English woman who woke up with Welsh accent wants her old voice back
An English woman who woke up with a Welsh accent, despite never visiting the country, has said she wants her old voice back.
Zoe Coles, 36, developed the new accent overnight in June 2023, but thought it would eventually disappear.
However, the mother of two, who lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, is still talking with an accent and is often asked if she is from Cardiff.
Ms Coles, who was not able to put on a Welsh accent before the overnight change, said she was now anxious when leaving the house and felt like she “doesn’t fit in any more”.
She said: “Part of me has learned to get on with it but I have come across a few Welsh people who asked me where I am from.
“That is really difficult, I don’t want to lie and say I am from somewhere in Wales.
“I have no clue about Wales, I have never been”.
Old accent back
Nine months on, she said she wants her old accent back and for her life to return to normal.
Ms Coles, a former bartender, said: “I am struggling a lot, you are born with a voice, you grow up and develop a way of speaking.
“That has been taken away from me. Even though it has given me a confidence boost, I would love everything to go away and life to go back to normal.
“I would love my old accent back but there is a concern that my FND [functional neurological disorder] will get worse if it returns.”
Functional Neurological Disorder
Ms Coles was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition in which the brain experiences problems with sending and receiving signals, in January 2022.
The condition means she often experiences ticks, memory problems, slurred speech and pain in her legs.
She said: “I was a full-time working mum, I could get up and clean the house in two hours, have a shower, get ready, go shopping, go to work and come home.
“Now I have to be assisted in the shower in case my legs go on me, I can’t do the housework in two hours. It is more like two days.
“I get so tired so quickly, I can do the shopping because I can hold the trolley but I can’t do much more. It completely wipes me out.”
Nine months ago she developed foreign accent syndrome, a rare condition where people develop speech patterns that are perceived as a foreign accent.
She said that when she has a bad FND flare-up her old accent will come back but her speech is stuttered and slurred.
Ms Coles said: “Some days I will go natural and I am fine.
“When I am having a bad flare-up and I can’t walk, my old accent will return back to English.
“I have no idea why because it is so rare not much is known about it.”
Ms Coles said she had seen a neurologist and been told there was nothing they could do.
She said: “I want to raise awareness and show that this is real life. I am speaking out because I want people to see that these things really do happen.”
