Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign Accent Syndrome

Author: Kate

Editor: Selina

Have you wondered why sometimes people with American English accents develop British accents? This may seem bizarre, but there exists a scientific explanation. This phenomenon is caused by a rare motor speech disorder called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). 

Despite the misleading name, this isn’t an accent change. It’s a rare brain-related condition that affects the ability to produce sounds correctly. They way you talk shifts and changes in a way that’s very noticeable. In other words, it sounds like talking with a foreign accent. Simply, FAS causes a change in how a person makes certain sounds. FAS is extremely rare, having only around 100 confirmed cases since 1907. 

The most common cause of FAS is brain damage caused by a traumatic brain injury or a stroke. 

With FAS, a person is still most likely able to speak in full sentences without messing up the order of words. The only difference will be what their accent sounds like. Some of the accent switches caused by FAS that have been reported include American English to British, Japanese to Korean, and Spanish to Hungarian.

FAS can also cause certain speech changes such as small errors in how you pronounce a word. For example, instead of saying “ball,” the word you speak might sound like “pall.” People might also use filler words such as “uh” a lot more when they speak. 

What does it affect?

• Talking speed

• Pitch and tone

• Articulation

• Stressing of syllables (e.g. which syllables are emphasized and which ones are not)

• Inflections 

Symptoms

• Talking more slowly

• Longer pauses mid-sentence

• Drawing out certain sounds longer than necessary

• Substituting sounds (ex. Saying “fumb” instead of “thumb”)

• Slurring or having trouble clearly enunciating sounds 

• Making sounds in the wrong order 

With FAS, some treatments can help revert a person's accent back to their native one. However, FAS may be permanent for some. Speech and language therapy can help manage symptoms to a certain extent. This can include:

• Learning how to move the lips and jaws when speaking

• Mental health counseling to help adjust to the changes caused by FAS 

Works Cited

“Foreign Accent Syndrome - a Known Condition That Only Sounds Unfamiliar.” Cleveland Clinic, 2 June 2025, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25242-foreign-accent-syndrome-fas. 

“What Is Foreign Accent Syndrome?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/brain/foreign-accent-syndrome. Accessed 6 June 2025.