When he woke up, the 22-year-old Australian saw a nurse by his bed. Seeing Asian features in her, he told her, "Sorry nurse, I feel bad." This phrase was spoken in Chinese.
Then he asked her for a piece of paper and a pen and wrote in Chinese, "I love my mom, I love my dad, I will get well."
The guy's newfound language skills confused not only his parents, but also doctors. Ben's parents say their son survived only by a miracle. When they received a call from the hospital and was told that their son was coming out of a coma, they did not immediately believe these words. However, they were even more embarrassed by the news that Ben spoke Chinese.
“No one in our family speaks Chinese, so deep down we were very worried about what was happening,” said father Mark McMahon.
Despite trying to learn Chinese at school, Ben was never able to speak it fluently.
“I didn't understand that I was speaking Chinese, I was just speaking and it seemed completely natural to me,” he says.
It took the young man another two or three days to remember how to speak English. His language skills as a result of the trauma opened up new opportunities for Ben. Thanks to them, he was able to conduct excursions for Chinese tourists in his hometown and become a TV presenter - he was entrusted with leading the Mandarin program, which was aired in Chinese.
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Currently, the Melbourne resident has moved to Shanghai to study commerce at a university.
Ben says he was very lucky to be alive and able to speak a second language.