PBS高端访谈:语言不是交流的唯一方式（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Learning language can be a challenge for some, but none more, maybe than for those who cannot hear. In tonight's Brief But Spectacular, Melissa Malzkuhn, who was born deaf, uses her experience to build human connections through storytelling and technology. Malzkuhn is the creative director of Motion Light Lab. It's a research center at Gallaudet University.

MELISSA MALZKUHN, Creative Director, Motion Light Lab: When you think about language, it's something that you were exposed to from birth. It's assumed that it's a given, and that language then in turn is your key to opening up doors to different worlds. It's your key to understanding who you are, your way of thinking, your self-expression and identity. That's so integral to having language. If you don't have access to language, you don't have access to your humanity. I grew up as a person who comes from a family with three generations of deaf people. That means my grandparents are deaf, my parents, and my siblings are deaf. I come from a long line of storytellers. And so I grew up in a family of storytellers, which became a part of who I am. My inspiration goes back to my grandmother. I see her as a pioneer in so many ways. She was a deaf woman who was born in a time when captioning wasn't available. She was always pushing for human rights, and she often said: Don't wait for tomorrow. Start today. And she talked about the human rights of deaf children and asked, who will protect deaf children? Who will speak for them? Who is going to advocate for them? I acquired language just like any other child acquires their language from their community and family. You start learning single words, and make them into phrases and then sentences. So that's how I learned to sign. Having access to sign language from birth is an experience that only 5 percent of deaf people have. The remaining 95 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families. What that means is that language access is not a given. It's not granted. You have to build it. It's just a matter of connecting their parents with the community, so that they can learn to sign and give their children everything. And that can build the bond that all children should have with parents who love them, care for them, and can communicate with them. I adopted my son when he was 4 years old. He didn't have any language then. I understood up close and personal the realities of language deprivation in trying to communicate with him. It was a full-on family effort to have him develop language. I saw firsthand his experiences and how he would copy signs from the story. And to get to see that in my own home drove home the point of what happens when someone doesn't have language, to see the degree of frustration that they experience and to see how they change as they're able to use language to engage in conversations with people. Seeing his experience has been really emotional for me. My name is Melissa Malzkuhn, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on human connections through language and storytelling.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And next week, our Brief But Spectacular series will bring you a different take on language and deafness with a woman who has turned to technology to help her speak. You can catch up on other episodes on our Web site. That's at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：学习一门语言对于一些来说可能是一种挑战，但以后不再是这样了，至少可能对失聪人士来说不再是如此。今晚的《简短而精彩》邀请到了梅利莎，她是一名失聪人士。她将分享自己的经历，内容与通过讲故事和技术来构建人与人之间的联系。梅利莎是运动光感实验室的创意总监。该实验室是高立德大学的一个研究中心。

梅利莎，运动光感实验室创意总监：每次想到语言的时候，就会觉得这是与生俱来的东西。大家都觉得这是上苍赐予我们的，认为语言是我们用来打开不同世界大门的钥匙。这是了解自己的关键，决定了思考方式、自我表达与认知。掌握语言是人的必经之路，如果无法掌握语言，就无法了解人性。我们家三代都是失聪人士。也就是说，我祖父母、父母、我的兄弟姐妹都是失聪人士。我认识很多会讲故事的人。我的家人都是有故事的人，所以我也有了这样的特质。我的灵感要从我的祖母说起。祖母在很多领域都是先驱。祖母那个年代，还没有配字幕的技术。祖母一直在呼吁人权，她经常说的一句话是：别等明天了，就今天。她也关心失聪儿童的人权，她经常会发问：谁来保护失聪儿童呢？谁为他们发声呢？谁为他们倡导呢？我掌握语言的方式跟其他孩子从自己社群和家庭掌握语言的方式一样。一开始是学单个的单词，然后学短语和组句。我也是这样学手语的。只有5%的失聪人士从一出生就能接触到手语。余下95%的失聪儿童都生在有听觉的家庭。这样的话，他们就无法习得手语了。这不是外界给予的，要靠自己学习，要让他们的父母与失聪社群联系在一起，这样他们才能学会手语，才能满足孩子的所有需求。这样才能建立起彼此相爱的亲子之间的联系，让他们更好地关爱彼此，更好地交流。我儿子4岁的时候，我收养了他。那时候，他不会手语，也不会说话。我在与他交流的过程中，如此亲身地感受到了语言丧失的感受。我们举全家之力帮他掌握手语。我是第一个看到他的步步脚印的，也看到他慢慢习得手语。我在自己的家中所见的这一切，让我明白一个没有掌握语言的人的经历和感受。也能感受到他们的挫败感，也看到他们在学会与人交流的过程中有怎样的改变。他的经历让我颇为触动。我是梅利莎，这是我本期带来的《简短而精彩》，我讲述的是人类怎样通过语言和故事实现相互连接。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：下一周《简短而精彩》的主角也是一位失聪人士，她通过技术的帮助来让自己发声。其他期的节目可以在官网PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief上观看。