SEtalk: What a Second Language Does to Your Brain

Have you ever felt like a different person in another language?

你們有沒有過這種感覺：換一種語言，就好像變了一個人？

I have, and it took me years to understand why it happens.

我有過，而且我花了好幾年才搞懂為什麼會這樣。

It's often said that learning a language opens doors.

常聽人說，學一種語言能為你打開許多扇門。

What I've come to believe is that it also rewires the mind.

而我漸漸相信，它還會重新改寫我們的思維。

At forty-one, I moved to Lisbon, and I knew no Portuguese.

41歲那年，我搬到里斯本，一句葡萄牙文都不會。

Ordering coffee felt like an exam, and I failed it daily.

點杯咖啡都像在考試，而我天天考不及格。

About a year in, something shifted,

大概過了一年，有些事情開始不一樣了，

and friends told me I was a different person in Portuguese.

朋友們說，我講葡萄牙文的時候就像換了一個人。

I was louder and warmer, and I was far more patient!

我變得更大聲、更熱情，而且耐心多了！

Some of the clearest evidence comes from a military academy in Sweden,

其中一些最明確的證據，來自瑞典的一所軍事學院，

where recruits learn languages like Arabic or Russian from scratch.

那裡的新兵要從零開始學阿拉伯語或俄語這類語言。

Researchers scanned their brains before and after three months of study.

研究人員在他們學習3個月的前後，分別掃描了他們的大腦。

Parts of the brain linked to memory and language had physically grown!

大腦中跟記憶和語言有關的區域，竟然實際變大了！

Medical students, who were studying just as hard, showed no such change.

而同樣用功念書的醫學系學生，卻沒有出現這樣的變化。

So it seems it wasn't hard work alone that made the difference.

所以看起來，造成差別的不只是努力而已。

That study lasted months, but the benefits may well last decades.

那項研究只進行了幾個月，但帶來的好處很可能會延續好幾十年。

In a Toronto memory clinic, Ellen Bialystok's team compared hundreds of patients.

在多倫多一家記憶門診，Ellen Bialystok的團隊比較了數百名病患。

Those who'd spoken two languages all their lives

那些一輩子都說兩種語言的人，

developed symptoms of dementia around four years later!

出現失智症狀的時間晚了大約4年！

Admittedly, not every study has found such a clear effect,

不可否認，並不是每項研究都發現這麼明顯的效果，

but it's widely thought that juggling two languages keeps the brain flexible.

但一般普遍認為，在兩種語言之間切換，能讓大腦保持靈活。

Perhaps the most counterintuitive finding concerns how we make decisions.

或許最違反直覺的發現，跟我們怎麼做決定有關。

In 2012, a Chicago team gave people a classic decision problem,

2012年，芝加哥的一個團隊給受試者出了一道經典的決策題，

framed either in terms of lives saved or lives lost.

題目的說法，要嘛強調救回多少生命，要嘛強調失去多少生命。

In their native language, people's choices flipped with the wording,

用母語作答時，大家的選擇會隨著措辭而翻轉，

but in a foreign language, the bias largely disappeared!

但換成外語，這種偏誤幾乎就消失了！

The less emotional a language feels, the more calmly we decide.

一種語言帶給我們的情緒越少，我們做起決定就越冷靜。

It isn't that I'm a nicer person in Portuguese,

並不是說我講葡萄牙文的時候人就比較好，

it's that I have to slow down and choose every word.

而是因為我得放慢腳步，仔細挑選每一個字。

Had I never left my comfortable English-only life,

如果我從來沒有離開那個只講英文的舒適生活，

I'd never have met this side of myself.

我永遠不會遇見自己的這一面。

So, provided you're willing to feel a little foolish,

所以，只要你們願意讓自己看起來有點傻，

start a language, and allow yourself to be bad at it.

就開始學一種語言吧，允許自己學得不好。

What if a new version of you is waiting in another language?

要是在另一種語言裡，有個全新的自己正在等著你們呢？

Thank you — or, as I'd now say, obrigada!

謝謝大家——或者，用我現在的說法：obrigada！