The Women Who Woke Up with Foreign Accents

Imagine waking up one morning and not sounding like yourself. In fact sounding like someone from an entirely different country. I’ve just spent a few fascinating days with three otherwise normal women who have the medical world completely stumped. one day I felt sick the next they were jabbering away with thick foreign accents one can now pass for Russian, another has developed a French lilt, the third sounds Chinese. It’s called foreign accent syndrome and it’s a condition that’s as rare as it is strange.

On the New South Wales Mid North Coast the accents are characteristically Australian, but one local sports stands out. Cindy Hastings is fourth-generation Australian. She’s never been to Europe, but you’d swear she was born there such as her thick Eastern European accent. Where do you think she is from? I’d say probably it’s interesting that you will perceive it that way, because I’m actually Iranian. Oh okay, I’m born Sydney and Australia all my life. Oh well Cindy is a victim of the curious condition known as foreign accent syndrome. It’s rare. Its causes vary but all those affected literally wake up one day sounding exotically different… (Please watch the entire video to find out the rest of the story)

Source: 60 Minutes Australia Channel on Youtube