An American woman has the rare Foreign Accent Syndrome. The woman, Michelle Myers, 45, said that she went to bed with a "blinding headache" and woke up with a British accent. She has had the accent since 2015. Ms Myers has woken up speaking accents before. She was totally perplexed at speaking with an Australian or Irish accent. These lasted two weeks but the UK accent has remained. Myers said her condition was "really difficult to begin with". She said: "It was hard because I was really struggling. I have come to terms with the fact that I might sound like this forever."
Foreign Accent Syndrome usually occurs after strokes or brain injuries that damage the brain's language center. It varies in how much it affects someone's accent. In some cases, someone's language sounds like it has a hint of a foreign accent; in other cases, rhythm and stress can totally change. The condition was first documented in 1907 by a French neurologist. It is a relatively rare condition, with just 60 cases being documented over the past century. One of these was a Japanese stroke patient who woke up sounding Korean, even though he had never been to Korea.