Friend and her accent

[ByKindLilacFinch]

Not an AIBU, just interested if anyone else has experienced this.

my friend has never had any kind of accent (well spoken, sounds like a news reader). Over the last few months has started pronouncing words differently. She sounds a bit like she’s from Russia but has been in the UK a very long time and the accent is subtle but it’s there.

I’ve asked her why she is speaking with an accent and she just looks at me blankly. I know I’m not imagining it as we both met someone new last week and they asked where she was from as she didn’t sound British.

I’m curious as to whether anyone can shed any light, just really curious.

I have heard of this before, about 8 years ago, on BBC Radio 4, a lady who was a UK National suddenly began talking like a Russian, and people were taking the mickey, including bus drivers, council officials when she rang the council etc.

It' s known as foreign language syndrome, and has been linked to tia's.

Yes Foreign Accent Syndrome, might be that.

I don’t like my photo being taken on nights out either because they almost end up on some social media platform and I don’t want to have to say….don’t post that anywhere so I just try and get out of them in the first place
I hate when people post pictures which include me without my consent

Her parents may be Russian and she might have picked up alot of accented words from them.
Also when you first meet someone you are more mindful of how you sound but maybe now she's more comfortable and it's trying to hide it as much??

Some people pick up on accents if they're around people with them. I picked up a half convincing aussie accent when I lived with 8 of them for 9 months. It was really weird. Apparently it's called code-switching? It's an instinctive thing that helps you feel more comfortable around those you see often.

I also go more Essex when speaking to my family, this was more noticeable when I lived elsewhere and my normal day to day accent was very neutral, my boss used to find it hilarious if I spoke to my Mum on the phone in front of her.

If she is a spy, she will now know you are on to her and be taking intensive elocution lessons to get her accent perfect again. See how she sounds next time you meet her...

Is her name Villanelle?

Oh that may explain it better for me, didn't realise it could be a part of being autie.

Russian spy

My sister and I both have a tendency to "acquire" accents at the drop of a hat, or rather to automatically mimic what we hear around us, but I put that down to being army brats and moving every 3 years. She is now 100% Kiwi but reverts to English on the phone to me. I, meanwhile, turn Kiwi within a week of being there - and I've never spent more than 3 weeks there. We just can't help it: self-defence, perhaps?

My partner's son + family visited from Canada last year, and within 5 minutes he was in full Canadian mode!

My DH’s slight Lincolnshire accent came back in full force when we moved here.

I don't think Zelenskyy (two 'y's, incidentally) would be particularly impressed by someone speaking in a Russian accent, do you?

My husbands sister is a bit like this, she totally changes her persona and accent depending on who she is spending time with. She's still young and searching for a tribe .

I grew up in Surrey and moved to Cornwall 25 years ago. more than half my life I've lived in Cornwall now.
and I've gone from a very clipped, plain accent, to a much softer version with definite Cornish influence on it. when I go back to Surrey, people ask where in Cornwall I'm from.
it's quite common to be influenced by accents around you.

I had a similar response to the change in accent of one of my close school friends, which went from working-class-Essex to cut-glass-Queen's-English, literally overnight. I thought it was a joke at first, and then was too stunned to say anything when I realised it wasn't.

We remained friends for many years. I liked her, despite the affectations, but ultimately, it was a key reason in why I distanced myself. It seemed so ridiculous and inauthentic to me, and I found it so irritating.

She went on to become a successful and well-known news presenter however, so it worked out very well for her.

I change accent depending on who I spend time with.

Will often slip into following the pattern of an accent during a call (my kids will ask me why.. I have no idea I'm doing it)

What did she say when asked where she was from? (From the OP) What do you actually know about her? Does the husband have an accident? Met her family? Been in her home? Hard to say without more info.

Do you know if she speaks any other languages? (I think it’s been asked but I didn’t see you answer).
This could be me. I can meet a friend twice in the same day and sound totally different both times. I was raised trilingual and went on to learn two more languages to fluency and yet more to a good conversational level. I can end up using several different languages on a daily basis (ie English when interacting on the school run, the two languages I speak with my kids at home, another dealing with an international client etc) and my accent varies hugely depending on who I’ve been talking to or even what language I’ve been thinking in. Generally though I’ve been told I sound South African despite never having been there in my life. Could your friend have something like this going on? Like she’s been using her ‘other’ language more lately?

Weirdly two of my kids have posh, Home Counties type accents despite never having lived there. That one I cannot explain.

That was my first thought too.

Sounds like a good book plot!

If you know her age and birthplace you can quite easily check online to see if she was actually born there. Although if she’s a spy, she’ll no doubt have a good cover story.

She's always had an accent. Everyone has one.

I drift towards the accent of whoever I’m talking to. I wish I didn’t. My teenagers find it hilarious. I wish I didn’t, but it’s not something I seem able to control.

Sorry does the husband have an accent not accident!

My sister does this! Spends time with someone and just mimics their accent! Drives me nuts lol!!