Speaking Fluent Mandarin

MTR

MTR

Any medical experts around here, how does this happen, so bizarre.

This Oz guy wakes up from a coma and speaks fluent Mandarin.

I have heard of similar stories.

I also watched a program some time ago where someone from England I think woke up from a coma and suddenly had/spoke with a distinct thick French accent, the family were quite distressed. From Cockney accent to French..... that's a real stretch.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-wakes-coma-car-crash-speaking-MANDARIN.html
 
Perhaps the brain retains everything it's exposed to but most of that information is inaccessible to us.

He'd learnt Mandarin in school and, though he could never speak it fluently previously, his brain stored all the Mandarin words and grammar rules that he had heard or read. Most of this information had been dormant but was somehow triggered after his accident.

This doctor's explanation is interesting:

Dr Pankaj Sah said the brain was made up of different circuits - which assist in language, breathing, speaking and thinking - similar to electronic circuits.

According to him, what possibly happened to Ben was that the parts of the brain that recalled English were damaged in the crash and those that retained Mandarin were activated when the 22-year-old woke up from his coma.
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Wow MTR, I was just about to post the same link and you got to it before me.

Apparently this is not the only instance, there are others who wakes up speaking different languages
 
Interesting: I lived in Mexico as a small child from 1957-59 and according to my mum could speak fluent Spanish by the time we left - we lived in an embassy house with two maids who only spoke Spanish and I just picked it up from them. A couple of years later I'd forgotten it all but perhaps it's still lodged in my brain somewhere.
 
Fifth said:
Perhaps the brain retains everything it's exposed to but most of that information is inaccessible to us.
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I think we have still not fully unlocked the powers of the human mind. Imagine if we could access all parts of our brain - think how much more creative, productive we could all be.
 
wategos said:
These stories seem to brush over the small detail that the person has actually learnt the language previously.
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Wategos, massive difference from learning the language at school for a couple of years to speaking fluent.

There have been a number of these stories, also detailed in this article, its extraordinary, that is why I posted it.:)
 
wategos said:
These stories seem to brush over the small detail that the person has actually learnt the language previously.
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Indeed but there is a significant leap from learning mandarin to speaking it fluently. The accent etc is not an easy one to master especially at the speed of native speakers.
 
We have limited knowledge of the human brain, if we are able to unlock 100% of the human brain, who knows what is capable

There is a hollywood movie out now "Lucy?", something about a girl who is able to use more of her brain or something or rather

Aaron_C said:
Indeed but there is a significant leap from learning mandarin to speaking it fluently. The accent etc is not an easy one to master especially at the speed of native speakers.
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He probably could already speak it having learned it at school and sometimes it just unlocks that area of the brain he wasn't actively exposed to. As to speaking it fluently as it locally - that is learn only through experience and practice

i can speak 4-5 different languages and some only to the level of conversational stuff but once it hits to areas for e.g. like politics - i get lost.

Mandarin is century old language with various pronounications so it is not as easy as someone who doesn't speak it day to day on a regular basis.
 
Wish I had that skill. I completely suck at languages. I have Chinese (Cantonese speaking) parents and really don't speak the language after starting learning probably 18 years years ago. I can only speak basic Mandarin too after learning for 6 years or so (on and off). I probably would have to go and live in HK to improve the Chinese... Force myself to use it...
 
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