本文转载自英语漫读公众号，仅供个人学习使用。

How do babies learn languages?

婴幼儿如何学习语言？

录音地址：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/WWW25Z5Fq01xnUe3MPATaA

Hello, I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute English and that was a very unusual sound. Do you know what that sound was?

大家好，我是罗伯，欢迎收听本期BBC英语六分钟。刚才的声音有些特殊。你知道那是什么声音吗？

Well, Finn is with me today and I think he can help. Hello Finn. Hello Rob. Yes, that was the sound of a baby sucking a dummy – that's the rubber thing you put in a baby's mouth to stop it crying.

这是我今天的搭档费恩，我想他能帮忙回答这个问题。你好，费恩。你好，罗伯。刚刚那个是婴儿吮吸橡胶奶嘴的声音，那是一种橡胶制品，把它放到婴儿的嘴里，它就不哭了。

Very useful! But it sounded strange. It did. That's because the dummy was connected to a computer.

非常有用！但声音听起来有点奇怪。确实是，因为橡胶奶嘴和电脑连在一起了。

Connecting a dummy to a computer is a strange thing to do? ! Yes. It is part of a test to understand how unborn babies – called foetuses – learn language.

把奶嘴和电脑连在一起？这不奇怪吗？是很奇怪。不过这是了解未出生婴儿（即胎儿）怎样学习语言的测试。

That is what we are talking about today: What babies learn before they are born. I know we start learning from when we are very young – but I didn't know it was from that early on!

今天我们要讨论的话题正是如此：婴儿出生前都学什么。我知道，我们从很小的时候就开始学习了，但我真不知道会从这么早。

Shall we find out how much you have learnt in your life Finn by asking you a question? This is about the English language.

费恩，我问你个问题，咱们看看你长这么大学了多少东西？这道题和英语语言有关。

According to a survey by the National Literacy Trust, which one of these words was discovered to be the most common first word for a baby to say – not including Mummy or Daddy? Was it a) dog b) eat or c) bus?

据全国读写基金会的研究显示，通常，婴儿说的第一个单词是哪个？当然不包括妈妈和爸爸。A. 狗 B. 吃 C. 车？

I think the answer is a) dog. Well, I'll tell you the answer later on.

我觉得是A. 狗。恩，稍后我再告诉你正确答案。

Now Finn, this study says babies learn language in the womb – so, inside the Mother before they are born? Yes. When babies are born they can identify – or recognise – familiar sounds and language patterns.

费恩，研究表明，婴儿在子宫里就开始学习语言了，也就是说，还未出生就开始了？是的。婴儿出生时，就能辨知熟悉声音和语言模式。

Ten weeks before they are born, they are listening to their mothers communicate. Communicate – so they are listening to their mother talking to other people. And it is remembering and learning these sounds.

他们在出生之前的十周内，就一直在听妈妈沟通。沟通，也就是说他们在听妈妈和别人讲话。与此同时，他们会记忆并学习这些声音。

Yes. And if a baby's mother is bilingual – speaking two languages – the baby can remember sounds from both of these languages. But Rob, you have children, don't you? Do you think they learnt to recognise your voice before they were born?

没错。而且如果妈妈说的是双语（两种语言），那么婴儿便能同时记住这两种语言的声音。可是罗伯，你也有孩子，对吧？你觉得他们在出生之前就学会辨认你的声音了吗？

That's difficult to know. After they were born they responded to different sounds but I don't know if they linked the sounds to a particular person. And now, they don't listen to me at all!

这个很难知道。出生后，他们对很多声音都有回应，我也不知他们是否把这些声音和某个人联系在一起了。反正他们现在一点都不听我的！

I don't believe that! So how have they learnt to speak since they were born? Well, through listening and copying people.

我才不信！他们出生后是怎样学习说话的？边听边模仿。

And now my three-year-old son learns French at nursery and I hope that means by the time he starts school he will be very good at it – or we could say, fluent. Yes, Très bien!

我那3岁的儿子目前正在托儿所学法语，我真希望他上学时能说的很流利。很好！

Excuse me? Well, that's French for very good! Of course, when the baby is in the womb, it is not learning words, it is learning the rhythm of the language.

恩？什么意思？这是法语，意思是“很好”。婴儿在子宫里不学单词，而是学习语言的节奏，

These are the patterns of the sound. It can hear when sounds go up and go down and when they are loud and soft. That is something I try to do when I learn a new language.

即声音的模式。他们能听出声音的高低起伏。我学习一门新语言时就那样做。

I listen to the sound patterns of the words – the ups and downs. How do you learn Rob? Through repetition – by hearing something again and again and then saying it.

我听单词的声音模式——高低起伏。你怎么学的，罗伯？我采用重复的方式来学习。即一遍一遍地听，一遍一遍地说。

But here is another question: even though we both speak English we sound different. Yes, well of course, that is our accent – that is how we say words depending on which country, region, or social class that we come from.

但有一个问题：虽然咱俩都说的是英语，但还是有所差异的。当然，因为咱的口音不同——因国家、地域、阶层差异而产生的不同讲话方式。

I have a soft Scottish accent because I am from Scotland! One difference is the intonation – that means the way your voices rises and falls when you speak.

我有苏格兰口音，因为我来自那里。其中，口音差异包括语调差异——讲话时，声音的抑扬顿挫。

But it is also about the way we pronounce our vowel sounds – like a and o. That's true. Some people think we learn our accents before we are born.

我们发元音时也有差异，比如a，o。是的。有些人认为，我们在出生之前就已经学习口音了。

Here is a little test. Can you tell if this baby is French or German? That just sounds like a regular baby crying. Can I hear another one please?

下面是一个小测试，罗伯，你听听这个婴儿来自法国还是德国？听起来就是很正常的婴儿哭声，我再听听其他的？

OK… Hmm. That sounds different but I couldn't tell you where he was from.

好。恩，确实有所不同，不过我听不出他们来自哪里。

Well, the first baby was born to German-speaking parents and the second one was born to French-speaking parents. They picked up the intonation in the voice before the baby was born.

第一个婴儿的父母说德语，第二个婴儿的父母说法国。他们在出生之前就学会了语调。

OK, so the French baby's cry goes up – it rises - and the German baby's cry goes down – or drops - just like the intonation of both languages. Fascinating. Anyway, it's time to find out how much you have learnt Finn.

恩，所以法国婴儿的哭声呈升调，德国婴儿的哭声呈降调，正好和两种语言的语调相符合。真有趣。好了，费恩，该检查一下你所学的知识了。

Earlier I asked, according to a survey, which one of these words was discovered to be the most common first word for a baby to say – not including Mummy or Daddy? Was it a) dog b) eat or c) bus

我之前问你，据研究显示，通常，婴儿说的第一个单词是哪个？当然不包括妈妈和爸爸。A. 狗B. 吃 C. 车

I thought it would be a) dog And you are right. Dog is one of ten words that babies in the UK say first. OK. Well, that's all we have time for today.

我选的A. 狗。 回答正确。英语单词“狗”是英国婴儿最先说的十个单词之一。好了，以上就是本期节目的全部内容，

Please join us again for another 6 Minute English soon. Good-bye. Bye.

欢迎继续收听我们下一期的BBC六分钟。再见。