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LAS PERSONAS BILINGÜES. Interesante informe acerca de la capacidad que pueden desarrollar las personas que hablan más de un idioma y cuánto pueden beneficiar a sus cerebros.
Para tu comodidad, intercalamos un vocabulario bilingüe a lo largo del audio-texto.
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I'm Carolyn Presutti with the VOA
Special English Health Report. |
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In the early nineteen fifties, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. Research in the nineteen sixties found the opposite. |
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in the early: en los comienzos (de los); nineteen fifties: años 50; researchers: los investigadores; found that: descubrieron que; scored: alcanzaban valores; lower: más bajos; spoke: hablaban; research: la investigación; nineteen sixties: años 60; the opposite: lo contrario, lo opuesto; |
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So which is it? Researchers presented their newest(8) studies in February at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. |
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their newest: sus más recientes; meeting: encuentro, reunión; advancement: avance; science: ciencia; |
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The latest evidence shows that
being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. But researcher Ellen
Bialystok says it probably does make you better at certain skills. She says:
“Imagine driving down the highway. There are many things that could capture your
attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them". |
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the latest: la más reciente; shows: demuestra; being bilingual: ser bilingüe; smarter: más inteligente; probably: probablemente; does make you: realmente te hace [uso enfático del auxiliar "does" en el afirmativo]; better: mejor; at certain skills: para determinadas habilidades; highway: autopista; there are: existen; could capture: podrían atraer; need to be able to: necesitas poder; monitor: controlarlas; |
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Why would bilingualism make you
any better at that?”And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better
at controlling their attention – a function called the executive control system.
She says it is possibly the most important cognitive system we have. |
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bilingualism: bilingüismo, dominio de dos idiomas; any better at that: algo mejor para eso; often: a menudo, frecuentemente; possibly: posiblemente; cognitive system: sistema cognitivo (capacidad intelectual); |
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It is where all of our decisions
about what to attend to, what to ignore and what to process are made. Ms.
Bialystok is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She
says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop
Test. |
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it is where: es el lugar en el cual; all of our decisions: todas nuestras decisiones; what to attend to: a qué cosas prestarles atención; what to ignore: qué cosas ignorar; what to process: qué procesar; are made: se llevan a cabo; to measure: medir, cuantificar; Stroop Test: examen de tiempo de respuesta a un estímulo visual; |
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A person is shown words in
different colors. The person has to ignore the word but say the color. The
problem is that the words are all names of colors. She explains: “So you would
have the word ‘blue’ written in red, but you have to say ‘red.’ But blue is just lighting
up all these circuits in your brain, and you really want to say ‘blue.’ |
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a person is shown: a una persona se le muestran; explains: explica; written: escrita; lighting up: iluminada, destellando; brain: cerebro; |
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So you need a mechanism to override
that, so that you can say ‘red.’ That’s the executive control system.”Her work
shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to,
because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. |
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to override that: para sustituirlo; they have to: ellos se ven forzados a hacerlo; both: ambos; active: activos, en actividad; in their brain: en su cerebro; at the same time: al mismo tiempo, simultáneamente; |
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They need to suppress one to be
able to speak in the other. This mental exercise might help in other ways, too.
Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning,
and more likely to have friends from different cultures. |
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to suppress: suprimir; one: uno (idioma); to be able to speak: para poder hablar; in the other: en el otro (idioma); might: podría; in other ways: de otras formas; are better able to: están más capacitados para; meaning: significado; more likely to: con más probabilidades de; |
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Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease(39). Foreign language(40) study has increased(41) in the United States. But linguist Alison Mackey at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. points out(42) that English-speaking countries are still far behind(43) the rest of the world. |
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are often four to five years later: se demoran cuatro o cinco años más; in developing dementia: en desarrollar trastornos mentales; Alzheimer's disease: la enfermedad de Alzheimer (enfermedad degenerativa del sistema nervioso); foreign language: lengua extranjera; has increased: ha aumentado; linguist: lingüista, filólogo; points out: resalta; still far behind: todavía atrasados con respecto al; |
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For VOA Special English, I’m Carolyn Presutti. |
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