How does that happen? You go to bed one night having spoken the same mother tongue since birth, then suddenly you wake up and not only are you speaking other languages fluently, but you can no longer speak your own language. Ok, in most cases there's an accident involved, typically a blow to the head which causes mild concussion, but nevertheless, it's still baffling, neigh astonishing that someone can have such a radical linguistic changes in their life!
I just read about a Malaysian teenager can now speak Indonesian and three other languages
after being hit by a truck last month and suffering a head injury. Noraini Ismail, 17 now speaks Bahasa
Indonesia, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean, even though she’s never
learned any of the languages, the New Straits Times reported.
“I am baffled by my sudden ability to speak these languages, but I hope I can retain the ability and develop my language skills,” Noraini told the Malaysian paper in a mixture of Chinese and Indonesian.
Noraini will be in the hospital until Feb. 12, and suffers from frequent headaches. Noraini’s mother Mansena Daud, however, said her daughter could only speak her new found languages from dawn to 6 p.m.
“The language changes every day, and we will only know what language she will speak for the rest of the day after she has performed her subuh prayer in the morning,” Mansena told the paper. She said she had to gesticulate and use crude sign language with her daughter to try and communicate.
“I am baffled by my sudden ability to speak these languages, but I hope I can retain the ability and develop my language skills,” Noraini told the Malaysian paper in a mixture of Chinese and Indonesian.
Noraini will be in the hospital until Feb. 12, and suffers from frequent headaches. Noraini’s mother Mansena Daud, however, said her daughter could only speak her new found languages from dawn to 6 p.m.
“The language changes every day, and we will only know what language she will speak for the rest of the day after she has performed her subuh prayer in the morning,” Mansena told the paper. She said she had to gesticulate and use crude sign language with her daughter to try and communicate.
It truly shows the power of the human mind and the untapped abilities that we all have latent inside us just waiting for a chance to show themselves.
