Old woman switches dialects after stroke

An elderly woman woke up after having suffered a stroke unable to speak in her native dialect but fluent in Cantonese, a dialect she had learned more than a decade ago.

一位老婆婆中风后一觉醒来，不能说本地话，却说出流利的粤语来，她十几年前曾学习过粤语。

The woman, surnamed Wu, from Wuhan, Hubei Province, has been speaking to family members in the South China dialect since being treated for a recent stroke, media reported Tuesday.

这位来自湖北武汉的吴婆婆，近日脑卒中后，突然只会和家人说粤语。某媒体星期二报道。

Relatives were shocked when Wu began using a dialect they at first didn’t understand.

亲戚们听到吴婆婆用一种他们起初完全听不懂的语言说话，非常震惊。

It was only when Wu’s niece recognized it as Cantonese that the family was able to communicate.

直到后来她的一位侄女去了才听懂原来吴婆婆讲的是粤语，家人才能交流。

Family members informed doctors at The Central Hospital of Wuhan that Wu had lived in Cantonese-speaking Guangdong over a decade earlier.

家人告知武汉中心医院，吴婆婆十几年前曾在讲粤语的广东省住过。

Doctors explain that such cases of lost language are unusual and poorly understood.

医生解释，这种失语的案例很少见，也不太容易理解。

A neurologist at the hospital said the stroke had left Wu’s left frontal lobe damaged - the language center for the brain.

医院的一位神经科医生说，中风使得吴婆婆的左脑额叶受损——这里是大脑的语言中枢。

Different parts of the brain store learned languages, which may explain why Wu can understand one dialect but speaks in another, the doctor added.

医生补充说，大脑不同的区域控制不同的语言，这也许就能解释为什么吴婆婆理解的是一种方言，讲的却是另一种方言。

But she is showing signs of improvement. With speech therapy and medication, Wu has recovered some of her tongue.

不过，吴婆婆已经有了改善的迹象。通过语言障碍矫正和药物治疗，她已经能讲一些武汉话了。

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来源:Global Times爱语吧作者:悠悠