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.
父亲在57岁时决定开始学法语。他请了一位家教，每周上两次课，而且每次课前都勤奋地完成作业。没过多久，他就开始去镇子另一头那家法国面包店练习发音（买马卡龙）。现在，20年过去了，家教已经是第三个了。
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.
从表面上看，他的退休爱好似乎有点随意——我们家与法语国家没有任何联系——但是除了对糕点的热爱，他的动机还有更深的层次。我的祖母在70岁出头的时候出现了阿尔茨海默病的迹象，研究表明，会说两种语言可以将这种疾病的发病时间最多推迟五年。
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.
在这种潜在好处的吸引下，许多人像我父亲那样，在成年后尝试学习一门新的语言。根据语言学习应用Memrise进行的一项调查，57%的用户表示，“促进大脑健康”是他们使用该程序的动机。
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.
但这真的可能吗？有关双语和失智症的研究，是在至少从成年早期开始就在日常生活中使用多种语言的人群中进行的。在这之后随意学习另一种语言是否会带来同样的认知优势，目前还有待商榷。
How Bilingualism Benefits the Aging Brain
使用双语如何为衰老的大脑带来益处
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.
很多活动都与改善老年人大脑健康有关，比如年轻时接受更多教育、体育活动，以及激发认知能力的爱好。专家表示，经常说多种语言可能特别有益。
“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.”
“我们在日常生活的方方面面都要使用语言，所以双语大脑一直在工作，”澳大利亚西悉尼大学专门研究双语的副教授马克·安东尼奥说。“这是其他丰富思维的体验所做不到的，比如演奏乐器。”
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.”
巴黎布洛卡医院研究双语和大脑健康的研究工程师凯特琳·韦尔说，学习另一种语言的年龄似乎不如使用这种语言的频率更重要。“它为认知带来的好处是，你不得不抑制自己的母语，”她说。如果你试图回忆另一种语言里正确的单词，你的大脑就会被迫这么做。“所以，如果经常使用第二语言，你就会得到这种认知训练。”
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.
这个过程被称为认知抑制，与更好的执行功能有关。从理论上讲，通过改善这些类型的过程，大脑对失智症等疾病造成的损伤会有更强的复原能力——这一概念被称为认知储备。也就是说，即使大脑健康状况开始下降，你的心智能力越强，正常运作的时间也就越长。
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义的论文中，多伦多的研究人员发现，在失智症患者中，会说两种语言的人比不会说两种语言的人平均晚四年出现症状。此后发表的几项研究报告了类似的发现，尽管其他一些研究没有发现这种差异。
Later-Life Learning
晚年的学习
Evidence for the benefits of learning a second language as a hobby in your 60s is weaker.
对于60多岁的人来说，从学习第二语言中获益的证据较弱。
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.
安东尼奥及其同事的研究发现，60岁及以上的中国成年人在经过六个月的语言学习项目后，认知测试的成绩有所提高，但玩数独和填字游戏的人也有同样的表现。另一项小型研究发现，上了四个月英语课的意大利老年人的认知得分没有任何变化，但没有上英语课的人的得分却有所下降。2023年发表的两项关于这一课题的较新研究发现，参加语言学习项目后，人们的认知表现几乎没有差异。
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.
进行这些研究的科学家对这一令人失望的结果提供了一些可能的解释。一是参与者都是非常积极的志愿者，他们的表现可能已经达到了同龄人的最高水平，因此很难看到任何改善。
“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?”
“招募参与者时，我们必须小心，他们真的能代表这个人群吗？”参与了其中一项实验的韦尔说。“他们的认知水平是不是有点太高了？”
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.
另一个原因是，语言干预的时间可能太短。朱迪思·格罗斯曼在德国海德堡大学攻读博士学位期间研究了这一课题，她说，几项对这个问题的研究使用了“在长度和频率上都大不相同”的语言课程。一些研究对参与者做了八个月的训练，一些研究只做了一周的训练。
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.
对安东尼奥来说，这些有限的发现并不完全令人惊讶。他说，没有人会觉得，学习一门新语言六个月“与一生都在使用两种语言是一样的”。但他确实认为，语言课程可以通过刺激智力来提高认知能力。
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.
格罗斯曼说，也许更重要的是，学习另一门语言还有其他潜在的优势，比如旅行，或是与新社区建立联系。例如，我父亲在他的第一位家庭教师搬回巴黎后，仍与她保持着笔友关系，他还曾经多次前往法国（以及加拿大的法语区）。
And at 76, he’s as sharp as ever.
如今，76岁的他还保持着一如既往的敏锐。
Dana G. Smith Dana G.Smith是时报健康版面记者，她撰写从精神暴露疗法到新冠治疗趋势的方方面面。点击查看更多关于她的信息。
翻译：晋其角
