The Inferno

This is just plain crazy. An 18 year old Czech man wakes up from a car accident to speak perfect English, without a Czech accent. Unfortunately, it only lasts a few days, but what the hell. Moral: Give yourself a few clouts on the ol’ noggin before a language exam and you’ll ace it!

Czech crash victim wakes up speaking English

By staff writers

September 14, 2007 10:25am
Article from: NEWS.com.au

A CZECH speedway driver knocked unconscious in a crash stunned ambulance drivers when he woke up speaking perfect English.

18-year-old Matej Kus was out cold for 45 minutes after the crash, but when he woke up he conversed fluidly in English with paramedics, even speaking in an English accent.

The teenager had just begun to study the language and his skills were described by friends and team-mates as “basic at best”.

Peter Waite, the promoter for Kus’s team, the Berwick Bandits, told the Daily Mail: “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“It was in a really clear English accent, no dialect or anything. Whatever happened in the crash must have rearranged things in his head.

“Before his crash Matej’s use of the English language was broken, to put it mildly.

“He was only just making a start on improving it and struggled to be understood, but was keen to learn.

“Yet here we were at the ambulance door listening to Matej talking to the medical staff in perfect English.

“Matej didn’t have a clue who or where he was when he came round. He didn’t even know he was Czech.

“It was unbelievable to hear him talk in unbroken English.”

Unfortunately, the speedway driver’s new found skills didn’t last and he remembers nothing of the accident or the following two days. He is now keen pursue studies in English.

He told the Daily Mail, through an interpreter: “It’s unbelievable that I was speaking English like that, especially without an accent.

“Hopefully I can pick English up over the winter for the start of next season so I’ll be able to speak it without someone having to hit me over the head first.

“There must be plenty of the English language in my subconscious so hopefully I’ll be able to pick it up quickly next time.”

Taken from here.

Two days ago, I manned the booth for SFU’s trivia club, The Quiz Bowl. Having been to exactly one practice and one tournament, I was obviously the most qualified person to sit at the booth and convince hapless newbies to join the club.

Club Days at SFU is an event that happens for three days at the start of every fall semester. Every club and interest you can think of, from people who love Reggae to people who love skiing, is represented by people passionate enough about it to sit at a table for hours on end.

As I sit there and read my book, I notice two girls who come up and ask, “So what is this Quiz Bowl stuff all about?”.
Me: Oh it’s a trivia club, you answer questions, participate in tournaments against other universities like UBC and so on
Girls: Ah I see, so it’s a club for smart people then.
I’m about to reply, “No, it’s for everyone”, when I notice their tag, they represent the “Christian Soldiers at SFU” or some bollocks like that, so what I finally do say is: “Yes, yes it is”.

They nod and walk off. Ah, the beauty of subtle digs is that sometimes only you get it and they don’t. The drawback of subtle digs is that sometimes only you get it and they don’t.

What can I say? After graduating from SFU, I’ve been relaxing, being a complete sloth, as it were. I’ve applied to graduate school and am waiting for the official letter of acceptance. This means I can’t find full-time work until after my graduate studies, which won’t end until 2009.

In the meantime, I relax and read and relax some more. I’m trying to learn the fine art of cooking. I’ve picked up all of Bryce Courtenay’s books, which provide some much-needed light reading. I’m also addicted to Scrabble and Chess, of late, which is not surprising, given my love for words and logic.

And, I have been driving this monster around:

So convenient, but so stressful at the same time.

In short, not much is happening with Lord Bookworm at the moment, plebeians.