Poison victim now better at English

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By Ke Jiayun (Shanghai Daily) 10:28, September 29, 2013

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A bilingual Chinese office worker who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning can now only speak English fluently.

Chen Jia, a 28-year-old graduate from Jianghan University in Hubei Province, was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from an indoor barbecue at a friend’s birthday party in Wuhan City last year.

She had returned to Wuhan last February, after a two-year stint as a representative with Insearch College at the University of Technology in Sydney.

Exposure to the toxic environment greatly impaired Chen’s ability in her native Chinese, although her English skills remained, Changjiang Daily reported.

Chen was unable to walk until March this year and she has been receiving rehabilitation training in language ability at the General Hospital of the Yangtze River Shipping since August.

As part of her rehabilitation work, doctors asked Chen to teach English to medical staff in the hospital.

“Similar cases have been reported before,” Deng Hongwei, a doctor with the rehabilitation department, said.

“When bilingual patients suffer brain damage, they can lose the ability to speak one language but speak the other language very well,” said Deng.

Deng added that Chen’s rehabilitative training in teaching English could help her regain her confidence and recover sooner.

An intern of the hospital said Chen’s English class is as good as those given by her university teachers.

Chen’s family is hoping to get social support to pay for her rehabilitation costs of more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,634) a month.

（Editor：ChenLidan、Yao Chun）