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Imagine waking up from surgery and suddenly being unable to speak your native language. That's what happened to a 17-year-old boy in the Netherlands that left doctors baffled according to a recent report of a case from 2022.
Case of a teen's unexpected language change
A 17-year-old Dutch boy underwent knee surgery after a soccer injury. The operation was successful, and everything seemed normal—until he woke up speaking exclusively in English, a language he had only studied in school.
Symptoms
Couldn't speak or understand his native Dutch.
Insisted he was in the U.S.
Didn't recognize his parents.
There was no history of psychiatric conditions other than a family history of depression on his mother's side.
Initial medical response: Confusion or something else?
At first, the attending nurse suspected delirium, a temporary state of confusion that can occur after anesthesia. However, when hours passed and the teenager still could not speak Dutch, the doctors called a psychiatric team.
Psychiatric assessment
The teenager was alert and responsive.
He answered questions fluently in English but with a Dutch accent.
Gradually, he tried to speak Dutch but struggled to form sentences.
Diagnosis: A rare condition called Foreign Language Syndrome (FLS).
Doctors diagnosed the teenager with Foreign Language Syndrome (FLS) - an extremely rare condition where individuals suddenly and involuntarily switch to another language, temporarily losing access to their native language.
Recovery: A spontaneous return to the Dutch.
A full neurological examination showed no abnormalities.
The young man still couldn’t speak Dutch 18 hours after the surgery, even though he understood it.
The turning point came when friends visited him the next day — he suddenly regained his ability to speak Dutch.
Because the language shift had resolved on its own, doctors decided against further neurological testing, such as an EEG (electroencephalogram), or brain scan. The young man was discharged after three days.
This case is particularly notable because: FLS is rarely reported in children or adolescents as its different nature from Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), where individuals retain their native language but speak with an involuntary accent but some previous cases of FLS have occurred after anesthesia, raising questions about whether the syndrome is related to the cognitive effects of anesthesia or its clearance from the central nervous system.
The mystery remains: What causes FLS?
Despite its rarity, FLS has puzzled doctors and researchers. While some believe it may be linked to brain injuries, others believe it may be a type of emergent delirium. The exact mechanism behind the condition is still unknown, which makes such cases all the more intriguing.
Could more such cases be hidden due to a lack of awareness? As research continues, the mystery of foreign language syndrome remains unsolved.
Reference:
1. Schwaiger, Christoph. "Diagnostic Dilemma: After Surgery, a 17-Year-Old Could Speak Only a Foreign Language." Live Science, March 19, 2025. https://www.livescience.com/health/diagnostic-dilemma-after-surgery-a-17-year-old-could-speak-only-a-foreign-language.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal/MSM)
