柏林的天很是晴朗，陽臺外面，Tim Keeley和Daniel Krasa兩人正用言語「交戰」著。先是德語，後是印地語、尼泊爾語、波蘭語、克羅埃西亞語、（中國）普通話和泰語——對話中不同語言的銜接簡直天衣無縫。總共他們涉及了大約20種不同的語言。
Back inside, I find small groups exchanging tongue twisters. Others are gathering in threes, preparing for a rapid-fire game that involves interpreting two different languages simultaneously. It looks like the perfect recipe for a headache, but they are nonchalant. 「It’s quite a common situation for us,」 a woman called Alisa tells me.
房間裡，我發現一些小團體正玩著文字繞口令。其他的三人一群，準備一個「速射」遊戲，內容就是同時口譯出兩種不同的語言。這簡直不能讓人更頭痛了，但是對於他們而言，跟若無其事一樣。「這對於我們來說都是常事」，有一個名叫Alisa的人告訴我。
It can be difficult enough to learn one foreign tongue. Yet I’m here in Berlin for the Polyglot Gathering, a meeting of 350 or so people who speak multiple languages – some as diverse as Manx, Klingon and Saami, the language of reindeer herders in Scandinavia. Indeed, a surprising proportion of them are 「hyperglots」, like Keeley and Krasa, who can speak at least 10 languages. One of the most proficient linguists I meet here, Richard Simcott, leads a team of polyglots at a company called eModeration – and he uses about 30 languages himself.
學習一門外語很難。但我現在在柏林一個通曉多語者的聚會上，會上大約有350人，他們都會說多門語言——語言範圍很廣，如有曼島語、克林貢語和在斯堪地那維亞半島上馴鹿牧民說的薩米語。事實上，他們中有驚人的一部分還是「hyperglot」(會六門以上語言的人)，如Keeley和Krasa, 他們至少會10門語言。Richard Simcott是我在這裡遇見的語言最熟練的語言學家之一，他在eModeration公司管理一個會多門語言者的團隊，而他自己大概會30門語言。
With a modest knowledge of Italian and some rudimentary Danish, I feel somewhat out of place among the hyperglots. But they say you should learn from the best, so I am here to try to discover their secrets.
較熟悉義大利語和會基本的丹麥語，讓我在這群「hyperglots」中顯得有點格格不入。但是他們對我說，我應該向最厲害的學習，因此，我在這裡就試圖去發現他們的秘密。
When you consider the challenges for the brain, it’s no wonder most of us find learning a language so demanding. We have many different memory systems, and mastering a different tongue requires all of them. There’s procedural memory – the fine programming of muscles to perfect an accent – and declarative memory, which is the ability to remember facts (at least 10,000 new words if you want to come close to native fluency, not to mention the grammar). What’s more, unless you want to sound like a stuttering robot, those words and structures have to make it to the tip of your tongue within a split second, meaning they have to be programmed in both 「explicit」 and 「implicit」 memory.
如果我們考慮關於大腦挑戰的問題，也難怪大多數人會認為學習語言是多麼苛刻。我們有很多不同的記憶系統，掌握一門不同的語言需要所有的這些系統。其中有一個程序記憶——肌肉的精緻分布形成完美發音，還有一個陳述性記憶——記住事實的能力（如果想要達到母語者的流利度，需要至少1萬的詞彙，更別說它的語法知識）。除非你想聽起來像一個結巴的機器人，這些詞和結構必須在一瞬間從你的舌尖出來，這就意味著這些詞和結構必須同時運用到內隱記憶和外顯記憶。
Speaking extra languages delays dementia by five years or more
多講一門語言可以延緩痴呆五年
That tough mental workout comes with big payoffs, however; it is arguably the best brain training you can try. Numerous studies have shown that being multilingual can improve attention and memory, and that this can provide a 「cognitive reserve」 that delays the onset of dementia. Looking at the experiences of immigrants, Ellen Bialystok at York University in Canada has found that speaking two languages delayed dementia diagnosis by five years. Those who knew three languages, however, were diagnosed 6.4 years later than monolinguals, while for those fluent in four or more languages, enjoyed an extra nine years of healthy cognition.
高強度的心智鍛鍊也是可以帶來巨大回報的，它可能是你進行大腦訓練最好的方法。眾多研究表明會多門語言可以改善注意力和記憶，從而提供一個「認知儲備」，這一「認知儲備」可以延緩痴呆的發病。加拿大約克大學的Ellen Bialystock綜觀移民的經驗，發現會兩門語言可以延緩痴呆5年。會三門語言可以延緩痴呆6.4年，而那些會4門或者更多語言的人擁有比單語者多9年的健康認知。
Learning a new language as we age is easier than you might assume
隨著年齡的增大學習一門新語言比你想的要簡單
Until recently, however, many neuroscientists had suggested that most of us are too old to reach native-like fluency in a fresh language; according to the 「critical period hypothesis」, there is a narrow window during childhood in which we can pick up the nuances of a new language. Yet Bialystok’s research suggests this may have been exaggerated; rather than a steep precipice, she has found that there is a very slight decline in our abilities as we age.
然而，近年來有很多神經科學家指出我們大部分的人學習新語言的年齡太大，因而不能達到母語者的流利度。這根據的是一個「關鍵期假說」，這個假說假想在我們的兒提時代，有一個狹窄的窗口，只有通過這個窗口才能掌握一門新語言中細微的差別。但是Bialystock的研究表明，這個假說被誇大了。她發現隨著我們年齡的增大，我們學習語言的能力只有輕微的下降，而不是直線下降。
Certainly, many of the hyperglots I meet in Berlin have mastered languages later in life. Keeley grew up in Florida, where he was exposed to native Spanish speakers at school. As a child, he used to tune into foreign radio stations – despite not being able to understand a word. 「It was like music to me,」 he says. But it was only as an adult that he started travelling the world – first to Colombia, where he also studied French, German and Portuguese at college. He then moved on to Switzerland and Eastern Europe before heading to Japan. He now speaks at least 20 languages fluently, almost all of which were learnt as an adult. 「The critical period hypothesis is a bunch of crap,」 he says.
確實，我在柏林遇到的「hyperglots」都是在後來學會多門語言的。Keeley在弗羅裡達州長大，在學校他接觸到的是以西班牙語為母語的人。當他還是小孩的時候，他常常收聽一些外國電臺——雖然他一個詞也聽不懂。「就像是音樂一樣」，他說。成年之後他才開始環遊世界——首先是哥倫比亞，在那裡的大學，他學會了法語、德語和葡萄牙語。在去日本之前他到過瑞士和東歐。現在他可以流利地說至少20門語言，幾乎所有的語言都是在他成年後學會的。所以他說：「關鍵期假說根本就是胡扯」。
The question is, how do hyperglots master so many new tongues – and could the rest of us try to emulate them? True, they may just be more motivated than most. Many, like Keeley, are globe-trotters who have moved from country to country, picking up languages as they go. It’s sometimes a case of sink or swim.
現在問題就來了，這些「hyperglots」都是如何掌握如此多的語言，我們能夠效仿他們嗎？可以的，他們很可能僅僅只是比大多數人動力更足而已。像Keeley一樣，許多人都是環球旅行者，他們從一個國家到另一個國家，邊走邊學語言，很多時候是關乎生存問題的。
Yet even with the best intentions, many of us struggle to speak another language convincingly. Keeley, who is currently writing a book on the 「social, psychological and affective factors in becoming multilingual」, is sceptical that it’s simply a question of raw intelligence. 「I don’t think it’s a major factor, although it does make it faster to have the analytical ability,」 he says.
但是，即使意圖明確，我們中很多人在講另外一門語言時，仍在令人滿意的路上掙扎著。Keeley現在正在寫一本關於「成為多語者的社會、心理和情感因素」的書。他懷疑這不僅僅是一個關於原智力的問題。他說：「我認為智力並不是主要原因，雖然它讓我們更快地擁有分析能力。」
Cultural chameleons
文化變色龍
Instead, he thinks we need to look past the intellect, into the depths of our personality. Keeley’s theory is that learning a new language causes you to re-invent your sense of self – and the best linguists are particularly good at taking on new identities. 「You become a chameleon,」 he says.
相反的，他認為我們應該跨過智力因素，直達我們的性格。Keeley認為學習一門新語言會讓我們造出一個新的自我意識——最好的語言學家尤其擅長採用一個新的身份。他說：「你就成為了一個變色龍」。
Psychologists have long known that the words we speak are entwined with our identity. It’s a cliche that French makes you more romantic, or Italian makes you more passionate, but each language becomes associated with cultural norms that can affect how you behave – it could be as simple as whether you value outspoken confidence or quiet reflection, for instance. Importantly, various studies have found that multilingual people often adopt different behaviours according to the language they are speaking.
心理學家早就知道我們說的話和我們的身份意識交織在一起。老生常談的就是法語讓人更加浪漫或義大利語讓人更有熱情。但是每一種語言和文化規範聯繫在一起，從而影響我們的行為——舉個例子，就像你喜歡直言不諱還是喜歡安靜思索一樣簡單。重要的是，眾多研究發現多語者經常會根據他們所說的那門語言而採取不同的行為。
Different languages can also evoke different memories of your life – as the writer Vladimir Nabokov discovered when working on his autobiography. The native Russian speaker wrote it first in his second language, English, with agonising difficulty, finding that 「my memory was attuned to one key – the musically reticent Russian, but it was forced into another key, English」. Once it was finally published, he decided to translate the memoirs back into the language of his childhood, but as the Russian words flowed, he found his memories started to unfurl with new details and perspectives. 「His Russian version differed so much he felt the need to retranslate to English,」 says Aneta Pavlenko at Temple University in Philadelphia, whose book, The Bilingual Mind, explores many of these effects. It was almost as if his English and Russian selves had subtly different pasts.
不同的語言也可能勾起你生活中不同的回憶——一個名叫Vladimir Nabokov的作家在寫自傳的時候發現了這個現象。這個母語為俄語的作家非常艱難地用他的第二語言英語進行寫作，期間，他發現「我的記憶都在一個基調上——俄語無聲的音樂美，但是被硬生生扯到另一個基調上——英語」。作品出版後，他決定將這些回憶重新翻譯成他孩提時代的語言。但是當俄語單詞不斷湧現，他發現他的記憶也跟著一些新的細節和視角不斷展開。「他的俄語版本如此不同以至於他覺得他應該重新將其翻譯成英語」，費城坦普爾大學的Aneta Pavlenko在其《雙語思維》一書中寫道。該書探討了很多這樣的現象，就感覺作家的英語和俄語本身有著不同的過去。
Resisting the process of reinvention may prevent you from learning another language so well, says Keeley, who is a professor of cross-cultural management at Kyushu Sangyo University in Japan. He recently ran a survey of Chinese speakers learning Japanese to examine their 「ego permeability」 – with questions such as 「I find it easy to put myself in other’s shoes and imagine how they feel」 or 「I can do impressions of other people」, and whether you can change your opinions to suit the people you are near. As he suspected, the people who score highly on these traits had much greater fluency in their new language.
反對再造過程可能會阻止我們學好另一門語言，Keeley說，他現在是日本九州產業大學跨文化管理部的一名教授。最近，他在做一個關於中國人學日語的調查，來檢測他們的「自我滲透性」——問題如「我覺得為他人著想，想像他們的感受很簡單」或「我能給別人留下印象」和我們是否能夠適應周邊人而改變我們的觀點。正如他所想的那樣，那些在這些問題上得高分的人在講一門新語言時流暢度更高。
It is not just about the amount of time spent learning and using languages
這不僅僅只是關乎花在學習和使用語言的時間數量問題
How come? It’s well known that if you identify with someone, you are more likely to mimic them – a process that would effortlessly improve language learning. But the adopted identity, and the associated memories, may also stop you from confusing the language with your mother tongue – by building neural barriers between the languages. 「There must be some type of home in your mind for each language and culture and the related experiences, in order for the languages to stay active and not get all mixed together,」 Keeley says. 「It is not just the amount of time spent learning and using the languages. The quality of the time, in terms of emotional salience, is critical.」 Indeed, that might explain why Keeley could switch so effortlessly between those 20-odd languages.
為什麼會這樣？眾所周知，如果你認同某一個人，那麼你更容易去模仿他——這個過程可以無不費力地改善語言學習。但是所採納的新身份和相關的記憶可能會阻止你將母語和這門新語言弄混淆——通過在語言間設置神經障礙。「在我們的人腦中肯定有為每門語言和相關的文化與經歷設置小隔間，以此來使各種語言保持活躍而不會相互混淆」，Keeley說，「這不僅僅只是關乎學習和使用語言的時間數量問題。從情感突顯出發，學習時間的質量更關鍵」。事實上，這也可能解釋了為什麼Keeley能在20種不同語言中自由轉換的原因。
Of all the polyglots, Michael Levi Harris may demonstrate these principles the best. An actor by training, Harris also has an advanced knowledge of 10 languages, and an intermediate understanding of 12 more. Occasionally, his passion has landed him in some difficulty. He once saw an online ad for a Maltese meet-up. Going along, he hoped to find a group of people from Malta, only to walk into a room full of middle-aged women and their white lap dogs – an experience he recently relayed in a short film The Hyperglot. You can see a trailer below.
在所有的多語者中，Michael Levi Harris可能最好地展現了這些原則。Harris是一名演員，經過不斷的訓練，他精通10門語言，還較熟悉另外12門語言。偶爾，他的激情也讓他陷於困境。有一次，他在網上看到了一個關於馬爾他見面會的廣告。於是，他想藉此認識一群來自馬爾他的人，結果，卻走進了一個房間，房間裡全是中年婦女和她們的馬爾他狗——他把這段經歷在短篇電影「The Hyperglot」重演了一遍。下面是電影的預告片。
When I meet him in a cafe near the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he effortlessly slips into a rather posh, 「received pronunciation」 English accent, despite being a native New Yorker. As he does so, his whole posture changes as he melds into the new persona. 「I’m not really trying to consciously change my character or my persona. It just happens, but I know that I am suddenly different.」
當我在倫敦市政廳音樂和戲劇學院附近的一個咖啡廳和他碰面的時候，他毫不費力地操著一口標準的英倫音，雖然他是一個地道的紐約人。他在說話的時候，他的姿勢隨著他融入的新角色而變化。「我並沒有刻意地去改變我的性格和我角色。一切就自然而然地發生了，但我也清楚我是確實不一樣了。」
Importantly, Harris thinks that anyone can learn to adopt a new cultural skin in this way – and he has a few tips for how to begin, based on his experiences of acting. The important thing, he says, is to try to imitate without even considering the spelling of the words. 「Everyone can listen and repeat,」 he says. You may find yourself over-exaggerating, in the same way that an actor may be a little over-the-top in their performance to start with – but that’s a crucial part of the process, he says. 「In acting first, you go really big, and then the director says OK, now tone it down. And you do the same with a language.」 He also suggests looking carefully at things like facial expressions – since they can be crucial to producing the sounds. Speaking with slightly pouted lips instantly makes you sound a little bit more French, for instance.
重要的是，Harris認為我們每個人都可以通過這樣的方式來接納一種新的文化——基於他演員的經驗，他也給出了一些建議如何開始。他說，最重要的事就是不要考慮單詞拼寫地去模仿。「每個人都能聽和複述」，他說。你可能會發現這有點誇張，就跟一位演員最開始表演時有點演過了一樣——但這是關鍵性的一步。他還說：「最開始演的時候，你誇張點，隨後導員會說好，然後就慢慢平實一點。再把這個運用到學習語言中去」。他還建議要善於觀察，如面部表情——因為它們對發聲起著關鍵的作用。比如，說話時微微撅起嘴唇可以讓我們的聲音更有法國情調。
Finally, he says you should try to overcome the embarrassment associated with producing "strange" noises – such as the guttural sounds in Arabic, for instance. 「You have to realise it’s not foreign to us – when you are disgusted, you already say 『eugh』. And if you acknowledge and give your subconscious permission to do it in speech, you can make the sound.」 That may sound a little silly, but the point is that all this should help you to get over your natural inhibitions. 「It’s all to do with owning the language, which is what actors have to do to make the audience believe that these words are yours. When you own words you can speak more confidently, which is how people will engage with you.」
最後，他還說我們應該儘量去克服發「怪」音的尷尬——例如阿拉伯語的喉音。「你必須意識到這並不是外來的——當你覺得很噁心的時候，你已經會發『呃』這個音了。如果你承認並下意識地允許自己說出來，你就能發出這個音了。」這聽起來可能覺得有點蠢，但重點是所有的這些都能夠幫助你克服你本身的自然抑制。「所做的一切都為了擁有語言，就如演員一樣必須使觀眾相信所有的語詞都是你自己的。當你擁有語詞的時候，你說話就更有自信，人們也會願意接近你。」
There’s one big factor that stops people learning languages efficiently…
並沒有一個決定因素會阻礙人們高效學習其他語言
Even so, most agree that you shouldn’t be too ambitious, particularly when starting out. 「If there’s a single factor that stops people learning languages efficiently, it’s that we feel we have to be native-like – it’s an unreachable standard that looms over us,」 says Temple University’s Pavlenko. 「The ease of expression is what matters to me a lot – finding a better way to express myself, colloquially.」
即便如此，絕大部分人都認為我們不能過於雄心勃勃，尤其是在一開始的時候。「如果硬要說有一個因素阻礙著人們高效學習其他語言，那就是我們認為我們必須要像母語者一樣的心理——這個標準遙不可及，卻一直籠罩著我們，」坦普爾大學的Pavlenko說，「有一句通俗的話對於我來說很重要——那就是口頭上，找到一種更好的方法來表達自己。」
Along these lines, you should also practice a little and often – perhaps just for 15-minute stints, four times a day. 「I think the analogies with exercise are quite good,」 says Alex Rawlings, who has developed a series of polyglot workshops with Richard Simcott to teach their techniques. Even if you are too busy or tired to do serious study, just practising a dialogue or listening to a foreign pop song can help, says Simcott.
照著這樣的路徑，我們還應該經常短時間地練習——也許就15分鐘一次，一天四次。「我認為和運動類比也是很不錯的，」Alex Rawlings說。他和Richard Simcott合作發展了一系列多語者工作坊，教給他們技巧。Simcott說：「即使你很忙或者很累，不能認真學習，僅僅練習一段對話或者聽一首外文流行歌都會有所幫助。」
In the UK, Australia and US, it is easy to believe that we don’t need to make that effort. Indeed, before I met the hyperglots, I had wondered if their obsession merited the hard work; perhaps, I thought, it was just about bragging rights. Yet all of the hyperglots I meet are genuinely enthusiastic about the amazing benefits that can only be achieved by this full immersion in different languages – including the chance to make friends and connections, even across difficult cultural barriers.
在英國、澳大利亞和美國，很容易就認為我們並不需要付出那樣的努力。事實上，在我遇到這些「hyperglots」之前，我一度懷疑他們的痴迷值不值得這樣的努力，我認為他們大概僅僅是為了有吹牛的資本。但我當遇到的這些「hyperglots」，他們是真心熱衷於沉浸在其他語言中——這也帶來了驚人的回報，包括交更多朋友，取得更多聯繫，甚至跨越不同文化之間的障礙。
Harris, for instance, describes living in Dubai. 「As a Jewish person living in the Middle East, I faced challenges. But it turns out that one of my best friends was from Lebanon,」 he says. 「And when I moved away, he said 『when we first met I didn’t think I could be friends with you and now you’re leaving, I’m distraught』. It’s one of the most precious things to me.」
舉個例子。Harris就描述了他生活在杜拜的經歷。「作為一個猶太人，生活在中東我面臨著巨大的挑戰。但是最後，我卻與一個來自黎巴嫩的人成為了最好的朋友，」他說，「當我要走的時候，他對我說『最開始遇到你的時候根本沒有想到我們會成為朋友，而現在你要走了，我很是難過』，與你之間的友誼是我最寶貴的回憶。」
As Judith Meyer, who organised the gathering in Berlin, tells me, she saw Ukrainians and Russians, Israelis and Palestinians all conversing at the gathering. 「Learning another language really does open up whole new worlds.」
Judith Meyer組織這次柏林聚會，她告訴我，她看見烏克蘭人、俄羅斯人、以色列人和巴基斯坦人在聚會上都積極交談著。「學習一門其他語言真的打開了一個新的世界。」
（轉自：BBC，作者 David Robson，中文翻譯轉自愛思英語。）
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