Foreign Accent Syndrome

[Champagne]

I never even knew this existed until I read the news this morning!

A 60 year old Geordie woman regained consciousness after having a stroke in March and now speaks in a Jamaican accent. She hadn't even noticed the difference until a speech therapist played her a tape!

Foreign Accent Syndrome was first discovered in Norway in 1941when a young woman started to speak in a German accent after an air raid.

Has anyone else ever heard of this? Any sufferers? I find that when I'm around Liverpudlians I start to mimic their accents. Does this count?

[dot.hawkes]

well i know Champagne but was she speaking Norwegian or German? lol It would be amazing if she woke up speaking a foreign language she had never spoken before, but if she woke up with a german accent but was still speaking Norwegian, how did they know it was a german acccent and not say, a Polish accent? I am being thick aren't I? i have missed something. :(

[Champagne]

I think it means that she still spoke Norwegian but with a German accent. She wasn't possessed by a German or anything!!

And I'm sure many Norwegians would be able to differentiate between a German and Polish accent, just as an Englishman could differentiate if somebody English started speaking with a German accent. But a Norwegian probably wouldn't be able to distinguish somebody speaking English but with a German accent.

Do you get my point?

[dot.hawkes]

yes, I think so lol :)

[jake-the-peg]

They had her on Radio 4 this morning.

She spent most of her life in Canada so didn't have much of a Geordie accent in the first place.

It sounded pretty strange mix of accents not recognisably anything - I guess it was a bit Jamacian but I thought it sounded more Welsh!

There's a link off of news.bbc.co.uk on the right hand side .

[Champagne]

Well she has been undergoing speech therapy since March, Jake.

[jake-the-peg]

You don't suppose her speech therapist was from Cardiff do you?

[supermodel]

lol i know the way they sed it was like it happened every day

''yes she suffers from accent changeitus'' or watever it was lol

watch out bang ur conker an u cud end up german lol

[Pippa68]

LMAO jake!

[Kate77]

i think my cousins wife woke from a stroke a non-vegetarian. Before her stroke she was one! Strange!!

[janetiqua]

This syndrome has happened to me in the past. In 1989, friends noticed that when I was tipsy I developed a strange accent. It closely resembled a strong Northern Irish accent and I became more and more skillful in its delivery as time went on. Being a Lancashire lass with no connection to anybody from that region, people started to think I was doing it either for attention or that I was losing the plot. It gradually got worse and peaked about twelve months later. Occurring, not only when I'd had a drink but when I got excited or angry. Then it became uncontrollable and became my everyday accent for about two months. I was working in the retail industry at that time and being in the public eye found myself researching areas and history of Northern Ireland, to pretend I was from there if asked, as it seemed the easiest explanation. This enigma gradually subsided about eighteen months later. In the year 2000, I was diagnosed with Mutiple Sclerosis, through other symptoms coming to light. Apparently this foreign accent syndrome is known throughout the MS community. So please do not ridicule this lady or doubt her as she has had a stroke and as it is now medical fact although rare, should be treated as so. Thank you for reading this quite long explanation, and I hope it helps with any misunderstandings. Keep well, cool, and happy, Janetiqua.