say something about how he visited the mainland for the first time in 1984, some two decades ago, when he had a position with the White House (Reagan administration).

And checking his bio it seems he was in Taiwan for the first time in the late 1970s on a two-year Mormon mission. Fluency among Mormons overseas is something I've come to expect as they always seem to excel at the language of the country they are in. In fact, the first non-Japanese person I ever spoke to in Japanese at length was a Mormon too.

Read more...

More Mondial progress, Chinese in Pakistan from 2013, GRAIL making your own multilingual phrasebook

A lot of quick things to mention today. The first is a simple update to the Mondial dictionary: one page was completed today, giving a total of 2700 words up to the French word fuir. Now when you are looking for a word there is about a one in three chance that it will be there.


Chinese: it seems that the government in Pakistan plans to make Chinese compulsory starting in 2013 from grade six, so stay tuned to see how implementation of this happens. Back in 1980 China had a GDP about seven times that of Pakistan, now it's 27 times larger...plus they are geographically quite close to each other.

GRAIL: launch was delayed and has been rescheduled for tomorrow. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this mission will be its aid in determining whether our moon really was two moons previously, one of which ended up colliding at slow speed with the other. Read about that here.


Finally, a quick sample I made of a multilingual 'phrasebook' from a TED.com video - this one. A five-minute video, I copied and pasted the translations in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian, making the example sentences as short as possible (this is key). After about an hour I was able to complete the whole thing. It can also aid in translating into an auxlang like Mondial, Interlingua, Occidental, Ido, etc, as the five languages next to each other may give some ideas. Here is the result when they are all put together.

Imagine a big explosion
Immaginate una grande esplosione
Imaginem uma grande explosão
Imaginen una gran explosión
Imaginen una gran explosión
Imaginez une grosse explosion
Imaginaţi-vă o explozie mare,

as you climb through 3,000 ft.
mentre salite per 3000 piedi.
enquanto estão a subir 3 mil pés (~ 915 metros).
cuando estás a 900 mts de altura.
pendant qu'on passe les 3000 pieds.
în timp ce urcați la 1000 de metri înălțime.

Imagine a plane full of smoke.
Immaginate un aereo pieno di fumo.
Imaginem um avião cheio de fumo.
Imaginen un avión lleno de humo.
Imaginez un avion rempli de fumée.
Imaginaţi-vă un avion plin de fum.

Imagine an engine going clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.
Immaginate un motore che fa clac, clac, clac, clac, clac, clac.
Imaginem um motor a fazer 'clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack'.
Imaginen un motor haciendo clac, clac, clac, clac, clac, clac, clac.
Imaginez un moteur qui fait clac, clac, clac, clac, clac, clac, clac.
Imaginaţi-vă un motor care face poc, poc, poc, poc, poc, poc, poc.

It sounds scary.
Fa paura.
Parece assustador.
Suena aterrador.
Ça semble effrayant.
Sună înfricoşător.

Well I had a unique seat that day.
Bene, avevo un posto privilegiato quel giorno.
Nesse dia eu tive um lugar único.
Bien, yo tenía un asiento único ese día.
Eh bien, j'avais un siège unique ce jour-là.
Ei bine, am avut un loc unic în acea zi.

I was sitting in 1D.
Ero seduto all'1D.
Estava sentado no 1D.
Estaba sentado en el 1D.
J'étais assis à la place 1D.
Stăteam în 1D.

I was the only one who could talk to the flight attendants.
Ero l'unico a poter parlare con gli assistenti di volo.
Eu era a unica pessoa que conseguia falar com as comissárias de bordo.
Era el único que podía hablar con los asistentes de vuelo.
J'étais le seul qui pouvait parler aux agents de bord.
Am fost singurul care putea vorbi cu însoţitorii de zbor.

So I looked at them right away, and they said,
Quindi li ho guardati immediatamente, e loro hanno detto:
Por isso eu olhei-as logo, e elas disseram,
Así que de inmediato los miré, y dijeron:
Alors , je les ai regardés tout de suite, et ils ont dit:
Aşa că m-am uitat la ei imediat, şi mi-au spus,

"No problem. We probably hit some birds."
"Nessun problema. Probabilmente abbiamo preso qualche uccello."
"Não há problema. Provavelmente atingimos alguns pássaros."
"No hay problema. Probablemente golpeamos algunas aves".
"Pas de problème. Nous avons probablement heurté des oiseaux."
"Nicio problemă. Probabil am lovit niște păsări."

The pilot had already turned the plane around,
Il pilota aveva già fatto dietro front,
O piloto já tinha voltado o avião para trás
El piloto ya había virado el avión,
Le pilote avait déjà tourné l'avion,
Pilotul întorsese deja avionul,

and we weren't that far.
e non eravamo così lontani.
e nós não estávamos assim tão longe.
y no estábamos tan lejos.
et nous n'étions pas si loin.
și nu eram așa departe.


You could see Manhattan.
Si poteva vedere Manhattan.
Conseguíamos ver Manhattan.
Se podía ver Manhattan.
On pouvait voir Manhattan.
Puteam vedea Manhattanul.

Two minutes later,
Due minuti dopo,
Dois minutos depois,
Dos minutos después,
Deux minutes plus tard,
Două minute mai târziu,

three things happened at the same time.
tre cose sono successe nello stesso istante.
três coisas aconteceram ao mesmo tempo.
3 cosas sucedieron al mismo tiempo.
trois choses se sont passées en même temps.
trei lucruri s-au întâmplat în acelaşi timp.


The pilot lines up the plane with the Hudson River.
Il pilota ha allineato l'aereo con il fiume Hudson.
O piloto alinha o avião com o rio Hudson.
El piloto alineó el avión con el río Hudson.
Le pilote aligne l'avion avec la rivière Hudson.
Pilotul aliniază avionul cu râul Hudson.

That's usually not the route. (Laughter)
Non è la solita rotta. (Risate)
Aquela normalmente não é a rota. (Risos)
Generalmente esa no es la ruta. (Risas)
En général, ce n'est pas l'itinéraire. (Rires)
Asta nu e de obicei ruta. (Râsete)

He turns off the engines.
Ha spento i motori.
Ele desliga os motores.
Apagó los motores.
Il éteint les moteurs.
Oprește motoarele.

Now imagine being in a plane with no sound.
Ora, immaginate di essere in un aereo senza rumore.
Agora imaginem estarem num avião sem nenhum som.
Imaginen estar en un avión y sin ruidos.
Maintenant, imaginez être dans un avion sans aucun son.
Acum imaginați-vă că sunteți într-un avion fară niciun sunet.


And then he says three words --
E poi ha detto tre parole --
E a seguir ele diz três palavras --
Y luego dijo 3 palabras --
Et puis il dit trois mots -
Şi apoi, el spune trei cuvinte --

the most unemotional three words I've ever heard.
le tre parole più distaccate che io abbia mai sentito.
as três palavras mais apáticas que eu alguma vez ouvi.
las 3 palabras más desapasionadas que haya escuchado.
les trois mots les plus impassibles que je n'aie jamais entendus.
cele mai lipsite de emoție trei cuvinte pe care le-am auzit vreodată.

He says, "Brace for impact."
Ha detto: "Preparatevi all'impatto".
Ele disse, "Preparem-se para o impacto."
Dijo, "Prepararse para el impacto".
Il dit: "Préparez-vous à l'impact."
El spune, "Pregătiţi-vă de impact."

I didn't have to talk to the flight attendant anymore. (Laughter)
Non avevo più bisogno di parlare con l'assistente di volo. (Risate)
Eu não tinha mais que falar com a comissária de bordo. (Risos)
No tuve que hablar más con la asistente de vuelo. (Risas)
Je n'avais plus besoin de parler à l'agent de bord. (Rires)
Nu mai trebuia să vorbesc cu însoțitorul de zbor. (Râsete)

I could see in her eyes, it was terror.
Potevo vederlo nei suoi occhi, era terrore.
Eu conseguia ver nos olhos dela, o terror.
Pude verlo en sus ojos, era terror.
Je pouvais voir dans ses yeux, c'était de la terreur.
Am putut vedea în ochii ei teroarea.

Life was over.
La vita era finita.
A vida tinha acabado.
La vida se terminaba.
La vie était finie.
Viața era pe sfârșite.

Now I want to share with you
Ora vorrei condividere con voi
Agora quero partilhar com vocês
Quiero compartir con ustedes
Je veux partager avec vous
Acum vreau să împărtăşesc cu voi

three things I learned about myself that day.
tre cose che ho imparato su di me quel giorno.
três coisas que eu aprendi sobre mim mesmo naquele dia.
3 cosas que aprendí sobre mí mismo ese día.
trois choses que j'ai apprises sur moi-même ce jour-là.
trei lucruri pe care le-am învăţat despre mine în acea zi.

I learned that it all changes in an instant.
Ho imparato che tutto cambia in un istante.
Eu aprendi que tudo muda num instante.
Aprendí que todo cambia en un instante.
J'ai appris que tout change en un instant.
Am învățat că totul se schimbă într-o clipă.

We have this bucket list,
Abbiamo queste lunghe liste,
Nós temos uma lista de coisas para fazer até morrer,
Tenemos esta lista de cosas para hacer antes de morir,
Nous avons cette longue liste,
Avem această listă cu ultimele dorințe,

we have these things we want to do in life,
abbiamo queste cose che vogliamo fare nella vita,
nós temos coisas que queremos fazer na vida,
tenemos estas cosas que queremos hacer en vida,
nous avons ces choses que nous voulons faire dans la vie,
avem aceste lucruri pe care vrem să le facem în viață,

and I thought about all the people I wanted to reach out to that I didn't,
e ho pensato a tutte le persone con alle quali avrei voluto avvicinarmi e non l'ho fatto,
e eu pensei em todas as pessoas que eu queria contactar e não o fiz,
y pensé en toda la gente a las que quería llegar y no lo hice,
et j'ai pensé à tous les gens vers qui je voulais aller et que je n'ai pas vus,
şi m-am gândit la toţi oamenii pe care voiam să îi ajut și nu i-am ajutat,

all the fences I wanted to mend,
dove avrei voluto riappacificarmi,
todas as cercas que eu queria consertar,
todas las cercas que quería reparar,
toutes les barrières que je voulais réparer,
la toate lucrurile pe care am vrut să le îndrept,

all the experiences I wanted to have and I never did.
tutte le esperienze che avrei voluto fare e non ho mai fatto.
todas as experiências que eu queria ter e nunca tive.
todas las experiencias que he querido tener y nunca tuve.
toutes les expériences que je voulais avoir et je n'ai jamais eues.
la toate experiențele pe care am vrut să le am și nu le-am avut.

As I thought about that later on,
Quando ho ripensato a questo successivamente,
Enquanto eu pensava sobre isso mais tarde,
Mientras pensaba en eso más adelante,
En y repensant plus tard,
Cum m-am gândit la asta mai târziu,

I came up with a saying, which is,
sono venuto fuori con questo motto, che è,
eu inventei um ditado, que é,
Me vino una frase, que es,
j'ai trouvé un dicton, qui est:
mi-a venit o vorbă în minte, ea fiind,

"I collect bad wines."
"Colleziono vino cattivo".
"Eu coleciono maus vinhos."
"Colecciono vinos malos".
"Je collectionne les mauvais vins."
"colecționez vinuri proaste."

Because if the wine is ready and the person is there, I'm opening it.
Perché se il vino è pronto da bere e la persona è lì, lo apro.
Porque se o vinho está pronto e a pessoa está lá, eu vou abri-lo.
Porque si el vino está listo y la persona está ahí, lo voy a abrir.
Parce que si le vin est prêt et que la personne est là, je l'ouvre.
Deoarece, dacă vinul este pregătit și persoana se află acolo, îl deschid.

I no longer want to postpone anything in life.
Non voglio più posticipare niente nella vita.
Eu não quero mais adiar nada na vida.
Ya no quiero aplazar nada en la vida.
Je ne veux plus tout remettre à plus tard dans la vie.
Nu mai vreau să amân nimic în viață.

And that urgency, that purpose, has really changed my life.
E quel senso di urgenza, quel proposito, ha davvero cambiato la mia vita.
E essa sentimento de urgência, de propósito, realmente mudou a minha vida.
Y esa urgencia, ese propósito, realmente ha cambiado mi vida.
Et cette urgence, ce but, a vraiment changé ma vie.
Și acea urgență, acel scop, mi-a schimbat cu adevărat viața.

The second thing I learned that day --
La seconda cosa che ho imparato quel giorno --
A segunda coisa que eu aprendi nesse dia --
Lo segundo que aprendí ese día --
La deuxième chose que j'ai apprise ce jour-là -
Al doilea lucru pe care l-am învăţat în acea zi --

and this is as we clear the George Washington Bridge, which was by not a lot --
e questo mentre evitavamo il ponte George Washington, per poco --
e essa foi enquanto estavamos a passar pela ponte George Washington, que foi por pouco --
y esto es mientras evitábamos el puente George Washington, que no fué por mucho --
et c'est alors que nous évitons le pont George Washington, et pas de beaucoup -
și asta în timp ce am trecut peste podul George Washington, la o distanță nu prea mare --

I thought about, wow, I really feel one real regret.
Ho pensato, wow, ho davvero un rimpianto.
Eu pensei, wow, Eu realmente tenho um arrependimento.
Pensé sobre, wow, Realmente siento un gran pesar.
j'ai pensé, wow, je n'ai vraiment qu'un regret.
M-am gândit la ... Am avut un singur regret adevărat.

I've lived a good life.
Ho avuto una vita felice.
Eu vivi uma boa vida.
He vivido una buena vida.
J'ai eu une bonne vie.
Am avut o viață bună.

In my own humanity and mistakes,
Nella mia umanità e con i miei errori,
Com a minha própria humanidade e erros,
En mi humanidad y con mis errores
Dans ma propre humanité et mes erreurs,
Cu umanitatea și greșelile mele,

I've tried to get better at everything I tried.
ho cercato di migliorare in ogni cosa che ho provato.
Tentei ser melhor em tudo, eu tentei.
He tratado de mejorar en todo lo que hice.
j'ai essayé de m'améliorer à tout ce que j'ai essayé.
am încercat să devin mai bun în tot ceea ce fac.

But in my humanity, I also allow my ego to get in.
Ma nella mia umanità, permetto anche al mio ego di intrudere.
Mas na minha humanidade, eu também permito o meu ego fazer parte dela.
Pero en mi humanidad también dí lugar a mi ego.
Mais dans mon humanité, je permets aussi à mon ego d'entrer.
Dar umanitatea mea i-a făcut loc și propriului meu ego.

And I regretted the time I wasted on things that did not matter with people that matter.
E rimpiango il tempo sprecato in cose di poca importanza per persone che contano.
E eu arrependi-me do tempo em que perdi em coisas que não tinham importância com pessoas importantes.
Y lamento el tiempo que desperdicié en cosas que no importaban con gente que sí importan.
Et j'ai regretté le temps que j'ai perdu sur des choses qui n'ont pas d'importance avec des gens qui comptent.
Și am regretat timpul pe care l-am pierdut făcând lucruri care nu contează, cu oameni care contează.

And I thought about my relationship with my wife, with my friends, with people.
E ho pensato alla relazione con mia moglie, con i miei amici, con la gente.
E eu pensei sobre a minha relação com a minha mulher, com os meus amigos, com pessoas.
Y pensé en mi relación con mi esposa, con mis amigos, con la gente.
Et j'ai pensé à ma relation avec ma femme, avec mes amis, avec les gens.
Și m-am gândit la relația cu soția mea, cu prietenii, cu oamenii din jur.

And after, as I reflected on that,
E dopo, dopo averci riflettuto,
E depois, enquanto eu refletia sobre isso,
Y después, como medité en eso,
Et après, quand je réfléchissais là-dessus,
Și după ce am reflectat la acest lucru,

I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life.
ho deciso di eliminare tutta l'energia negativa dalla mia vita.
eu decidi eliminar toda a energia negativa da minha vida.
Decidí eliminar la energía negativa de mi vida.
j'ai décidé d'éliminer l'énergie négative de ma vie.
am decis să elimin toată energia negativă din viața mea.

It's not perfect, but it's a lot better.
Non è perfetta, ma è molto meglio.
Não é perfeita, mas está muito melhor.
No es perfecta, pero es mucho mejor.
Ce n'est pas parfait, mais c'est beaucoup mieux.
Nu e perfect, dar este mult mai bine.

I've not had a fight with my wife in two years.
Non litigo con mia moglie da due anni.
Não discuto com a minha esposa há dois anos.
En 2 años no he tenido una pelea con mi esposa.
Je n'ai pas eu une dispute avec ma femme en deux ans.
Nu m-am mai certat cu soția mea de doi ani.

It feels great.
Si sta bene.
Sabe muito bem.
Se siente de maravillas.
Ça fait du bien.
Este grozav.

I no longer try to be right; I choose to be happy.
Non cerco più di avere ragione; scelgo di essere felice.
Já não tento ter sempre razão; Eu escolho ser feliz.
Ya no trato de tener razón; Elijo ser felíz.
Je ne cherche plus à avoir raison. Je choisis d'être heureux.
Nu mai încerc să am dreptate. Aleg să fiu fericit.

The third thing I learned --
E la terza cosa che ho imparato --
A terceira coisa que eu aprendi --
Lo tercero que aprendí --
La troisième chose que j'ai apprise -
Al treilea lucru pe care l-am învățat --

and this is as your mental clock starts going, "15, 14, 13."
e questo mentre il tuo orologio mentale comincia a fare: "15, 14, 13".
e esta é enquanto o vosso relógio cerebral começa a contagem decrescente, "15, 14, 13".
y esto es como que tu reloj mental va descontando, "15, 14, 13".
et c'est quand votre horloge mentale commence à compter ", 15, 14, 13."
și asta în timp ce ceasul minții începe, "15, 14, 13..."

You can see the water coming.
Puoi vedere l'acqua avvicinarsi.
Consegue-se ver a água a aproximar-se.
Ves el agua aproximarse.
Vous pouvez voir l'eau arriver.
Poți vedea apa pătrunzând.

I'm saying, "Please blow up."
E dico: "Per favore esplodi".
Eu a dizer, "Por favor explode."
Estoy diciendo, "Por favor vuela".
Je dis: "S'il te plaît, explose."
Îmi zic, "Te rog, explodează."

I don't want this thing to break in 20 pieces
Non voglio che questa cosa si spezzi in 20 pezzi
Eu não quero que isto se parta em 20 pedaços
No quiero que esto se rompa en 20 piezas
Je ne veux pas que cette chose se brise en 20 morceaux
Nu vreau ca avionul să se sfărâme în 20 de bucăți,

like you've seen in those documentaries.
come si vede nei documentari.
como vê-se em alguns documentários.
como se ven en esos documentales.
comme vous l'avez vu dans les documentaires.
cum vedem în acele documentare.

And as we're coming down, I had a sense of,
E mentre andavamo giù ho avuto questa sensazione,
E enquanto nós iamos descendo, eu tive a sensação de,
Y mientras bajábamos, tuve la sensación de,
Et alors que nous descendions, j'ai eu un sentiment de,
În timp ce ne prăbușeam, am avut sentimentul că

wow, dying is not scary.
wow, morire non fa paura.
wow, morrer não é assustador.
wow, morir no da miedo.
wow, mourir n'est pas effrayant.
moartea nu este înfricoșătoare.

It's almost like we've been preparing for it our whole lives.
E come se ci siamo preparati per tutta la nostra vita.
É quase como se nós tivessemos a preparar-nos para isso a vida toda.
Es casi como que hemos estado preparandonos para ello toda nuestra vida.
C'est presque comme si nous nous y préparons toute notre vie.
Este ca și cum ne-am pregăti pentru asta toată viața.

But it was very sad.
Ma era molto triste.
Mas foi muito triste.
Pero fue muy triste.
Mais c'était très triste.
Dar era foarte trist.

I didn't want to go; I love my life.
non volevo andarmene; amo la mia vita.
Eu não queria morrer; amo a minha vida.
No me quería ir; amo mi vida.
Je ne voulais pas y aller, j'aime ma vie.
Nu voiam să mor. Îmi iubesc viața.

And that sadness really framed in one thought, which is,
E quella tristezza si è condensata in un pensiero, che è,
E essa tristeza realmente enquadrou-se num pensamento, que é,
Y esa tristeza se enmarcó en un único pensamiento, que es,
Et cette tristesse vraiment encadrée dans une seule pensée, qui est,
Și acea tristețe s-a încadrat într-un singur gând.

I only wish for one thing.
desidero una sola cosa.
eu apenas desejo uma coisa.
sólo deseo una cosa.
je ne souhaite qu'une chose.
Îmi doresc un singur lucru.

I only wish I could see my kids grow up.
Desidero solo vedere i miei figli crescere.
Eu apenas desejo poder ver os meus filhos crescerem.
Ojalá pudiera ver a mis hijos crecer.
Je souhaite seulement pouvoir voir mes enfants grandir.
Îmi doresc să îmi pot vedea copiii crescând.

About a month later, I was at a performance by my daughter --
Circa un mese dopo, ero ad una rappresentazione con mia figlia --
Acerca de um mês depois, eu estava numa atuação da minha filha --
Un mes más tarde, estaba en una actuación de mi hija -
Environ un mois plus tard, j'étais à un spectacle de ma fille -
O lună mai târziu, am fost la o piesă de teatru a fiicei mele --

first-grader, not much artistic talent ... ... yet. (Laughter)
prima elementare, non molto talento artistico... ... non ancora. (Risate)
que anda na primeira classe e não tem grande talento artístico... ... por enquanto. (Risos)
primer grado, no mucho talento artístico ... ...todavía. (Risas)
elle est en CP, pas beaucoup de talent artistique ... ... pour le moment. (Rires)
în clasa întâi, nu foarte mult talent artistic ... ... încă. (Râsete)

And I'm balling, I'm crying, like a little kid.
E mi sciolgo, piango, come un ragazzino.
E eu estava a chorar, como uma criancinha.
Y grito, lloro, como un pequeño.
Et je suis en pelote, je pleure, comme un petit enfant.
Și eram fericit, plângeam ca un copil mic.

And it made all the sense in the world to me.
E tutto aveva perfettamente senso.
E fez todo o sentido do mundo para mim.
Y para mí, esa era toda la razón de ser del mundo.
Et ça avait tout le sens du monde pour moi.
Și asta avea tot sensul din lume pentru mine.

I realized at that point,
Ho realizzato in quel momento,
Eu apercebi-me que naquele momento,
En ese punto comprendí,
J'ai réalisé à ce moment-là,
Atunci am realizat,

by connecting those two dots,
connettendo quei due punti,
ao conectar estes dois pontos,
al conectar esos dos puntos,
en reliant ces deux points,
conectând aceste două puncte,

that the only thing that matters in my life is being a great dad.
che l'unica cosa che importa nella mia vita è essere un papà fantastico.
que a única coisa importante na minha vida é ser um óptimo pai.
que lo único que importa en mi vida es ser un gran padre.
que la seule chose qui compte dans ma vie est d'être un père génial.
că singurul lucru care contează în viața mea este să fiu un tată minunat.

I was given the gift of a miracle, of not dying that day.
Mi è stato dato un miracolo in regalo, quello di non morire quel giorno.
Foi-me dado o milagre, de não ter morrido naquele dia.
Se me concedió un milagro, de no morir ese día.
On m'a fait cadeau d'un miracle, de ne pas mourir ce jour-là.
Mi s-a oferit șansa, un miracol, de a nu muri în acea zi.

I was given another gift,
Mi è stato dato un altro regalo,
Foi-me dado outro presente,
Y se me concedió otro regalo,
On m'a donné un autre cadeau,
Mi s-a oferit șansa de a vedea în viitor,

which was to be able to see into the future and come back and live differently.
che è stato quello di vedere il futuro e di tornare indietro e vivere diversamente.
que foi ser capaz de ver o futuro voltar e viver de uma forma diferente.
que fue la posibilidad de mirar el futuro y volver y vivir de otra forma.
qui était d'être en mesure de voir dans l'avenir et de revenir et de vivre différemment.
de a veni înapoi și de a trăi altfel.

I challenge you guys that are flying today,
Sfido quelli di voi che viaggeranno oggi,
Desafio a quem vai viajar hoje,
A ustedes que están volando hoy,
Je vous mets au défi, vous qui volez aujourd'hui,
Pe voi, cei care zburați cu avionul astăzi,

imagine the same thing happens on your plane -- and please don't --
immaginate che la stessa cosa succeda al vostro aereo -- e speriamo che non succeda --
que imagine que a mesma coisa acontece com o vosso avião -- e por favor, não o façam --
los desafío a que imaginen que lo mismo les pasa en su avión -- y por favor que no sea así --
d'imaginer que la même chose se passe sur votre avion- et s'il vous plaît ne -
vă provoc să vă imaginați că vi se va întâmpla același lucru -- și vă rog să nu --

but imagine, and how would you change?
ma immaginate, come cambiereste?
mas imaginem, e como é que vocês mudariam ?
pero imaginen, ¿y cómo cambiarían?
mais imaginez, et comment changeriez-vous?
dar imaginați-vă, ce ați schimba?

What would you get done that you're waiting to get done
Che cosa finireste che state aspettando di finire
O que que vocês fariam que estão à espera para fazer
¿Qué es lo que harían, que aún esperan hacer
Qu'est-ce que vous feriez que vous remettez à plus tard
Ce ați face din ceea ce așteptați să faceți

because you think you'll be here forever?
perché pensate che vivrete per sempre?
porque pensam que vão ficar aqui para sempre?
porque piensan que van a vivir por siempre?
parce que vous pensez que vous serez là pour toujours?
pentru că credeați că veți trăi pentru totdeauna?

How would you change your relationships and the negative energy in them?
Come cambiereste le vostre relazioni e l'energia negativa in esse?
Como é que mudariam as vossas amizades, e a energia negativa nelas?
¿Cómo cambiarían sus relaciones y la energía negativa en ellas?
Comment voudriez-vous changer vos relations et l'énergie négative en elles?
Cum v-ați schimba relațiile și energiile negative din ele?

And more than anything, are you being the best parent you can? Thank you. (Applause)
E sopra ogni cosa, state dando il meglio come genitori? Grazie. (Applausi)
E acima de tudo, estão a ser os mellhores pais que podem ser? Obrigado. Aplausos.
Y lo más importante, ¿están siendo los mejores padres que pueden? Gracias. (Aplausos)
Et plus que tout, êtes-vous le meilleur parent possible? Merci. (Applaudissements)
Și mai presus de toate, sunteți cel mai bun părinte care puteți fi? Mulțumesc. (Aplauze)

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