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Learning a new language can grow one's perspective. Now scientists find that learning languages grows parts of the brain.
学习一门新语言能拓展人们的视角。目前，科学家们发现学习语言能开发大脑的某些部位。
Scientists studied the brains of students in the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy, who are required to learn new languages at an alarmingly fast rate. Many must become fluent in Arabic, Russian and the Persian dialect Dari in just 13 months. The researchers compared the brains of these students to the brains of medical students who also have to learn a tremendous amount in a very short period of time, but without the focus on languages.
瑞典军队翻译学院的科学家们研究了该校学生的大脑。这个学校要求学生以惊人的速度学习一门新的语言，要求他们在13个月内必须熟练掌握阿拉伯语、俄语和波斯方言达里语。研究人员比较了这些学生与医学院学生的大脑，其中医学院学生被要求在很短的时间内学习大量除语言之外的知识。
The brains of the language learners exhibited significant new growth in the hippocampus and in parts of the cerebral cortex. The medical students' brains showed no observed growth. The study was in the journal NeuroImage.
语言学习者大脑的海马体和大脑皮质的某些部位增长显著。而医学院学生的大脑没有观察出增长。这项研究发表在《神经影像杂志》上。
Interestingly, the amount of growth in the brains of the linguists correlated with better skills—so those with better language skills also experienced more growth in the hippocampus and areas of the cerebral cortex that relate to language.
有趣的事，语言学习者大脑的生长量与语言能力有相互的关系——学习者的语言能力越强，大脑中海马体和大脑皮质与语言有关的区域增长得越显著。
For other students who had to work harder to improve their language skills, the scientists found greater growth in the motor area of the cerebral cortex. Where and how much change take place in the brain are linked to how easily one picks up a language. But it remains to be seen why this is.
科学家们发现对于其他靠刻苦学习来提高语言水平的学生而言，他们的大脑皮质运动区增长得更明显。大脑的哪个部位发生变化以及如何变化与语言习得的难易程度有关。但个中原因还有待研究。
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