But what they're trying to say...that's not always so clear.

但他們想說什麼......這並不總是那麼清楚。

From crying and babbling to baby's first word, there are so many speech milestones during that first year of life.

從哭泣和咿呀學語到寶寶的第一個單詞，在生命的第一年有許多語言里程碑。

And plenty we can do as caregivers to make sure that the development process goes as smoothly as possible!

而作為照顧者，我們能做的很多，以確保發展過程儘可能地順利進行

But I can't promise no crying.

但我不能保證不哭。

Crying will happen.

哭泣會發生。

When a baby is born, their vocal chords measure around 2.5 mm,

當一個嬰兒出生時，他們的聲帶大約有2.5毫米。

which is tiny compared to us adults.

這與我們成年人相比是很小的。

When my oldest would sneeze, it sounded like a cartoon, it was NOT real sounding!

當我的大兒子打噴嚏時，聽起來就像卡通片一樣，聽起來並不真實。

But those cries, the cries were a LOT louder.

但是那些哭聲，哭聲要大得多。

So crying is a distress signal. But as you go across the first year, the frequency of crying tends to get even lower,

是以，哭是一種痛苦的信號。但是當你越過第一年時，哭泣的頻率會變得更低。

and it tends to get replaced with what we call whimpering.

而它往往會被我們所說的嗚咽聲所取代。

So crying, you know, is whale crying (makes sound).

所以哭，你知道，是鯨魚在哭（發聲）。

And whimpering is (makes sound).

而嗚咽是（發出聲音）。

These fit into kind of a package that often is coordinated.

這些符合一種通常是協調的包裝。

They'll do both, they'll start with whimpering and then go into crying.

他們兩者都會做，他們會從嗚咽開始，然後進入哭泣。

But babies are also making a lot of noises we hardly notice.

但是，嬰兒也在發出很多我們很難注意到的聲音。

Sometimes they sound like transformers, sometimes they're just bubbling,

有時它們聽起來像變壓器，有時它們只是在冒泡。

I love ALL of it, I could listen to them all day,

我喜歡所有這些，我可以整天聽它們。

especially since I learned those little noises have a name known as protophones.

特別是自從我瞭解到這些小噪音有一個名字叫 "原音"。

So they produce squealing sounds of a very high pitch, they produce growling sounds that are very low pitch,

所以它們會產生音調很高的尖叫聲，它們會產生音調很低的咆哮聲。

they produce lots of sounds in the middle, they produce loud sounds and quiet sounds, they whisper.

他們在中間產生大量的聲音，他們產生響亮的聲音和安靜的聲音，他們低聲說話。

They even produce ingressive sounds sometimes.

他們有時甚至會產生攝人的聲音。

What the baby is doing, I think, with all these protophones that they're producing,

我想，嬰兒正在做什麼，他們正在產生的所有這些原音。

is they're exploring what we might call auditory objects, that they can control.

是他們在探索我們可以稱之為聽覺的物體，他們可以控制。

It's as if they're exploring everything that the vocal apparatus can do.

彷彿他們在探索發聲器官所能做的一切。

But then after the protophones and the crying— something magical happens: you hear a laugh!

但在原音和哭聲之後，神奇的事情發生了：你聽到了笑聲。

Laughter doesn't really tend to occur until close to four months for most babies.

對大多數嬰兒來說，在接近四個月時才會真正出現笑聲。

So there's a delay in its onset.

所以它的發病有一個延遲。

And when it does start, it's really, really, really infrequent.

而當它開始時，它真的，真的，真的不常發生。

It's addictive!

這讓人上癮!

Once they laugh you are chasing that laugh down.

一旦他們笑了，你就會把這個笑聲追下去。

Oh, oh, oh, you can laugh now?

哦，哦，哦，你現在可以笑了？

I want you to laugh all of the time!

我希望你能一直笑下去!

And then like, a couple months later...that laugh comes again.

然後就像，幾個月後......那笑聲又來了。

If you've seen people playing peekaboo with a seven or eight-month-old who is really into the game,

如果你見過有人帶著七八個月大的孩子玩躲貓貓，他們真的很喜歡這個遊戲。

you may see just peals of laughter from the baby every time the parent says peekaboo.

你可能會看到每次父母說躲貓貓的時候，寶寶就會發出笑聲。

And it's just so enchanting.

而且它是如此令人陶醉。

I mean, the people watching YouTube videos of babies laughing like this can not inhibit their own laughter.

我的意思是，看YouTube上嬰兒這樣笑的視頻的人，無法抑制自己的笑聲。

They have to laugh with the baby under normal circumstances.

在正常情況下，他們必須和孩子一起笑。

But nearing the second half of a baby's first year of life, something really amazing happens.

但是，在接近嬰兒生命第一年的後半段時，真正令人驚訝的事情發生了。

The noises they make start to sound closer to words.

他們發出的聲音開始聽起來更接近於語言。

Well, sort of.

嗯，算是吧。

This is the start of babbling.

這就是胡言亂語的開始。

The baby explores an awful lot of stuff in those first six months vocally.

在頭六個月裡，寶寶在聲樂方面探索了非常多的東西。

The baby's mind is organizing itself with regard to the control of all of the things that are controllable vocally.

嬰兒的頭腦正在組織自己對所有可控制的聲音的事情進行控制。

The first thing they learned to control is the phonatory system , so the vocal chords themselves.

他們首先學會控制的是發音系統，即聲帶本身。

They have to learn how to, you know, hold them tightly and create the right sublevel pressure, and then they start vibrating.

他們必須學會如何，你知道，緊緊握住它們，創造合適的次一級壓力，然後它們就開始振動了。

They need to sort of grasp how that can be done and the various modes in which it can be done.

他們需要掌握如何做到這一點，以及可以做到這一點的各種模式。

That creates the source energy for what will ultimately be speech.

這為最終成為演講的內容創造了源能量。

And OMG my twins were babbling so much!

而且，我的雙胞胎姐妹們都在咿咿呀呀地說個不停。

They were just feeding off each other—

他們只是相互餵養

it really seemed like their climb to speech happened a lot faster than with my other kids.

他們似乎真的比我的其他孩子更快地學會了說話。

At some point, after enough of that experience, I think something self organizes and suddenly,

在某種程度上，在經歷了足夠多的這種經歷之後，我認為有些東西會自我組織起來，突然間。

they realize that ___ could be whaa___, and whaaat is a canonical syllable.

他們意識到___可能是whaa___，而whaaat是一個規範的音節。

Of course, they're hearing things that are being said during that period also.

當然，他們也聽到了在此期間所說的事情。

By the middle of the first year, we have pretty good evidence now that the babies have actually learned to recognize

到了第一年的中期，我們現在有相當好的證據表明，嬰兒實際上已經學會了識別

a few words, and to associate them with objects.

幾個單詞，並將它們與物體聯繫起來。

For example, if it's a common word that the child has been hearing,

例如，如果這是一個孩子一直在聽的常用詞。

they may well tend to systematically look towards the object that has been named.

他們很可能傾向於系統地看向被命名的對象。

By 9 months, or before the first year is up,

在9個月之前，或第一年結束之前。

most babies will have said their first word!

大多數嬰兒都會說出他們的第一個字

Mama was one of the first words for all my kids,

媽媽是我所有孩子的第一個詞之一。

then Dada was right behind.

然後達達就在後面。

Then they learned ”no” and that became a little less fun.

然後他們學會了 "不"，這就變得有點不那麼有趣了。

Of course, not every baby develops at the same pace or meets language development milestones in the same way.

當然，並不是每個嬰兒都以同樣的速度發展，或以同樣的方式達到語言發展的里程碑。

But no matter the baby, there are certain things we can do as caregivers to encourage their healthy development.

但不管是哪種嬰兒，作為照顧者，我們可以做一些事情來鼓勵他們的健康發展。

Like… baby talk!

就像......孩子們的談話!

I think the baby talk is a terrific thing to do.

我認為嬰兒談話是一件非常好的事情。

Why it's a good thing to do, is actually kind of tricky.

為什麼這是一件好事，其實是有點棘手的。

Because it could be that the primary thing it does is not highlight the stuff the parent is saying,

因為可能是它主要做的事情是不突出父母說的東西。

but to just arouse the baby to engage in the interaction.

而只是為了喚起嬰兒參與互動。

Personally, I would do it, whether I had any literature-based reason for doing it all

就個人而言，我會這樣做，無論我是否有任何基於文學的理由，都會這樣做

because I think the most important thing that happens between parents and their babies

因為我認為父母和他們的嬰兒之間發生的最重要的事情是

is this sense of nurturance that gets developed.

是這種養育之心得到發展。

The baby needs to know that she's being nurtured.

嬰兒需要知道她正在被培養。

All the things that we want for our children are presented when we engage them playfully and joyfully.

當我們以遊戲和快樂的方式與孩子們接觸時，我們希望孩子們得到的所有東西都會呈現。

Thank you for watching Seeker Baby!

謝謝你觀看《尋夢環遊記》!

I'm Angel Laketa Moore, and I hope you're learning as much about babies as I am.

我是Angel Laketa Moore，我希望你能像我一樣瞭解嬰兒。

If there's a baby topic you want us to cover, leave us a comment. And keep coming back to Seeker for more on babies.

如果你想讓我們報道某個嬰兒話題，請給我們留言。請繼續關注Seeker，瞭解更多關於嬰兒的資訊。

See you next time!

下一次見!