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[00:01.70]Most people around the world speak one or two languages.
世界上大多数人都会说一种或两种语言。
[00:06.25]But some can speak three or more.
但有些人会说三种或三种以上。
[00:09.05]These people are called polyglots.
这些人被称为“多语言者”。
[00:11.92]And they are helping researchers better understand how the human brain deals with language.
他们正在帮助研究人员更好地理解人脑是如何处理语言的。
[00:19.60]In a new study, a team of scientists monitored the brain activity of 34 polyglots.
在一项新的研究中，一组科学家监测了34名多语言者的大脑活动。
[00:28.10]The polyglots spoke between five and 54 languages.
这些人会说5到54种语言。
[00:33.92]The scientists used a method called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
科学家们使用了一种名为功能性磁共振成像(fMRI)的方法。
[00:41.12]In fMRI, the brain is studied through images that measure changes in blood flow in different areas of the brain.
在功能性磁共振成像中，通过测量大脑不同区域血流变化的图像来研究大脑。
[00:50.30]The researchers used fMRI to study the brain as the polyglots listened to different languages.
研究人员使用功能性磁共振成像来研究多语言者在听不同语言时的大脑活动。
[00:58.05]The researchers found that, when the polyglots heard a language they knew, activity increased in an area of the brain involved with language processing.
研究人员发现，当多语言者听到一种他们熟悉的语言时，大脑中涉及语言处理的一个区域的活动会增加。
[01:09.20]That area is the cerebral cortex.
那个区域就是大脑皮层。
[01:13.37]When they listened to a language they did not know or knew less well, there was less activity in the cerebral cortex.
当他们听一种他们不懂或不太了解的语言时，大脑皮层的活动会减少。
[01:21.22]Evelina Fedorenko is a brain scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
埃维利娜·费多连科（Evelina Fedorenko）是麻省理工学院的脑科学家，也是麻省理工学院麦戈文脑科学研究所的成员。
[01:34.37]She was also a senior writer of the study, which recently appeared in the publication Cerebral Cortex.
她也是这项研究的资深作者。这项研究最近发表在出版物《大脑皮层》上。
[01:42.35]She explained the findings.
她对研究结果作出了解释。
[01:45.10]"We think this is because when you process a language that you know well, you can engage the full suite of linguistic operations - the operations that the language system in your brain supports," Fedorenko said.
费多连科说：“我们认为，这是因为当你处理一种熟悉的语言时，你可以进行全套的语言操作——你大脑中的语言系统所支持的操作。”
[02:00.22]However, an exception caught the attention of the researchers.
然而，一个例外引起了研究人员的注意。
[02:04.67]For many of the polyglot participants, listening to their native language produced less of a brain response compared to hearing other languages they knew.
对于许多会说多种语言的参与者来说，听母语所产生的大脑反应比听他们所熟悉的其他语言要少。
[02:15.72]On average, the response was about 25 percent less.
平均而言，反应率减少了约25%。
[02:21.05]And in some of the polyglots, listening to their native language activated only one part of the brain's language network, not the whole thing.
在一些多语言者中，听母语只能激活大脑语言网络的一部分，而不是全部。
[02:31.22]Olessia Jouravlev is a brain scientist at Carleton University in Canada.
奥莱西亚·朱拉夫列夫是加拿大卡尔顿大学的脑科学家。
[02:38.10]He also helped write the report.
他也帮助撰写了这份报告。
[02:41.10]He said that the brain's neural processes were more efficient, or effective, when the polyglots heard their native language.
他说，当多语言者听到他们的母语时，大脑的神经过程会更高效。
[02:51.42]"Therefore, the language network in the brain does not activate as much when they do native versus non-native language processing," Jouravlev said.
朱拉夫列夫说：“因此，他们在处理母语和非母语时，大脑中语言网络的激活程度并不相同。”
[03:02.97]The brain's language network involves a few areas in its frontal and temporal lobes.
大脑的语言网络涉及额叶和颞叶的几个区域。
[03:09.77]Saima Malik-Moraleda is a doctoral student at the Harvard/MIT Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology.
萨伊玛·马利克·莫拉莱达（Saima Malik-Moraleda）是哈佛大学/麻省理工学院言语和听力生物科学与技术项目的博士生。
[03:19.97]She was one of the lead writers of the study.
她是这项研究的主要作者之一。
[03:23.62]She said the findings suggest that the way the brain finds, or extracts, meaning in language governs the brain's response to language.
她说，这些发现表明，大脑发现或者提取语言意义的方式决定了大脑对语言的反应。
[03:35.35]"The more meaning you can extract from the language input you are receiving, the greater the response in language regions - except for the native language," she said.
她说：“你从输入的语言中提取的意义越多，语言区域的反应就越大——母语除外。”
[03:47.05]Of the 34 polyglots who took part in the study, 20 were men and 14 were women.
在参与研究的34名多语言者中，有20名男性和14名女性。
[03:54.80]They were between 19 and 71 years old.
他们的年龄在19岁到71岁之间。
[03:59.22]Twenty-one were native English speakers.
其中21人的母语是英语。
[04:02.45]The rest were native speakers of French, Russian, Spanish, Dutch, German, Hungarian, and Mandarin Chinese.
其余的人以法语、俄语、西班牙语、荷兰语、德语、匈牙利语和汉语为母语。
[04:12.37]Researchers monitored the polyglots' brain activity as they listened to recordings in eight languages.
研究人员监测了这些多语言者在听八种语言录音时的大脑活动。
[04:20.20]One was their native language.
一种是他们的母语。
[04:22.32]Three were languages they spoke well, somewhat well or somewhat.
其中有三种语言，他们说得很好，或者多少还不错。
[04:26.87]The other four were languages they did not know.
其他四种是他们不懂的语言。
[04:30.50]Half heard recordings of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
一半人听的是刘易斯·卡罗尔的《爱丽丝梦游仙境》的录音。
[04:35.22]The other half heard recordings of stories from the Christian religious book the Bible.
另一半人听的是基督教书籍《圣经》中的故事录音。
[04:40.82]Fedorenko noted that a lot of work in language research has been centered on individuals with linguistic difficulties.
费多连科指出，很多语言研究工作都是围绕有语言困难的人展开的。
[04:49.45]But she said there is a lot that researchers can learn about the language process by studying so-called language "experts," too.
但她说，研究人员也可以通过研究所谓的语言“能手”来了解语言的发展过程。
[04:58.07]That includes polyglots, Fedorenko added.
费多连科补充说，这包括多语言者。
[05:02.45]I'm Jill Robbins.
吉尔·罗宾斯为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
