科学美国人60秒 左右大脑都参与了习得新语言的任务

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

Anyone who has tried to learn a new language as an adult knows how hard it can be.

任何一个试图学习一门新语言的成年人都知道这有多难。

And usually the ability to comprehend someone else comes before the capacity for speaking the new tongue.

通常理解他人言语的能力要先于讲新语言的能力。

“When you're listening, you can kind of gloss² over the details.

“当你在听的时候，你可能会掩盖细节。

So, you may not need to understand every single syllable³, every single word perfectly⁴.”

所以，你可能不需要完全理解每一个音节、每一个单词。”

Cognitive⁵ neuroscientist Kshipra Gurunandan, of the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language.

西班牙认知、大脑与语言巴斯克中心的认知神经学家Kshipra Gurunandan说。

But actually speaking a new language fluently takes much more work.

但实际上，要流利地说一门新语言需要付出更多的努力。

“Adults are not quite able to reproduce or really hear foreign sounds.”

“成年人不太能够再产出或真正听懂外语。”

Gurunandan suspected that, as we learn, the relative ease of comprehension might be explained by changes in the area of the brain that processes language.

Gurunandan怀疑，正如我们所了解到的，这种相对容易理解的现象可能是因为大脑处理语言的区域发生了变化。

It's been known since the 1800s that, for most people, the left hemisphere of the brain is essential for language.

自19世纪以来，人们就知道，对大多数人来说，大脑左半球对语言至关重要。

“However, in more recent times, we've started to realize that it's not quite that simple.”

“然而，在最近，我们开始意识到事情并没有那么简单。”

For example, when people suffer brain injuries to the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere can take over language tasks.

例如，当人们的左脑半球受到损伤时，右脑半球就会接管语言任务。

That flexibility⁶ suggests that language is not the exclusive domain⁷ of the left hemisphere.

这种灵活性表明语言并不是左脑的专属领域。

To find out if the two sides of the brain process comprehension and speech differently during language learning, Gurunandan and her team scanned the brains of Spanish-speaking volunteers who were learning either Basque or English.

为了找出语言学习过程中大脑两侧处理理解和说话的方式是否不同，Gurunandan和她的团队扫描了说西班牙语的志愿者的大脑，这些志愿者正在学习巴斯克语或英语。

“They performed language tasks in the scanner involving reading, listening, and speaking in their native and their new language.

他们在扫描仪上执行语言任务，包括用他们的母语和新语言进行听、说和读。

And then we looked at whether activation⁸ in the language regions was greater in the left hemisphere or the right hemisphere for each of the languages in each task.”

然后，我们观察在每项任务中，对于每种语言，语言区域的激活程度是左半球还是右半球更大。”

The researchers found that speaking primarily activated¹⁰ language regions in the left side of the brain no matter how advanced the language learner was.

研究人员发现，无论语言学习者的水平有多高，说话主要激活大脑左侧的语言区域。

But reading and listening comprehension were much more variable.

但阅读和听力理解的差异要大得多。

“In the earliest stages of language learning the native and new languages tended to activate⁹ the same hemisphere, while in the more advanced learners they activated different hemispheres.

“在语言学习的最初阶段，母语和新语言倾向于激活同一个半球，而在水平越高的学习者中，他们会激活不同的半球。”

And the switch from the same to the opposite hemispheres was largest in reading, it was slightly smaller in listening and it was non-existent in speaking.”

从同一个脑半球到相反脑半球的转换在阅读中最大，在听力中稍微小一些，而在说话中则不存在这种转换。”

The researchers reason that speech may be more constrained¹¹ to the left hemisphere because it contains specialized¹² circuits dedicated¹³ to the motor control of speech production.

研究人员认为，由于大脑左半球含有专门用于控制语言产生的运动的特殊电路，所以语言可能更局限于左半球。

“While in comprehension, you have the auditory system and the visual system, which are more bilateral¹⁴—and it's possible that is why comprehension is more bilateral in the brain.”

“而在理解中，你有听觉系统和视觉系统，这两个系统是双边的——这可能就是为什么大脑的理解是更具双边性。”

The study is in the Journal of Neuroscience.

这项研究发表在《神经科学杂志》上。

Learning a new language will always be challenging, but Gurunandan says you shouldn't let that stop you.

学习一门新语言总是有挑战性的，但Gurunandan说，你不应该让它阻止你。

“Language learning is a hard skill. It's hard for everybody.

“语言学习是一项很难的技能。这对每个人来说都很难。

But it's not because of your brain plasticity.

但这并不是因为你的大脑的可塑性。

You can learn words, you can learn grammar rules, your language learning capacity is just fine.”

你可以学习单词，你可以学习语法规则，你的语言学习能力很好。”

As long as you maintain your joie de vivre.

只要你能保持生活的乐趣。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 gloss   

n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰

参考例句：

• John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点，但是没有用。
• She rubbed up the silver plates to a high gloss.她把银盘擦得很亮。

3 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

6 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

7 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

8 activation   

n. 激活，催化作用

参考例句：

• A computer controls the activation of an air bag.电脑控制着气囊的启动。

9 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

10 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

11 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

12 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

13 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

14 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。