When People Get Different Accents

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What if one day you woke up and were suddenly speaking with a completely new accent from somewhere you’ve never lived? It sounds like a movie plot, but this rare condition is known as foreign accent syndrome.
Hosted by: Brit Garner
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[@SciShowPsych]

Go to curiositystream.com/psych to start streaming Science Stories of 2018. Use the promo code ‘psych’ during the sign-up process to get your first 31 days free!

[@0000song0000]

Who to go to get a diagnosis. I do switch to a Spanish accent. (To the point I confuse Spaniards) Recently got a new diagnosis as Bipolar (previously MDD)

[@uss_04]

That awkward moment you binge watch a show with people with accents, and people start noting you’re speaking weird after it.

[@nehakiran525]

Yes... noticed that. Is that a psychological phenomena?

[@Belboz99]

I've done this as well, about 15 years ago I started listening to Virgin Radio out of the UK, and I'm from the USA. After a month I could differentiate the callers coming from different parts of the UK and it's colonies, but then I had to stop because I started thinking in a British accent. My sister actually called me out for calling our mom "mum" but then our mum piped up and said she liked it, so she's still me mum. But yeah, I watch a few episodes of Doctor Who and it all comes right back.

[@starsareawesome96]

My son watched peppa pig as a toddler.. Now he has a British accent.. he's Mexican 😂 I think it's cute tho ❤️ he's 5 now. I wonder if he will grow out of it since he doesn't watch it anymore.

[@bibicute942000]

Me after binge watching "The Crown"

[@FaerieDust]

Oh man, having a German accent in Norway in the 40s would not have been a pleasant experience :S

[@jangambler9998]

What is it zat you are saying? Won't you agree zat it is ze superior choice of accent, ya?

[@lindaedvardsson4218]

Noo.. its not a very ”outgoing” and ”social” disorder tho...Funny.. Im from sweden and had this in a german accent too..bitten by the same tick, maybe.!?...😧😌..naa.. either way, it slowly lapped over with my own voice to disappearence about 2 weeks later... a extremely weird time of my life, for sure. Probaby caused by extreme days oflyme seizures🙄💚... ooh My, nearly wrote You a whole novel😌😬.Take care... bye👋🏼😃🇸🇪//Linda E//

[@laura987123]

I didn't realize this was so rare, a friend of mine started speaking with a French-Canadian accent after a stroke. It's actually really sad how many people think she's "faking it for attention", it always amazes me how ignorant people can be when it comes to mental illness and other things involving the brain. No one ever automatically assumes someone wearing a cast is just "pretending they broke there arm for attention" or calls a diabetic a drug addict for having an "insulin dependency".

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

i damaged my ankle from a severe sprain and just about every day a annoying jock thought that i was switching legs each day i wanted to beat him with the crutches that i had to use every day for 3 months years ago i hope your friend gets better, does their 'internal Voice' sound like their current voice? like when they read

[@laura987123]

@@VincentGonzalezVeg Oh wow what an awful person,it's so bizarre to think there's people that ignorant in the world. As for my friends internal voice I'm actually not sure? I wouldn't be comfortable asking as I'm sure she's sick of the comments/questions about it and doesn't want a reminder. It happened a couple years ago now so she's recovered for the most part, as much as you can from a stroke anyway, she's doing pretty well but still struggles with some cognitive issues such as the "accent".

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

@@laura987123 ive done some work in choir, and one way we would work warm up our voices we would loudly and clearly sing "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog" "Mayo mayo mayo neyyyyss" going up and down in pitch and altering the annunciation of each letter to better control our voices and feel how we are singing, what frequencies we want to allow people to hear and variations to our accent and emotional emphasis i have issues with voice control because i have some sort of a California accent so praticing an emotionless voice is good for technology where you start with your first Syllable with a smile and the second with a frown i hope you and your friend have enjoyable lives and a good day

[@yusefendure]

"em-PHA-sis of each sy-LLA-ble" lol!!!

[@golfgrabu]

My 2 daughters are autistic and the oldest (that speaks Québécois French just like me and her mom) sometimes speaks with a French from France accent when she's nervous or didn't sleep well.....

[@Pile_of_carbon]

Autism spectrum disorder is fascinating. I teach shop class for autistic kids and the quirk (I loath calling it a handicap) can go either way and anywhere in between. I count some of them among the most amazing people I'll likely ever meet.

[@appleslover]

What is the deffrence between french french and canadian french?

[@davidbrelu-brelu7118]

@@appleslover well accents are vastly different. And some words change too.

[@phillip2169]

@@appleslover like any accent the stressing or pronunciation of syllables/words. The French say oui like 'we' the Quebecois like 'wah'. It's more noticeable if you learn French outside Quebec/northern Ontario or interact with both peoples

[@copypaste3526]

Dominique Hamel You should tell her that that‘s a good thing that she's able to speak proper french. She might even could learn to speak foreign languages better. Sounds like a trait you should encourage.

[@Brainstorm69]

How amazingly weird can the brain be. You get such intense migraines that you start speaking with what sounds like a foreign accent.

[@ExploringWithLagz]

Lol

[@Aconitum_napellus]

Migraines are fascinating and weird to begin with, my friend had a migraine that caused her to be unable to talk and to have what appeared to be spasms in her limbs.

[@Brainstorm69]

@@Aconitum_napellus sorry to hear that. Not something you wish for anyone. I consider myself lucky to never have had a migraine before.

[@Aconitum_napellus]

@@Brainstorm69 They really are something you would rather not have. For years I used to only get the aura without migraine pain but then as I got into adulthood I myself got the full migraine experience. As far as I'm aware my friend has not had a similar attack again.

[@Brainstorm69]

@@Aconitum_napellus I hope it's not too often. All the best.

[@Iruka1991]

Are we supposed to see a butterfly? Becouse I'm seeing a hellish vampire moth

[@sdfkjgh]

Marcos Bustos: IsThisAPigeon.meme

[@Queen.Symone]

I see a bulldog face

[@IceMetalPunk]

I saw a moth, too.

[@jessice293]

Marcos Bustos it looked like a vertebrae to me...

[@StarshadowMelody]

Welcome to inkblots.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

I see why Hank didn't do this one, John would have never let him live it down

[@woodfur00]

What do you mean?

[@JoshuaHillerup]

@@woodfur00 John frequently brings up the time Hank had a "British accent" for like a year in highschool

[@woodfur00]

Joshua Hillerup Huh, news to me. Can you maybe suggest an example?

[@JoshuaHillerup]

@@woodfur00 many many episodes of Dear Hank and John. I don't have a specific episode for you though

[@abbieg4001]

@@JoshuaHillerup I know this was three months ago, but the most recent episode.

[@joshuaamy3010]

If I'm working very hard to understand someone's accent that I'm having a conversation with, sometimes I unintentionally will adopt the accent when I say something. Probably not this, but awkward nonetheless when we both notice it

[@AnkhAnanku]

Joshua Amy I do the exact same thing!! I’ve always hypothesized that I was instinctively “code switching” to establish a sense of sympathetic familiarity, but then they ask me where I’m from and it gets embarrassing since I have to admit I’ve basically been mimicking them. That doesn’t explain all the other situations I’ve slipped into accents completely unrelated to anyone I’m talking to. Maybe I’m just autistic...

[@moved1885]

Me too! I remember once my gigi took me to a friend's house. (the lady had some kind of accent) As we talked, she eventually asked me if I was a foreign exchange student. I had to say no. I'd never left my country.

[@sarahgallichon5609]

@@AnkhAnanku It doesn't work that way but if you're curious, consult a psychologist. Things like ticks, aversion to contact, sensitivity to noise, smell, touch and light and inability to identify emotions are big signs of it

[@AnkhAnanku]

Sarah Gallichon I actually already know I’m close to but not quite on the spectrum. It’s a recurring joke that I’m always two criteria short of fitting into any one strict diagnosis Psychology is fascinating, though a bit muddy between what is “normal” and what isn’t

[@AuntBibby]

i speak klingon with a hawaiian accent

[@bobbiusshadow6985]

.. then woke up speaking Vulcan with a French accent.

[@Karnex1]

3:16 ''Hit or miss'' My brain: I guess they never miss, huh?

[@mewrin]

i was waiting for someone to make that comment

[@benjamimapancake6429]

I have ASD. I know that it's not as long as Foreign Accent Syndrome, but if I'm nervous I can involuntarily slip into a new accent until I stop talking and recooperate.

[@taylorlynn5345]

Which accent? Any idea why?

[@obamadonald5052]

What's ASD?

[@thetux459]

I once woke up from anesthesia with an English accent that faded after 15 minutes or so. I had wondered if it was due to priming, as i had been listening to Jim Sterling's videos inbthe waiting room for hours.

[@unpaintedcanvas]

Just as long as you didn't start talking like the cornflake humonculus...

[@thetux459]

@@unpaintedcanvas Actually I was more stuck in doing my Robin Leech, Lifestyles of the Rick and Famous, voice

[@Robstar100]

it could be that your tongue was so numb you couldn't pronounce an r at the end of a word and you could only pronounce it like an englishmen otherwise (somewhere between a w and a v), and if you couldn't pronounce an a (as in "add") correctly and it become more of an a (as in "comma") then that would make you sound english already, and if you pronounced (o as in "pot") much higher up in your mouth to try and counteract how numb you were then you'd sound even more english. all in all we learned an english accent is someone who's very numb

[@TT-RR]

I'm autistic and it's not uncommon for my accent to change during conversations. it doesn't happen everytime but it's no surprise when it dose. I also have cerebral palsy. while it mostly effects my hands and lower back, my speech is also effected by the occasional muscle spasm . so I would not be surprise if Foreign accent syndrome can be linked to CP as well.

[@benjamimapancake6429]

I have ASD, and I sometimes slip into a new accent as well. It's super weird, I can't change back unless I stop talking and recooperate.

[@kaiceecrane3884]

It is very commom for autistics, it is also common when we hear an accent ours change and mimic it. It is part of echolalia

[@benjamimapancake6429]

Thanks! I didn't know that there was a term.

[@Belboz99]

@@kaiceecrane3884 Yeah, I always thought it was a kind of mimicry. I'm on the spectrum and I've noticed I often incorporate things I've heard into my usual speech far more than my peers, often obscure things that just got stuck in my craw even many years ago... But often I say them as I heard them, accent and all.

[@OpZeroFilms]

My accent flips sometimes too. Possibly on spectrum, was diagnosed bipolar at one point. Now its PDDNOS. . ..

[@seratheeducatedfeline4227]

The HTTYD reference though. Really interesting too.

[@jkell5284]

Is there something similar to this where you pick up an accent easily? I spent two weeks in Ireland, when I was 19, and came back with a rich Irish accent that took me a week to get rid of. I couldn’t control it and had to really concentrate to make it go away.

[@southhill6667]

I'm Norwegian and often I'll suddenly switch to a Scottish-sounding accent. Always attributed it to me moving all around the country growing up, picking up a mixed dialect (Norway has like fifteen dozen dialects or summat).

[@rimlix939]

SouthHillVR, Is it possible that perhaps you have been a victim of severe head shrapnel?

[@lemonade_011]

Might of been A Geordie accent because a Similar thing happened to me when I spoke, it was a Norwegian Accent so 🤷🏻‍♂️.

[@goatmeal5241]

So you're saying if I want a great new accent for my D&D character, I should give myself head trauma until I get the right one?

[@Aconitum_napellus]

Yes! Absolutely.

[@KevAlberta]

Yep. When you feel like enough trauma has been caused, hit your head one more time to make sure.

[@StarshadowMelody]

Sorry to co-opt your joke to give Actual Honest Advice, but if you're looking to mimic an accent I'd advise listening to people who speak with that accent and voiceclips thereof. If you already knew this, good for you.

[@saulo4302]

Try to give your character the same traumas, method acting!

[@ladyraven3418]

Thank you for not mentioning a "cure" when speaking about Autism. Kind of refreshing these days. (Also a reinforcement of the credibility of this channel.) Been binge-ing this channel, and you can count me as another subscriber!

[@helmaschine1885]

... I've never in my life heard anyone talking about a cure to neurological disorders like autism and ADHD. I knew even in 4th grade that it had ro do with the way the brain was "built", and that all the one kid in my class with ADHD could do was try to learn to manage the symptoms with some aid from medications he was getting weaned off. . Do you live in a backwards society without public knowledge of common disorders or something?? I'm seriously shocked to hear people think of disabilities and neurological issues as diseases like the flu or something. Sounds like some very ignorant and frankly stupid people.

[@JalnorTheGreat]

I was disappointed at her use of the word "therapy" in that part, though, which usually doesn't mean "time away from judgemental neurotypicals"

[@JalnorTheGreat]

Nessie, it's a disturbingly common idea that you can use "therapy" to "cure" people of differences like autism, homosexuality or being transgender. It's based on the barbaric notion that people who aren't "normal" are wrong and need to be brainwashed to talk and act like everyone else no matter how much suffering it causes them.

[@MsStaceysclass]

Nessie, Autism is so stigmatized that most neurotypicals dread having an Autistic kid. They are desperate for a "cure" so their kid will no longer be like (I guess the thinking is) held hostage by the terrible "disease" of autism. That's the way many parents of Autistics have talked about it among themselves for a long time, and it informed the messaging of Autism Speaks, spreading the stigma further. This is why Autistic self-advocates and allies advocate for a shift away from the disease paradigm of Autism to an identity paradigm.

[@ladyraven3418]

@@helmaschine1885 Not sure where you're from, but you're lucky. Here in the USA, at least, there are some crazies that would rather have a dead child than an Autistic child. Also, there are some nutjob "cures" that were recently in the news, that included buying bleach to pour down their autistic child's throat as a cure. Google it. Amazon banned the selling of this "cure." Truly, I am gladdened to hear that you are from a sane, rational society. We have a LONG way to go here. (and attitudes in the UK aren't that much better, from what I've been reading)

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Very interesting video. Some years ago I heard a news story of someone that had a stroke and promptly began speaking with a British accent. Rather strange side effect. Had this happened a few centuries ago, the stroke victim might have been burned as being possessed or being demonic. Something to think about, and how far we've come.

[@mokimon5079]

>first year psych >"The Broca's area, usually in the left hemisphere" >Usually???

[@themasongreenexperience7011]

Some left-handed people, but not all, have the usual brain anatomy reversed (so that the Broca’s area is on the right instead).

[@mokimon5079]

@@themasongreenexperience7011 that would make more sense than JUST the Broca's area being on the opposite side, and everything else being usual

[@raphael.cavalcanti3301]

Interesting, I'm autistic and my accent is pretty different from my peers', but I think that's because I didn't socialise very much and watched a lot of films and cartons instead

[@pencilfriendpaperscribbler6032]

Raphael Cavalcanti Thinking back on it, my teenage Jane Austen years probably were fairly annoying, you've made a better choice!

[@merlinthelemurian3197]

And studied music apparently as well

[@thecreature7608]

Thank you for that how to train your dragon refrence. Love the franchise, but that has always been a bit odd. The video topic is really interesting and well made as well

[@HotCoals]

As a West-Coast Canadian, I do find myself sometimes switching to a (Texan?) southern accent. It happens a lot after I jokingly say a phrase in it, and then it's a darn pain to turn it off.

[@kruzell]

My principle had this!! One morning during an assembly he came up and started speaking in this thick Russian accent. Apparently a few years back he fell off his bike and hit his head really hard. I had no idea that this was rare.

[@lucisangelum]

i get so excited to see you're hosting the video, haha. you're very charismatic!!

[@SJrad]

If something happened that caused me to get foreign accent syndrome, it better be Australian or Scottish

[@Aconitum_napellus]

My friend who is Australian developed foreign accent syndrome and now he sounds like he comes from New Zealand.

[@OftenEllinor]

Oof, I'd like to sound Irish 👉🏼😎👉🏼

[@dominantasmr578]

I like talking in Russian, German, and Australian accents the most. I’m Japanese.

[@aniketrodge8159]

I want to teach my Japanese friend to pronounce L :/

[@rex.2053]

Im ded

[@melitopiia4730]

@@aniketrodge8159 Have you tried describing how it is pronounced? It's pressing your tongue up to the alveolar ridge and blowing air at the sides

[@aniketrodge8159]

@@melitopiia4730 well I think I will need to start from describing what alveolar ridge is probably translate it to japanese if a words exist and then some practice

[@melitopiia4730]

​@@aniketrodge8159 Nice. You could describe it as a bump behind the teeth, if that's possible.

[@NewMessage]

It's a-me! New Messagio!

[@merlinthelemurian3197]

Lolwut

[@johnyliltoe]

I've gotten stuck in accents before, though always manage to get back to normal. It'd be odd being unable to switch back...

[@scotthenrie5674]

I wonder why people from another country continue to have an accent even after being in the country speaking a different language for several years of decades. I have friends in several countries and their English sounds normal to me.

[@johnyliltoe]

@@scotthenrie5674 If my sources are accurate, I can't be bothered to double check at the moment, part of an accent is physical. During the early stages of life, I believe up until the age of 5, the sounds we make form the shape of our upper pallet. As it hardens our particular way of speaking becomes more concrete. Supposedly when a child comes from a bilingual family they will never quite sound like a fully native speaker of either dialect for this reason. Likewise, it's an uphill battle to mimic the accent of any location you weren't raised in.

[@scotthenrie5674]

@@johnyliltoe interesting, my brother spent 2 years in the Dominican Republic and had to know Spanish. People who are from countries where Spanish is the main language ask if he is from one of those places, because he doesn't sound like a foreigner using an accent. Also, when I speak the very little Spanish I know to a friend in Peru, she said I don't have an accent. I still can't roll the letter R. 😓

[@scotthenrie5674]

@@johnyliltoe oh yeah! I forgot to say that the way we know where someone is from based on their face is because how we speak changes its shape.

[@Asteel94231]

I was imitating a Russian accent for a few minutes, and for a minute I was unable to stop.

[@ChaosGremlin17]

This is now my science channel..they referenced HTTYD, I now love them.

[@morgansmith334]

For me it’s more like I’ll talk but then randomly a sentence or word would be said differently.

[@sdfkjgh]

Morgan Smith: E. Henry Thripshaw's disease.

[@RaeWakefield]

You should do a catch up video where you put together a montage of all’s kinds of 2014/15 or 16 videos where you say “maybe in the future we know more about this” and update us on how much research there has been done on those things and what we know now.

[@HellMasterRod]

Something similar happened to me. About 8 years ago I went to live in Chile to pursue a Master's degree, I was born in Mexico City and lived there my entire life up to that point. Even though both Mexico and Chile have Spanish as official language, when I first arrived at Chile I had a hard time understanding the local accent and noticed people had a hard time understanding my accent as well. So after some time living there I got better at understanding them and also noticed most people understood me better. What I didn't realize at the time was that my accent actually changed and now people assume I'm a foreigner anywhere I go. Several years have passed but it is still a common situation that when I meet new people they always ask where am I from. I just assumed my accent changed because of some kind of adaptation process and just never changed back but after watching this I now wonder if what happened is actually brain damage of some sort.

[@DrewTrox]

This kind of happened to me. Long ago, I was dying to see Shaun of the Dead. I got the DVD from the UK before the movie released in America. I loved it, watching it multiple times on my own and showing it to friends. This sent me on a huge British comedy binge. I watched Spaced, the original Office, all of Eddie Izzard's specials, etc. Then one day, while playing Call of Duty Multiplayer, one of my teammates asked me: "Hey where in Britain are you from?" That's when I realized I had been speaking in a British accent the whole match. I took a break from my British exposure. The accent would pop up here and there, but it faded pretty quick once I was conscious of it.

[@BriefBrainSnacks]

My "science accent" is always a little over my friends' heads and way more enthusiastic than they expect.

[@ren3989]

Two twins with autism that work with me and have lived in America their entire lives, have no foreign parents, and have never been out of the country both have British accents and have since they started talking. I wonder if that’s why! They thought it was just a developmental issue with their hearing growing up but this syndrome would make much more sense!

[@somedude172]

me and my brother both started stuttering when we each started puberty, and my accent got extremely southern. ive always been a lil country but it got way worse, and still is like 7 years later. i was already pretty sure were both autistic too bc we have a lot of the other traits n stuff, so this video was super interesting!

[@zigalkodonverven3862]

I do this because it helps me read multiple characters. Sometimes it takes a minute or more for me to exit an accent. When projecting my voice, I say "eight" like I'm some singer from Liverpool.

[@glanni]

Years ago I used to have migrane quite occasionally, and when I did I was slurring very hard. Sometimes the symptoms started in class, and remember once my teacher couldn't even understand what I'm saying because she had never seen it happen like this before. I never had an accidental accent from what I know, but it was more like a very sloppy speech because my tongue wasn't doing much, and I had troubles pronouncing hard consonants (my first language is German, and as you know there are *only* hard consonants)

[@FarhanAli-qo9we]

1:03 syl-LAB-le... that just hurt lol

[@andromedagalaxy4268]

I'm American and I often get an unexplainable Canadian accent, it's not too dramatic but I still never knew why it happened. I always just thought it was because I wanted to sound more 'polite' when speaking to people, or something like that. But, I was recently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and I never even knew that this was a thing! This may possibly explain why I get this accent, which is super interesting to me. Amazing video! 😊

[@reluctantlyme2255]

Can you guys do an episode on paracosm if you get the chance? A friend on mine recently confided in me about his paracosm and I've been trying to learn as much as I can about it to support him, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot... Also loved the episode!

[@thiagozequim]

I have an autistic friend. Before she even knew she was autistic I noticed her accent is different from the place where we're from, like from no place, completely new and hers, which I love

[@samanthabeaty4578]

I used to speak with an English or Australian accent whenever I experienced really bad social anxiety. I'm not really sure why, but it made me feel more at ease.

[@angerona7366]

Brit, thank you for the "A View From The Top" reference. That is one of the best lines in the history of movies

[@lewisho8114]

1:35 i sometimes see THE SHAPE OF HK IN CLOUDS! !

[@isabela.marino]

I was concussed a couple of years ago and wasn't diagnosed right away so I didn't take care of myself. Now sometimes when I speak too much the words get muddled and rounded in my mouth and it sounds like some variety of "British". I thought it was a weird me thing!!

[@scotthenrie5674]

I'm glad the Broca's area of my brain wasn't damaged when I fell off a 30 foot cliff and landed flat on a large rock, my forehead at the left eyebrow hit the rock.

[@xxXthekevXxx]

I once kinda took on a Vietnamese-American accent when speaking with my Vietnamese-American stepmom, but when I caught myself doing it I immediately stopped to avoid offending her

[@sarahpearson7111]

I’ve had multiple head injuries and after my 4th one I started speaking in a really good British accent. It went away after a couple days but everyone around me thought I was faking it. Every once in a while it slips back but I don’t realize it. It just sounds like I’m slurring my words. Usually a couple hours later when it’s gone someone will ask if I had a bad migraine because I was speaking with the British accent. I’m really bad speaking in accents so I always thought it was weird.

[@kristalmatt6527]

I'm Aussie and one day I randomly started to get an accent, now my accent changes throughout the day. Usually sounding like I'm from New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland or somewhere in the UK. Nearly everyday I'll have a customer ask where I'm from 🤦 My accent changes dramatically and can change several times within just a few sentences 🤷

[@Beutimus]

Here I was hoping this would explain why I subconsciously adopt the accent of people I hang out with

[@waywardtidessystem845]

Sometimes a get a foreign accent, but it doesn’t stay. I can’t control it, and it usually doesn’t last over an hour.

[@paintingstarss]

When I was 15 I (raised in NY, normally have a very neutral American accent) for about a week I suddenly started speaking in a Southern accent and genuinely could not stop unless I focused really, really hard on it. I would think it was just mimicry, like when I hung out with a British person I started using her accent when I wasn't thinking, but I wasn't with anyone with the accent I was using. It hasn't happened since....brains are weird!

[@carpedorio9691]

I was expecting you to talk about that Australian man who had a blow to his head, and woke up speaking clear chinese. If I remember correctly, this happened around 2014/2015.

[@CharliStar]

A friend I have had since a mid-teen has a different kind of foreign accent issue... We are from around London in the UK, if she spends even 2-3 months of time with someone with a fairly noticeable accent (it doesn’t need to even be a very strong accent either - it also doesn’t matter if they’re from another country or just from a different part of the UK - she will subconsciously/unknowingly start to pick up their accent... it’s also only when pointed out to her, that she ever realises she has done it again 😋

[@mikaelahobart8237]

I'm autistic and often get told I've switched to a different accent or even to a cartoony voice without knowing it. It often seems to have something to do with my physical/emotional state similarly to how I get a bad stammer when I'm *REALLY* scared, so that makes sense if it truly comes from the part of the brain that can cause a stammer. E.g. when I'm extremely tired I often talk like Heidi from the movie Igor (2008); when I'm goofing off I often sound like Jacksepticeye's Nugget voice; when I'm distracted I've been told I sound British; when I'm concentrating really hard or I'm super annoyed I often sound like sort of a Russian + German mixed accent; etc. Many of my friends and relatives will randomly switch accents/voices too, I didn't know this was a syndrome with a name or considered rare I thought it happened to everyone. But, to be fair, autism runs in my family and I seem to attract autistic friends, so maybe that's why it happens to us.

[@helmaschine1885]

I sometimes empathise so hard with people i speak to that I adopt their way of speaking and accent. I think that's just normal human behaviour though. 😂

[@mikaelahobart8237]

@@helmaschine1885 one of my friends' mom adopts people's accents as a coping mechanism developed from being an army brat, moving a lot as a child and not wanting to be bullied for speaking differently than the people around her; and I know some people will switch to accents of places they've lived before. Ours isn't like the switching to places we've lived before, the empathy thing OR the coping mechanism thing except maybe when my Nugget voice happens around kids, but I don't know any kids who talk like that so it still doesn't make sense in that context. Like I said my British accent happens when I'm distracted, *not* when I'm around British people and I've never lived in the UK. It just up and happens and the experience is very similar to what they described as the Norwegian woman's except minus the brain injury. If it truly comes from the part of the brain which can cause a stammer, then it makes sense if it's connected to our physical/emotional state as many people - like me - get a stammer when they're scared/stressed/etc.

[@MelancholyCrypto]

I thought this was going to be about how new accents arise, but this is interesting too.

[@taylorfair3640]

I've always had an American accent as a third generation Australian. Figured it was just watching too much TV and never being able to place the differences.

[@kitwhitfield7169]

My son is autistic, and what accent he uses varies from word to word, depending on the accent of the person he learned that word from. (I can always tell what words he learned from his Canadian grandmother, for instance.) He’s an incredibly precise mimic, and only very slightly bonded to his ‘native’ accent - or, more accurately, he doesn’t really have a native accent, because language itself is not his mother-tongue. You can ‘correct’ his pronunciation, and he’ll either change it to be obliging or keep it ‘wrong’ because he thinks it’s funnier that way ... but to have a natural accent would require him to understand language more holistically than he does. He learns it as-and-when, and I’m pretty sure that he’d shed the accent he currently has without a backward glance if the situation called for it. Or rather, he’d add other accents on top, and shuttle back and forth with no preference or struggle.

[@jamesharbor4893]

This is very interesting just like how sometimes people accidentally become Italian when they're discussing a something online.

[@fenestrapain]

James Harbor as an italian American I am laughing at this comment. It could be the SUDDEN USE OF CAPITALIZATION AS YELLING or exclamation points!!!! Or use of 👌🏼 (unfortunately misappropriated by the alt right for a time).

[@kittycatcaoimhe]

I know this is just anecdotal, but among me and my autistic friends, we all have had some kind of experience of either unwilling accent mimicry (e.g. hearing a Scottish accent, and shifting vowels and intonations such that we seem to be emulating it) or some kind of unexplained accent shift (e.g. when I get very stressed, my accent sometimes slips from a somewhat non-descript eastern US accent to something more akin to the Deep South, despite only having lived in Louisiana for a few years as a kid). We don't know why this happens, and it happens more when we're under some form of stress. Tonight, for example, I was dealing with a relationship issue, and a friend showed me a video. The person in the video was from upstate New York, where I was born but only lived for ~4 years as a young child. My accent gradually shifted to be much more like that of my aunt and uncle, both from upstate New York. It was entirely involuntary, and now that about 3 hours have passed, that accent shift has stopped, and I sound like my normal self. I honestly wish there was some kind of research study on accent shifts in autistic people that I could partake in, because I'd love for there to be more answers on this front. Even though what I and a lot of my autistic friends experience isn't long lived enough to count as FAS, it can get us into a lot of awkward social situations.

[@aerozord]

I have autism and I do very rarely suddenly speak with an accent. Was wondering what was going on

[@johnmaynardapostol2]

I am actually a person with autism. I have been learning the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) since I was a teenager, as well as I have been learning some different varieties of standard or semi-formal accent including Northeastern New Jersey English, New Dublin English, General Australian English, and Estuary English. However, my accent is a bit more “New Dublin English” than American English, or they have been a “mishmash” for many times. For example, I can say the pangram---[d̪ə ˈkʰʍɪk̚ ˈbɹ̹ˠɛ̃ʊ̯̃n ˈfɒks ˈʤ̊ɞ̃mps ə̹(ʊ̯)vɚˠ d̪ɘ ˈɫe̞ɪ̯zi: ˈdɔ̝ːɡ̊] (“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”)---but I often stammered because I know that something is wrong with the allophone. I swear I don’t have any brain damage that cause my accent to completely change. DISCLAIMER: I was actually born as a Filipino and English is my childhood mother tongue and different from my parents’ Filipino language.

[@somedragontoslay2579]

Oh! That explains how I'm a German and Spanish speaker but my accent sounded French for all my youth and now they say I sound Bulgarian (I don't know how Bulgarian differs from Russian tho)

[@SK28th]

Thank you so much for this. I've been wondering about this for so long!!

[@TheReZisTLust]

I picked up Texan after being there for about 2 years& i'll tell yall using y'all is weird

[@woodfur00]

_Not_ using y'all is weirder, this from someone who doesn't. Why do we only have one second-person pronoun? Why do we write people off as uneducated for making the distinction between singular and plural?

[@akiramiyashi]

Kids with autism tend to have a more UK/US accent when speaking. This is what I've observed in the kids from my country (most of our main language isn't English).

[@galli0]

I have a thing with adopting the dialect of the person im talking to, whether "broken english", the lilt of a specific town, its to the point that whomever im talking to will ask how long ive lived in my own town and who i went to school with in their town/area. My best friend will ask if ive just spoken to so and so because my dialect have changed enough, with my dad its enough to just text him and my brain has shifted, and if ive visited its stuck for a few days. Im Norwegian and growing up i adopted my stepdads dialect of English, to the point of being mistaken for his daughter not my Norwegian mum's kid..

[@nvstvsi]

I spent 2 weeks in the UK; when I returned, I was told I had a alight British accent. It wore off in a few days. I also spent 4 months in Russia; when I came home to the US, I had a small accent, and I sometimes omitted words. It took a lot longer for me to return to normal, as I would catch myself with the same habits weeks later. Why does this happen? If I stayed in the UK for an extended time (say 5 years), would I always have some form of accent? Is this common for other people?

[@MrDrakkus]

Funny you mention Autism. I'm Autistic and can pick up other people's accents very easily, especially Irish and Scottish, which only take half an hour and then don't go away for days. I've known a few other Autistics with the same issue.I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a connection.

[@themasongreenexperience7011]

There was a fictional portrayal on South Park in the episode “City Sushi”, where it occurred as a result of dissociative identity disorder instead. Not sure if that has a basis in reality or not-have there ever been any cases in real life as extreme as Dr. Janus/Lu Kim?

[@siggitiggi]

I've been all over the place and I've found that within hours of talking to people from a certain area, I adopt their accent. Not on purpose mind, I have no clue why and have often tried to not do it as it can create a lot of confusion. The fact that I was raised in a home where 3 languages were spoken may be a contributing factor. So, what on earth is that called? I've met quite a few people who do this exact same thing at varying degrees of success and severity. Is there a name for it?

[@holocene2164]

What you're describing is basically mirroring. We do it, most of the time unconsciously, to establish trust. We mirror body language, facial expressions, intonations and, often enough, accents.

[@elgatoamarillo]

As a children with autism spectrum disorders I can confirm that my accent changes twice a month

[@beatriceengman4916]

Damn, I thought I would get an answer to why I always get a different accent when drunk.

[@BrainsApplied]

*Did you know that when you put two children together without too many influences from outside, they will develop their own "language"?*

[@aniketrodge8159]

Just like Facebook AI

[@BrainsApplied]

@@aniketrodge8159 Not entirely, their AI started from English and developed a "better way" of communicating. (It was a bit media hyped though) Newborns would start from gibberish, which results in more of a "real language".

[@melitopiia4730]

Wow that's cool, could you provide a link/s to where you got this information?

[@aniketrodge8159]

@@BrainsApplied you got a subscriber just by this comment. Try increasing pace mate.

[@BrainsApplied]

@@melitopiia4730 Jeez, I don't it's a long time since I read that. Lemme check whether I can find where I read it :)

[@MrsLadyPerez]

I believe that I have FAS, Though I have never had any brain trauma, stroke or any of the other stuff mentioned. I am not autistic at all and yet: When I'm angry, my accent sometimes switches to that of a New Yorker (the stereotypical kind), Some days I wake up with a British accent, Sometimes I'll be in the middle of a conversation and the accent pops up. Sometimes it'll just pop up on certain words. (Other accents pop up randomly as well) Could this be due to the fact that I used to imitate accents when I was a kid?

[@ginnyjollykidd]

Broca's area deals with speech elements? Where you showed it was, it makes me wonder if it is involved in several mental illnesses, like other symptoms can present in several conditions. (E.g. hurting teeth can be an effect of gum disease or indicative of cancer.) I have seen C-T scans of bipolar disorder supposedly showing restricted blood flow to the brain. (It must take a more trained person than I; I couldn't see it.) The blood vessels they showed were on the base of the brain cerebral cortex. It might be that oxygen reduction impinges on this area to cause these changes in bipolar persons. (I am bipolar and always speculating on new info that comes up.)

[@sdfkjgh]

I've lived my entire life with both an unplaceable accent and an undiagnosable slight neurological disorder somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I always figured the accent came from my dad corrupting me with Monty Python videos at the tender age of 3. I was born in Culver City, CA, and live my whole life up to this point in Panorama City, CA, and yet strangers who ask about my accent always think somewhere in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand. I play a little game with them, saying that if they can get it right in 3 tries, I'll give them $100, but if they can't they'll owe me $100. If I ever actually followed through with that last bit, I'd be rich, like end of the Barenaked Ladies song rich.

[@merlinthelemurian3197]

I'm not saying it was aliens, but...

[@davidclark9143]

I had this an never was diagnosed. Even though I spoke accents in front of psychiatrists

[@yelpsman]

You should do a lead on episode about a similar (I think) rarity where someone speaks a different language after brain injury.

[@danielbray3494]

I took 3 years of German language, and grew up watching Harry Potter, and after my traumatic brain injury from a MVC, family told me i would go from German to British and back randomly. (From Kentucky, US)

[@seans857]

I'm autistic, and often my accent [upstate NY, American] will turn British or Irish. Funny enough, if I'm around an accent for a day or more, I'll pick it up too; like Texan American or Australian, for example.

[@Pile_of_carbon]

Sounding German in Norway during WWII, yeah I see how that might cause problems. "But constable! Vhy arh ju pointing zet gun at me? I vas only going to ze store to get zom milsch foh daily gallon of coffee."

[@christelheadington1136]

My late husband had MS and couldn't understand anyone who had any accent,or tell one from another.He thought The Nanny" was British.

[@AlucardPeach]

Ohhh!!!! I have different accents with migraines!!! I (and my family) ALWAYS wondered what was up with that!

[@JenifarShifaketro]

As someone with autism my accent has fluctuated over time so there might be a link. It’s more or less set in stone at this point but it would change based mostly on what I heard in daily life. It’s very subtle but hey it’s still interesting

[@amysofia5783]

I thought they were going to talk about acquiring accents from exposure. After spending a year in Japan, another year in London, having a Scottish-American step-dad, and having an East coast boyfriend for 6 years (I'm from Colorado), some of the words I say sound foreign- and sometimes I don't even notice it until someone points it out. Especially having a Scottish dad whom I essentially grew up with, I often don't realize when I sound strange and when I sound normal (I sometimes pronounce things with nasally vowels). Even my vocabulary has changed due to exposure. Words like "proper" (UK usage) and "gaijin" (Japanese word for foreigner) have become so common to me I often say it in the wrong company. Anybody else have experiences similar to this?

[@dactylntrochee]

This is my first time seeing SciShow Psych. I look at lots of language/accent things, so I guess KZbin thought it worth a try. It was informative and worthwhile. However, my takeaway was off-topic, but related -- here's what I mean: I noticed that the body language and speech characteristics used by this presenter are uncannily like those of Danielle of Orign Of Everything (who I see often.) It's as if they had the same parents. It seems to go right down to the small muscles of the face, which dish up gestures that seem to have an acknowledged grammar. Furthermore, I wouldn't have noticed it so much had I not already observed the same thing in the monologues of Neil Brennan and Michelle Wolf of the Daily Show. Their "body-swap" borders on creepy. Check out those two pairs if you're curious. I don't know if this kind of thing has always happened and I'm just starting to notice it, late in my 7th decade, or if it's a new thing. (Of course, impressionists have always channeled other people as a gag, but this is more like random people channeling an unseen prototype.) (Semi-related is the youngster in my white, middle-class neighborhood who spoke with a strong, northern black ghetto sound. Or the unusual speech of Edgar Oliver, who presents from time to time on radio's The Moth. But I'll stick to one oddity at a time.)

[@fantasticmio]

My problem is that I sometimes lose the ability to understand English (my mother tongue). It generally happens if I've spent some time not hearing people speak, and will come back if the person just keeps talking. I'm told what I say during these times makes sense, but it doesn't seem like it to me. It's worse on the phone, and much worse on a cell phone. (I do a LOT of "priming" before calling anyone, and I dread being put on hold.

[@peter4210]

Fun fact, you can force your default laugh to change

[@rimlix939]

You just awoke a vivid memory of me doing that very thing as a toddler in order to sync it with the laugh of another kid. Huh.

[@minette36]

I’m autistic and my accent changes if I’m talking to someone with a different accent or who speaks a different dialect or if I’m watching a foreign show or movie. similarly, if i’m watching something like a documentary where I’m hearing one voice for a long time, my inner voice and speech pattern are stuck imitating that voice for a period. My mother has the same thing happen on occassion, and she’s never been diagnosed with autism. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Jemini4228]

Re the autism thing: it could also be that they are watching content from that region on repeat and picking up/mimicking speech patterns from there. Here in the UK its not unheard of for autistic kids to speak with a generic American accent and that is thought to be down to the fact that much of the media they are consuming in their formative years is from the US so contains American accents. They then copy what they hear, whether consciously or unconsciously. My mum tells me that when I was reading Enid Byton books I started using their old fashioned terminology in general conversation so maybe its a similar thing...

[@JuneHarriseco]

That's not a butterfly! That's a cross section of your spinal cord!

[@drahgore]

I've met lots of people that this happened to. Mostly younger girls that just got back from Australia...

[@thisaccountisdead9060]

I think I've been consistently Fmajor Dsharpmajor Dmajor Aminorsharp Cminor Dmajor for quite a while I guess.

[@GraemeMarkNI]

Dwr Budr Waaiiiit a minute; there’s no DSharpMajor! You’re not referring to music at all!!!

[@raphael.cavalcanti3301]

@@GraemeMarkNI D# FX A# Sure it's not very used because it's enharmonic to Eb major, which is a much simpler chord, but it exists, specially if you use just intonation

[@woodfur00]

Raphael Cavalcanti Yeah but there's no key with both D and D# in it

[@raphael.cavalcanti3301]

@@woodfur00 you don't need to limit yourself to the chords of the key only, that's why modulations, modal interchange chords, secondary dominants, sub v7, etc exist

[@thisaccountisdead9060]

@@raphael.cavalcanti3301 Thanks you're a life saver.

[@BrokebackBob]

I do this multiple times a day with up to 8 different accents. The HUGE number of psychological syndromes is the reason I left the field and went to IT.

[@merlinthelemurian3197]

Are you happy with your switch? I'm in it but I find the medical realm to be much more interesting