36 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

Alun Morgan, 81, was evacuated to Wales during the Second World War but left 70 years ago.

During his time there he was surrounded by Welsh speakers but never learned the language himself.

He left the country aged 10 and lived his life in England and recently suffered a severe stroke.

But when Mr Morgan regained consciousness three weeks later, doctors discovered he was speaking Welsh and could not remember any English.

http://www.telegraph...uent-Welsh.html

[libstaK]

I love these stories, the brain is such a mystery.

[and then]

libstaK, on 27 December 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

I love these stories, the brain is such a mystery.

The ultimate, organic hard drive?

[Mnemonix]

Mysterious, indeed.

[libstaK]

and then, on 27 December 2012 - 02:16 PM, said:

The ultimate, organic hard drive?

A hard drive will never be as good

[ufonuts]

Bullshat man, he didn't "subconsciously" pick up the language, something else happened, like last past life remembrance or something we don't or can't quite comprehend yet with our tiny brains that only use about 15% of their power. That's a fact Jack! Think about it, don't be so quick to disbelieve the unbelievable.

[pitchp]

lucky for him(also his wife), he didn't turn gay! There's been reports of people having a stroke only to wake up from it and realise that they are gay!

[the L]

libstaK, on 27 December 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

I love these stories, the brain is such a mystery.

One of the greatest. I think that brain is silencer.

Edited by the L, 28 December 2012 - 12:21 PM.

[King Fluffs]

Interesting.

[Hasina]

ufonuts, on 28 December 2012 - 12:05 PM, said:

Bullshat man, he didn't "subconsciously" pick up the language, something else happened, like last past life remembrance or something we don't or can't quite comprehend yet with our tiny brains that only use about 15% of their power. That's a fact Jack! Think about it, don't be so quick to disbelieve the unbelievable.

That's a myth, Smith.

[highdesert50]

Language acquisition is enigmatic and there are a number of theories surrounding the notion of how this comes about. Perhaps one of the most brilliant minds of the century, Noam Chomsky, argues that we have an innate or instinctive ability to acquire language, in effect, we come prewired to acquire language. Since a stroke is a major trauma to the brain, perhaps this event reset this individuals language acquisition clock enabling the previous exposure to Welsh to become dominant.

[Merc14]

It is absolutely amazing how powerful our brains truly are and I wish we had the conscious ability to tap into all the knowledge that is actually captured during our lifetimes rather than just that which we can access.

[FlyingAngel]

How little we knew about the brain. By just hearing everyone around speaking a language, you can theoretically learn that language in days

[Still Waters]

I was born and brought up in Wales and I'm well used to hearing people speaking Welsh, although I never did pick it up properly myself while I was there.
Neither of my parents spoke the language either which would have made a big difference but I did have Welsh lessons in school. It's a very difficult language to learn which to me makes what happened to the man in the article all the more impressive and believable.

[Simbi Laveau]

That is wild .
My Japanese is intermediate . I cannot read it fluently ,at all . I don't know enough kanji ,and my grammar needs work ,but I absolutely dream in fluent Japanese .
I know its all correct ,and I wake up remembering it all,and I look up words ,and they are words I don't consciously know ,and its correct.