Chinese is harder to learn than English

[tonado]

Brain buzz that proves Chinese is harder to learn than English

 

Tim Radford, science editor

Monday June 30, 2003

The Guardian

 

It's official: Chinese is more difficult than English.

The Chinese need both sides of the brain to grapple with challenges of Mandarin, but English speakers listen with only half their minds on the job.

 

Sophie Scott, a psychologist at the Wellcome Trust, and colleagues from hospitals in Oxford and London performed brain scans on volunteers as they listened to their native languages.

 

When English speakers heard the sound of Mockney, Mersey or Geordie, their left temporal lobes lit up on screen. When Mandarin Chinese speakers heard their native tongue, there was a buzz of action in both the right and left temporal lobes.

 

"We were very surprised to discover that people who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways, said Dr Scott. "It overturned some long-held theories."

 

The left temporal lobe is normally associated with piecing sounds together into words; the right with processing melody and intonation.

 

In Mandarin, a different intonation delivers a different meaning: the syllable "ma", for instance, can mean mother, scold, horse or hemp according to its musical sound.

 

"Speech really is a complex sound," said Dr Scott. "As well as understanding words, the brain uses the way in which words are spoken, such as intonation and melody, to turn spoken language into meaning. This system has to be robust and flexible enough to deal with variations in speech sounds such as regional accents. We think Mandarin speakers interpret intonation and melody in the right temporal lobe to give correct meaning to the spoken words."

 

The research throws new light on how speech is understood, and could one day lead to new treatments for people whose understanding of language has been impaired by stroke.

 

Dr Scott and her colleagues will put their research on show at the Royal Society summer science exhibition in London tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. The study suggests that language itself might affect the way the brain develops in a young child.

 

It could explain why native speakers of English find it so extraordinarily hard to learn Mandarin. It might also help doctors understand what happens when people have to learn speech comprehension all over again, for instance after a stroke, or after being fitted with a cochlear implant hearing aid.

[tonado]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3025796.stm

 

Chinese 'takes more brainpower'

Speaking Chinese may take more brainpower than speaking English, a study suggests.

 

Researchers in Britain have found that people who speak Mandarin Chinese use both sides of their brain to understand the language.

 

This compares to English-language speakers who only need to use one side of their brain.

 

The researchers said the findings could boost understanding of how the brain processes languages.

 

This, in turn, could one day help scientists to develop better ways of helping people to re-learn languages after a stroke or similar damage to the brain.

 

Brain scans

 

Dr Sophie Scott and colleagues at the Wellcome Trust carried out brain scans on a group of Mandarin and English speakers.

 

They found that the left temporal lobe, which is located by the left temple, becomes active when English speakers hear English.

 

 

People who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways

Dr Sophie Scott,

Wellcome Trust

The researchers believe that this area of the brain links speech sounds together to form individual words.

 

They expected similar findings when they carried out scans on Mandarin speakers.

 

However, they found that both their left and right temporal lobes become active when they hear Mandarin.

 

"People who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways," said Dr Scott.

 

"It overturned some long-held theories."

 

Mandarin is a notoriously difficult language to learn. Unlike English, speakers use intonation to distinguish between completely different meanings of particular words.

 

For instance, the word "ma" can mean mother, scold, horse or hemp depending on how it is said.

 

The researchers believe that this need to interpret intonation is why Mandarin speakers need to use both sides of their brain.

 

The right temporal lobe is normally associated with being able to process music or tones.

 

"We think that Mandarin speakers interpret intonation and melody in the right temporal lobe to give the correct meaning to the spoken words," said Dr Scott.

 

"It seems that the structure of the language you learn as a child affects how the structure of your brain develops to decode speech.

 

"Native English speakers, for example, find it extraordinarily difficult to learn Mandarin."

 

Learning languages

 

Dr Scott said the findings could help scientists to understand how the brain learns language.

 

It could be particularly useful in trying to understand how it re-learns language after a stroke.

 

She suggested it could also lead to new drugs to help people who have lost their language skills.

 

"There is evidence from other studies that certain drugs affect learning in the brain regions that support hearing and speech," she said.

 

"This is something we can improve on."

 

Dr William Marslen-Wilson, of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge University, welcomed the study.

 

"It is an interesting finding," he told BBC News Online.

 

"Looking at languages that are very different from each other helps us to understand how the brain processes language.

 

"It can also help us to understand language rehabilitation," he said.

 

"This field is really opening up but it is very early days."

 

The findings will be included in the summer science exhibition at the Royal Society in London, which runs from 1 to 3 July.

[warpedbored]

And I thought it was just because I'm too stupid to live. Guess I'll just keep plugging away at it. Something besides wo ai ni and ni hao ma has to sink in.

Carl

[TimD]

Something besides wo ai ni and ni hao ma has to sink in.

 

Ha...don't forget Wo Xiang Ni

 

When our Chinese friends ask me if I can speak Chinese I just tell them I speak enough to flirt with my wife