What is the best age to learn a language?
什么時候，才是學(xué)習(xí)語言的最佳年齡？
By Sophie Hardach ︱ 26 October 2018
When it comes to learning a foreign language, we tend to think that children are the most adept. But that may not be the case – and there are added benefits to starting as an adult.
當(dāng)提到學(xué)外語的時候，我們往往認(rèn)為孩子是最擅長于此的。但情況可能并非如此，而且成年了才開始學(xué)習(xí)，還有更多的好處。
adept：精于…的，擅長于…的;
It’s a busy autumn morning at the Spanish Nursery, a bilingual nursery school in north London. Parents help their toddlers out of cycling helmets and jackets. Teachers greet the children with a cuddle and a chirpy “Buenos dias!”. In the playground, a little girl asks for her hair to be bunched up into a “coleta” (Spanish for ‘pigtail’), then rolls a ball and shouts “Catch!” in English.
這是一個繁忙的秋天早晨的西班牙語幼兒學(xué)校，一個在倫敦北部的雙語幼兒學(xué)校。父母們幫助他們的孩子摘掉自行車頭盔，脫掉外套。老師用擁抱和嘰嘰喳喳的“Buenos dias!”來問候孩子們！“。在操場上，一個小女孩要求把她的頭發(fā)扎成一個“coleta”（西班牙語中的“辮子”），然后滾動一個球，用英語大喊“抓住！”。
cuddle: 摟抱，擁抱
chirpy: 嚓嚓叫的，快活的，活潑的
“At this age, children don’t learn a language – they acquire it,” says the school’s director Carmen Rampersad. It seems to sum up the enviable effortlessness of the little polyglots around her. For many of the children, Spanish is a third or even fourth language. Mother tongues include Croatian, Hebrew, Korean and Dutch.
學(xué)校的校長Carmen Rampersad說：“在這個年齡段，孩子們并非在學(xué)習(xí)語言—— 他們是在習(xí)得語言。”這似乎說明了為什么她身邊有那么多讓人羨慕的，毫不費(fèi)力就能說多種語言的孩子。對于許多孩子來說，西班牙語是第三甚至第四種語言。母語包括克羅地亞語、希伯來語、韓語和荷蘭語。
polyglots：通曉多種語言的人
Compare this to the struggle of the average adult in a language class, and it would be easy to conclude that it’s best to start young.
把這與一般成年人在語言課上的拼命學(xué)習(xí)相比，很容易得出結(jié)論：最好從小開始。
But science offers a much more complex view of how our relationship with languages evolves over a lifetime – and there is much to encourage late beginners.
但是，縱觀人的一生，我們和語言的關(guān)系究竟是如何演變和發(fā)展的，科學(xué)提供了更為復(fù)雜的視角 — 并且還有很多可以鼓勵年齡大的初學(xué)者。
Broadly speaking, different life stages give us different advantages in language learning. As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds; as toddlers, we can pick up native accents with astonishing speed. As adults, we have longer attention spans and crucial skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our vocabulary, even in our own language.
從廣義上講，不同的人生階段給我們帶來了不同的語言學(xué)習(xí)優(yōu)勢。作為嬰兒，我們有更好的耳音聽不同的聲音；作為學(xué)步的孩子，我們可以以驚人的速度學(xué)習(xí)母語。作為成年人，我們有更長的專注力周期，關(guān)鍵性技能，比如識字能力，使我們可以不斷地擴(kuò)大詞匯量，抑或是我們的母語也同樣。
And a wealth of factors beyond ageing – like social circumstances, teaching methods, and even love and friendship – can affect how many languages we speak and how well.
除了年齡因素外，還有很多因素，比如社會環(huán)境、教學(xué)方法，甚至愛情和友誼，都會影響我們能說多少種語言，以及說得多好。
“Not everything goes downhill with age,” says Antonella Sorace, a professor of developmental linguistics and director of the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
愛丁堡大學(xué)雙語問題中心主任、發(fā)展語言學(xué)教授Antonella Sorace（安東尼拉·索勒斯）說：“并非一切都會隨著年齡的增長而走下坡路。”
She gives the example of what is known as ‘explicit learning’: studying a language in a classroom with a teacher explaining the rules. “Young children are very bad at explicit learning, because they don’t have the cognitive control and the attention and memory capabilities,” Sorace says. “Adults are much better at that. So that can be something that improves with age.”
她舉了一個“外顯學(xué)習(xí)”（即有意識的學(xué)習(xí)）的例子：在課堂上跟著老師的講解一起學(xué)習(xí)一種語言。Sorace說：“小孩子在外顯學(xué)習(xí)方面很差，因?yàn)樗麄儧]有認(rèn)知的控制力、注意力和記憶能力?！薄俺赡耆嗽谶@方面做得更好。所以外顯學(xué)習(xí)能力可以隨著年齡的增長而提高。”
explicit learning：conscious learning 有意識的學(xué)習(xí)
implicit learning：unconscious learning 無意識學(xué)習(xí)
A study by researchers in Israel found, for example, that adults were better at grasping an artificial language rule and applying it to new words in a lab setting. The scientists compared three separate groups: 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and young adults. The adults scored higher than both younger groups, and the 12-year-olds also did better than the younger children.
例如，以色列研究人員的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，成年人在實(shí)驗(yàn)室環(huán)境中能更好地掌握人工語言的規(guī)則，并將其應(yīng)用到新單詞上?？茖W(xué)家們比較了三個獨(dú)立的群體：8歲的孩子、12歲的孩子和年輕的成年人。成年人組得分最高，12歲的孩子也比更小的孩子好。
This chimed with the results of a long-term study of almost 2,000 Catalan-Spanish bilingual learners of English: the late starters acquired the new language faster than the younger starters.
這與一項針對將近2000名加泰羅尼亞西班牙語-英語雙語學(xué)習(xí)者的長期研究結(jié)果相得益彰：年紀(jì)較大的入門者比年紀(jì)較輕的入門者更快地掌握新語言。
The researchers in Israel suggested that their older participants may have benefited from skills that come with maturity – like more advanced problem-solving strategies – and greater linguistic experience. In other words, older learners tend to already know quite a lot about themselves and the world and can use this knowledge to process new information.
以色列的研究人員指出，年齡更大參與者可能已經(jīng)從年齡成熟帶來的技能中受益— 比如有更高的解決問題的方法 — 以及更多的語言經(jīng)驗(yàn)。換言之，年長的學(xué)習(xí)者往往對自己和世界了解很多，可以使用這些知識來處理新的信息。
What young children excel at is learning implicitly: listening to native speakers and imitating them. But this type of learning requires a lot of time with native speakers. In 2016, the Bilingualism Matters Centre prepared an internal report on Mandarin lessons in primary schools for the Scottish government. They found that one hour a week of teaching did not make a meaningful difference to five-year-olds. But even just one additional half-hour, and the presence of a native speaker, helped the children grasp elements of Mandarin that are harder for adults, such as the tones.
幼兒擅長的是內(nèi)隱學(xué)習(xí)（無意識學(xué)習(xí)）：聽母語者說話并模仿他們。但是這種學(xué)習(xí)需要有很多時間和說母語的人在一起。2016年，雙語問題中心為蘇格蘭政府準(zhǔn)備了一份關(guān)于小學(xué)中文課的內(nèi)部報告。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)每周一小時的教學(xué)對五歲的孩子沒有什么意義。但是，和說母語的人在一起，只要再多花半小時，就能幫助孩子們掌握對成人來說更難的中文要素，比如語音語調(diào)。
Easy acquisition
輕松習(xí)得
We all start out as natural linguists.
我們都是天生的語言學(xué)家。
As babies, we can hear all of the 600 consonants and 200 vowels that make up the world’s languages. Within our first year, our brains begin to specialise, tuning into the sounds we hear most frequently. Infants already babble in their mother tongue. Even newborns cry with an accent, imitating the speech they heard while in the womb. This specialisation also means shedding the skills we do not need. Japanese babies can easily distinguish between ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds. Japanese adults tend to find this more difficult.
作為嬰兒，我們可以聽到構(gòu)成世界各種語言的600個輔音和200個元音。在我們生命的的第一年，我們的大腦開始分工細(xì)化，會調(diào)諧收聽我們最常聽到的聲音。嬰兒已經(jīng)用母語咿咿呀呀了。甚至新生兒的哭聲都帶著口音，那是在模仿他們在子宮中聽到的聲音。這種專業(yè)分工也意味著放棄我們不需要的技能。日本寶寶很容易分辨出“L”和“R”的聲音。但日本成年人往往覺得這太難。
consonants：輔音字母;輔音
babble：呀呀學(xué)語
There is no question, Sorace says, that the early years are crucial for acquiring our own language. Studies of abandoned or isolated children have shown that if we do not learn human speech early on, we cannot easily make up for this later.
Sorace說，毫無疑問，兒時對于獲取我們自己的語言至關(guān)重要。對被遺棄或孤獨(dú)癥兒童的研究表明，如果我們不及早學(xué)習(xí)人類語言，我們以后就不能輕易地彌補(bǔ)這一點(diǎn)。
But here is the surprise: that cut-off is not the same for foreign language learning.
但令人驚訝的是：這種斷點(diǎn)對于外語學(xué)習(xí)來說是不一樣的。
“The important thing to understand is that age co-varies with many other things,” says Danijela Trenkic, a psycholinguist at the University of York. Children’s lives are completely different from those of adults. So when we compare the language skills of children and adults, Trenkic says, “we’re not comparing like with like”.
約克大學(xué)的心理語言學(xué)家Danijela Trenkic說：“需要理解的重要一點(diǎn)是，年齡與其他許多因素共同變化?！眱和纳詈统赡耆说纳钔耆煌?。因此，當(dāng)我們比較兒童和成年人的語言技巧時，Trenkic說：“我們不是在做等同的比較”。
She gives the example of a family moving to a new country. Typically, children will learn the language much faster than their parents. But that may be because they hear it constantly at school, while their parents might be working alone. The children may also feel a greater sense of urgency since mastering the language is crucial to their social survival: making friends, being accepted, fitting in. Their parents, on the other hand, are more likely to be able to socialise with people who understand them, such as fellow immigrants.
她舉了一個家庭移民到一個新國家的例子。通常情況下，孩子們學(xué)習(xí)語言要比父母快得多。但這可能是因?yàn)樗麄冊趯W(xué)校經(jīng)常聽到，而他們的父母可能獨(dú)自一人工作。由于掌握語言對于他們的社會生存至關(guān)重要：如交朋友、被接納、融入社會，因此孩子們也會感到非常緊迫。另一方面，他們的父母更有可能與了解他們的人交往，比如移民同胞。
“Creating the emotional bond is what makes you better at language learning, in my view,” says Trenkic.
“在我看來，創(chuàng)造情感紐帶是使你能在學(xué)習(xí)語言方面更強(qiáng)?！盩renkic說。
Adults can of course also create that emotional bond, and not just through love or friendship with a native speaker. A 2013 study of British adults in an Italian beginners’ course found that those who stuck with it were helped by bonding with the other students and the teacher.
成年人當(dāng)然也可以創(chuàng)造這種情感紐帶，而不僅僅只是通過與母語者談戀愛或交朋友。2013年，一項針對初學(xué)意大利語的英國成年人的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些堅持學(xué)習(xí)的人是通過與其他學(xué)生和老師的關(guān)系密切而得到幫助的。
“If you find like-minded people, that makes it more likely that you’ll push on with a language, and that you’ll persevere,” Trenkic says. “And that really is the key. You need to spend years learning it. Unless there’s a social motivation for it, it’s really difficult to sustain.”
Trenkic說：“如果你找到志同道合的人，你就更有可能持續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)一門語言，并堅持下去。這是個關(guān)鍵。你需要花費(fèi)數(shù)年的時間來學(xué)習(xí)它。除非有社會動機(jī)，否則很難堅持下去?！?/span>
Earlier this year, a study at MIT based on an online quiz of nearly 670,000 people found that to achieve native-like knowledge of English grammar, it is best to start by about 10 years old, after which that ability declines. However, the study also showed that we can keep getting better at languages, including our own, over time. For example, we only fully master the grammar of our own language by about 30. This adds to a previous, separate online study that shows even native speakers learn almost one new word a day in their own language until middle age.
今年早些時候，麻省理工學(xué)院的一項基于對近67萬人進(jìn)行在線測驗(yàn)的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，要想獲得類似母語的英語語法知識，最好從大約10歲開始學(xué)習(xí)，之后這種能力就會下降。然而，這項研究還表明，隨著時間的推移，我們可以繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)語言，包括我們自己的語言。例如，我們只會在大約30歲時掌握我們自己語言的語法。這個加上之前一項獨(dú)立的在線研究顯示，即使是說母語的人，幾乎每天都會學(xué)習(xí)一個自己語言的新單詞，直到中年。
Trenkic points out that the MIT study analysed something extremely specific – the ability to pass for a native speaker in terms of grammatical accuracy. To the average language student, that may not be all that relevant.
Trenkic指出，麻省理工學(xué)院的研究分析了一些非常具體的東西——從語法準(zhǔn)確性方面看母語者的上升能力。對于一般的語言學(xué)生來說，這可能并不那么重要。
“People sometimes ask, what is the biggest advantage of foreign languages? Will I earn more money? Will I be cleverer? Will I stay healthier? But actually, the biggest advantage of knowing foreign languages is being able to communicate with more people,” she says.
“人們有時會問，外語最大的優(yōu)勢是什么？我是不是可以掙更多的錢？我會更聰明嗎？我會保持健康嗎？但事實(shí)上，掌握外語的最大優(yōu)勢是能夠與更多的人交流?！彼f。
Trenkic herself is originally from Serbia. She only became fluent in English in her twenties, after she moved to the UK. She says she still makes grammatical mistakes, especially when she is tired or stressed. “Yet, despite all that – and this is crucial – I can do amazing things in English,” she later writes in an email. “I can enjoy the greatest literary works, I can produce meaningful and coherent texts of publishable quality.”
Trenkic本人原籍塞爾維亞。她搬到英國后，20多歲才開始通曉英語。她說，她仍然會犯語法錯誤，尤其是當(dāng)她累了或有壓力的時候。她后來在一封電子郵件中寫道：“即便如此——這是至關(guān)重要的——我可以用英語做一些了不起的事情?！薄拔铱梢韵硎茏顐ゴ蟮奈膶W(xué)作品，我可以創(chuàng)作出富有意義的和通順的的出版質(zhì)量的文章。”
In fact, the MIT quiz classified her as a native English speaker.
事實(shí)上，麻省理工的測試把她歸類到了英語為母語的一類人中。
At the Spanish Nursery, where the teachers are singing ‘Cumpleanos feliz’ and the book corner stocks The Gruffalo in Hebrew, the director herself turns out to be a late starter. Carmen Rampersad grew up in Romania and only really mastered English when she moved abroad in her twenties. Her children absorbed Spanish at nursery.
在西班牙語幼兒學(xué)校，老師們正在唱“Cumpleanos feliz”，圖書角放著希伯來語的《格魯法羅》，校長本人后來被證明是個晚起步者。Carmen Rampersad在羅馬尼亞長大，二十多歲時移居國外后，才真正掌握了英語。她的孩子們在幼兒學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語。
But perhaps the most adventurous linguist is her husband. Originally from Trinidad, he learned Romanian from her family, who live close to the border with Moldova.
但也許最具冒險精神的語言學(xué)家是她的丈夫。最初來自特立尼達(dá)，他從妻子的家人那里學(xué)到了羅馬尼亞語，他們住在摩爾多瓦邊境附近。
“His Romanian is excellent,” she says. “He speaks it with a Moldavian accent. It’s hilarious.”
“他的羅馬尼亞語很優(yōu)秀，”她說。“他說話帶有摩爾多瓦口音。這太好笑了。”
hilarious：令人捧腹的;非?；?/span>
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