A British woman who developed a Swedish accent despite never having visited the country is appealing for help to regain her normal voice.
Georgina Gailey, 60, fears her new, distinctively Nordic accent is “stuck forever” after her way of speaking changed during a phone call with her sister three years ago.
After rushing to hospital fearing she had suffered a stroke, doctors diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome (FAS), an extraordinarily rare condition which Ms Gailey believes is linked to a previous heart attack she suffered.
This means she is only one of a few people who have ever experienced this speech disorder, which usually occurs as a complication of a stroke or head injury.
The mother-of-two, from Hillingdon in Middlesex, says she is now frequently asked if she is from Sweden and now pronounces “yeah” as “ha”.
Georgina Gailey, 60, fears her new distinctive Nordic accent is “stuck forever” after her way of speaking changed during a phone call with her sister three years ago.
Recalling her ordeal, Ms Gailey said: “It’s changed my life, a big part of me is missing. I used to speak very well and now I speak like a Swede. I say ‘ja’ instead of ‘yeah’.”
Recalling her ordeal, she said: ‘It’s changed my life, a big part of me is missing.
‘I used to speak very well and now I sound like a Swede. I say “ja” instead of “yes.”
‘At first I didn’t realize how different I was until I heard the answering machine message.
“It’s very different. People ask me where I’m from and when I tell them I’m English they laugh. They think I’m Swedish.”
He added: “When people laugh, I smile superficially, but inside I feel sad.”
‘I had suffered a heart attack a few months earlier. I was getting better and was getting ready to go back to work.
‘One night, I was FaceTiming with my sister and she noticed I was mixing up my words.
‘I went to the hospital and they thought I had suffered a stroke. They kept me in the hospital for two weeks and then diagnosed me.’
While stroke is the most common cause of fetal alcohol syndrome, it can also occur after trauma to the brain, bleeding in the brain, or a brain tumor.
Other causes reported in medical journals include multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder, when someone experiences temporary physical symptoms, such as blindness or paralysis.
After going to hospital fearing she had suffered a stroke, doctors diagnosed her with foreign accent syndrome (FAS), an extraordinarily rare condition, which Ms Gailey believes is linked to a previous heart attack she suffered.
Ms Gailey said she has visited several neurologists in the hope of regaining her original accent, but fears she may be “stuck” with it “forever”.
Cases have been documented around the world, including cases of people changing their accent from pure Japanese to Japanese with a Korean accent and from British English to English with a French accent.
But IIn some cases no clear cause has been identified. Fetal alcohol syndrome, still poorly understood, can last for months or years and sometimes even be permanent.
No further details about his diagnosis were shared.
Ms Gailey said she has visited several neurologists in the hope of regaining her original accent, but fears she may have it “forever”.
She said: “I don’t know if I’ll have that accent forever. I don’t feel good thinking that I might stay like that forever.”
‘My poor family has to put up with me. The longer I have the accent, the more likely it is to stick.
‘My brain will get used to speaking like this. It’s strange because if I sing, I sound English.
“It changes depending on how many hours I sleep. It’s very strange.”
She hopes that by speaking out she can raise awareness about FAS and encourage more research into the disease.
