Lorenzo García Amaya, member of the From Africa to Patagonia Collaboratory project, has reached over 1.4 million viewers with his Ted-Ed Lesson, entitled ‘Why do we, like, hesitate when we, um, speak?’
The popular lesson has also been translated into fifteen languages, including Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic.
The Ted-Ed Lesson website describes the short program as follows: “For as long as we’ve had language, some people have tried to control it. And some of the most frequent targets of this communication regulation are the ums, ers, and likes that pepper our conversations. These linguistic fillers occur roughly 2 to 3 times per minute in natural speech. So are ums and uhs just a habit we can’t break? Or is there more to them? Lorenzo García-Amaya investigates.”
Directed by Yael Reisfeld and narrated by Addison Anderson, the TED-Ed lesson features “the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators.”