Want to learn a new language but feel daunted or unsure where to begin? You don't need some special talent or a "language gene," says Lýdia Machová. In an upbeat, inspiring talk, she reveals the secrets of polyglots (people who speak multiple languages) and shares four principles to help unlock your own hidden language talent -- and have fun whi...

Learning another language? A collection of TED Talks to indulge in your linguistic desires. (Pro tip: Select subtitles in your preferred language to read along, too.)

Lýdia Machová teaches people how they can learn any language by themselves.

When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok? He explains how Duolingo harnesses the psychological techniques of social media and mobile games to get you excited to l...

Is AI as smart as it seems? Exploring the "brain" behind machine learning, neural networker Alona Fyshe delves into the language processing abilities of talkative tech (like the groundbreaking chatbot and internet obsession ChatGPT) and explains how different it is from your own brain -- even though it can sound convincingly human.

Crowdsourcing pioneer and Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn built the world's most downloaded education app on a mission to make quality education available to everyone.

Open up a whole new world of possibilities and experiences with these talks that show the benefit (and fun!) of learning a new language.

We hear a lot about large language models (LLMs) these days, but what about "little language models?" Data scientist Pelonomi Moiloa describes how she trains AI on African languages often overlooked by big tech companies — and explores how a nuanced approach to this work could help keep the world's cultural richness alive.

Researcher-turned-entrepreneur Richard Socher dives deep into different kinds of existing AI systems and what they can teach us about ourselves — pointing out how, as AI advances, it mirrors both humanity's ingenuity and its flaws.

Patricia Kuhl studies how we learn language as babies, looking at the ways our brains form around language acquisition.

English is fast becoming the world's universal language, and instant translation technology is improving every year. So why bother learning a foreign language? Linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter shares four alluring benefits of learning an unfamiliar tongue.

Animals are communicating -- but what are they saying? And can we talk back? Marine biologist David Gruber introduces Project CETI: a team of scientists, linguists and AI specialists hoping to decode sperm whale language. Using noninvasive robots and a machine-learning algorithm to collect and analyze millions of sperm whale vocalizations known ...

Daniel Tammet is the author of "Born on a Blue Day," about his life with high-functioning autistic savant syndrome. He runs the language-learning site Optimnem, and his new book is "Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind."

In her role at TED, Bianca DeJesus amplifies diverse voices from the TEDx community and creates educational resources for more than 50,000 global volunteers.

ShaoLan want to help people understand China's culture and language, and to bridge the gap between East and West.

Yann LeCun is chief AI scientist at Facebook and Silver Professor at New York University.

There are countless benefits to subtitling your TEDx Talks. It’s easy to do, and we have teams of volunteers to help through our TED Translators. How to translate a talk Before a talk can be translated, it needs to be transcribed. The good news is that transcribing your TEDx Talks is one of the best things you can do for your videos, because: ...

For foreigners, learning to speak Chinese is a hard task. But learning to read the beautiful, often complex characters of the Chinese written language may be less difficult. ShaoLan walks through a simple lesson in recognizing the ideas behind the characters and their meaning -- building from a few simple forms to more complex concepts. Call it ...

How much energy and brain power do we devote to learning how to spell? Language evolves over time, and with it the way we spell -- is it worth it to spend so much time memorizing rules that are filled with endless exceptions? Literary scholar Karina Galperin suggests that it may be time for an update in the way we think about and record language...

Pop quiz: When does learning begin? Answer: Before we are born. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul talks through new research that shows how much we learn in the womb -- from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favorite foods.

David Gruber and his team take a delicate approach to understanding whales and other life forms.

Ajit Narayanan is the inventor of Avaz, an affordable, tablet-based communication device for people who are speech-impaired.

AI pioneer Greg Brockman wants to ensure general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits everyone.

Deb Roy studies how children learn language, and designs machines that learn to communicate in human-like ways. On sabbatical from MIT Media Lab, he's working with the AI company Bluefin Labs.

César Hidalgo studies how teams, cities and nations learn.

To shape truly effective artificial general intelligence, we need to incorporate a world model: what it means to be human. Believing the key lies not just in language but in the way our words shape us, AI entrepreneur Walter De Brouwer explores the past, present and future of AGI's evolution — and how our stories build its cognitive functions.

In a talk from the cutting edge of technology, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman explores the underlying design principles of ChatGPT and demos some mind-blowing, unreleased plug-ins for the chatbot that sent shockwaves across the world. After the talk, head of TED Chris Anderson joins Brockman to dig into the timeline of ChatGPT's development and ...

In an exclusive preview of unreleased technology, designer and inventor Jason Rugolo unveils an entirely new kind of computer you can talk to like a friend. This "audio computer" — which can augment the sounds around you, translate conversations in real time, naturally respond to your voice and more — promises to shake up how we use our devices....