A 94-year-old woman emerged from a coma speaking a language she hadn't used in 30 years.
Liu Jieyu spent two weeks unconscious before awakening in a hospital in Changsha, China, unable to speak or understand her native Chinese.
Liu was an English teacher, but her family said she has not spoken the language in decades.
After suffering a stroke and falling into a coma, Liu slowly came to and asked, "Where am I? What is happening?" in perfect English. Doctors were baffled, and discovered that the elderly woman could no longer speak Chinese.
Doctors said Liu suffered a cerebral infarction, in which the blood supply to the brain is limited. They believe the woman's brain cells simply need time to recover before she regains her native tongue.
"I can't ever remember having a case like this before but we anticipate with proper rehabilitation and rest she should regain the ability to speak Chinese," Dr Tao Hou said.
"We assume that the area dealing with her ability to speak Chinese has been damaged, but brain cells to have an ability to repair themselves to a certain extent we would hope to see at least some improvement."
Liu's condition was touch and go, and doctors say she is lucky to be alive.
Two months ago, an English semi-pro soccer player awoke from a six-day coma speaking fluent French and believing he was actor Matthew McConaughey.
"My mum and dad were stunned when they got to hospital and the nurse asked them what side of the family was French," Rory Curtis recounted.
"And then I was sitting there spouting a foreign language from my hospital bed acting all French. It wasn't me at all.
"I wasn't really that good at it at school, so I don't know how my brain has managed to do what is has. I don't know how I know it - I just do."
Curtis was home within two months, and retained his fluency.
