Lisa Alamia has never visited the UK in her life – and doesn’t even watch British TV shows.

The 33-year-old woman was born and bred in Texas but now she sounds like she’s from England, despite never having travelled there.

“I have never been to England. I have never been to any European country.” – she said.

The mom of three underwent jaw surgery to fix an overbite, and when she woke up, she sounded as if she was from across the pond as a result of an unusual side effect.

She was diagnosed with a bizarre medical condition known as “Foreign Accent Syndrome.”

She has only left the US once her life, she visited Mexico on a missionary tour but has never been to the UK.

The Rosenburg, Texas resident woke up after surgery only to discover that she was now speaking in what seemed to be a British accent.

Speaking to ITV’s This Morning , Lisa – who revealed she still ‘thinks’ in her old accent – admitted it has been difficult, especially because some people still think she is faking her condition.

Explaining reaction to Foreign Accent Syndrome – which has only had around 100 diagnoses in the past 100 years – Lisa said: “For people who do say it’s fake, I’d just tell them to be open minded and accept something that’s so rare it might not be understandable but it’s still there.”

She added that it was difficult to “go public” after speaking to her doctor, and revealed she was “scared” over talking to her friends and family.

“A lot of people think I’m faking it, which is why I didn’t want to go public,” she admitted. “It’s not the accent I wasn’t ok with, I just felt I wasn’t myself.”

Lisa’s daughter Kayla spoke about her mum’s new accent – which also had a hint of Australian as she spoke to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield – and gave her honest opinion.

“At first I thought she was joking with me, I didn’t think it was serious,” she said. “Now I’m used to her accent and I kind of like it now.”

Can you fill in the gaps in the sentences with one of the given words?

understandable, rare, admitted, side effects, despite, intrigued

1. This medicine has no known ……… .

2. It’s ……… that you are afraid of spiders after having spent a summer in the jungle.

3. …….. studying very hard, he still didn’t pass the exam.

4. The table was decorated with beautiful …… plants and flowers.

5. …….. by his words, she obeyed but had her doubts anyway.

6. I was wrong and I …… it at last.

Key

1. side effects

2. understandable

3. Despite

4. rare

5. Intrigued

6. admitted

They are seven simple words we all take for granted. But as Joanne Milne heard her doctor recite the days of the week, she was overwhelmed with emotion, fighting back tears and gasping to catch her breath. Until that moment the 40-year-old’s world had been silent.

Born with the rare condition Usher Syndrome, Ms Milne has been deaf since birth and in her mid-20s the condition claimed her sight. But last month Ms Milne underwent a life-changing operation to fit cochlear implants. Following the procedure, she faced a four-week wait for medics to switch on the implants to see if the operation had been a success.

Hearing for first time, a video capturing the switch-on shows Ms Milne breaking down as she tells her doctor her own voice sounds ‘very, very strange’, before adding: ‘Wow, it is absolutely amazing.’

The doctor tells the 40-year-old, from Gateshead: ‘It is a big, big, life-changing day. It is such a huge thing you have just achieved, you should be really proud of yourself.’

Ms Milne said the switch-on has been the ‘most emotional and overwhelming experience’ of her life.

She said: ‘I’m still in shock now. I have to learn to recognise what these sounds are as I build a sound library in my brain. Hearing things for the first time is so emotional from the ping of a light switch to running water. I can’t stop crying and I can already foresee how it’s going to be life changing.’

Since she was diagnosed as deaf, Ms Milne has made it her mission to mentor others living with Usher Syndrome. She added: ‘Being deaf was just who I was. Unfortunately, when I became registered blind things changed dramatically and for the first time being deaf became increasingly difficult.’ Usher Syndrome is a genetic or inherited condition, which affects a person’s hearing, vision and balance.

source: www.dailymail.co.uk

to take for granted – magától értetődőnek tartani
to be overwhelmed with emotion – elárasztják az érzelmek
to gasp – zihálni
to catch one’s breath – visszanyeri a lélegzetét
condition – medical condition – betegség
to claim something – követelni
cochlear implants – cochleáris implantátum, belsőfülbe beültetett eszköz
procedure – medical procedure – beavatkozás
to break down – könnyekre fakadni (itt)
to achieve – elérni valamit
to recognise – felismerni
to foresee – előre lát
to mentor – útmutató, tanácsadó
increasingly – egyre inkább, egyre jobban
inherited – örökletes, öröklött
to affect – hatással van valamire
balance – egyensúly

Match the verbs with the definitions.

answers: 1-c 2-d 3-a 4-e 5-b

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE

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