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(guó)他鄉(xiāng)，正在努力學(xué)習(xí)一門(mén)新的語(yǔ)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(mén)新語(yǔ)言的時(shí)候，我們的大腦里新的神經(jīng)通路就開(kāi)始發(fā)揮作用，大腦會(huì)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(gè)初學(xué)者本土文化的意象和物象來(lái)刺激他的二語(yǔ)習(xí)得時(shí)，大腦在二語(yǔ)習(xí)得過(guò)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(lái)自中國(guó)的學(xué)生與一個(gè)金發(fā)碧眼的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對(duì)話(huà)，然后與一個(gè)黑發(fā)黑眼的中國(guó)人的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對(duì)話(huà)，結(jié)果學(xué)生們前后表現(xiàn)出的英語(yǔ)表達(dá)技能大不相同。讓學(xué)生們面對(duì)一個(gè)中國(guó)的對(duì)話(huà)對(duì)象確實(shí)會(huì)影響他們說(shuō)英語(yǔ)的水平。與中國(guó)人的網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬形象對(duì)話(huà)時(shí)，學(xué)生們?cè)趯?duì)話(huà)中感到更加輕松自如，但是他們每分鐘使用的語(yǔ)匯少了11%。他們使用英語(yǔ)的流利程度真的降低了。

To make sure it wasn't 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 that's 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(duì)話(huà)的過(guò)程中，研究者們還請(qǐng)學(xué)生們講述故事，并在此過(guò)程中向?qū)W生們展示隨機(jī)選出的中國(guó)人圖像。當(dāng)這些祖國(guó)同胞們的圖像出現(xiàn)的時(shí)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(huì)的中式英語(yǔ)的幾率多了85%。比如，他們會(huì)把開(kāi)心果說(shuō)成“快樂(lè)的堅(jiān)果”。因?yàn)樵谥形闹虚_(kāi)心果的意思直譯成英語(yǔ)就是這個(gè)意思。

The brain is constantly sucking in information and, let's be honest, it's lazy, so when the brain can do something it already knows how to do, it will. In this case the shortcut is reverting to its old patterns and neuropathways.

我們的大腦會(huì)持續(xù)不斷的吸收信息，而且，說(shuō)實(shí)在的，我們的大腦很懶惰。所以，當(dāng)大腦察覺(jué)它可以用熟知的方式去完成一件事的時(shí)候，它就會(huì)選擇熟知的方式。如此一來(lái)，原本需要構(gòu)建的新認(rèn)知模式被認(rèn)知的捷徑取代，大腦又退返到使用舊的認(rèn)知模式和神經(jīng)通路。

Culture and communication are a large part of our everyday lives, and those are well-worn pathways, so they're really difficult to alter. This effect doesn't force only on language processing either. When the students were shown pictures of fish with one swimming ahead of the others, their cultural prompt would change how they look at the photo. With Chinese prompts, like photos of the Great Wall or Chinese Dragon, etc. saw more students thinking that the fish was being chased, whereas an American prompt, like pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Superman, saw those students believing that it was a leader fish... Why are our cultural symbols Marilyn Monroe and Superman?

文化和交流是我們每日生活的一大組成部分，正是這些在我們的大腦中構(gòu)建了我們?cè)偈煜げ贿^(guò)的思維通路，這些思維通路很難換道。已有思維通路的頑固作用不僅出現(xiàn)在語(yǔ)言習(xí)得這一個(gè)方面。當(dāng)研究者們向?qū)W生們展示一幅研究圖片時(shí)，文化原型會(huì)影響他們對(duì)圖片的理解方式。對(duì)一幅表現(xiàn)一條魚(yú)在前，一群魚(yú)在后的圖片。中國(guó)學(xué)生的認(rèn)知模式受到中國(guó)文化的文化原型影響，他們的文化原型體現(xiàn)在長(zhǎng)城和中國(guó)龍等圖像中，在他們看來(lái)，研究圖片表現(xiàn)的是一條魚(yú)正在被一群魚(yú)追趕。而美國(guó)文化的文化原型則表現(xiàn)在瑪麗蓮·夢(mèng)露或超人的形象上，因而美國(guó)學(xué)生會(huì)認(rèn)為研究圖片所表現(xiàn)的是一只魚(yú)帶領(lǐng)著一群魚(yú)。不過(guò)為什么美國(guó)人的文化原型象征會(huì)是瑪麗蓮·夢(mèng)露和超人呢？……

The bottom line is: when attempting to learn a new culture it is far better to surround yourself with that culture than create an island of the old one amidst the new one. Part of this can be seen in highly multicultural cities with isolated ethnic areas. Folks in these isolated communities would not only see less exposure for the culture and the language of the surrounding city, but they learn fluency far more slowly.

底線(xiàn)是：如果你想學(xué)好一門(mén)新語(yǔ)言，就讓自己浸淫在這種新文化之中，讓自己置身于一個(gè)與原有的文化場(chǎng)域隔海相望的文化孤島。那些文化雜交性顯著，居民的種族身份相對(duì)集中的城市地區(qū)就能看出文化孤立的重要性。在這些城市地區(qū)，居民接觸本地區(qū)之外的文化和語(yǔ)言的機(jī)會(huì)較少，不僅如此，他們掌握本地區(qū)之外的新語(yǔ)言的效率也相對(duì)很低。

（來(lái)源：恒星英語(yǔ)）