学习多种语言

六分钟英语

Six Minute English.

来自bbclearningenglish.com

From bbclearningenglish.com.

大家好，欢迎收听BBC英语学习的《六分钟英语》

Hello and welcome to Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

我是尼尔，今天和我一起的是BBC播客《世界趣闻》的汉娜

I'm Neil and today I'm here with Hannah from BBC podcast What in the World.

你好汉娜

Hello Hannah.

你好尼尔

Hi Neil.

汉娜和《世界趣闻》团队一直在研究学习多种语言的体验，她将为我们带来更多相关内容

Hannah and the What in the World team have been investigating what it's like to learn multiple languages and she's here to tell us more about it.

欢迎收听《六分钟英语》

Welcome to six Minute English.

非常感谢邀请我参加节目。

Thank you so much for having me.

很高兴你能来。

And it's great to have you here.

在本期节目中，我们将帮助你提升英语水平——英语可能是你尝试学习的第一门语言。

Now in this programme, we help you improve your English and maybe English is the first language you have ever tried to learn.

又或者你已经掌握多种语言。

Or maybe you know a lot of languages.

精通多种语言的人被称为'多语者'。

Well, someone who knows multiple languages is called a polyglot.

尼尔，你是多语者吗？

Neil, are you a polyglot?

我会说一点几种语言，但还称不上是多语者。

I speak a little bit of a few languages, but I couldn't say that I'm a polyglot.

你呢？

How about you?

我是一名多语言者。

I am a polyglot.

哇，我真是既佩服又有点自愧不如。

Wow, I feel really impressed and a bit intimidated.

汉娜，我们节目总是以一个提问开始。

Now Hannah, we always start our programme off with a question.

那么问题来了。

So here it goes.

哪个国家拥有政府承认的最多官方语言？

Which country has the most official languages recognised by their government?

选项是：a) 津尼亚 b) 瑞士 c) 的玻利

So is it a) Zimbabwe b) Switzerland or c) Bolivia?

我猜是津尼亚。

I would guess Zimbabwe.

好的，我们将在节目最后揭晓答案。

Well, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme.

汉娜，你一直在探索掌握多门语言的一些好处。

Now Hannah, you've been finding out about some of the benefits of being a polyglot.

是的，尼尔，有大量研究表明掌握多门语言能如何改变你的大脑。

Yes Neil, there's been lots of research about how knowing more than one language can change your brain.

这可能还会带来一些健康益处。

And this might have some health benefits too.

在《世界万象》节目中，我们采访了伦敦大学学院的认知神经科学家弗雷德里克·利热瓦教授。

At What in the World we spoke to Professor Frederic Liegeois who's a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London.

婴儿甚至在开口说话前，就需要适应周围的语言环境，以理解人们对他们说的话。

Babies, even before they speak, have to tune into the languages around them to make sense out of what people say to them.

当孩子们开始说几种语言时，他们必须在说话时专注于一种语言而忽略另一种。

And then when children start to speak several languages they have to focus on one language and ignore another one when they're speaking.

他们还需要能够根据交谈对象在不同语言间切换。

They also have to be able to switch from one language to the other depending on who they're speaking to.

在成年后，当双语者与单语者同样患上痴呆症时，双语者的症状似乎出现得更晚。

Later on in age, when adults have dementia, they seem to show symptoms later when they're bilinguals as opposed to monolinguals.

我们认为同时掌握多种语言确实有助于提升大脑效率，这是一个巨大的优势。

We think that juggling several languages has helped them really boost this brain efficiency, which is a great advantage.

这就像给大脑做锻炼！

It's like a brain workout!

弗雷德里克解释说，从小学习多种语言的婴儿必须适应周围的语言环境。

Frederique explains that babies who grow up learning more than one language have to tune into the languages around them.

他们需要聆听每一种语言。

They have to listen to each language.

随着时间的推移，他们会变得擅长切换语言，并能在对话中忽略不需要使用的语言。

Over time, they become good at switching languages and ignoring the ones they don't need in a conversation.

科学家认为同时掌握多种语言对人大有裨益。

Scientists think that juggling several languages is good for you.

如果你能同时处理多件事，就意味着你能同时应对所有这些事务。

If you juggle several things, that means you deal with all of them at the same time.

弗雷德里克将掌握多种语言描述为大脑的锻炼。

Frederic describes being a polyglot as a brain workout.

这意味着这是对大脑的锻炼，能让它变得更强大。

This means it's exercise for your brain that can make it stronger.

汉娜，我不知道你怎么想。

Now Hannah, I don't know about you.

我年轻时，语言对我来说只是学校的又一门课程，我那时并不太在意。

When I was younger and languages just seemed like another subject at school, I didn't really care so much.

但后来在国外工作时，我的动力强多了，也感觉学起来更容易。

But when I worked abroad later in life, I was much more motivated and found it easier.

你呢？

How about you?

实际上恰恰相反。

Quite the opposite actually.

我确实觉得在学校和大学时学语言更容易。

I did find it easier to learn languages at school and university.

但我那时学习这些语言并非出于必要。

But I didn't have to learn these languages out of necessity.

但我的同事维多利亚·乌蒙昆德，她是BBC国际频道的节目主持人和记者，她确实需要学习这些语言。

But my colleague Victoria Umonkunde, she's a presenter and a journalist on the BBC World Service, she did.

她会说五种语言，还能听懂八种。

She speaks five languages and she understands eight.

她学习这些语言是因为她十几岁时，家人从卢旺达搬到肯尼亚，后来又搬到了挪威。

And she learnt those languages because her family moved from Rwanda to Kenya and then to Norway when she was a teenager.

维多利亚说她能相当轻松地掌握挪威语。

Victoria says she was able to pick up Norwegian quite easily.

如果你掌握(pick up)一项技能，这意味着你通常是通过身处相关环境而非被教授来学会它的。

If you pick up a skill, it means you learn it usually by being in the environment where that thing happens rather than being taught.

但维多利亚的父母发现学习挪威语要困难得多。

But Victoria's parents found it much harder to learn Norwegian.

让我们听听维克在《世界万象》播客中是怎么说的。

Let's hear what Vic said on the What in the World podcast.

首先，他们是从熟悉的一切来到一个全新的文化环境。

First of all, you're having them coming to a new culture completely from everything they've ever known.

语言是全新的。

The language is new.

这些人已经五十多岁了，但他们坚持了下来，因为如果你想工作、想在那里生活，就必须学习，而他们确实做到了。

These are people in their fifties, you know, but they they soldiered on because if you want to work, you want to live there, you have to learn and they did.

这并不容易，但我想我们这些孩子学得很快，所以如果他们犯了错，我们也会一路帮助他们，这有点像一种回报的方式。

It wasn't easy but I think also with us kids we picked it up quite quickly so if they were making a mistake we were also helping them along the way so it kind of a way of paying back.

你们帮助我们保留了母语，现在轮到我们来帮助你们了。

You helped us get to this you know, to keep our mother tongue and here we are going to help you.

维多利亚的父母在五十多岁时学习挪威语很困难，但他们坚持了下来。

Victoria's parents found it difficult to learn Norwegian in their fifties, but they soldiered on.

他们即使遇到困难也继续坚持做这件事。

They continued doing something even though it was difficult.

汉娜，我很喜欢这家人互相帮助学习语言的方式。

And I love that the family helped each other with their languages, Hannah.

是的。

Yes.

所以维克父母在他们不得不离开卢旺达时，帮助他们保留了母语基努兰达语。

So Vic's parents helped them keep their mother tongue, Kinuranda, when they had to leave Rwanda.

然后多年后，孩子们又帮助父母学习挪威语。

And then years later, the children helped their parents learn Norwegian.

汉娜，维多利亚在学习了其他四种语言后，仍然相当轻松地掌握了挪威语。

And Hannah, Victoria picked up Norwegian quite easily, even after learning four other languages.

维多利亚有没有关于学习这么多语言的小窍门？

Did Victoria have any tips for learning so many languages?

她建议的一个方法是尝试让自己沉浸在这门语言中。

Well, one thing she recommended is trying to immerse yourself in the language.

她说可以去市场或街上，找一个能听到人们使用这门语言的地方。

So she said go to the market or into the street a place where you can listen to people using the language.

是的，有些学习者可能是在线学习英语，所以他们没有机会去市场或街上听这门语言。

Yes, and some learners might be learning English online and so they don't have the opportunity to go to a market or street and hear the language.

但你还可以做其他事情。

But there are other things that you can do.

例如，你可以收听《六分钟英语》，或者尝试BBC的其他播客节目，比如《世界万象》。

For example, you can listen to six Minute English or you could try other BBC podcasts like What in the World too.

《世界万象》是我参与制作的节目，我们每个工作日都会发布新的一期。

What in the World is the programme that I work on and we put out a new episode every weekday.

我们关注来自全球的故事，涵盖新闻和热点话题，试图帮助你理解这个世界。

We look at stories from around the world covering news and trending topics to try to help you make sense of the world.

现在是揭晓测验问题答案的时间。

Time now for the answer to our quiz question.

我问你哪个国家拥有最多官方认可的语言？

I asked you which country has the most officially recognised languages?

我猜是津巴布韦。

I said Zimbabwe.

恐怕这个答案是错误的。

And I'm afraid that was the wrong answer.

实际上是玻利维亚，该国认可37种语言，不过当然不是所有人都掌握所有这些语言。

It was in fact Bolivia, which recognises 37 languages, though of course not everyone speaks all of them.

现在我们来回顾一下学过的词汇，首先是‘polyglot’（多语者），指的是像我这样通晓多种语言的人。

Now let's recap the vocabulary that we have learned, starting with polyglot, which is someone who knows lots of languages like me.

如果你‘tune into something’，表示你在倾听或关注它。

If you tune into something, you listen or pay attention to it.

‘Juggling several things’（同时应对多件事）比如语言，意味着同时处理几件不同的事情。

Juggling several things like languages means doing several different things at the same time.

‘brain workout’（大脑锻炼）是指针对大脑的训练。

A brain workout is exercise for your brain.

如果你‘pick up a skill’（掌握一项技能），通常是通过实践而非教学学会的。

If you pick up a skill, you learn it, usually through practice rather than being taught.

如果你‘soldier on’（坚持到底），表示即使困难也继续做某事。

And if you soldier on, you continue doing something even though it's difficult.

感谢收听《六分钟英语》，并请收听《世界万象》关于多语者和语言学习的完整节目。

Thanks for listening to six Minute English and listen to the full episode of What in the World about polyglots and learning languages.

本节目下方笔记中有相关链接。

There's a link in the notes below this programme.

非常感谢邀请我参加六分钟英语节目。

Thank you so much for having me on six Minute English.

再见。

Goodbye.

再见。（意大利语）

Ciao.

再见。（西班牙语）

Adios.

拜拜。

Bye.