Language Familiarity and Proficiency Leads to Differential Cortical Processing During Translation Between Distantly Related Languages

Abstract

In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca, but learning it as a second language (L2) remains still difficult to speakers of other languages. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese. In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 and English as L2. These studies, which focused on language translation with close or moderate linguistic distance (LD), have suggested that the Broca area (BA 44/45) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 46) may play an important role on translation. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. The advanced group elicited greater activation on the left prefrontal cortex around the Broca’s area while translating words with low familiarity, but no activation was observed while translating words with high familiarity. On the other hand, the elementary group evoked greater activation on the left temporal area including the superior temporal gyrus (STG) irrespective of the word familiarity. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. These difference on the brain activation patterns between the advanced and elementary group may reflect the difference on the cognitive loads depending on the levels of automatization in one’s language processing.

Extensive Reading Affects Second Language Listening Proficiency: an fNIRS Study

“…Decreased BA was observed in familiar stimuli letters compared with unfamiliar stimuli [30]. Another study revealed that a group of advanced learners of English showed greater activation in the left PFC while working on low-frequency word translation tasks but no activation with high-familiarity words [42,32]. In addition, greater involvement of the DLPFC in reading by advanced L2 learners has been reported [43].…”

“…In novice L2 learners' lexical processing, increased activity in the DLPFC has been reported [28], and L2 and L1 are considered to be processed in a language network that includes the DLPFC [29,30]. In L2 acquisition studies, decreased BA was observed in familiar letters compared with unfamiliar ones [31] ; more advanced learners of English showed less activation of the brain than elementary learners; the advanced group showed less activation in processing familiar words than in processing unfamiliar words [32]. These ndings suggest that the higher the pro ciency gain, the lesser the energy needed for language processing.…”

Language Assessment in Multilingualism and Awake Neurosurgery

“…However, and even beyond its theoretical limitations, such an approach is scarcely useful when attempting to understand how language distance affects cognitive aspects of language processing in multilinguals. Conversely, the problem has been dealt with repeatedly in neuroscience and psycholinguistics (Vaid, 1983;Gleitman, 1985;Odlin, 1989;Cenoz et al, 2001;Koda, 2005;Bassetti, 2008;Kim et al, 2016;Schepens et al, 2016;Zawiszewski and Laka, 2020;Shinozuka et al, 2021). Models of multilingual processing have tried to define how the cognitive system manages shared and distinctive features between languages.…”

Functional Connectivity Signatures Underlying Simultaneous Language Translation in Interpreters and Non-Interpreters of Mandarin and English: An fNIRS Study

“…Lesion studies have reported the cortical representation of both Chinese and English processing in Broca’s area, the premotor cortex, Wernicke’s area, as well the parietotemporal boundary [ 23 ]. Moreover, neuroimaging studies regarding translation or interpreting, have identified significant activation in inferior and dorsolateral frontal region [ 8 , 14 , 17 , 23 ], prefrontal regions [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 24 , 25 ], Broca’s area [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], as well as the left temporal area [ 14 , 18 , 28 ] during the task, suggesting the above-mentioned cortical regions are of paramount importance in the cognitive processing of interlingual brokering. These areas were our focus for neural imaging observation.…”