雙語：全世界最難學(xué)的語言排行榜

Some languages would require more than a year of study for a native English speaker, while others would take just weeks. Regardless of what language you study, your brain will reap the benefits。
　　有些語言對于英語母語者來說需要花一年多去學(xué)習(xí)，而有的語言只需花幾周。其實，不論學(xué)習(xí)什么語言，你的大腦都會獲益匪淺。

Want to learn Japanese? If you're a native English speaker, it'll take you about 22,000 hours — or 88 weeks — to become proficient。The same goes for Chinese, Arabic and Korean, which are some of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn。
　　中文、阿拉伯語和韓語也一樣，對英語母語者來說，它們都排在最難學(xué)的語言之列。想學(xué)日語嗎？如果你的母語是英語，你需要花22000小時(或88周)左右的時間才能熟練掌握日語。

What makes these languages so tough?

Japanese and Chinese both require the memorization of thousands of characters。
　　日語和中文都需要記憶成千上萬的文字；

Arabic uses fewer vowels than English and few words that even resemble those of European languages。
　　阿拉伯語中的元音比英語少，并且?guī)缀鯖]有和歐洲語言相似的單詞；

And while the Korean alphabet, Hangul, is lauded as one of the world's most logical writing systems, Korean's sentence structure and syntax are challenging。
　　而韓語的字母，即韓文，被譽(yù)為世界上邏輯最嚴(yán)密的書寫體系之一，它的句子結(jié)構(gòu)和語法很有挑戰(zhàn)性。

For example, Korean uses a subject-object-verb structure while English follows a subject-verb-object structure. So in Korean you would essentially say, "Lunch I eat" instead of "I eat lunch."
　　舉例來說，韓語表達(dá)一個事物時使用主語-賓語-動詞的句子結(jié)構(gòu)，而英語則用主語-動詞-賓語的句子結(jié)構(gòu)。所以在韓國你應(yīng)該說“午飯我吃”而不是“我吃午飯”。

Not all languages are quite so difficult for English speakers though. To achieve speaking and reading proficiency in Turkish, Hebrew and other tongues that language-learning website Voxy considers of "medium" difficulty, you'd need only 1,110 class hours, or 44 weeks。
　　對英語母語者來講，并非所有語言都如此困難。例如土耳其語、希伯來語和其他網(wǎng)站評定為中等難度的語言，只需花1110課時(或44周)就能熟練表達(dá)和閱讀。

The easiest languages to learn are those most closely related to English, such as Spanish, French and Italian. Reaching proficiency for these requires about 600 hours, or just over 20 weeks of study。
　　而和英語聯(lián)系最密切的語言是最容易學(xué)的，如西班牙語、法語和意大利語。熟練掌握這些語言只需600小時(或20周)左右。

This is your brain on language

Although learning a new language will undoubtedly take time and effort, there are benefits besides ease of international travel and the ability to order authentic foreign dishes。
　　盡管學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言耗時又耗力，但它的好處遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止于為國際旅行提供便利和在外國餐廳點(diǎn)餐。

Studies show that studying a new language improves cognition, delays dementia, and improves memory and attention span。
　　研究表明，學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言可以提高認(rèn)識能力、延緩癡呆癥、增強(qiáng)記憶力并且延長注意力集中的時間。

Knowing another language can also fundamentally alter how we see the world。
　　此外，在接觸另一門語言的過程中還能從根本上改變我們看待世界的方式。

Researchers have found that our language can influence how we think, how we orient ourselves and even how we see colors。
　　研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)，語言可以影響人的思維方式、自我定位甚至辨色方式。

And thinking in another language can even enable us to make more rational decisions。
　　用另一種語言思考還能讓我們做出更理智的決定。

A study found that thinking in a second language reduces biases that influence how risks and benefits are perceived in decision-making。
　　一項調(diào)查顯示，在做決定的過程中，一些思維偏差會影響我們對風(fēng)險和收益的感知，而用另一種語言去思考可以減少這種偏差。