Me Love You Long Tongue
Though it might seem a bit strange, I LOVE that 19-year-old Rhiannon Brooksbank–Jones, a UK student, got her slightly-shorter-than-average tongue lengthened–in a parent-approved, 15-minute elective lingual frenectomy.
All so that she could speak Korean without sounding “foreign.”
From the Telegraph UK:
“I’d been learning Korean for about two years, and my speaking level was high, but I was really struggling with particular sounds,” she said.
It became apparent after a little while that I was having trouble with the Korean letter ‘L’, which is very frequent and comes from a slightly higher place in the mouth than the English ‘L’, and that my tongue was too short.
Koreaphiles come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of commitment, but Brooksbank-Jones clearly knows that, err, bullshit walks and surgery talks. (Wait, what?) Or that getting freaky with Korean girls all through college does not a Korean expert make. Or that Korean culture is not *just* about imbibing copious amounts of Hite beer, KBBQ, TV dramas and sexy/angry/pretty men (Or is it?).
What I mean is, though she’s studied the language for two years, plans to major in Korean at University, and dreams of living in her beloved Asian country as an adult, she knows that real Koreans won’t pay her any mind unless she speaks like a native. And she did what it takes to speak like a native (in this case, that meant a small incision in the flap connecting her tongue and mouth floor). This chick is so not fucking around!
But just a quick aside: I had no idea that lingual frenectomies were so easy-peasy. To think that a simple snip could help someone speak an entirely different language? It has me wondering if a quick tongue-lengthening might help one speak all kinds of other languages… perhaps even the language of love? And by “language of love,” I mean YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
[Telegraph UK: British Student Has Tongue Lengthened To Speak Korean]
Source
Thanks, Chris!
Filed under: Brits, Culture Vultures, Hite, Honorasians, Korean BBQ, Koreaphiles, Lingual Frenectomy, Surgery, Teen Gets Tongue Lengthened To Speak Korean
Still there’re people who believe in this tongue anatomy crap to speak a language. C’mon!!! So how to explain the millions of people who were born in the Americas with Asian background that have no problem to speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and French? And how about a friend of mine who was born in Japan whose parents are Russian (caucasians) and speaks Japanese as any other Japanese? This chicks has serious issues…
@isaacakira wouldn’t one assume that those people have average-length tongues? lingual frenectomies are actually more common with children, so in another country it’s possible this girl would’ve gotten the procedure done without even knowing it… like a circumcision.
Actually I had the same done when I was learning Spanish and couldn’t roll my rs.
Oh!
She wants to be accepted in Korea?
Well – she will need more than just one plastic surgery then
@Crystal HA! So true.
So does that mean native Koreans with shorter-than-average tongues speak their Korean in an American accent?
How pissed will she be when she gets there and she doesn’t have crowds of people swarming her and praising her for her efforts?
“LIKE, YOU GUYS, I GOT MY TONGUE LENGTHENED AND EVERYTHING! WTFFFFFFFFFF”
@Erika, linguists would probably argue that when you learn a language parts of your brain are defined so that you can imitate sounds and eventually learn the language. Therefore, I don’t think that one’s tongue length affects one’s accent as much as how one learned a language.
Low self-esteem chick into plastic surgery and Asian culture? INTRODUCE PREASE!!! Everrry Asian dude’s dream
About Koreans with short tongues, they probably have something as the equivalent of a lisp in English. It’s not a foreign accent, but an accent nonetheless.
So does this mean Gene Simmons from KISS can learn any language he wants and sound native?