學(xué)外語佳方法造一個文化孤島

學(xué)外語佳方法造一個文化孤島

Are you trying to learn a new language in a foreign land You might be better off if you stopped looking at that picture of your family and friends.

你是否正身處異國他鄉(xiāng)，正在努力學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言？如果你能放下那張家人和親友的照片不再看它，也許你的學(xué)習(xí)之旅或許能事半功倍。

When learning a new language， your brain is running a whole new neuropathway， creating new patterns and trying to fix those new pathways permanently in your gray matter. New research from Columbia University found that prompting someone who is learning a new language with images and reminders of their own culture could temporarily wreck everything that the brain was trying to build.

當(dāng)我們學(xué)習(xí)一門新語言的時候，我們的大腦里新的神經(jīng)通路就開始發(fā)揮作用，大腦會創(chuàng)造新的認(rèn)知模式，并使這種新的認(rèn)知模式與大腦灰質(zhì)構(gòu)建永久性的聯(lián)系。哥倫比亞大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)新研究證實(shí)，當(dāng)人們用一個初學(xué)者本土文化的意象和物象來刺激他的二語習(xí)得時，大腦在二語習(xí)得過程中試圖架構(gòu)的模式和聯(lián)系可能被徹底摧毀。

When native Chinese students were asked to converse with a Caucasian avatar versus a Chinese avatar， their English skills were so different. Simply exposing students to a Chinese person affected their ability to speak English. Subjects who talked with the Chinese version felt more comfortable in their speech， but they produced 11% fewer words per minute. They actually became less fluent speakers.

研究人員讓來自中國的學(xué)生與一個金發(fā)碧眼的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對話，然后與一個黑發(fā)黑眼的中國人的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對話，結(jié)果學(xué)生們前后表現(xiàn)出的英語表達(dá)技能大不相同。讓學(xué)生們面對一個中國的對話對象確實(shí)會影響他們說英語的水平。與中國人的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對話時，學(xué)生們在對話中感到更加輕松自如，但是他們每分鐘使用的語匯少了11%。他們使用英語的流利程度真的降低了。

To make sure it wasnt just the avatar， researchers also showed people random images of China while the participants told a story. When pictures of their homeland appeared， fluency dropped 16% and volunteers were 85% more likely to use a literal translation， for example， calling pistachios happy nuts. Because thats literally what the Chinese word for pistachio means.

為了確證上述實(shí)驗(yàn)現(xiàn)象不僅僅出現(xiàn)在學(xué)生們與網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對話的過程中，研究者們還請學(xué)生們講述故事，并在此過程中向?qū)W生們展示隨機(jī)選出的中國人圖像。當(dāng)這些祖國同胞們的圖像出現(xiàn)的時候，學(xué)生們講述故事的流利程度降低了16%、使用牽強(qiáng)附會的中式英語的幾率多了85%。比如，他們會把開心果說成“快樂的堅(jiān)果”。因?yàn)樵谥形闹虚_心果的意思直譯成英語就是這個意思。