My son has repeatedly been told by me that, probably more than any other factor, his success in life will be determined by his ability to read, write, and speak the English language. Apparently some Korean folks feel the same, however, they are willing to take action that I more than likely wouldn't. Like tongue surgery.
This story describes the practice.
Driven by a desire to give their kids an edge in an increasingly competitive society, a surprising number of South Koreans have turned to the knife in a seemingly drastic bid to help their offspring perfect their English.It seems the procedure is intended to allow Koreans to speak English without an accent.
"Those who have a short frenulum (a strap of tissue linking the tongue to the floor of the mouth) can face problems pronouncing some characters due to a disturbance in lateral movements of the tongue," said Bae Jung-ho, an oral surgeon at Seoul's Yonsei Severance Hospital . . .
Bae said it takes about five minutes to complete the operation, called a frenotomy, which slices 1 to 1.5 cm (about half an inch) off the frenulum to make the tongue more flexible.
This is somewhat puzzling. If a person can speak English correctly and be easily understood, I fail to see why having an accent is negative. The entire English speaking world is saturated with different accents. Hell, right here in the US, travel from Boston to Houston and you'll hear accents so different they'll sometimes border on being a different language.
It must be a Korean cultural trait.
Via Outside the Beltway.
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