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【Debating the Best Way to Learn a Language】
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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
What is the best way to learn a new language? A small study of foreign language learning in adults compared two methods. One is known as the explicit or classroom method. This is the kind of traditional classroom teaching where students are taught a lot of information about grammar rules.
什么是学习一门新语言的最好方式？一项针对成年人外语学习的小型研究对两种学习方法进行了比较。一种被称为外显学习法或课堂教学法，这是一种传统的课堂教学，学生们被教授很多关于语法规则的信息。
The other method is known as the implicit or immersion method. The idea here is to learn much the way children do when they learn a native language. That is, by being with native speakers and absorbing the language that surrounds them, generally without a lot of explanation.
另一种方法被称为隐性学习法或浸泡式学习法。这种观点是学习儿童学习母语的方式。也就是说，通过和母语人士接触，吸纳周边环境中使用的语言，一般没有太多讲解。
Teachers may combine these two methods into what Professor Michael Ullman calls immersion-style classroom teaching. But is that necessarily a better way to learn a language?
教师们可能会将这两种学习方法结合，形成Michael Ullman教授所说的浸泡式课堂教学。但是，那一定是学习语言更好的方式吗？
Mr. Ullman was thesenior investigator for the new study. He is a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. He says he was surprised to find that combining the two methods might not help the brain in processing the new language.
Ullman先生是这项新研究的资深研究员。他是华盛顿乔治敦大学医学中心的一名神经学教授。他说他惊讶地发现，结合这两种方法可能不会有助于大脑处理这门新语言。
MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know, if my life were on the line, and I had to learn a language, what would I do? I'm not sure. One possibility would be that, to start with explicit and then go to immersion, right? Start with classroom and then go to immersion. But there is this possibility that classroom could hurt later immersion. That's what, you know, one possibility of interpreting our data."
MICHAEL ULLMAN：“你知道的，如果我的生活所迫，我不得不学习一门新语言，我会怎么做？我也不确定。一种可能性是，先是外显学习法，然后浸泡式学习法，对吗？先从课堂学习开始，然后进入浸泡式学习。但是有这种可能性，课堂学习会伤害到随后的浸泡式学习。你知道，这是解释我们这些数据的一种可能性。”
The Public Library of Science published the study earlier this year. The twenty-one adults in the experiment learned Brocanto2, a thirteen-word language created for the study. The words and grammar rules relate to a computer game similar to chess that the learners played. For example, "Blom neimo lu neep li praz" means "The square blom-piece switches with the neep-piece."
科学公共图书馆今年早些时候发表了这项研究。研究中被试的21名成年人学习了Brocanto2语言，这是为该研究创造的一门由13个字母组成的语言，其单词和语法规则和学习者玩的一种类似国际象棋的电脑游戏有关。例如，"Blom neimo lu neep li praz"意思是“方形的Blom部件由neep部件转换而来。”
The researchers tested the people three to six months after they had learned the language, to see how well they could remember it. The study found that those who had learned it with the immersion method had brain waves similar to those of native speakers of a language when speaking that language.
研究人员在被试者学习这门语言3到6个月后对他们进行了测试，看他们记得如何。研究发现，使用浸泡式学习法的被试者在说该门语言时，其脑电波与那些讲母语的人类似。
Professor Ullman says those who trained with the classroom method also became more native-like in their brain processing. But only the immersion group showed full native-like processing of the grammar. Still, he says teachers should be careful how they use the results of his study.
Ullman教授称，采用课堂教学法的被试者的大脑处理过程也变得更像母语人士。但只有浸泡式学习组在处理语法时同母语人士完全相同。不过，他说，教师们应该谨慎采用他的研究结果。
MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know I would not make any curriculum changes based on this. Nevertheless, it is suggestive, and I think it warrants further research to see whether in fact what kind of training might in fact be best not just for reaching the native brain bases but also for, you know, maximum proficiency in different aspects of language, like grammar, you know, syntax and lexicon. So I think further research is warranted. And it may be, for example, that a combination of classroom and immersion might be best. But we don't know that."
MICHAEL ULLMAN：“你知道我不会基于该研究结果做任何课程变化。然而，这是一种启发。我认为它值得进一步研究，看看到底哪种教学法，不但对‘实现大脑母语人士化’，而且，你知道还对语言不同方面，像语法、句法和词汇的能力最大化最为有利。因此，我认为进一步的研究是有必要的。结果可能是，例如说，课堂和浸泡式学习相结合是最好的，但是我们并不知道。”
