What's on your mind?

[Kain Nobel]

I wasn't trying to be offensive with the Speedy Gonzales reference and I'm sorry if I've offended you. I admire Speedy, he's always outsmarting the dumb cat. He's quick, nimble, intelligent, funny, inventive, charming.

I've never had anything more than a passive interest in Italian or Pashto, only Spanish. Spanish should be clear as English to me at this point, maybe a little vague, but mostly clear and concise. Keep in mind, I never studied it academically, but I did buy my own materials and did my own study, plus I did well on my learning courses. Understanding some Italian makes sense, I'm not sure if there is a logical reason to be able to clearly hear and understand Pashto though.

The brain and it's capabilities are both mysterious and fascinating. I'll be sitting there watching Khyber News, and I'm confused why everything is so clear and vivid in a language I've never been exposed to. OK, so the other day I couldn't understand a word, but today there is absolutely no radio static. I have no mind altering substances in my system, and I've never had a CTE or other brain injury, so that can be ruled out. Then I go reheat some pizza, come back - I can't understand it again. Meh. This doesn't apply to any other languages other than Italian or Pashto. French? Gibberish. I don't understand French. Japanese? No, but that would be very cool.

A few years ago, I was reading a news story about somebody from the US Navy. I can't remember if they wound up in a coma or what their story was, but something had triggered a profound change in their mind. They were lost in America, no longer knew who they were, and spoke a foreign language and lost their English. I believe it was French but I can't remember the fine details, it's been a few years. From what I remember, they thought they were a completely different person from the nation which speaks that particular lingua franca. However, this person grew up in the United States, served in the Navy, had never been exposed to the language, but one day it was all they could speak and understand.

This isn't the first time I've heard of this sort of phenomenon, just the latest. I wish I would've saved the links to those news articles, it was fascinating. Curious what that guy is doing these days. Did he have to migrate and start his life over in that country? Did he get his English back and reunite with his loved ones? Not sure.