The video owner has disabled playback on external websites.
This video is no longer available on YouTube.
This video cannot be played right now.
Watch on YouTube
Unlock AI-Powered Learning Tools
Sign up to access powerful tools that help you learn faster from every video.
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addresses Harvard's Class of 2018
Learning Stats
CEFR Level
Difficulty
Subtitles (438 segments)
[APPLAUSE]
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE: Good afternoon.
Harvard Class of 2018, hello.
Thank you so much for asking me to be here today.
It meant a lot to me to that you, the students,
select the class day speaker.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Congratulations to you and to all your loved
ones who are here.
I spent a wonderful year at the Radcliffe Institute
here at Harvard doing a fellowship in 2011,
and I fell in love with Cambridge.
And so it's very good to be back.
My name is Chimamanda.
In Igbo it means "my personal spirit will never be broken."
I'm not sure why, but some people
find it difficult to pronounce.
[LAUGHTER]
A few years ago, I spoke at an event in London.
The Englishwoman, who was to introduce me,
had written my name phonetically on a piece of paper.
And backstage, she held on tightly to this paper while
repeating the pronunciation over and over.
I could tell she was very eager to get it right.
And then she went out to the stage and gave a lovely
introduction and ended with the words, "Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome, Chimichanga."
[LAUGHTER]
I told the story at a dinner party shortly afterwards,
and one of the guests seemed very annoyed
that I was laughing about it.
That was so insulting, he said.
That Englishwoman could have tried harder.
But the truth is, she did try very hard.
In fact, she ended up calling me a fried burrito because she
had tried very hard and then ended up
with an utterly human mistake that was the result of anxiety.
So the point of this story is not to say that you can call me
"chimichanga."
[LAUGHTER]
Don't even think about it.
The point is that intent matters, that context matters.
Somebody might very well call me "chimichanga"
out of a malicious desire to mock my name,
and that I would certainly not laugh about.
But there is a difference between malice and a mistake.
We now live in a culture of calling out,
a culture of outrage.
And you should call people out.
You should be outraged.
But always remember context and never disregard intent.
If I were asked the title of my address to you today,
I would say above all else, do not lie.
Or, don't lie too often, which is really to say,
tell the truth.
But lying, the word, the idea, the act,
has such political potency in America today
that it somehow feels more apt.
Above all else, do not lie.
I grew up in Nigeria through military dictatorships
and through incipient democracies.
And America always felt aspirational.
When yet another absurd thing happened politically,
we would say, "This can never happen in America."
But today, the political discourse in America
includes questions that are straight
from the land of the absurd--
questions such as, "Should we call a lie, a lie?"
"When is a lie a lie?"
And so, class of 2018, at no time has it felt as urgent
as now that we must protect and value the truth.
Now, before I tell you about not lying, I must first admit--
[APPLAUSE]
So before I tell you about not lying,
I must first admit to lying.
I routinely lie about my height, even at the doctor's office.
[LAUGHTER]
In Lagos, when I'm meeting friends for lunch,
I lie about being stuck in traffic when I'm really still
at home, only just getting dressed.
[LAUGHTER]
Now, there are other lies.
Sadly, however, I cannot tell you about them without having
to kill you afterwards.
[LAUGHTER]
But what I know is that I have always felt my best
and done my best when I veer toward truth, when I don't lie.
Full subtitles available in the video player
Practice with Exercises
Generate vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension exercises from this video
Comments (0)
Login to CommentSign up to unlock full features
Track progress, save vocabulary, and practice exercises
Interactive Mode
Quiz
Correct answer:
Related Videos
Leonardo DiCaprio winning Best Actor | 88th Oscars (2016)
Dad Jokes | Don't laugh Challenge | Abby vs Andrew | Raise Your Spirits
How Gordon Ramsay won THREE Michelin stars | Dish Podcast | Waitrose
Learn English With Disney Movies | Monsters Inc. [Intermediate Level]
Battle of Bastards l Jon Snow vs Ramsay Bolton Full Scene l HD
Harvard University
Quiz
Correct answer:
Quizzes appear as you watch the video
Memory Tip
From this video
Start learning languages for free
