In particular, we focused on exploring the neural basis of translation because it is an indispensable part of L1 speakers’ handling of L2. One possible approach may be to understand the neural basis for L2 handling by linguistically distant L1 speakers. However, little is known about cognitive aspects of processing a distantly related L2. For L1 speakers to process a L2 with a large LD is not an easy process. The LD score is determined by the ease/difficulty that Americans have learning different foreign languages, and it corresponds fairly well with differences in foreigners’ ease/difficulty in learning English. LD to English ranges from the lowest score (hardest to learn) of 1.00 for Japanese to the highest score (easiest to learn) of 3.00 for Afrikaans, Norwegian, and Swedish. The Japanese language (first language: L1) is the most distant from English in terms of linguistic distance (LD), which is mainly based on morphological, phonological, and syntactic elements ( Chiswick and Miller, 2005). However, it is evident that the English proficiency of Japanese learners is fairly low regarding English test scores including the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC Educational Testing and Service, 2020b), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS IELTS Partners, 2020), and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL Educational Testing and Service, 2020a) in comparison to English learners in other nations.ĭifficulty in handling English (second language: L2) for Japanese may be associated with linguistic reasons. In the midst of globalization, English is regarded as an international language, or Lingua Franca ( Seidlhofer, 2005 Crystal, 2012 Kirkpatrick, 2012), with the number of worldwide English speakers being over 2 billion ( Crystal, 2008). 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. These results suggested that different cognitive process could be involved in word translation corresponding to English proficiency in Japanese learners of English. 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. 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. Our results showed that the brain activation patterns during word translation largely differed depending on their English proficiency. We selected English and Japanese words as stimuli based on the familiarity for Japanese people. Their English proficiency was advanced or elementary.
All participants’ first language was Japanese and they were learning English. We also assessed the effects of translation directions and word familiarity. Thus, we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation patterns during word translation between Japanese and English. However, the neural mechanism of language translation between Japanese and English, having large LD, has not been clarified. 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. There have been relatively many previous researches revealing brain activation patterns during translations between L1 and English as L2.
In this sense, exploring neural basis for translation between the first language (L1) and L2 is of great interest. This is true especially for the speakers of languages distantly related to English such as Japanese.
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.
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