Photo: youtube / abc news
Suddenly he spoke Mandarin
After a week in a coma, the Australian Ben McMahon speaks perfect Mandarin. He forgot his mother tongue ...
Carefully Ben McMahon opens his eyes. He sees the beeping machines beside his bed, the white blanket, the friendly eyes of the Asian nurse. He tries to remember ... breakfast with his father. He does not remember anymore. He addresses the nurse "Excuse me, I'm in pain". She looks at him dumbfounded, picks up the phone and dials the number of his parents: "I wanted to let her know that her son has awakened from the coma. And ... I do not know exactly how to say it. He speaks Mandarin now ! "
One week, Ben McMahon is in a coma after his serious car accident in early 2012. Alone, that he wakes up again is a miracle. As well as his sudden foreign language skills. Even during his schooling, the Australian had tried to learn the official language of the Chinese. But with little success.
Only when he opens his eyes after the accident "clicks" with him. He asks for paper and pencil and writes: "I love my mother. I love my dad. I will be well again "- also in Mandarin. He forgot his native English - along with his memories of the accident. "It's not that I deliberately tried to speak Mandarin. It was just what came out, "says the 22-year-old today.
First, after two days, his mother tongue slowly comes back to him. His ability to speak Mandarin remains . Ben's neurologist Professor Pankaj Sah tries to explain this phenomenon: If the part of the brain that is responsible for the mother tongue is injured, the part takes on a foreign language . In Ben's case, Mandarin. He is lucky in bad luck. Today, Ben McMahon lives and studies in Shanghai and is grateful for his newfound ability.
Ben McMahon is not the only one
He is not the only one. A 13-year-old girl from Croatia experienced something very similar in 2010: she woke up from a coma and suddenly spoke German instead of Croatian. Another case happened in 2013 in the US. Michael Thomas Boatwright awoke after a few days unconscious and spoke only Swedish. He claimed his name was Johan Elk - he could not remember anything more. But the end of Michael's story is not quite as happy as Ben's. Michael's memory did not come back. He later accepted his identity as Michael, but only because the doctors gave him this. He always felt like Johan Elk.
