Foreign accent syndrome: when your accent “mutates” into that of a country you’ve never been to

He foreign accent syndrome it is one of those rare conditions in which we can safely say that the brain is an amazing organ. Since the first description in 1907 100 boxes, although they may be unrecorded. All of them are characterized by the presence change in the speech of patientswho begin to speak words with accents from places they have never been. Usually occurs after injury or strokealthough there were some exceptions.

For example, in 2021, the situation of an Australian woman who began to speak with an Irish accent after tonsil surgery. In addition, another case was recently published in which an American also began to speak like an Irishman after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

It’s not always about Irish accent. There were cases from American to English, from Norwegian to German and even from British to Russian. As a rule, these are accents with which patients are not familiar. Therefore, it does not seem that foreign accent syndrome has anything to do with unconscious imitation. This is something completely different; where, in fact, perception of surrounding sick people. And the fact is that they do not actually speak with the accent of another country. It only seems.

From victim to alleged military spy

One of the most curious cases of foreign accent syndrome occurred with a Norwegian woman who in 1941 he received a head injury fragments of a German shell. Fortunately, he managed to save his life, but shortly after, something strange happened when he left his usual Norwegian accent and began to speak with suspect stop german.

This led to her losing the trust of her neighbors, who began to think that this Nazi spy. As a result, she was expelled from the village where she lived, without being able to explain that in fact she had nothing to do with the Germans.

What is Foreign Accent Syndrome?

At that time, the foreign accent syndrome was already described, but rather as something anecdotal. That’s why no one understood what was happening with that Norwegian.

Over time, new cases have been described. The change in emphasis usually begins shortly after a traumatic brain injury and may remain permanently or disappear as it recovers. so can be fixed or intermittentdepending on the severity of the case. Its origin is not fully described, although some things are clear. And the fact is that these patients do not actually speak with a foreign accent. What happens to them is what they experience change in the mobility of the tongue and jaw. This is what makes them articulate words differently, to the point that others or they themselves can find similarities with accent from another country

A good example is the case of an Australian woman who developed foreign accent syndrome after tonsil surgery. It all started at that time I sang in my soul and although she only knew of the change when some acquaintances heard her speak and told her that she had an Irish accent, she did not think so.

In fact, when she started having this problem, she showed her evolution on TikTok, where many users accused her of being fake. For this, they argued that it was not a realistic Irish accent. But it wasn’t supposed to be, because that’s not what foreign accent syndrome is about.

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Causes other than traumatic brain injury

There have been several cases of foreign accent syndrome in cancer patients. The last one was california man that he began to experience this change in the way he spoke when 20 months had passed since his diagnosis. He stated that he had never been to Ireland and also that he had no head injuries. In fact, the brain MRI he had was completely normal.

yes you saw it his cancer was spreading. So much so that, unfortunately, it led to his death. As the disease progressed, he never once lost his Irish accent, which is why his case was so striking that it was even published in british medical journal.

In this study, his foreign accent syndrome was classified as a consequence of paraneoplastic syndrome. This is the name of all the symptoms that occur in cancer patients, but cannot be explained by the tumor. They arise, for example, for hormonal reasons or are associated with the immune system. And this wouldn’t be unusual, as some cases of foreign accent syndrome have also been linked to these phenomena.

In any case, there are still many mysteries around this curious syndrome. Much more research is needed, but it’s not easy with so few diagnosed cases. At least now we know that she exists and, perhaps, will not cost anyone exile, like that Norwegian. Or maybe, yes, people have an amazing tendency to trip over the same rocks, even though science gives us advice on how not to trip.