An American woman has been diagnosed the rare Foreign Accent Syndrome. The woman, Michelle Myers, 45, said that 2015 she went to bed a "blinding headache" and woke with a British accent. The accent has remained her ever since. Ms Myers said she has woken up speaking a variety accents before. She was totally perplexed waking up and speaking with an Australian or Irish accent. These disappeared two weeks but the UK accent has remained. Myers told journalists that she found her condition, "really difficult to begin ". She said: "It was hard because I was really struggling. I have come to terms the fact that I might sound like this forever. I realize it's part of me now."
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a disorder that typically occurs strokes or traumatic brain injuries that damage the language center of our brain. It varies the degree to which it affects someone's language and accent. In some cases, someone's native language sounds like it is tinged a foreign accent; other instances, rhythm, stress and pronunciation can completely change. The condition was first documented 1907 by French neurologist Pierre Marie. It is a relatively rare condition. Only 60 cases FAS have been documented over the past century. One these was a Japanese stroke patient who woke sounding Korean, even though he had never been to Korea.
