I’ve always been conscious of my accent. In 1996, when I was eight, my family relocated from Kent to Stamford, Lincolnshire, and my estuary accent stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone sounded so northern to me and I was teased for my “EastEnders voice”. I also struggled to copy accents. When I was 14, we went to Lanzarote, and I made friends with two girls from Liverpool and Birmingham. My attempts to emulate their accents left my family in hysterics. “You sound ridiculous,” my dad laughed.
I kept my Kent accent through my adult life. Then in 2022, I developed functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition that disrupts how the brain communicates with the body. It caused mobility issues and seizures, but I would also sometimes develop a temporary vocal tic or slurred speech. So it didn’t come as a huge surprise when, one day in June 2023, I woke up and my voice sounded different. I assumed it would pass, but two days later I still sounded strange. My neighbour said to me: “You sound just like my aunt. She’s from south Wales.”
At first, the accent wasn’t that recognisable. I thought it sounded more Germanic, and assumed it would disappear, but it became more pronounced. I didn’t have any difficulty in speaking; my voice was loud and clear. It was just very, very Welsh. My friends and family found it hilarious. I’ve never visited Wales. I’ve never even seen Gavin and Stacey.
After two weeks, I went to the doctor, but it took months before I was finally diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome – a speech disorder that causes a sudden change to a person’s accent, usually after a traumatic brain injury or a stroke. But they couldn’t find a trigger for my sudden change.
Although I tried to find the funny side, it upset me at first, and caused many difficulties. My own family didn’t recognise me when I phoned. I was worried my children’s school wouldn’t believe they were really speaking to me if they had to call me in an emergency, so I went in and explained in person. My bank has voice recognition as a security feature, and trying to explain my accent was a challenge. The cashier was confused. “Can’t you put your old accent on?” she asked, before concluding, “You’d probably best avoid telephone banking.”
Because my accent is so strong, people always ask me about it. I’ll go to a restaurant or a shop and someone will ask: “Where in Wales are you from?” They often don’t believe me when I say I’ve never even visited. I toyed with the idea of just saying “Cardiff”, but decided it’s better to tell the truth. Often, people laugh in my face when I tell them I just woke up with this accent, but when they realise I’m being serious, they don’t know what to say. It’s awkward.
I started posting about my condition to raise awareness. I’ve discovered a community of people affected by FND and set up a WhatsApp group. There’s a lady from Kent with an eastern European accent who has been instrumental in keeping my spirits up.
While I don’t think I’ve been reborn, I do think my accent has affected my personality. The gentle, lilting accent has helped me be calmer when I’m stressed. I used to be quite shy, but now people are so interested in my accent I find myself speaking quite happily about it. Most people are lovely, but some think I’m making it up. One person even accused me of secretly being Welsh and faking videos of my old accent. I try to ignore nasty comments.
I’ve since spoken with a professor of neurology, who believes my brain has probably triggered the accent as a way of dealing with my FND. The specific way it controls the muscles in my face makes my accent manifest as Welsh – it’s all to do with how your tongue and mouth move. I don’t have nearly as many problems with slurred speech since my accent changed – somehow this is just easier for my brain. Though when my speech starts slurring again, my accent temporarily returns to my old English one.
I would like to visit Wales one day. Now I’m used to it, I really like my Welsh accent. I don’t think it’s going anywhere, so it might be nice to visit a place where everyone sounds like me. People have suggested I should learn the Welsh language – who knows, maybe it will come naturally to me.
• As told to Heather Main
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