4 ms·
Not questioning the husband's devotion to his wife, but it seems a bit odd to me that he would take an 18 month sabbatical and focus on re-teaching her a langua
by excalibur 8y ago
Not questioning the husband's devotion to his wife, but it seems a bit odd to me that he would take an 18 month sabbatical and focus on re-teaching her a language that keeps slipping out of her mind due to brain injury. You would think that teaching himself German would be the low-hanging fruit.
- cdoxsey 8y agoPresumably she still needs to interact with other English-speaking people.
- i_cant_speel 8y agoRight. I think this is the real reason for teaching her English.
- Raphmedia 8y agoAlso the psychological trauma of no longer being able to speak a language you technically know.
- bostonpete 8y agoThe article doesn't say he took a sabbatical to re-teach her English -- it says he took the sabbatical to support her. It also doesn't say he didn't work on improving his German during that time.
- rconti 8y agoI worked from home for 12 weeks to help my wife recover from a surgery. She initially needed help moving around the house, for her safety, and slept most of the day. Brain injuries are EXTREMELY difficult and time consuming to recover from, far more so than more typical injuries. The woman in the article was almost certainly going through a massive adjustment and needed tons of help. It's not a simple matter of a bump on the leg and shoulder, and whoops, she's living in a country where she doesn't know the language, as if she was a tourist.
- socceroos 8y agoI take ~3 weeks off to help my wife post-baby for the same reasons.
- PakG1 8y agoI imagine there could also be some hope that through "exercise", the brain and nervous system could try to rebuild its former capacity. Physiotherapy for the brain. I imagine that would be a good thing for her health in general. I've read a lot of articles over the years about the possibility, but never read anything conclusive. So it's just hearsay, but I can imagine hanging onto this kind of hope if I were in his shoes. It wouldn't be about communicating with her, it would be about helping her heal and preventing anything from getting worse.
- 2chen 8y agoWhat? It's far more practical to reteach his wife the language she lost, which also happens to be his first language AND the primary language of the country they live it.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoIf she can't retain it, then teaching it to her is not practical, regardless of how useful it would be if she hypothetically learned it. A lesson the American school system could stand to learn too. :/
- jamesgeck0 8y agoThat's not the situation. She did improve significantly, although not to complete recovery.
- macspoofing 8y ago>Not questioning the husband's devotion to his wife But baseless assumptions are ok?
- Aeolun 8y agoI am happy for him he was in a position where he could take an 18 month sabattical. I would be fucked.