Australian man wakes up from coma speaking perfect Mandarin: VIDEO

An Australian man was left in a coma after suffering in a near fatal car crash. When he woke up, a strange thing happened - he was speaking fluent Mandarin.

English-speaking Ben McMahon, 22, says he woke up and saw a nurse who looked Asian standing by his bed and said to her, 'Excuse me nurse, I feel really sore here' in Chinese.

McMahon then asked the nurse for a piece of paper and pen and he wrote on it in Mandarin: "I love my mum, I love my dad, I will recover."

He does have a background in Mandarin though, he learnt it in High School but he was not fluent in it.

"I wasn't consciously thinking I was speaking Mandarin, it was what just came out and it was what was most natural to me," he said.

He has now been able to capitalize on his new found ability. Ben's language skills have opened up new opportunities for him including leading Chinese tours of his hometown and even hosting a Mandarin television program.