Can you, yourself, learn Thai after Dementia Diagnosis?

[GammaGlobulin]

Dear Folks,

 

Do you worry more about:

 

a. Receiving a dementia diagnosis?

OR

b. Inability to learn how to read Thai while in full-blown dementia?

 

Unfortunately, this will be one of the FIRST Topics I post on TV for which I have no direct personal experience.

 

However, I have faith.

 

I have faith that after I am diagnosed with Thai, I will be able to re-double my Dementia Efforts, and actually improve my Thai-reading skills, especially my Thai-reading comprehension level.

 

What does that say about me?

And, what might that say about you, too, if you, like me, will just have a little faith.

 

Obviously, I never post what some might consider JOKE Topics or Joke Posts. If I were to do so, then I would only do so very rarely.

 

This is why I have recently been looking for evidence that DEMENTIA might not only NOT be a barrier for Thai language learning….BUT…..

 

In my view, it just might prove to be the case that DEMENTIA can actually IMPROVE one’s ability to learn or improve one’s Thai fluency, due to reasons yet unexplained.

 

There is already growing evidence that this might or might not be true. And, it is important that scientists, such as myself, investigate this further.

 

Here is just one study I found, and there are others:

 

 

 

I have, so far, only cursorily breezed through it. But, this is a thoroughly written study, and it is worth my time to read it more carefully.  Now that more of us are headed for a dementia diagnosis, some day in the future, such research will help us to predict how we will cope, linguistically, in a foreign land, where Thai fluency is the key to Farang Happiness.

 

But, let me not write too much, lest I develop dementia before I conclude this important Topic. And, yes, it is important, both to the individual and to society, in general.

 

And, what are YOUR thoughts about language learning after, heaven forbid, you might be diagnosed with full-blown dementia?

 

There is always hope.

Where there is life, there is hope.

And, the brain is a miraculous machine.

Nobody knows just how facile we will be at learning and improving our Thai language skills, while also suffering from dementia, until we try it.

 

I am looking forward to this experiment, when the time comes….

There are always new things to learn in life, and this is just one more example of this fact.

 

Also, if you should be diagnosed with dementia, some day in the future…then…

Please do not forget me.

And, Please do NOT forget this Topic, either.

 

Best regards,

Gamma

 

Note:  Here is the link to the article I mention here, and it is definitely worth a read, provided that you are as interested as I: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11011596/

 

Final Note:  Let us also keep in mind that some research tells us that the smarter we are…the more sudden our downfall can be.  We geniuses seem to crash and burn far more precipitously than the average bear (meaning the idiom, and not in a culturally gay sense or aesthetic, of course). 

 

And, just a word: This Topic belongs, of course, not in the Health Forum, nor in the Language Learning Forum, since the subject matter here is neither one nor the other, and can be considered sort of a half-breed. Still, the Topic of language learning with dementia while living in a foreign land is so important for many readers on TV that this Topic belongs, squarely, in the Pub Forum, and definitely on TV.

 

I just want to show readers that we can improve our lives through Thai language learning…given almost any scenario.  I know that thinking members on TV will agree with me.

 

Final-Final Note: Follow-up reporting might be required, sometime during following days.

[Will B Good]

I'd be very surprised if I could......I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell before.

[GammaGlobulin]

4 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

I'd be very surprised if I could......I didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell before.

 

This is one of my main hypotheses, as well.

 

a. Learning Thai is far too difficult for some members, pre-dementia, and before dementia has raised its ugly head.

 

b. I imagine that IF one had difficulty learning to read and write Thai when their brain was completely healthy, and operating normally...that...AFTER they are in the throws of full-blown dementia, the tables might turn, and they might find learning Thai a heck of a lot easier.

 

More research is necessary to prove this to be true or untrue.

[Will B Good]

Just now, GammaGlobulin said:

 

This is one of my main hypotheses, as well.

 

a. Learning Thai is far too difficult for some members, pre-dementia, and before dementia has raised its ugly head.

 

b. I imagine that IF one had difficulty learning to read and write Thai when their brain was completely healthy, and operating normally...that...AFTER they are in the throws of full-blown dementia, the tables might turn, and they might find learning Thai a heck of a lot easier.

 

More research is necessary to prove this to be true or untrue.

 

Took my wife a week to teach me how to say stupid......not even sure now if that was in Thai or Isaan.

[CharlieH]

I think what this really says is:

• Option A (dementia diagnosis) means you’ll forget you can’t read Thai.

• Option B (trying to read Thai with dementia) means you’ll suddenly feel like a genius when you sound out one letter correctly—every single day, as if for the first time.

In fact, your theory has merit. Dementia might be the only way to finally conquer Thai script. Imagine: every time you look at the alphabet, it feels fresh, exciting, brand new… like Groundhog Day, but with consonant clusters.

So maybe dementia isn’t the enemy here—it’s the ultimate Thai teacher. The textbooks never change, but your brain keeps resetting the homework.

If that’s true, then you and I might actually be pioneers: the first people to prove that forgetting yesterday’s mistakes is the fastest path to fluency.

That says a lot about you. It probably says even more about me for agreeing with you.

[GammaGlobulin]

27 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Option B (trying to read Thai with dementia) means you’ll suddenly feel like a genius when you sound out one letter correctly—every single day, as if for the first time.

 

This was also my thought.

And, learning Thai during the throws of full-blown dementia will be much less frustrating, since every moment one will be learning a new word, and never worry that one might have forgotten the words that one has forgotten, just moments earlier.

 

Yes. Learning Thai with dementia has many advantages.

 

Still, this Topic is an important and serious Topic.

Although, in this case, this serious Topic has been presented in a slightly atypical way.

 

Perhaps caregivers should consider using foreign language learning as just one of many possible strategies.