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story identification - Man goes to space, learns alien language but forgets own



I read this short story from an anthology years ago, so I don't remember much of the details. It may have been written in the 50s to 60s.


It involves a man who has to visit a space station or an outpost in space, is exposed to alien writing and gradually ends up being unable to read his own written language. However, he is then able to read the alien writing.


Edit: There are probably more important details I'm missing here. This seems to have taken place in a small outpost/station in space, in a smaller enclosed space.



Answer



I found the story. It's "Stranger Station" by Damon Knight. It has already been asked before and answered.


As I suspected, I was missing some important details when I asked the question. I could recall just the part about forgetting to read his own language (meaningless squiggles on paper).




Now that I have reread it, there does not seem to be any reference to understanding alien writing or spoken language (but it's indicated that he would be able to since he loses the ability to read and understand his own).



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