【TED短片】学外语真的可以让你更聪明！（双语字幕）
TED-ed【being bilingual makes you smarter】
阿巴阿巴阿巴(西班牙语)
阿巴巴阿巴巴(法语)
你会说中文吗？
If you answered,"阿巴”，“阿巴巴”or“会”,and you're watching this in English,chances are you belong to the world's bilingual and multilingual majority.
如果你的回答是“会”,并且在看这段英文视频,或许你就是世界上具有双语或者多语言能力者中的一员。
And besides having an easier time traveling or watching movies without subtitiles,knowing two or more languages means that your brain may actually look and work differently than those of your monolingual friends.
除了外出旅行时更方便，以及看电影不需要字幕之外，会两种或多种语言意味着你的大脑的运行方式和单语言的小伙伴们不一样。
So what does it really mean to know a language?
那么会一种语言意味着什么呢？
Language ability is typically measured in two active parts,speaking and writing,and two passive parts,listening and reading.
典型的语言能力评估包含两个主动层面——说和写；还有两个被动层面——听和读。
While a balanced bilingual has near equal abilities across the board in two languages,most bilinguals around the world know and use their languages in varying proportions.
尽管协调的双语能力意味着两个层面的均衡发展，世界上大部分的双语人士对于语言的认知和运用程度是不同的。
And depending on their situation and how they acquired each language,they can be classified into three general types.
并且根据他们的情况和学习语言的方式，可以分为三种类型。
For example,let's take Gabriella,whose family immigrates to the US from Peru when she's two years old.
以Gabriella为例，当她两岁时，她的家庭从秘鲁移民到美国。
As a compound bilingual,Gabriella develops two linguistic codes simultaneously with a single set of concepts,learning both English and Spanish as she begins to process the world around her.
作为一名合成双语者，Gabriella同时发展两种语言编码。在她探索世界的过程中，对于同一组概念，她同时接受英语和西班牙语的用法。
Her teenage brother,on the other hand,might be a coordinate bilingual,working with two sets of concepts,learning English in school,while continuing to speak Spanish at home and with friends.
另外，她年轻的哥哥或许会成为一个并列双语者,并列处理两组概念——在学校学习英语，同时在亲戚朋友间依然使用西班牙语。
Finally,Gabriella's parents are likely to be subordinate bilinguals who learn a secondary language by filtering it through their primary language.
最后，Gabriella的父母很可能是附属型双语者,他们学习第二语言的方式，是借助基本语言进行梳理。
Because all types of bilingual people can become fully proficient in a language,regardless of accent ot pronunciation,the difference may not be apparent to a casual observer.
由于任何一种双语者都能够完全掌握另一种语言，而不管发音、语调是不是标准，对于任意一个研究者而言，区别还是很明显的。
But recent advances in brain imaging technology have given neurolinguists a glimpse into how specific aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain.
但如今，脑成像技术的发展，给予了神经语言学家一个机会来研究不同语言学习层面对双语大脑的影响。
It's well known that the brain's left hemisphere is more dominant and analytical in logical processes,while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social ones,though this is a matter of degree,not an absolute split.
众所周知，人的左脑在分析与逻辑进程中起决定作用，而右脑在精神和社交层面更为活跃——尽管这只是程度上的区分，而不是绝对的划分。
The fact that language involves both types of functions while lateralization develops gradually with age,has lead to the critical period hypothesis.
事实上语言包含以上两种功能。因为语言包括的两种功能，而这两种功能中的一种会随着年龄的增长更有优势。于是就有了临界周期的假说。
According to this theory,children learn languages more easily because the plasticity of their developing brains lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition.
根据这种理论，孩子们更容易学会一门语言，因为他们不断成长的半脑之间的粘性，会让他们在学习语言的时候同时用两个半脑。
While in most adults,language is lateralized to one hemisphere,usually the left.
然而对于大多数的成年人，他们通常会用左脑学习语言。
If this is true,learning a language in childhood may give you a more holistic grasp of its social and emotional contexts.
如果这个理论是正确的，在你对于在孩童时期学习的语言，更能有在社会和情感层面上的整体把握。
Conversely,recent research showed that people who learned a second language in adulthood exhibit less-emotional bias and a more rational approach when confronting problems in the second language than in their native one.
然而，近期的研究表明，在成年时期学习第二门语言的人在用第二门语言处理问题时会展现出更少的情绪性偏见并倾向于理性地解决问题.
But regardless of when you acquire additional languages,being multilingual gives your brain some remarkable advantages.
如果不考虑上述的问题，多学几门语言会给你的大脑许多巨大的好处。
Some of these are even visible,such as higher density of the grey matter that contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language.
某一些好处甚至是可察觉到的，比如说你大脑中的容纳神经元和突出的灰质的密度会更高。使用第二语言的时候，大脑中的特定部分也会尤其活跃。
The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives throughout its life can also help delay the onset of diseases,like Alzheimer's and dementia by as much as five years.
进一步的研究表明，多学几门语言，能推迟你的突发疾病的时间，比如说能让阿尔茨海默病和痴呆症推迟5年突发。
The idea of major cognitive benefits to bilingualism may seem intuitive now,but it would have surprised earlier experts.
对于学习多门语言带来的好处是我们主观臆测的，但实际上这里已经有许多惊人的早期试验。
Before the 1960s,bilingualism was considered a handicap that showed a child's development by forcing them to spend too much energy distinguishing between languages,a view based largely on flawed studies.
在1960年之前，学习多门语言被认为是孩子成长中的阻碍，因为孩子会因此话费更多的时间去区别两种语言——这是种基于有缺陷的研究观点。
And while a more recent study did show that reaction times and errors increase for some bilingual students in cross-language tests.
一些年代更近的研究表明，学习多种语言的人在跨语言的测试中反应更慢，错误也更多。
It also showed that the effort and attention needed to switch between languages triggered more activity in and potentially strengthened,the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
这也表明了更多的努力和关注应该从语言触发的活动切换到其对背外侧额叶皮层可能的加强上。
This is the part of the brain that plays a large role in executive function,problem solving,switching between tasks,and focusing while filtering out irrelevant information.
这也是大脑在以下事项上发挥巨大作用的表现——问题的解决、任务之间的切换和在过滤无用信息是对任务本身的关注度。
So,while bilingualism may not necessarily make you smarter,it does make your brain more healthy,complex and actively engaged,and even if you didn't have the good fortune of learning a second language as a child,it's never too late to do yourself a favor and make the linguistic leap from "Hello" to "阿巴" , "阿巴巴" or "您好"s because when it comes to our brains a little exercise can go a long way.
所以，学习多门语言可能不会一定让你变得聪明，但是一定会让你的大脑更加健康复杂，并且更易被充分利用。即便你在孩童时期没有机会学习第二门语言，从现在开始，自己从“Hello”到"阿巴" , "阿巴巴" 或是 "您好"开始来到达语言能力的飞跃。因为对于我们的大脑来说，一点点的练习都有深远的影响。
