Name: 雙語算是一種超能力嗎？ (Is Bilingualism a Superpower? | Otherwords)
Uploaded: 2023-04-16T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 9 min 56 s

What do you see when you look at this picture?

當你看這幅畫時，你看到什麼？

情態副詞

Hopefully it's either a duck or a rabbit.

希望你看到的不是鴨子就是兔子。

Most of us can see both, but not at the same time.

我們大多數人都能看到這兩者，但不是同時。

And they're often used by psychologists and neuroscientists to study things like visual perception and cognition.

它們通常被心理學家和神經科學家用來研究視覺感知和認知等問題。

Recent studies have found that bilingual children, those that speak two languages fluently, are more adept at switching back and forth between such images than monolingual children.

最近的研究發現，能夠流利說兩種語言的雙語兒童比單語兒童更能在這樣的圖像之間靈活切換。

For a long time, people thought that bilingualism was a handicap, that it stunted development and language acquisition.

很長一段時間以來，人們認為雙語能力是一種缺陷，會阻礙發展和語言習得。

Maybe that's because no one really studied it until recently.

或許是因為直到最近沒有人真正研究過它。

Over the last several decades, research and experiments have suggested that being bilingual significantly impacts brain function in ways that might surprise you.

在過去幾十年的研究和實驗中，有許多跡象表明，雙語對大腦功能的顯著影響可能會讓你感到驚訝。

I'm Dr. Erica Brozovsky, and this is Otherwords.

我是 Erica Brozovsky 博士，這是《Otherwords》節目。

Dr. Maria Arredondo is a developmental psychologist who studies the cognitive impacts of bilingualism in young children.

Dr. Maria Arredondo是一位發展心理學家，研究雙語教育對年幼兒童認知的影響。

I'm an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

我是德克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校人類發展與家庭科學系的助理教授。

And I am the director of the child's lab.

We study how bilingual children and infants are acquiring their languages and what are the mechanisms that are supporting the acquisition of both languages.

我們研究雙語兒童和嬰兒如何習得語言，以及支持兩種語言習得的機制是什麼。

So what drew you to the field of bilingualism in general?

是什麼吸引您進入研究雙語的領域？

So I was born in Argentina, my first language is Spanish, and I moved to the United States when I was 12.

我出生在阿根廷，我的第一種語言是西班牙語，當我 12 歲時我移民到美國。

I acquire a language very quickly, in one or two years, but my siblings and my parents struggled a lot.

我學習語言非常快，只用了一到兩年的時間，但是我的兄弟姊妹和父母在學新語言上卻非常困難。

So I always became curious why some people are learning their languages very quickly and why are others seem to struggle in bilingual acquisition.

所以我一直很好奇，為什麼有些人能夠很快學會雙語，而有些人似乎在雙語習得方面會遇到困難。

There are two kinds of bilingualism, simultaneous and sequential.

雙語有兩種類型：同時型雙語和順序型雙語。

Simultaneous bilinguals learn both languages at the same time in infancy while sequentials learn their dominant language first and a second later in life.

同時型雙語者在嬰兒期同時學習兩種語言，而順序型雙語者則先學習他們的主要語言，然後在人生後期學習第二語言。

While a sequential bilingual may maintain a similar level of proficiency, there are fundamental differences in how these languages are acquired and used.

雖然順序型雙語者可能會維持相似的熟練程度，但這些語言在獲得和使用方式上存在根本差異。

One of the most significant is phonetics.

It's estimated that humans can make around 800 distinct verbal sounds, known as phonemes, like "ch" or "oo" or "ss."

人類可以製造約 800 種不同的語音聲音，被稱為音素，例如 ch、oo 或 ss。

Any individual language will only use a few dozen, and the ones you don't use, you can't really hear.

任何一種單一語言只會使用其中幾十個，而你不會使用的聲音其實是聽不到的。

For instance, "r" and "l" may sound distinct to English speakers, but the Japanese only have one phoneme for both,

對於講英語的人來說， 「r」 和「 l」 可能聽起來是不同的，但日語中只有一個音素可代表兩者，

and in French, there's a sound between "p" and "b" that English speakers can't discern.

而在法語中，有一種介於「p」和「b」之間的聲音是講英語的人無法分辨的。

So from very early on, infants can distinguish the different sounds in all the languages, but with time, they begin to specialize in the sounds for their own native language.

所以從很早期，嬰兒就可以辨識各種語言中的不同音素，但隨著時間的推移，他們開始專注於自己母語的音素。

Multiple studies suggest that infants under six months can perceive the whole spectrum of phonemes.

多項研究表明，六個月以下的嬰兒可以感知整個音素譜。

As they develop, they focus only on those used by their native language and essentially lose the ability to hear the rest.

隨著他們的發展，他們只專注在母語使用的音素，基本上失去了聽到其他音素的能力。

As you can guess, bilingual children keep all the phonemes from both languages, but only if they learn both from infancy.

如你所想，雙語兒童只有在從嬰兒時期開始學習兩種語言時，才能保留來自兩種語言的所有音素。

Sequential bilinguals, those who learned a second language later in life, almost always retain a perceptible accent, no matter how proficient they are in all other aspects of a language.

那些在人生晚期學習第二語言的順序型雙語者，幾乎都會保留察覺得到的口音，無論他們在該語言的其他方面有多熟練。

There's pretty much just that one narrow window to learn all the phonemes you'll use for the rest of your life.

基本上只有那個非常短暫的時期可以學習你一生中會使用的所有音素。

But if you're picturing all these phonemes sloshing around like a bowl of alphabet soup, it's actually a lot more organized than that.

但如果你認為這些音素像一碗字母湯一樣亂七八糟，其實比那更有組織性。

So can children distinguish between the two languages?

Bilingual-raised children can distinguish between their two languages very early on, during the first year of life.

雙語兒童在出生後的第一年就可以辨別他們的兩種語言。

We know that they can do that as soon as they're born.

我們知道他們一出生就能做到。

There are studies showing that neonates, they can distinguish between the languages that their mom spoke while they were in utero.

有研究顯示，新生兒可以在子宮內聽到媽媽說話時，就能區分出兩種語言。

As they're acquiring both languages, they are beginning to figure out on their own which sounds are for each language, but also what is the syntax for each of their languages.

對於正在學習兩種語言的兒童來說，他們正在自行找出每種語言中的聲音以及每種語言的句法結構。

The two languages are very clearly separated and delineated in a bilingual's mind, which makes sense since they have different sounds, rules, and rhythms.

雙語者可以非常清楚地區分和劃分這兩種語言，因為它們有不同的聲音、規則和節奏。

When they change from one language to another, even mid-sentence, it's like a mental switch is flipped.

當他們在一句話中從一種語言轉換到另一種語言時，就好像腦中有個開關打開了。

One language is given full attention and the other one is turned off, so as not to cause confusion.

一種語言得到了充分的關注，而另一種語言則被關閉，以免引起混亂。

They're very aware of their code-switching.

他們很了解自身的「語碼轉換」。

So for instance, my niece, she will mix between both of their languages when she's speaking to me because she knows that I am bilingual and that I am capable of understanding when she is code-switching,

例如我的侄女，當她跟我說話時，她會混用她們兩種語言，因為她知道我是雙語者，我能夠理解她何時再進行語碼轉換，

but she wouldn't do that to an English monolingual speaker.

但她不會對一個只講英語的單語者這樣做。

But how would an infant brain know that it's learning two different languages?

但嬰兒的大腦怎麼知道它正在學習兩種不同的語言呢？

One possible answer is prosody, the patterns of rhythm in speech.

一個可能的答案是韻律，語音中的節奏模式。

For example, English is a stress-timed language, which means that the rhythm is based on the important words and all the unimportant words are just jammed in between the beats.

英語是一種強調重音節奏的語言，這表示節奏基於重要的詞語，所有不重要的詞語都會擠在重拍之間。

I'm gonna go the store, I'm gonna buy some snacks, and then I'll come home.

「我」要去「商店」，買一些「零食」，然後就「回家」。

Spanish, however, is a syllable-timed language where each syllable is given more equal timing.

西班牙語則是以音節為基礎的節奏，每個音節的時間分配比較均等。

Voy a ir al supermercado, a comprar unos bocadillos,  y ya vuelvo de regreso.

我要去商店，買一些零食，然後就回家了。

Prosody is also influenced by word order.

English and Spanish are both subject-verb-object languages.

英語和西班牙語都是句構為「主詞-動詞-受詞」的語言。

The dog ate his bone; el perro se comió su hueso.

SVO languages usually have articles like "the" before the noun, giving it an iambic sound pattern.

SVO 語言通常在名詞前會有像「the」這樣的冠詞，使其具有抑揚格韻律。

Subject-object-verb languages, like Japanese, place the article after the noun, which creates a somewhat more inverse sound pattern.

主詞-受詞-動語的語言，例如日語，會將冠詞放置在名詞之後，產生一種較為反轉的音韻格律。

It's possible that even in the womb, a fetus may be able to pick up on these distinct patterns and start to sort linguistic information into separate mental containers.

在子宮裡的胎兒甚至有可能能夠辨識這些不同的模式，開始將語言信息分類到不同的大腦容器中。

How are the strategies that bilingual children use to learn language different from monolingual children?

雙語兒童學習語言的策略和單語兒童有何不同？

We know that monolinguals, around 18 months, they use mutual exclusivity, which is a strategy in which they are mapping a novel word to a novel object.

我們知道，單語兒童在大約 18 個月左右時會使用「互斥性原則」來將新單詞與新物體建立關聯。

So for instance, if you present a child with two objects, one is a familiar object, one is an unfamiliar object,

例如，如果你向孩子展示兩個物體，一個是熟悉的物體，另一個是陌生的物體，

and you provide a name that they've never heard before, then they're going to map that novel name to that new object.

並且提供一個他們從未聽過的名字，那麼他們會將這個新名字與這個新物體相對應。

But bilinguals, there's evidence showing that they're not relying on mutual exclusivity as much as monolinguals.

然而，有證據顯示雙語兒童不像單語兒童一樣依賴互斥性原則。

And that's because they know that two labels are given to one object.

這是因為他們知道一個物體會有兩個標籤。

There are other strategies that bilinguals rely on when they're learning words, so we do know that they are looking at audio-visual cues, the mouth of the speaker.

當雙語兒童學習單詞時，他們還會依賴其他策略，比如觀察視覺線索，注意講話者的嘴型等。

The more that they look at the mouth, the higher their retention is when they are naming a new object.

他們越專注在講話者的嘴型，當他們命名新物體時，他們的記憶就保持得越好。

As you can see, the mental demands on bilingual children are pretty heavy, and it does mean that some language milestones may show a delay when compared to a monolingual child,

正如你所看到的，雙語兒童的心智負擔相當沉重，這表示在某些語言發展的過程上可能會比單語兒童出現延遲，

which makes sense, considering that the developing brain of a bilingual child has double the workload.

這是有道理的，考慮到雙語兒童正在發展的大腦需要承擔兩倍的工作量。

But, like a bodybuilder, that extra effort means extra muscle, neurologically speaking.

但是，從神經學的角度來看，就像健美選手一樣，這種額外的努力意味著會訓練出更多的肌肉。

In the brain, we see that bilinguals are showing different activity during executive function tasks.

在大腦中，我們看到雙語者在執行功能任務時顯示出不同的活動狀態。

The mechanisms that we are relying on are attention and inhibition.

我們依賴的機制是注意和抑制。

So with attention, we are focusing on the language that's being in use right now, so I'm focusing on English and I'm inhibiting my Spanish.

對於注意力，我們專注於當前使用的語言，因此我專注於英語，並抑制我的西班牙語。

That's why bilingual children are better at tests involving ambiguous figures.

這就是為什麼雙語兒童在多義圖形的測試上表現更好的原因。

It's easier and faster for them to turn off rabbit and turn on duck.

對他們來說，關閉兔子並開啟鴨子更容易和更快速。

So the better your executive function abilities are, the better that your academic abilities seem to be during the school years.

所以你的執行能力越好，在學校學習期間你的學業能力似乎也會越好。

What's fascinating about this work is that it's showing that the brain is plastic and that experiences like bilingualism can alter how the brain is organized.

這項研究令人著迷的地方在於，它顯示出大腦是具有可塑性的，而像雙語主義這樣的經驗可以改變大腦的組織方式。

There is research showing that bilingualism is associated with a delay in Alzheimer's diagnosis.

有研究顯示雙語與延遲發展阿茲海默症有關。

With age, obviously, the brain begins to deteriorate, but bilinguals are showing that this is a much slower deterioration.

顯然，隨著年齡增長，大腦開始退化，但雙語者表現出這種退化速度更慢的現象。

But what we still need to try to understand is how these changes in the brain are related to bilingual acquisition.

但我們仍需要嘗試理解這些大腦變化跟雙語習得有什麼相關。

And that's where the field is heading now.

而這正是該領域現在努力的方向。

That's not even mentioning the social and cultural benefits of bilingualism that are harder to test in a lab.

這還不包括雙語的社會和文化帶來的好處，這些好處在實驗室中比較難測試。

The more people you can communicate with, the more opportunities life can offer and the richer your experiences can be.

你能與之交流的人越多、人生中的機會越多，你的經驗就會越豐富。

Unlike the cognitive advantages, these are available to simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, so it's never too late to benefit from learning a second language.

與認知方面的優勢不同，這些都可用於同時型雙語和順序型雙語，所以從學習第二語言中獲益永遠不會太晚。

It's estimated that humans are capable, capable, capable.

It's estimated that humans are capable, cape.

It's estimated that humans are capable, I can't even say capable.

據估計，人類有能力... 我連「能力」都講不好。