Babies build knowledge about the language they hear even in the first few months of life, research shows.

　　研究显示，婴儿在生命最初的几个月里就积累了他们所听到的语言认知。

　　If you move countries and forget your birth language, you retain this hidden ability, according to a study.

　　根据一项研究，如果你搬到了别的国家，忘记了你的母语，你仍保留这个隐藏的能力。

　　Dutch-speaking adults adopted from South Korea exceeded expectations at Korean pronunciation when retrained after losing their birth language.

　　从韩国收养的讲荷兰语的成年人，在经过训练后，讲出的韩语远超预期，尽管他们早已忘记了母语。

　　Scientists say parents should talk to babies as much as possible in early life.

　　科学家说，在孩子小时候，父母应当尽量与孩子多交流。

　　Dr Jiyoun Choi of Hanyang University in Seoul led the research.

　　首尔汉阳大学的Jiyoun Choi博士领导了这项研究。

　　The study is the first to show that the early experience of adopted children in their birth language gives them an advantage decades later even if they think it is forgotten, she said.

　　这项研究首次表明，被收养的孩子的母语早期经验对于他们后天再学习会有优势，即使他们认为已经被遗忘。

　　’This finding indicates that useful language knowledge is laid down in [the] very early months of life, which can be retained without further input of the language and revealed via re-learning,’’ she told BBC News.

　　她在接受BBC采访时说:“这个发现表明，在生命的最初几个月，实用的语言认知已建立起，这可以在没有语言的进一步输入的情况下保留，并通过重新学习唤醒。”

　　In the study, adults aged about 30 who had been adopted as babies by Dutch-speaking families were asked to pronounce Korean consonants after a short training course.

　　在这项研究中，从小就被荷兰语家庭收养的30岁的韩国人被要求在短期培训课程后发音韩语辅音。

　　Korean consonants are unlike those spoken in Dutch.

　　韩语辅音发音不同于荷兰语。

　　The participants were compared with a group of adults who had not been exposed to the Korean language as children and then rated by native Korean speakers.

　　这些参与者被拿去与一组从小未接触过韩语的成年人进行比较，然后由讲韩语的人评分。

　　Both groups performed to the same level before training, but after training the international adoptees exceeded expectations.

　　两组人在训练前水平相同，但训练后，国际收养者的表现超出预期。

　　There was no difference between children who were adopted under six months of age - before they could speak - and those who were adopted after 17 months, when they had learned to talk.

　　在6个月龄之前(在他们可以说话之前)以及17个月龄之后(已经学会了说话)被收养的儿童，他们的水平没有差别。

　　This suggests that the language knowledge retained is abstract in nature, rather than dependent on the amount of experience.

　　这表明，语言认知的保留在本质上是抽象的，而不是依赖于经验值。

　　Dr Jiyoun Choi said there were practical messages for parents.

　　Jiyoun Choi博士说这些信息对父母来说非常实用。

　　’Please remember that [the] language learning process occurs very early in life, and useful language knowledge is laid down in the very early months of life as our study suggests,’’ she said.

　　她说，“正如我们的研究所建议的，语言学习的过程发生在生命的早期，有效的语言认知建立在生命的最初几个月。”

　　’Try to talk to your babies as much as possible because they are absorbing and digesting what you are saying.’’

　　“尽可能多的与你的孩子交谈，因为他们会消化和吸收你们说的话。”

　　The process of acquiring language starts extremely early, even while the child is still in the womb.

　　获取语言的过程非常早，甚至在胎儿仍在子宫里时就开始了。

　　Babies have learned their mother’s voice by the time they are born.

　　婴儿在出生时就能够听出母亲的声音。

　　It has long been known that the foundations for speaking and listening to a native language are laid down very early in life.

　　人们很早就知道，说、听母语的基础在生命的早期就建立起来了。

　　But it was not known until now that very early language acquisition is an abstract process.

　　但直到现在才知道，非常早(婴儿早期)的语言习得是一个抽象的过程。

　　The research is published in the journal, Royal Society Open Science.

　　这项研究发表在英国皇家学会开放科学杂志上。

（编辑：何莹莹）