Chinese woman only speaks English after stroke

94-year-old woman from Changsha loses her mother tongue

06/02/2015

A 94-year-old woman has caused a big surprise in a Chinese hospital by no longer speaking her mother tongue after a stroke, only English. As the attending physician to the „dpa“ In Beijing, the former English teacher apparently damaged the language center, although the region may have been spared brain language in English.

Patient had been working as an English teacher for years
Curious case in the eastern Chinese city of Changsha: After a stroke, a 94-year-old woman suddenly speaks fluent English. „But in her native language, she only brings a few words“, reported the attending physician Li Yanfang to the German Press Agency (dpa) in Beijing. For the retiree Liu Jaiyu, however, no unknown language, because as Li Yanfang further explained, the former teacher had been teaching English for many years in her professional life. One year ago, the woman had suffered a stroke and was admitted to the clinic. After months of training, the first attempts were made.

Monthly speech training after aphasia
At first the woman learned simple words, but meanwhile she would speak in full sentences again, according to Li Yanfang, who heads internal medicine at the Changsha Hospital. At the beginning, however, the nurses would have had problems understanding - until it became clear that the woman spoke English instead of Chinese. „We assume that your language center has been damaged“, explains the doctor. It can be assumed, however, that the region for English in her brain is not or only slightly affected, so they can hardly speak their mother tongue, but the formerly learned English. „When she receives visitors, she answers in English, even if she is addressed in Chinese“, Li Yanfang describes the situation.

Speech disorder as a result of stroke is not a rare phenomenon
For the doctor, however, Li Yanfang still has it „Happiness in misfortune“, because with the help of English, the woman could tell at least again, many other patients go there worse, so Li Yanfang. Now it remains to be seen how the further therapy will progress and whether the woman will eventually be able to communicate in her mother tongue again. In this case, a speech disorder as a result of a stroke is not a rare phenomenon, instead, according to the „Foundation German Stroke Help“ nationwide around one third of the patients have trouble understanding speech or finding words (aphasia), sometimes even reading and writing are no longer functioning as before. However, the disorder would usually involve speaking in foreign languages ​​while preserving the mother tongue.

Provide brain-damaged people with speech therapy as quickly as possible
„The case of the retiree from China is very unusual“, so Mario Leisle from the Foundation opposite the „dpa“. If there is an aphasia after a stroke, according to the foundation, this is a serious fate - but this does not have to be accepted idly. Instead, brain-damaged people are also able to learn, since they have large brain cell reserves despite the stroke, said Dr. Volker Middeldorf opposite the foundation. „From a rehabilitative point of view, people with aphasia must be provided with speech therapy as soon as possible. They should receive intensive speech therapy and thus activate their large rehabilitation potential or use it for learning“, the doctor continues. (No)