Stephen Chase said he could only count to ten in Spanish before surgery.
Stephen Chase said he could only count to ten in Spanish before surgery.
An American father was stunned to discover he could suddenly speak fluent Spanish after waking from surgery.
Stephen Chase said he was 19 when he first had the inexplicable experience after undergoing a knee operation for a football injury, the Daily Star reported.
The Utah resident, now 33, said hewas shocked to find himself speaking Spanish, given he previously knew only a few phrases and could count to ten.
“The very first time it happened, when I woke up I was speaking in Spanish to the nurses checking on me,” he said.
“I don’t really recollect speaking Spanish, just people asking me to speak English and being really confused.
“I wasn’t capable of speaking for that long in Spanish at that time, I was very shocked.”
Chase said he believed his brain may have absorbed the language by osmosis, having grown up around “lots of Hispanic people”.
“The nurses say they ask me questions like ‘how are you feeling?’ and ‘am I in pain?’ after waking up, and I’d answer the questions in Spanish,” he said.
“In my head, I’m just speaking and can’t understand why they don’t understand me.
“I was completely fluent, I think it completely subsides within an hour.”
Stephen Chase began speaking Spanish after waking from surgery, despite only have beginner-level skills before the procedure.
LadBible reported that Chase, who admitted he “didn’t really pay attention in school”, has even made the most of his newfound skill, including during a gospel mission trip to Chile.
The father-of-three has undergone several surgeries for football-related injuries over the past decade, and after each one he has woken up speaking Spanish at what he describes as “native-level” fluency.
“I’m a pretty good second-language speaker, but it became native fluency level,” he said.
“It’s interesting what the brain has stored up that we’re not able to tap into.”
Foreign Language Syndrome is a rare condition in which people temporarily abandon their native tongue and begin speaking a second language involuntarily.
It is believed to be triggered by events such as strokes, head injuries or periods of psychological stress.
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