Home Life Style I was born and raised in Liverpool with a Scouse accent, but one day I woke up sounding like the Queen due to a rare condition with only 100 known patients.

I was born and raised in Liverpool with a Scouse accent, but one day I woke up sounding like the Queen due to a rare condition with only 100 known patients.

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Liverpool's Rose Griffiths started

A woman who was born and raised in Liverpool has revealed how she woke up one day to find her Scouse accent had disappeared and her voice sounded like that of the Queen.

Rose Griffiths, 74, suffered a stroke in August 2015 during a shift at Asda, suffered a fall and was rushed to hospital.

The widow and mother of two found she was initially unable to speak at all and doctors warned her there was a chance she would never speak again.

But when she started speaking again, Rose had, strangely, developed a Russian accent, which then changed to an Eastern European accent and finally to a German accent.

Eventually, her voice changed to “posh” English, and Rose said she now sounds “like the Queen”, while her Liverpool accent never returned.

Rose was diagnosed with an extraordinarily rare disease, foreign accent syndrome (FAS), of which only 100 cases have been known since the first diagnosis in 1907.

talking to The telegraphHe said: ‘I was born and raised in Liverpool city centre. But now I sound like the Queen. All I can say in my original voice is, “Oh, hey!”‘

talking to The charity of the brainHe added: ‘It’s horrible. Your intellect is there but you can’t say it.

Liverpool’s Rose Griffiths started ‘talking like the Queen’ after suffering a stroke

‘When I started talking, they thought I had a Russian accent. He then switched to an Eastern European accent and then to a German accent.

‘While the accents were strange, my daughters (Lisa, 50, and Kellie, 48) were very happy that I could talk to them again. They were wonderful and never gave up on me.

‘But it can be frustrating: once, someone heard my Eastern European accent and asked me where I was from.

“I couldn’t believe I had to explain that I was from Liverpool, when I had lived there all my life – my Scouse accent was a key part of my identity.

‘I loved chatting to people, but I couldn’t do it anymore. People didn’t want to talk to me because they didn’t understand what I was saying. I felt so alone.

“My Scouse accent has never come back, and I don’t know if it ever will. I don’t sound the same as I used to, people think I sound smarter now.”

“All I wanted to do was talk about Liverpool.”

While strokes are the most common cause of APS, they can also occur after a brain trauma, brain hemorrhage, or brain tumor.

Rose, 74, had woken up with several different accents, including Russian and German.

Rose, 74, had woken up with several different accents, including Russian and German.

Rose was diagnosed with an extraordinarily rare illness: foreign accent syndrome (FAS).

Rose was diagnosed with an extraordinarily rare illness: foreign accent syndrome (FAS).

Foreign accent syndrome: What do we know?

Foreign accent syndrome is a rare disorder in which the patient speaks with an accent different from their natural speaking style.

It is usually the result of a brain or head injury, with strokes being the most common cause.

APS can also occur after a brain trauma, brain hemorrhage, or brain tumor. Other causes have also been reported, including multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder.

It has only been recorded 150 times worldwide since its discovery in 1907.

FAS has been documented in cases around the world, including accent changes from Japanese to Korean, British English to French, and Spanish to Hungarian.

It causes patients to pronounce vowels in different ways, move their tongue and jaw differently while speaking to produce a different sound, and even substitute words for ones they don’t normally use.

In some cases no clear cause has been identified.

Foreign accent syndrome can last for months or years, and sometimes it can even be permanent.

Other causes reported in medical journals include multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder, when someone experiences temporary physical symptoms, such as blindness or paralysis.

Cases have been documented all over the world, including people changing their accent from pure Japanese to Korean-accented Japanese and from British English to French-accented English.

but meIn some cases no clear cause has been identified.

FAS, which is still not well understood, can also last for months or years and sometimes can even be permanent.

Only a handful of people have ever experienced this speech disorder, which usually occurs as a complication of a head injury or stroke.

Rose was also diagnosed with aphasia, which is when someone has difficulty with language or speech.

For Rose, who had previously worked in marketing as a typist and loved doing crossword puzzles, the adjustment was very difficult.

This meant that he often preferred to write things down rather than speak and lost confidence in everyday interactions, such as taking a taxi or going to the shop.

Rose said her experience with FAS was

Rose said her experience with FAS was “horrible” and that people were mean to her.

Rose's voice changed to English.

Rose’s voice changed to “posh” English, and Rose said she now sounds “like the Queen”, while her Liverpool accent never returned.

Over time, Rose taught herself to read and write again and now enjoys singing in a choir with The Brain Charity.

Over time, Rose taught herself to read and write again and now enjoys singing in a choir with The Brain Charity.

Rose said English became “a foreign language” for her and people made fun of her way of speaking.

She said: ‘It was interesting. There were some people who were not very friendly. I was born and raised in the center of the city, so go away. They were horrible.’

Rose continued: ‘The moment I collapsed, my whole world suddenly changed.

‘When I woke up in hospital, my right side was paralyzed and I had lost the ability to walk, talk and write.

‘At first I couldn’t communicate with the outside world at all, which was very frustrating.

‘All I ever wanted to do after my stroke was be able to talk again. Trying to talk and not being able to is a horrible feeling.’

Rose taught herself to read and write again. After speech and language therapy, he redeveloped the confidence to speak in complete sentences and found his voice once again.

Although extremely rare, Rose is not the only case of foreign accent syndrome.

Rose had been volunteering at Asda when she suffered a stroke in August 2015. Pictured volunteering at The Brain Charity.

Rose had been volunteering at Asda when she suffered a stroke in August 2015. Pictured volunteering at The Brain Charity.

Last month, a British woman who developed an Italian accent – despite never having visited the country – told how she felt she had “lost (her) identity”.

Althia Bryden, 58, fears her distinctive new accent has become stagnant after suffering a stroke in May that left her unable to feel the upper right side of her body.

After being rushed to hospital, doctors diagnosed the retired customer service advisor with aphasia and she subsequently underwent surgery in August to remove the blockage in her brain.

But when he woke up from this, he discovered he had a new accent, which doctors suggested was the extraordinarily rare condition foreign accent syndrome (FAS).

The mother-of-two, from Highbury, north London, says she now slips Italian words and gestures such as ‘mamma mia’ and ‘si’ into her conversations without even realizing it.

It means she is only one of the few people who has ever experienced the speech disorder, which usually occurs as a complication of a stroke or head injury.

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