在10至12歲之前開始學(xué)習(xí)語言，比較好

In 2017 I made a public vow to start learning Spanish. I kept my promise: I started. But I have since stopped. It is not that the language is difficult. For an English speaker with another romance language, Spanish feels accessible. It was just that I knew it would take years to reach a competent level. Also, the words and grammatical constructions didn’t seem to be sticking the way they once did.

2017年，我公開發(fā)誓要開始學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語。我遵守了承諾：我的確開始學(xué)了。但開始以后我就停了。這倒不是因?yàn)槲靼嘌勒Z很難。對于一個(gè)掌握另一種羅曼語的說英語人士而言，西班牙語感覺是可以學(xué)的。只是我知道要達(dá)到合格的水平需要很多年的時(shí)間。而且單詞和語法結(jié)構(gòu)不像以前那樣固定了。

Over the years, I have studied other languages. I started learning French in my thirties. But now that I qualify for free transport in London, am I too old to master another language?

這些年來，我一直在學(xué)習(xí)其他語言。我三十多歲時(shí)開始學(xué)法語。但現(xiàn)在，以我的年齡，我能在倫敦免費(fèi)乘坐交通工具，我是不是老到不能掌握另一門語言了?

Years of research have established that the best time to start learning a language is in childhood. We have all noticed that while immigrant parents, however fluent they become, retain their accents and make mistakes, their children learn to talk like natives.

多年的研究表明，開始學(xué)習(xí)一門語言的最佳時(shí)期是兒童時(shí)期。我們都注意到，不管移民父母的語言變得多么流利，他們?nèi)匀挥锌谝舨⑶視?huì)犯錯(cuò)，但是他們的孩子學(xué)著像當(dāng)?shù)厝艘粯诱f話。

When does this facility end? At puberty, has been the long-held view. But last year, a study by three US-based academics, including the renowned linguist Steven Pinker, found that the ability to learn another language to a high standard lasted longer than that.

這種天賦什么時(shí)候結(jié)束呢?人們長期以來一直認(rèn)為是青春期階段。但是去年，包括著名語言學(xué)家史蒂文•平克(Steven Pinker)在內(nèi)的三位駐美國學(xué)者進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，學(xué)習(xí)另一門語言并達(dá)到高水平的能力，實(shí)際上能持續(xù)存在更久。

Their tool was a short online English language quiz which, by the time the study closed, had been completed by 669,498 native and non-native English speakers — the biggest cohortin any language-learning study, the researchers said.

研究人員表示，他們用的工具是一個(gè)簡短的在線英語語言測試。研究結(jié)束時(shí)，共有66萬9498位以英語為母語和以其他語言為母語的人完成了測試，這是所有語言學(xué)習(xí)研究中參加人數(shù)最多的一次。

I can see why so many people did the test. It is fun; you can still do it online. It asks your age, gender and educational level and tests your mastery of passive voice, definite and indefinite articles and relative pronouns. It poses multiple choice questions about the most appropriate words in a sentence (“Bill poured/filled/drained/dripped the cup with wine.”)

我能明白有這么多人參加這個(gè)測試的原因。它很有趣;你在網(wǎng)上就能完成。它會(huì)詢問你的年齡、性別和受教育水平，測試你對被動(dòng)語態(tài)、定冠詞和不定冠詞，以及關(guān)系代詞的掌握程度。它會(huì)就填入一個(gè)句子中最合適的單詞出多項(xiàng)選擇題(如“Bill pour/filled/drained/dripped the cup with wine”)。

The researchers were looking for the characteristic mistakes that native speakers of different languages make when they are speaking English. They matched these against their native languages and how long they had been learning English.

研究人員當(dāng)時(shí)在尋找以不同語言為母語的人說英語時(shí)所犯的典型錯(cuò)誤，將這些數(shù)據(jù)與他們的母語以及學(xué)習(xí)英語的時(shí)間進(jìn)行對比。

I can’t vouchfor the accuracy of the results. I grew up in South Africa and have spent most of my adult life in England, with sojourns in the US and Greece. At the end of the test the algorithm guessed that my English dialect was Scottish. I tried again, attempting to be stricter about my usual usage. The test guessed I was a native English-speaking Singaporean.

我不能保證這些結(jié)果的準(zhǔn)確性。我在南非長大，成年后的大部分時(shí)光在英格蘭度過，曾旅居美國和希臘。在測試的最后，該算法猜測我的英語方言是蘇格蘭語。我又試了一次，試著更嚴(yán)格地對待我的日常習(xí)慣用語。算法猜測我是一個(gè)母語是英語的新加坡人。

Whatever. After crunching the hundreds of thousands of answers, the researchers tried to evaluate when children’s natural facility ended and the typical adult struggle with language began — “the critical period”.

無論如何。分析了數(shù)十萬個(gè)答案后，研究人員試圖計(jì)算兒童的自然天賦結(jié)束和成年人學(xué)習(xí)語言開始遭遇困難的一般性時(shí)間——“關(guān)鍵時(shí)期”。

The researchers pointed out that there was little agreement on why children found it easier to learn languages than adults. Some believed that children’s facility came from “superior neural plasticity”; others because there was less interference from children’s still-developing native tongues or because they had a greater willingness to experiment and make mistakes.

研究人員指出，對于為什么兒童學(xué)習(xí)語言比成人更容易，幾乎沒有達(dá)成多少共識。一些人認(rèn)為兒童的天賦來自于“優(yōu)越的神經(jīng)可塑性”;另一些人則認(rèn)為因?yàn)閮和哪刚Z還在發(fā)展中，因此母語造成的干擾較少，或者是因?yàn)樗麄兏敢鈬L試和犯錯(cuò)。

Whatever the reasons, the US researchers concluded from their tests that children’s advantages in language learning continued well beyond puberty — until they were 17.4 years old, almost “the cruxof adulthood”. Adding to the evidence that puberty did not mark the transition was that girls’ language learning ability did not decline before boys’ did, in spite of girls generally reaching puberty earlier.

不管原因是什么，美國研究人員從他們的測試中得出結(jié)論，兒童在語言學(xué)習(xí)方面的優(yōu)勢在青春期之后依然存在——直到他們17.4歲，這幾乎是“成年的關(guān)鍵時(shí)期”。其他表明青春期并非標(biāo)志著這種轉(zhuǎn)變的證據(jù)是，女孩的語言學(xué)習(xí)能力并沒有先于男孩下降，即使女孩通常更早進(jìn)入青春期。

Why did 17-18 years old mark the turning point? It could be cultural, the researchers said. This age “marks the transition to the workforce or to professional education, which may diminish opportunities to learn”. Or it may “reflect late-emerging neural maturation processes that compromise the circuitry responsible for successful learning acquisition”. All the same, those who started well before 17 did better. Those who started before 10-12 years old did best, although starting at 10-12 was fine.

為什么17至18歲標(biāo)志著轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)呢?研究人員表示，這可能是文化原因。這個(gè)年齡“標(biāo)志著向職場或職業(yè)教育轉(zhuǎn)變，這可能會(huì)減少學(xué)習(xí)的機(jī)會(huì)”?；蛘咚赡?ldquo;反映出較晚出現(xiàn)的神經(jīng)成熟過程，該過程會(huì)損害負(fù)責(zé)成功習(xí)得的神經(jīng)回路”。盡管如此，那些在17歲之前開始學(xué)習(xí)語言的人做得更好。在10至12歲之前開始學(xué)習(xí)語言的人做得最好，不過10至12歲開始學(xué)習(xí)也不錯(cuò)。

Those who have learnt languages might note some problems with the study. It examines grammatical attainment which, while vital, doesn’t always match speaking skills.

學(xué)過語言的人可能會(huì)注意到這項(xiàng)研究的一些問題。測試考察的是語法素養(yǎng)，雖然語法素養(yǎng)很重要，但它并不總是與口語技能相匹配。

But the lesson is the common sense one: start your children on their language learning before, or at least during, their teenage years. As for my problems, the researchers’ graphs indicate that after that late-adolescent slowdown, the ability to learn languages remains consistent beyond 60. Do I just need to put in the work or, like memory and the ability to stay out all night, can you just not do at near-pensionable age what you could in your twenties and thirties?

但研究得出了一個(gè)常識性的教訓(xùn)：讓你的孩子在十幾歲之前，或至少在十幾歲期間開始學(xué)習(xí)語言。至于我的問題，研究人員的圖表顯示，在青春期后期學(xué)習(xí)能力放緩后，學(xué)習(xí)語言的能力將保持穩(wěn)定，直至60歲以后。我是否只需要開始投入到學(xué)習(xí)中?或者，就像記憶力和徹夜不歸的能力一樣，在接近領(lǐng)取養(yǎng)老金的年齡，你是否就是無法做你在二三十歲可以做的事情?