The benefits of being bilingual can be seen in 11-month-old babies
11個月大的嬰兒就能體現(xiàn)雙語教育的優(yōu)勢
Numerous studies point to the benefits of speaking more than one language, with research showing that bilingual adults have a higher volume of gray matter and could recover more easily from brain injuries.
大量研究表明會說外語的優(yōu)勢俄烁，一些研究證明會說兩種語言的成年人在中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)有較多的灰質吟孙，并且這些人還能更好地從腦損傷中恢復院溺。
Scientists have also found that the positive effects of bilingualism can be seen in young children, but a new study suggests that the benefits of exposing a person to more than one language can be seen even when we're just a few months old.
科學家還在幼兒身上發(fā)現(xiàn)雙語學習的積極效果粱挡，最新的研究表明，多語言環(huán)境下成長的孩子，幾個月就能體現(xiàn)出效果。
"Our results suggest that before they even start talking, babies raised in bilingual households are getting practice at tasks related to executive function," said neuroscientist Naja Ferjan Ramírez from the University of Washington.?"This suggests that bilingualism shapes not only language development, but also cognitive development more generally."
“我們的研究結果顯示砸西，在孩子開始說話前，雙語環(huán)境實際上提供接受了執(zhí)行力的訓練址儒，”華盛頓大學的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)科學家Naja Ferjan Ramírez說芹枷，“雙語教育不僅塑造語言能力，還從總體上培養(yǎng)認知能力莲趣≡Т龋”
According to the researchers, just as babies are about to turn 1 year old and start speaking themselves, they begin to make a change in how they process the sounds of spoken words, and this is where being raised in a bilingual household can be an advantage.
據(jù)研究者所說，當嬰兒長到一歲開始說話時喧伞，他們開始改變處理語音的方式走芋，這一點就能體現(xiàn)雙語環(huán)境的優(yōu)勢绩郎。
"Monolingual babies show a narrowing in their perception of sounds at about 11 months of age – they no longer discriminate foreign-language sounds they successfully discriminated at six months of age,"said one of the team, Patricia Kuhl.?"But babies raised listening to two languages seem to stay 'open' to the sounds of novel languages longer than their monolingual peers, which is a good and highly adaptive thing for their brains to do."
“單語言環(huán)境下的嬰兒從11個月開始開始逐漸縮小感知聲音的范圍——他們不再區(qū)分外語發(fā)音，在6個月大的時候還能區(qū)分翁逞，”研究組的Patricia Kuhl說肋杖，“和單語言環(huán)境的嬰兒比較，聽兩種語言成長起來的嬰兒聽覺系統(tǒng)似乎對外來語言開放的時間會更長挖函。對于大腦發(fā)育來說状植，這是極好的事，能夠培養(yǎng)高度的適應能力怨喘〗蚧”
The findings, published in Developmental Science, are based on observations made of 16 11-month-old babies who took part in the experiment. Eight of the babies came from families where English was the only language spoken, whereas the remaining eight came from Spanish-English households.
研究成果發(fā)表在《發(fā)展科學》（Developmental Science），實驗基于對16名11個月嬰兒的觀察必怜，其中8名來自只說英語的家庭肉拓，另外8名來自同時說西班牙語和英語的家庭。
The scientists used magnetoencephalography (MEG) imaging to monitor the babies' brain activity as they listened to an 18-minute stream of speech sounds specific to either English or Spanish, or common to both.
科學家一邊用磁腦電描法監(jiān)控嬰兒的大腦活動梳庆，一邊讓嬰兒聽一段18分鐘含有英西兩種語言的音頻流暖途。
The team found that when listening to the audio, the bilingual babies showed stronger responses in their prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices – regions of the brain associated with things like cognitive processing and decision making.
研究組發(fā)現(xiàn)，雙語家庭的嬰兒在聽這段音頻時有較強的前額葉和眶額皮層反應——這是大腦有關認知和決策處理的區(qū)域膏执。
Interestingly, the researchers found that the bilingual babies displayed neural sensitivity to both English and Spanish sounds, suggesting they were indeed learning both languages.
有趣的是丧肴，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)雙語嬰兒對英西兩種語言都有神經(jīng)敏感度，表明他們確實在學習兩種語言胧后。
Also, the monolingual babies weren't any more sensitive to English than the bilingual babies, meaning the cognitive burden of being exposed to two languages wasn't slowing the bilinguals' learning rates, despite the double whammy.
并且，單語言嬰兒對英語的敏感度并不比雙語言嬰兒高抱环，表明雙語言環(huán)境的認知負擔并不會降低雙語學習效率壳快，盡管雙語學習可能會造成語言混淆。
While the findings will need to be confirmed in a larger study with more babies, they could come as a relief to bilingual parents concerned that 'overexposing' their children to two languages might hamper their learning.
雖然這個發(fā)現(xiàn)還需要更多的研究镇草、更多嬰兒的參與來確認眶痰，但那些雙語家庭的父母可以放心了，他們曾擔心孩子同時學習兩種語言會影響學習梯啤。
"The 11-month-old baby brain is learning whatever language or languages are present in the environment and is equally capable of learning two languages as it is of learning one language," said Ferjan Ramírez.?"Our results underscore the notion that not only are very young children capable of learning multiple languages, but that early childhood is the optimum time for them to begin."
11個月大的孩子會學習環(huán)境給他們提供的任何語言竖伯，學兩種語言跟學一種語言的能力是相等的，F(xiàn)erjan Ramírez說因宇，“我們的研究結果強調七婴，雖然只有非常年幼的孩子有多語言的學習能力，但是童年也是多語言學習的最佳時期察滑。
