Korean kids get tongue surgery to speak better English

joohang

Lifer
Oct 22, 2000
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<< Maybe we'll be able to understand them now. ;) >>


LOL

I personally think that it's because they go on exchange overseas and hang out with a group of Korean kids.

Perhaps hanging around with some English-speaking people might help? :)
 

edc03

Member
Aug 1, 2000
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pretty sad coming from the korean community. i mean what are they really going to do with english in korea. like seriously... what percent of them are actually going to be able to communicate with americans fluently.

guess i was lucky, immigrating to america.
 

bozo1

Diamond Member
May 21, 2001
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<< better able to pronounce such notorious English tongue-teasers as "rice" without it sounding like "lice." >>


Well, start em young to be ricers!
 

nihil

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2002
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actually some people have a genuine need for that procedure. and all it is, is a little snip off flesh from underneath your tongue. i had this done when i was about 5 years old because my tongue was not long enough and it was difficult to produce certain sounds. it's not really a big deal at all, but if you're going to do it "as a fad" i think that's just kind of dumb then.

Edit: and no, i'm not korean or asian at all. certain people are just born with different tongues i guess.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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the next fashion wave: removing a piece of your tongue.

wait... i know a lot of girls with tongue studs... so maybe its a passing fashion wave...
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
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This makes no sense at all.

The problem with asians speaking english is caused by their culture which has a different pronunciation for their langauge from english.

In other words Asian languages are pronounced differently than english is and therefore sounds odd to us. No different than someone who is french trying to speak english.
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
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my sister had this procedure done here in america. it was recommended by our family doctor (non korean btw). i have been very tempted to do it myself as it would improve my ability to speak and to sing.
 

777php

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2001
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actually some people have a genuine need for that procedure. and all it is, is a little snip off flesh from underneath your tongue. i had this done when i was about 5 years old because my tongue was not long enough and it was difficult to produce certain sounds. it's not really a big deal at all, but if you're going to do it "as a fad" i think that's just kind of dumb then.

My friend had that surgery when he was a kid, he had the exact same problem as nihil.

Somehow, they either botched the surgery or it really wasn't necessary for him because now he slurs like crazy! Sometimes I cannot even understand him becuase his words come out so slurred. I feel bad for him sometimes becuase it's totally obvious and something that was caused due to pro-active measures taken to correct a minor issue.
 

nihil

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2002
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<< the next fashion wave: removing a piece of your tongue. >>




aleady been done. lots of people have their tongues split in half just like a snake. and yes, you can even move the two parts independantly. kinda freaky =\
 

Maetryx

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2001
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There might be something to that. I have a ridiculously short (but extremely agile and talented) tongue, which is at least partly due to the web thingy that is almost all the way to the tip. When I was a kid, I had to go to speech therapy until the 6th grade. The problem? Couldn't pronounce "R"s. Weird.

But due to the extreme agility and talent in my tongue, I have overcome this pwoblem.
 

nihil

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2002
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<< actually some people have a genuine need for that procedure. and all it is, is a little snip off flesh from underneath your tongue. i had this done when i was about 5 years old because my tongue was not long enough and it was difficult to produce certain sounds. it's not really a big deal at all, but if you're going to do it "as a fad" i think that's just kind of dumb then.

My friend had that surgery when he was a kid, he had the exact same problem as nihil.

Somehow, they either botched the surgery or it really wasn't necessary for him because now he slurs like crazy! Sometimes I cannot even understand him becuase his words come out so slurred. I feel bad for him sometimes becuase it's totally obvious and something that was caused due to pro-active measures taken to correct a minor issue.
>>




yeah, with a lot of people either before or after this procedure you need to have about a month or so of speech therapy. it worked for me, so maybe if he went to a speech therapist he can re-learn how to say things with his "new tongue". :)
 

joohang

Lifer
Oct 22, 2000
12,340
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Well what disgusts me is that most of these kids likely won't even need it. And they are getting surgeries because parents are forcing them to.

If they have physical limitations for not being able to speak "proper" English, I see no problems with that.
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
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<< you can even move the two parts independantly. >>

whoa! that'd be... different... wonder how the ladies would react?

*surreptitiously licks both eyebrows at once!*
 

AlwaysWong

Senior member
Nov 7, 2000
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<< This makes no sense at all.

The problem with asians speaking english is caused by their culture which has a different pronunciation for their langauge from english.

In other words Asian languages are pronounced differently than english is and therefore sounds odd to us. No different than someone who is french trying to speak english.
>>



I completely agree. My english is perfect, but my Chinese is unbearable.
 

satori

Senior member
Nov 2, 1999
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AlwaysWong: Hehe... My english is perfect and my chinese >was< unbearable, until I got a taiwanese g/f. I think she helped me get it up to at least tolerable. :)

Anyways, a couple people mentioned having the surgery done... I've never heard of someone doing this before. All the asians that I know who grew up here have normal english. The ones that came when they were teenagers have accents. What medical reasons are there for this procedure? I always thought that accents were there because your tongue has been trained to do stuff a certain way.

But, come to think of it, I remember in 2nd grade... my reading teacher gave me some words to pronounce and I remember having some problems... I can't, for the life of me, remember what these were. My god, that was a long time ago... I'm surprised I still remember that incident.

BTW, my g/f's got a korean accent (she came when she was around 16) and I personally think it's cute... :)
 

nihil

Golden Member
Feb 13, 2002
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<< AlwaysWong: Hehe... My english is perfect and my chinese >was< unbearable, until I got a taiwanese g/f. I think she helped me get it up to at least tolerable. :)

Anyways, a couple people mentioned having the surgery done... I've never heard of someone doing this before. All the asians that I know who grew up here have normal english. The ones that came when they were teenagers have accents. What medical reasons are there for this procedure? I always thought that accents were there because your tongue has been trained to do stuff a certain way.

But, come to think of it, I remember in 2nd grade... my reading teacher gave me some words to pronounce and I remember having some problems... I can't, for the life of me, remember what these were. My god, that was a long time ago... I'm surprised I still remember that incident.

BTW, my g/f's got a korean accent (she came when she was around 16) and I personally think it's cute... :)
>>




the reason that i personally had this done was because i was unable to make certain sounds due to my tongue being too short. the doctors said that my speech would just get progressively worse if i didn't get this done so my parents decided that it was best for me to have it. i didn't have it done for reasons of having an accent at all, even though i'm from nyc. ;)
 

satori

Senior member
Nov 2, 1999
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nihil: Cool, I learned something new today. :) I guess this isn't probably something that everyone just brings up in a conversation, so maybe someone I know had it done in the past.