Speech and foreign languages

[3rd generation]

I have lived in Germany for the past thirty years and have befriended an old German couple. Recently he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia and Alzheimers and is now in a home following a fall. He is 92 and during the war was a prisoner of war in Africa in a British camp. He was treated well and his school boy English proved very useful. He has had progressive difficulty with his speech over the last few months and now in the home is only speaking English and that quite fluently. Does anyone know of anything similar. Does he simply think that he is back in Africa in a British hospital or is the German speech part of his brain so badly damaged that it is easier to speak English. However he doesn't like it when I speak English to him - I should speak German and he replies in English. Any comments or experiences? Thanks

 

[jeany123]

Hello 3rd generation there is a couple of threads here where people have reverted to there
original language it might be something similar,
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?74951-MIL-Forgetting-How-to-Speak-English

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/show...ghlight=reverting+english+language#post860035

I don't know if this helps,

Best wishes Jeany x

 

[Vesnina2]

My grandmother spoke 5 foreign languages in her lifetime,
and near the end she would switch to Italian or Spanish
she learned as a young girl or young woman.

My mother occasionally speaks Spanish.
And inserts our words when she does not know the right word.
It seems she is doing this for fun, but has problems when other person does not follow her.

 

[marionq]

My husband spoke very good German and had a working knowledge of French and Spanish. At present with AD he is often confused but surprisingly comes out with quite a lot of foreign phrases, sayings and even a joke in French not long ago. I am often surprised that when he cannot tell me what year it is he still remembers so much of what he learned long ago.

 

[BR_ANA]

My mom first language was German, with little Portuguese. then at war german was forbidden. So she quitted speaking German.

Luckily She understand Portuguese because nobody understand German. Sometimes she change word (ie "band aid" for "Big Mac" or "table hat" for "plant pot") and sometimes nobody understand her.

 

[Not so Rosy]

My Dad often does an afternoon when he only speaks French , often when a Social worker or Doctor is around. With my Dad I think it's his way of showing he still in control and with capacity.