Has anyone experienced someone they care for reverting back to their "first" language?

My aunt frequently reverts to her native language which is Greek. She goes back and forth between that and English. She just turned 90 and has serious dementia. She lost my uncle in March of 2020 suddenly and could not be with him when he died at the hospital due to Covid restrictions. We think the grief exacerbated her dementia. She was a terrific cook and now can't do any of that.

Yes, as my 68 year old wife's Alzheimers has progressed, her ability to speak and understand English has declined. I was stationed in Germany with the US Army and was fluent in German when I first met my wife, however, she did not speak English. Once we moved back to the US, she slowly learned English and I slowly forgot my German. Not only does it make caregiving difficult for me or in-home caregivers, but it's heartbreaking not to be able to understand her final words to me. Even if I tried to use an app to translate, I still know enough German to realize that a lot of what she says is, unfortunately, simply gibberish. We still communicate with our eyes, a kiss, a hug, but I'm slowly losing her to this horrible disease. I miss her.

It sort of makes sense because dementia seems to erase things from the brain starting with most current. Patients seem to be able to tell you very detailed info about something that happened many years ago, but can't hold on to more current info. So it would seem she is losing the more current English language and going backward to when she was a child.

For you, this is double the trouble because she's losing her short term, or the thing she tried to tell you just moments ago. So she can't even remember what she just said.

iTranslate is an app for iPhones and Google Translate is for Android phone. You might read up about these two and see if there's a way to keep them open all the time so it catches what she says in German as she speaks. That might help to prevent any delay in you asking her to repeat something.

This is super common. Should your mom ever have testing done, whether it’s the 3 word/clock drawing test or more extensive cognitive testing done, please let them know that she is bilingual or multilingual and that has to, HAS TO, be taken into consideration as to how the tests are administered. They need to allow more time for her to “process” as what she will probably do is take the word and remember it in English then translate it to German to remember it and have to try to reverse the process 15 - 20 minutes later when she’s asked to recall the words. She’ll be stressed and feel rushed and maybe just not answer. Which throws the whole thing off and it’s all useless.

Gerontology practices affiliated with a teaching hospital and a medical school with have testing in different languages as it’s required under federal funding. Likely translators on staff as well.

Yes, absolutely. My mom moved to the USA 50 before she passed away 4 years ago at 96 years old. She did not have diagnosed Alzheimer’s / dementia. Her English started diminishing gradually but about 1 year prior to her passing she could no longer speak English. My dad never learned how to speak Portuguese as they met in the US. Somehow my dad managed to take care of her until the end. I am really proud of him for doing so as now he is dealing with his own Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

I see this happening at my dad’s AL with other residents as well.

Best wishes to you as you go through this phase with your loved one.

Yes! My husband, a Hungarian refugee, occasionally speaks to me in his native tongue, then wonder why I don't understand what he's telling me. It's not at all uncommon for older people in general to revert.

Yes, my father’s first language was not English. Neither was his second language. Eventually he became a very good English speaker but not completely fluent. As he has gotten older he sometimes doesn’t speak to me in English at all. He doesn’t even realize it until I answer back in English since I don’t speak his language. It is a little scary to think that as he gets older I may not be able to understand what he is saying.

CuteTC: Yes, I have heard of this occurrence. Perhaps you can use Google Translate. I sometimes 'speak' to relatives in Slovakia and Norway, who typically use their native language. Recently I received a Christmas card written entirely in Norse.

In answer to this. I could meet if you live not too far away. I am a native speaking German. and worked with ti for many years. Let me know and I would try and help. Can write down phrases but then how would you read it and pronounce .
This is the reason I tought my children the language.
Waiting to hear from you.
Gerda

Very familiar with this. Can help with language, know it well.

I can sooo relate to that! My mother speaks often in Hungarian, often talking to herself very quietly. It is indeed frustrating as we want so desperately to maintain communication. I have come to realize that ultimately it is just part of the progressive losses that come with dementia. It helps to focus on nonverbal communication like hugs and holding her hand.

Oh yes! I see this all the time with stroke patients. It is a neurological phenomenon and not necessarily diagnostic of stroke, but highly suspect when there is a sudden or accelerated loss of function. Get Mom checked by a neurologist for possible stroke.

I have a friend whose mom reverted back to her first language, she was Ghanaian able to speak the Ashanti language, she got dementia and lost her memory, it affected her speech, she started speaking different languages. Anytime her children would ask her something, she would answer in Fante language. When I spoke to her, she replied to me in Fante but didn't see any issue with it.

It’s very very common. This is why here some of the Associations/ Clubs for migrants run their own Aged Care facilities, or keep an idea of which mainstream facilities have staff with various language skills. For more recent migrants, it’s common for language speakers without qualifications to be working as cleaners etc. They get called in when essential, or put on jobs that mean they are in contact with residents who have the same language.

Where I am, my first port of call would be to find a Club for that culture, even if you do it by phone. I suggested this to a previous poster, also in Oz, who followed through and found a Finnish Association she didn't know existed!

My Grandmother ( died in 2968. I am 81 ) spoke English and some "Luxemburger" her parents' language from near Orange City, Iowa.
When she was pretty well into dementia she sang little songs in French, because in Belgium next door from her parents home Flemish and French were bilingual and this linguistic heritage was hesrs. Tres interresant?

Absolutely! My father reverted back to the Spanish language he learned as a child growing up on Catalina Island. Fortunately, the care unit he was in had a Spanish speaking employee. They got along like old friends! And no, none of us spoke the language. He would tell his aide to tell us something! It was crazy!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31381516/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2976058/

Perhaps have your loved one speak into a translation program?

I have no experience with this. However, if you have a local college, or even a high school, that offers German courses, this would be a great opportunity for a student to come in and help you translate, and maybe even write a paper on the subject!

Yes. A resident in the assisted living where my mom was had reverted to speaking Danish. She could apparently understand a little English, but could no longer speak it. Her daughter told us her mom hadn't spoken much Danish in her adult life, since moving to the US. It was a difficult situation for her to not be understood. She carried around a huge stuffed toy giraffe and talked to it all day long. She was so sweet. I'm not sure if they tried any sort of translation app to understand her. I didn't witness any.

This does often happen. With dementia the long term memory often kicks in when short memory is mostly absent. I would get the translation app that people are suggesting. The friend that I help was born in Germany just before the war broke out. She started speaking more German as well. I understand some words-enough for what I needed to do. Unfortunately, since Hospice has started providing care, it usually means that her health has taken a severe decline. It’s a tough time for you. Prayers helped me during her finally weeks. Sending peace and hugs.

There are several translation apps for your phone. You may find them useful communicating with your mom.

They translate to english what she says & translate to german your words.

I haven't had this experience, though it makes sense. What immediately jumped to my mind, however, is how hard it is to have a conversation now with my monolingual mother, who has advanced Parkinson's. She has lucid minutes, and I really want to catch them, but not only are they hard to hear, but she normally can't remember what she said (lucid or detached from reality) even moments after she said it.

On one hand, the added difficulty of a language I didn't understand would be so stressful for both of us. On the other, when someone can't remember what they've said from one moment to the next, honestly you might not be able to have enough context even if she spoke only in English (based on my family's experiences recently).

Important things, my mom will come back to them eventually. I guess I'm arguing for patience and very slow, fragmented conversations for both us? And some grace for not understanding, regardless of the language.

Oh, one more thing! I remember reading some research a few years ago that bilingualism and multilingualism may stave off dementia. I hope I'm not in any way diminishing the challenge for you and her, but her bilingualism is now both a communication problem but also may have slowed her cognitive decline.

My husband died from a brain tumor. He had to have surgery for something else and developed a very bad infection and a high fever. During that time he started to hallucinate and talk in gibberish. I was extremely worried, but his neurosurgeon assured me the fever had “exposed” his brain tumor. In other words, his brain had been compensating for his tumor by using other parts of the brain to function and the fever was making it unable to cope. After he was recovered he regained normal function. At that time his doctor told me that people with tumors or other brain issues will often revert to their native language as well because their brain can no longer sort out the secondary language. Your mom’s progressing dementia must be having that same effect.

I have witnessed this reversion to native language in 2 retired Hispanic teachers whose first language was Spanish. As the Dementia progressed, it became necessary to have an interpretor present when the Doctor was asking questions or giving information, as both were answering questions, speaking in Spanish. I would say this is not an uncommon experience in Texas! May I add that both of these very educated women spoke English flawlessly during their years of teaching?

Yes, I posted a question regarding this. My mother is 99 and in a MC. Has reverted to her native language (French) and has forgotten her English. I have made boards with simple word translations for the staff but even when they try to speak to her in French, her attention span is zero. She gets angry at night when they change her for bed and she calls them all kinds of names so it’s a good thing they don’t understand. I go see her every day and we speak French, that’s the only time she has some sort of communication

Yes, this is quite common.

My very smart professor brother studied German in college and learned to speak it fluently about forty years ago. I wonder how much he understands today since he retains so much in his memory what he had learned?

Absolutely! My mother was a language fanatic - mother tongue Dutch, excellent English, good German and French, and as empty-nester went back to college to get BA in Greek and Latin. In the last months of her struggle with dementia (she passed away 2 weeks ago), only Dutch remained. We all kept speaking to her in our various languages inc caretakers, but also in music -- classical music sometimes seems to bring back some English (like a little pilot light in the brain), even though her favorites were German language liederen (think Schubert etc). The brain works in wonderous ways.. and we all do what we can to keep communication lines open

I studied German. One of my professor friends taught at a small university in a rural area. He would send his advanced students to area nursing homes to talk with or interpret for the seniors. He said people reverted to their first language.

CuteTC - Oh, yes! Happening to my 98 yo MIL. She's never been dx with dementia (refuses any tests) but when she's stressed or has the beginnings of a UTI, everything is in German. Funny, not so funny, thing is, most conversations include English and German. She does not realize she is doing this. Keeps us on our toes!