The Woman Who Woke Up Chinese

Imagine waking up one day to discover your Glaswegian or West Country accent had inexplicably disappeared and you sound like you’re from Beijing. That’s what happened to Sarah Colwill, and it’s left doctors baffled.

The BBC’s new documentary explores her experiences with Foreign Accent Syndrome – a rare speech disorder. It’s little understood and causes a variety of symptoms that can be devastating.

Sarah Colwill’s strong Devon drawl disappeared overnight.

When 38-year-old Sarah Colwill woke up one day to find her usual Plymouth accent had vanished and been replaced with something that sounded like a poor Chinese impression, doctors were left baffled. They later diagnosed her with Foreign Accent Syndrome, a rare condition that occurs when severe migraines damage the part of the brain that controls speech. It’s estimated there are just 20 known cases worldwide.

While the condition sounds comical on paper – it’s no laughing matter for those affected – it can have devastating effects, with many suffering loss of work, damaged relationships and even the ignominy of their friends, colleagues and pets not recognising them. It’s little understood – there are conflicting medical theories and the majority of sufferers don’t get clear answers from their doctors. This BBC documentary aims to change that.

It follows Sarah’s attempts to overcome her new voice and find out what’s caused the strange phenomenon. She’s had elocution lessons, gone through speech therapy and had to learn to order fried rice at a Chinese restaurant in her new accent, which she’s told could be permanent. It’s a difficult task, made all the more difficult when she’s constantly teased about her new-found exotic tones.

While Sarah’s experience is unique, there are a number of similarities between her case and others reported in the media. The most notable is that the condition has occurred when people have suffered strokes or similar neurological conditions, such as traumatic head injuries. It’s also been associated with chronic migraines, which are often linked to changes in the brain. One well-known example is that of Judi Roberts from Indiana, USA, who woke up with a semblance of a British accent after having a stroke at age 57. The resulting film has become a classic, largely because of its highly unusual topic. It’s available to watch in the UK on BBC 1 from Tuesday at 8pm BST. It’s called The Woman Who Woke Up Chinese.

She’s one of only 20 known sufferers worldwide.

For those with foreign accent syndrome, their lives are thrown into turmoil by the fact that they can no longer communicate. They speak with an unfamiliar voice which they can’t control and the condition is little understood by medical experts. Having been treated for a stroke, the medical community now believes the condition is caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls language. Sarah explores the medical theories around this rare speech disorder while she considers her own choice to accept or reject her new voice.

It’s little understood.

When you first hear of someone from Plymouth waking up to discover their Devon drawl had been replaced with a Chinese accent, you’re likely to find the whole story rather comic. After all, who would have thought that a severe migraine headache could cause you to wake up sounding like the local Chinese takeaway lady? But as Sarah Colwill’s story unfolds in the BBC documentary The Woman Who Woke Up Chinese (BBC1), the jokes soon wear thin. The reality is that this woman’s voice has been irrevocably changed.

The medical staff have diagnosed her with Foreign Accent Syndrome, a rare condition that has no definitive causes and only affects about 20 people worldwide. Sadly, they’ve run out of options and Sarah is now forced to accept that her Far East accent is here to stay.

As anyone who has been involved with a foreign accent will know, it’s extremely difficult to get rid of. There are many factors to take into account, such as intonation and the stress placed on different syllables. It can also be affected by the language itself, such as the number of syllables and how fast or slow it is spoken at.

It’s hard to say exactly how many different dialects of Chinese there are, but linguists believe it’s somewhere in the hundreds. Even leaders from northern China have their own regional accents, which can make them sound incomprehensible to those from southern China. For example, Mao Zedong spoke in a Hunanese Xiang accent that was so thick it often rendered his Mandarin almost unintelligible to other Chinese.

She’s trying to get her voice back.

After a long night in the hospital following a severe migraine, 38-year-old Sarah Colwill woke up to find her Plymouth accent had disappeared overnight and been replaced by a Chinese one. She’s now one of only 20 known sufferers of Foreign Accent Syndrome – a rare condition caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls speech and word formation. Often, it’s a side effect of severe brain injury or psychiatric illness but in some cases it clears up spontaneously.

The married IT project co-ordinator from Devon, United Kingdom, says the experience has been devastating and has robbed her of her identity. She’s lost her job, had to sell her home and puts up with constant teasing about her Far East voice.

She’s been given a voice coach and has undergone speech therapy in the hope she will regain her normal West Country tones, but she is told it’s likely she won’t be able to recover her original pronunciation, according to The Inquisitr. Doctors are baffled by the cause of her bizarre change in accent and have no clue why it won’t go away.

For tabloid editors it’s a silly season story, an ‘and finally’ item that provides the perfect opportunity to smirk at the baffling and strange. But for many people living with FAS, it’s a serious and devastating condition that changes their lives forever. Despite all that, Colwill says she has no intention of giving up and hopes her story will help others in similar circumstances.