Can Learning a New Language Stave Off Dementia?

學(xué)習(xí)一門新語言可以預(yù)防失智癥嗎？

My father decided to start learning French when he was 57. He hired a tutor to meet with him twice a week and diligently completed his homework before every lesson. Before long, he was visiting the French bakery across town to practice his pronunciation (and buy macarons). Now, 20 years later, he’s on his third tutor.

 父親在57歲時(shí)決定開始學(xué)法語。他請了一位家教，每周上兩次課，而且每次課前都勤奮地完成作業(yè)。沒過多久，他就開始去鎮(zhèn)子另一頭那家法國面包店練習(xí)發(fā)音（買馬卡龍）。現(xiàn)在，20年過去了，家教已經(jīng)是第三個(gè)了。

On the surface, his retirement hobby seems a little random — our family has no connection to French-speaking countries — but his motivation ran deeper than a passion for pastries. My grandmother developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease in her early 70s, and studies suggest that being bilingual can delay the onset of the condition by up to five years.

 從表面上看，他的退休愛好似乎有點(diǎn)隨意——我們家與法語國家沒有任何聯(lián)系——但是除了對糕點(diǎn)的熱愛，他的動(dòng)機(jī)還有更深的層次。我的祖母在70歲出頭的時(shí)候出現(xiàn)了阿爾茨海默病的跡象，研究表明，會(huì)說兩種語言可以將這種疾病的發(fā)病時(shí)間最多推遲五年。

Drawn by that potential benefit, many people, like my father, have attempted to pick up a new language in adulthood. According to a survey conducted by the language learning app Memrise, 57 percent of users reported “boost brain health” as a motivation for using the program.

 在這種潛在好處的吸引下，許多人像我父親那樣，在成年后嘗試學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言。根據(jù)語言學(xué)習(xí)應(yīng)用Memrise進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，57%的用戶表示，“促進(jìn)大腦健康”是他們使用該程序的動(dòng)機(jī)。

But is that really possible? The studies on bilingualism and dementia were conducted in people who have used multiple languages in their daily life since at least early adulthood. Whether casually learning another language later on confers the same cognitive advantages is up for debate.

 但這真的可能嗎？有關(guān)雙語和失智癥的研究，是在至少從成年早期開始就在日常生活中使用多種語言的人群中進(jìn)行的。在這之后隨意學(xué)習(xí)另一種語言是否會(huì)帶來同樣的認(rèn)知優(yōu)勢，目前還有待商榷。

How Bilingualism Benefits the Aging Brain

使用雙語如何為衰老的大腦帶來益處

Lots of activities are linked to better brain health in old age, like getting more education when you’re younger, physical activity and cognitively stimulating hobbies. Experts say regularly speaking multiple languages may be especially beneficial, though.

 很多活動(dòng)都與改善老年人大腦健康有關(guān)，比如年輕時(shí)接受更多教育、體育活動(dòng)，以及激發(fā)認(rèn)知能力的愛好。專家表示，經(jīng)常說多種語言可能特別有益。

“We use language in all aspects of daily life, so a bilingual brain is constantly working,” said Mark Antoniou, an associate professor at Western Sydney University in Australia who specializes in bilingualism. “You don’t really get that from other enriching experiences, like playing a musical instrument.”

 “我們在日常生活的方方面面都要使用語言，所以雙語大腦一直在工作，”澳大利亞西悉尼大學(xué)專門研究雙語的副教授馬克·安東尼奧說?！斑@是其他豐富思維的體驗(yàn)所做不到的，比如演奏樂器?！?/p>

The age at which you learn another language appears to be less important than how often you speak it, said Caitlin Ware, a research engineer at Broca Hospital in Paris who studies bilingualism and brain health. “The cognitive benefit is from having to inhibit your mother tongue,” she said, which your brain is forced to do if you’re trying to recall the right words in another language. “So if the second language is used a lot, you’re getting that cognitive training.”

 巴黎布洛卡醫(yī)院研究雙語和大腦健康的研究工程師凱特琳·韋爾說，學(xué)習(xí)另一種語言的年齡似乎不如使用這種語言的頻率更重要?！八鼮檎J(rèn)知帶來的好處是，你不得不抑制自己的母語，”她說。如果你試圖回憶另一種語言里正確的單詞，你的大腦就會(huì)被迫這么做。“所以，如果經(jīng)常使用第二語言，你就會(huì)得到這種認(rèn)知訓(xùn)練?！?/p>

That process — called cognitive inhibition — is linked to better executive functioning. In theory, by improving these types of processes, the brain becomes more resilient to the impairments caused by diseases like dementia — a concept known as cognitive reserve. The stronger your mental faculties, the thinking goes, the longer you can function normally, even if your brain health starts to decline.

 這個(gè)過程被稱為認(rèn)知抑制，與更好的執(zhí)行功能有關(guān)。從理論上講，通過改善這些類型的過程，大腦對失智癥等疾病造成的損傷會(huì)有更強(qiáng)的復(fù)原能力——這一概念被稱為認(rèn)知儲(chǔ)備。也就是說，即使大腦健康狀況開始下降，你的心智能力越強(qiáng)，正常運(yùn)作的時(shí)間也就越長。

In a landmark 2007 paper, researchers from Toronto found that among people with dementia, those who were bilingual developed symptoms four years later, on average, than those who weren’t. Several studies published since then have reported similar findings, though other research has found no such difference.

 在2007年一篇具有里程碑意義的論文中，多倫多的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，在失智癥患者中，會(huì)說兩種語言的人比不會(huì)說兩種語言的人平均晚四年出現(xiàn)癥狀。此后發(fā)表的幾項(xiàng)研究報(bào)告了類似的發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管其他一些研究沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)這種差異。

Later-Life Learning

 晚年的學(xué)習(xí)

Evidence for the benefits of learning a second language as a hobby in your 60s is weaker.

對于60多歲的人來說，從學(xué)習(xí)第二語言中獲益的證據(jù)較弱。

Research by Dr. Antoniou and colleagues found that while Chinese adults 60 and up improved on cognition tests after a six-month language learning program, people who played games like Sudoku and crossword puzzles did as well. Another small study found that older Italians who took English lessons for four months didn’t see any difference in their cognition scores, but people who didn’t take the lessons saw their scores decline. Two more recent studies on the topic, published in 2023, found virtually no difference in cognitive performance after people took part in language-learning programs.

 安東尼奧及其同事的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，60歲及以上的中國成年人在經(jīng)過六個(gè)月的語言學(xué)習(xí)項(xiàng)目后，認(rèn)知測試的成績有所提高，但玩數(shù)獨(dú)和填字游戲的人也有同樣的表現(xiàn)。另一項(xiàng)小型研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，上了四個(gè)月英語課的意大利老年人的認(rèn)知得分沒有任何變化，但沒有上英語課的人的得分卻有所下降。2023年發(fā)表的兩項(xiàng)關(guān)于這一課題的較新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，參加語言學(xué)習(xí)項(xiàng)目后，人們的認(rèn)知表現(xiàn)幾乎沒有差異。

The scientists who conducted those studies offered a few potential explanations for their disappointing results. One is that the participants were highly motivated volunteers, who may have already been at peak performance for their age, making it hard to see any improvements.

 進(jìn)行這些研究的科學(xué)家對這一令人失望的結(jié)果提供了一些可能的解釋。一是參與者都是非常積極的志愿者，他們的表現(xiàn)可能已經(jīng)達(dá)到了同齡人的最高水平，因此很難看到任何改善。

“When we recruit participants, we have to be careful, are they really representative of the population?” said Dr. Ware, who helped run one of the experiments. “And is their cognitive level maybe a little too high?”

 “招募參與者時(shí)，我們必須小心，他們真的能代表這個(gè)人群嗎？”參與了其中一項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)的韋爾說。“他們的認(rèn)知水平是不是有點(diǎn)太高了？”

Another is that the language interventions were perhaps too short. The handful of studies looking into the issue have used language lessons that “were very different in their length and frequency,” said Judith Grossman, who researched the topic as part of her doctorate at Heidelberg University in Germany. Some studies taught participants for eight months, others for just one very intense week.

 另一個(gè)原因是，語言干預(yù)的時(shí)間可能太短。朱迪思·格羅斯曼在德國海德堡大學(xué)攻讀博士學(xué)位期間研究了這一課題，她說，幾項(xiàng)對這個(gè)問題的研究使用了“在長度和頻率上都大不相同”的語言課程。一些研究對參與者做了八個(gè)月的訓(xùn)練，一些研究只做了一周的訓(xùn)練。

To Dr. Antoniou, the limited findings are not entirely surprising. No one would say that learning a new language for six months “would be the same as having used two languages for your entire life,” he said. But he does think that language lessons can provide cognitive benefits by being intellectually stimulating.

 對安東尼奧來說，這些有限的發(fā)現(xiàn)并不完全令人驚訝。他說，沒有人會(huì)覺得，學(xué)習(xí)一門新語言六個(gè)月“與一生都在使用兩種語言是一樣的”。但他確實(shí)認(rèn)為，語言課程可以通過刺激智力來提高認(rèn)知能力。

Perhaps more important, Ms. Grossman said, learning another language offers other potential advantages, like traveling or connecting with new communities. My father, for example, has remained pen pals with his first tutor after she moved back to Paris, and he’s traveled to France (and French-speaking parts of Canada) numerous times.

 格羅斯曼說，也許更重要的是，學(xué)習(xí)另一門語言還有其他潛在的優(yōu)勢，比如旅行，或是與新社區(qū)建立聯(lián)系。例如，我父親在他的第一位家庭教師搬回巴黎后，仍與她保持著筆友關(guān)系，他還曾經(jīng)多次前往法國（以及加拿大的法語區(qū)）。

And at 76, he’s as sharp as ever.

如今，76歲的他還保持著一如既往的敏銳。

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