And I'm Georgie. For most parents, their baby's first word is a special moment. This happens after an early stage of language development called babble, when babies start making simple sounds like ga or ma.

我是喬治。對於大多數父母來說，寶寶的第一個詞是一個特別的時刻。這發生在被稱為咿呀學語的早期語言發展階段之後，此時寶寶開始發出簡單的聲音，如 ga 或 ma。

Babies have to learn to use their mouth muscles to make specific sounds. They experiment with different sounds and mouth shapes. So what exactly is happening when babies start learning to speak? What do you think, Georgie?

嬰兒必須學會用嘴部肌肉發出特定的聲音。他們會嘗試不同的聲音和口形。那麼，當嬰兒開始學習說話時，究竟發生了什麼呢？你覺得呢，喬吉？

Well, Phil, I'm no expert but I imagine they watch the adults around them and kind of copy and imitate what they do. What do you think?

菲爾，我不是專家，但我想他們會觀察周圍的大人，然後模仿他們的行為。你覺得呢？

I definitely think that's what my children did when they were learning to speak. But let's compare our ideas with those of an expert. Professor Julian Pine from Liverpool University speaking here on BBC Radio 4, and he lists the skills that babies develop in order to speak.

我的孩子在學說話的時候肯定也是這麼做的。但是，讓我們把我們的想法和專家的想法做個比較。來自利物浦大學的朱利安-派恩教授正在BBC廣播4臺做客，他列舉了嬰兒為學會說話所需的技能。

Well, one of the first things the child's got to do is they've got to break down the speech stream into words. Then they've got to link the words to the things that they refer to in the environment, so they've got to learn what the words mean.

孩子首先要做的一件事就是把語言分解成單詞。然後，他們要把單詞與環境中的事物聯繫起來，是以他們要學習單詞的含義。

Right.

對

In this programme, we'll discover how babies learn to speak and, as usual, we'll learn some useful new vocabulary. And on the subject of words, remember you can find a list of this programme's vocabulary on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Some people find it helpful to study the vocabulary before listening.

在本節目中，我們將瞭解嬰兒是如何學會說話的，而且和往常一樣，我們還將學習一些有用的新詞彙。關於詞彙，請記住，您可以在我們的網站 bbclearningenglish.com 上找到本節目的詞彙表。有些人認為在收聽之前學習這些詞彙會很有幫助。

And another thing to do before listening is ask my question. Georgie, we've mentioned the babbling noises that babies make when learning to speak, but at what age does this usually start? Is it… a. Around six months old b. Around nine months old c. Around one year old

在聆聽之前還要做的另一件事就是提出我的問題。喬吉，我們提到過嬰兒學說話時會發出咿咿呀呀的聲音，但這通常是從幾歲開始的呢？是...... A. 六個月左右 B. 九個月左右 C. 一歲左右

OK, I think my best guess would be a. Around six months old.

好吧，我想我的最佳猜測是 a. 大約六個月大。

OK, well we'll find out a little bit later on in the programme. Let's return to Professor

好吧，我們稍後在節目中就會知道。讓我們回到教授

Pine's list. The first thing babies do is recognise where individual words start and end. For this, it helps to know that, in English at least, words often begin with a stressed syllable, the sound in a word which is emphasised by being spoken longer or louder.

松樹的清單嬰兒要做的第一件事就是識別單個單詞的開頭和結尾。為此，至少在英語中，單詞通常以重讀音節開頭，重讀音節是單詞中通過說得更長或更大聲來強調的音。

Learning this takes time and here Professor Pine and Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC Radio 4's programme, Word of Mouth, discuss children who haven't quite discovered it yet.

學習這一點需要時間，在這裡，派恩教授和 BBC 廣播 4 臺節目 "口碑 "的主持人邁克爾-羅森（Michael Rosen）討論了尚未完全發現這一點的兒童。

And we can see this in the kind of errors that children make because little kids will often call the giraffe a raff by leaving off the unstressed syllable because that's not typical English. Oh, and I've got an example of this. My son used to call a machine a sminge. He just hit the stress, he didn't bother with the muh bit. Yeah, exactly.

我們可以從孩子們所犯的錯誤中看到這一點，因為小孩子們經常會把長頸鹿叫做 "raff"，把非重讀音節省略掉，因為這不是典型的英語。哦，我有一個例子。我兒子以前把機器叫做 sminge。他只說重音，而不說 "muh"。是啊，沒錯。

Well, you may have thought it was my sminge, of course, that's the other thing, yes.

當然，你可能會認為那是我的笑聲，那是另一件事，是的。

And the classic example, of course, is nana instead of banana.

當然，最經典的例子就是用 "娜娜"（nana）代替 "香蕉"（banana）。

Yes, I think I call them that. One error, or mistake, infants make is calling a giraffe a raff because they cut off the first syllable, g, because it's not stressed.

是的，我想我是這麼叫它們的。嬰兒常犯的一個錯誤就是把長頸鹿叫做 "拉夫"，因為他們把第一個音節 "g "剪掉了，因為它不是重音。

The classic example of this is when children say nana instead of banana. A classic example of something means the best example of it – one containing all the features you expect such a thing to have. For example, ants are a classic example of animals working together.

最典型的例子就是孩子們把 "香蕉"（banana）說成 "娜娜"（nana）。經典例子指的是最好的例子--包含了你所期望的所有特徵。例如，螞蟻就是動物協同工作的典型例子。

The second skill babies develop as they learn to speak is correctly linking a word to the object it refers to – in other words, knowing what the word means. As adults, we do this without thinking, but it's actually much harder than it sounds. As Professor Julian

寶寶學說話的第二個技能是正確地將一個詞與它所指的對象聯繫起來，換句話說，就是知道這個詞的意思。作為成年人，我們會不假思索地做到這一點，但實際上這比聽起來要難得多。正如朱利安

Pine explains to BBC Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth.

Pine 向 BBC 廣播 4 臺的 "口碑 "節目解釋道。

Well, we take for granted the fact that it's kind of obvious what words refer to in the environment, but actually if you look at it from the child's point of view, it's really difficult to work out what a word refers to because there's so many things it could refer to. So, you know, the speech signal is very ambiguous. How does the child know that you're talking about the cup in front of you or the pen in front of you when you say pen or cup?

我們理所當然地認為，單詞在環境中指的是什麼是顯而易見的，但實際上，如果你從兒童的角度來看，要弄清一個單詞指的是什麼真的很難，因為它可能指的東西太多了。所以，語言信號是非常模糊的。當你說筆或杯子時，孩子怎麼知道你說的是你面前的杯子還是你面前的筆？

As adults, we take it for granted that when a friend says apple, they mean that round, red thing on the table. To take it for granted means to assume something without question.

作為成年人，我們想當然地認為，當朋友說蘋果時，他們指的是桌上那個圓圓的、紅紅的東西。想當然 "的意思是不加質疑地假設某件事情。

But for a baby, the link between the word apple and the object is not obvious – it's ambiguous, meaning it has more than one possible meaning.

但對於嬰兒來說，蘋果這個詞和物體之間的聯繫並不明顯--它是模稜兩可的，也就是說，它有多個可能的含義。

Wow, who knew so much was going on inside babies' sponge-like brains as they soak up the sounds they hear. Right, Phil, isn't it time to reveal the answer to your question?

哇，誰能想到，在嬰兒海綿般的大腦中，會發生這麼多事，因為他們會吸收聽到的聲音。對了，菲爾，是不是該揭曉你問題的答案了？

It is indeed. The question was, at what age do babies start to make babbling noises?

的確如此。問題是，嬰兒幾歲開始發出咿呀聲？

And I said it was around six months.

我說是六個月左右。

And that is the correct answer. Babies start to do this when they're about six months old.

這就是正確答案。嬰兒在六個月大的時候就開始這樣做了。

OK, let's recap the vocabulary that we've learnt, starting with babble – the meaningless noises babies make as they're learning to speak.

好了，讓我們來回顧一下我們學過的詞彙，從咿呀學語開始--嬰兒在學說話時發出的無意義的聲音。

The stressed syllable in a word is the sound which is emphasised by being longer, louder or higher.

單詞中的重讀音節是指通過變長、變響或變高來強調的聲音。

An error is a mistake.

錯誤就是錯誤。

The classic example of something is the most typical example of it, containing its most important features.

經典範例是最典型的範例，包含最重要的特徵。

If you take something for granted, you accept or assume it without question.

如果你認為某件事情理所當然，你就會毫無疑問地接受或假設它。

And finally, the adjective ambiguous means having more than one possible meaning.

最後，形容詞ambiguous（模稜兩可）的意思是具有多個可能的含義。

Once again, our six minutes are up, but if you're ready for more, you'll find the worksheet with a quiz and a transcript for this programme on our website.

我們的六分鐘時間又到了，但如果您還想了解更多，您可以在我們的網站上找到本節目的測驗工作表和文字稿。

See you there soon.

到時見。

Bye.

再見。

Bye.

再見。