用外语思考让我们更客观

An American friend recently told me of a reunion with the son of the German family whose home he had lived in for a year as an exchange student. My friend had spent the year acquiring fluent German, which he spoke to the family.

一位美国朋友最近告诉我，他与当年在德国作交换生时寄宿家庭的儿子又见了一面。当年他在德国学习了一年，掌握了流利的德语，那时他用德语与这家人沟通。

The reunion, several decades later, took place among a crowd who were speaking English. Afterwards, the German son said to my friend: “I never realised you were witty.” Because in German, he never was. It was too hard to joke in a foreign tongue.

时隔几十年后的这次重聚是在一群讲英语的人的聚会上。之后，这个德国人告诉我朋友说：“我以前不知道你这么风趣。”因为在说德语的时候，他从来不风趣。用外语开玩笑太难了。

Anyone who has learnt another language will be familiar with this. We are more ponderous in our acquired language. We are slower on the uptake, having to construct each riposte in advance.

所有学另一门语言的人对此都深有体会。在使用非母语时，我们会更加慢条斯理。我们的反应会变得迟缓，在开口发表高见之前不得不事先打腹稿。

But is it also possible that we make more dispassionate decisions when thinking in a foreign language?

但是，用外语思考时，我们是不是也可能做出更加冷静的决定呢？

Academics at the University of Chicago think we do.

芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)的学者们认为的确如此。

Writing in the journal Cognition, they describe a well-known moral dilemma. You are watching a runaway carriage hurtling down a railway. In its path you see five people tied to the track. On your left is a large man. If you push him into the carriage’s path, you will kill him but save the five. Do you do it?

在《认知》(Cognition)期刊发表的一篇论文中，他们描述了一个众所周知的道德困境。你看到一节失控的火车车厢在铁路上疾驰。在它的前方，你看到五个人被绑在铁轨上。你的左边是一个身型硕大的男子。如果把他推到铁轨上，你会杀了他，但能够救另外五个人的命。你会这么做吗？

The Chicago academics put the dilemma to a group of 800 native German speakers. About half considered the dilemma in German and half in English. Those answering in their second language were more likely to favour pushing the man on to the track.

芝加哥大学的学者们让800名以德语为母语人士来解答这个难题。大约一半的人以德语来回答问题，另一半用英语。那些用第二语言回答问题的人更倾向于赞同将这名男子推到铁轨上。

To the Chicago faculty, this was no surprise. There have been several experiments, with similar results, about the effect of language on the track dilemma, with native speakers of English, Korean, Spanish, French, Hebrew, German and Italian.

这个结果没有让芝加哥大学的老师们感到意外。有关语言对这个“铁轨困境”的影响，他们对以英语、韩语、西班牙语、法语、希伯来语、德语和意大利语为母语的人进行过数次实验，得到了类似的结果。

The question the Chicago team tried to answer in the Cognition study was why the change happens when people decide in another language.

在《认知》期刊发表的研究报告中，芝加哥大学研究团队试图回答的问题是，当人们用另一种语言作决定时，为什么会有变化。

Their hypothesis was that we visualise people and objects more sharply in our native tongue and this affects our decision-making. In particular, when thinking in our own language, we can clearly picture the large man and are reluctant to push him to his death.

他们的假设是，当使用母语时，人和物体在我们大脑中形成的影像更加清晰，这影响了我们的决策。具体而言，当用母语思考时，我们的脑海中会清晰地浮现这个身型硕大男子的影像，因而不愿将他置于死地。

To test this, the 800 German speakers were asked to rate the vividness of their images of the large man and the five people on the tracks. Those doing the experiment in German reported having a clearer picture of the man than those doing it in English. There was no difference between the vividness of the images of the five other people on the track.

为了测试这一点，他们让800名讲德语的人对他们脑海中这位身型硕大的男子和铁轨上的五个人影像的清晰度打分。在那些用德语做实验的人的脑海中，这个男子的影像比用英语做实验的人更清晰。但对于铁轨上的其他五个人，两组人脑海中的清晰度并无差异。

Why should this be? The Chicago study argues that the images we form in our minds are based on the memories we have of people and objects. Because we have more experience of people in our native language, we find it easier to picture them.

为什么会出现这样的结果？芝加哥大学的研究认为，我们在脑海中形成的影像是基于我们对人和物体的记忆。因为我们用母语对人进行描述的经验更多，所以我们更容易在脑海中想象他们的样子。

To test this, they asked 359 native English speakers to imagine various scenarios and objects — a sunset, hands clapping, the feeling of sand, running up stairs, the taste of salt, the smell of paint, a sore throat — and to rate the intensity of the feeling.

为了测试这一点，他们让359位以英语为母语的人想象各种情景和物体——日落、鼓掌、触碰沙子的感觉、跑步上台阶、盐的味道、油漆的气味和咽喉疼痛——并给感觉的强度打分。

Half did the experiment in English, half in Spanish, their second language. Those who did it in English reported more vivid sunsets, handclaps, sand and step-running than those who answered in Spanish. There was little difference for sore throats and none for paint or salt.

一半人用英语、另一半人用第二语言西班牙语参与实验。对于日落、鼓掌、沙子和跑步上台阶，用英文的人比用西班牙语的人报告更强烈的感觉。但两组对咽喉疼痛的感觉差别不大，对油漆或盐的感觉毫无差别。

The Chicago team thought people had more vivid images in their native English because they were more likely to tap into their memories than if they did the thinking in another language. That the smell and taste images were as sharp in Spanish may have been because the English speakers had “rich associations of flavourful Mediterranean cuisine”. Generally, however, “the use of a foreign language reduces vividness because it limits access to?.?.?.?memories”.

芝加哥大学的研究小组认为，用母语英语参与实验的人脑海中的影像更清晰的原因是，比起使用另一种语言，他们更有可能调动自己的记忆。而使用西班牙语的人对于嗅觉和味觉的影像同样清晰，是因为以英语为母语的人“对浓味的地中海美食有丰富的联想”。不过，总的来说，“使用外语会降低脑海中影像的清晰度，因为它限制了人们调动记忆的能力。”

The authors concede that “other potential explanations are possible”. However, they did argue in an earlier paper that “a foreign language provides a distancing mechanism that moves people from the immediate intuitive system to a more deliberate mode of thinking”.

作者们承认，“其他潜在解释也是有可能的”。 然而，他们在早些时候发表的一篇论文中确实提出，“外语提供了一种‘疏远机制’，使人们从即时作出反应的直觉机制转向一种更加深思熟虑的思维模式。”

They add: “A foreign language may provide greater distance because it is less grounded in the emotional system than a native tongue is.” People working in a foreign language are less subject to cognitive bias, they say.

他们还辩称：“外语可能会提供更大的距离，因为它在情感系统中的根基不如母语。”他们表示，用外语思考的人不太容易受到认知偏见的影响。

How seriously should we take this? An increasing number of people are now working in organisations that operate in English, mixing native and second-language speakers. It is certainly worth thinking about whether people seem more considered, and make more dispassionate decisions, in English than the native speakers do. The non-native speakers may seem less witty, but pay more attention to their opinions.

我们该多么严肃地看待这项研究结果呢？如今，越来越多的人在以英语为工作语言的组织工作，在那里，有些人以英语为母语，其他人则以英语为第二语言。以英语为第二语言的人是否比以英语为母语的人更加深思熟虑，作决定时更冷静，肯定是个值得思索的问题。非母语人士也许少了一点风趣，但我们应该更用心倾听他们的观点。