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No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue!

 
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chocolacharat



Joined: 11 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:39 am    Post subject: No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue! Reply with quote

My friend from Seoul just told me that korean doctors in kangnam have been telling the mothers of their patients to have their daughters and sons cut their tongues so they can speak english naturally. hahahahaa

thoughts?
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Atavistic



Joined: 22 May 2006
Location: How totally stupid that Korean doesn't show in this area.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:12 am    Post subject: Re: No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue! Reply with quote

chocolacharat wrote:
My friend from Seoul just told me that korean doctors in kangnam have been telling the mothers of their patients to have their daughters and sons cut their tongues so they can speak english naturally. hahahahaa

thoughts?


This isn't new. But it's still stupid. Koreans raised abroad speak English perfectly fine. Their tongues have nothing to do with it.
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sojourner1



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's quackery.
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yetanotherSarah



Joined: 09 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I heard that before. Just like KISS. Also, some Indian yogis cut their tongue too, in order to stick it up their navel passage and achieve a greater transformation of consciousness. Yoga's awesome but thats just nuts. And to do it to a kid? That little flap of skin under your tongue is meant to keep you from choking on it while sleeping!
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Vicissitude



Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Chef School

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:17 am    Post subject: Re: No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue! Reply with quote

Atavistic wrote:
chocolacharat wrote:
My friend from Seoul just told me that korean doctors in kangnam have been telling the mothers of their patients to have their daughters and sons cut their tongues so they can speak english naturally. hahahahaa

thoughts?


This isn't new. But it's still stupid. Koreans raised abroad speak English perfectly fine. Their tongues have nothing to do with it.

This is the first time I've heard of this nonsense.
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yingwenlaoshi



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not the first time I've heard of it. Didn't someone show a video of a Korean kid getting the procedure? Parents were around and the kid was protesting somewhat.

I was just thinking about pronunciation today. I wonder how much of what we teach the kids interfers with their Korean pronunciation? I guess the younger you get them, the easier it is for them to go back and forth between languages.

With pronunciation, you have to know where to stop. You can't spend all day on "L" and you definitely shouldn't cut under your tongue.

Even with videos of inside the mouth it's hard to get most students to do it correctly. Specifically final L and R. And vowels. That's another story. But you need the tongue for those, too. Don't know what cutting under the tongue will do for that.
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Young FRANKenstein



Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:18 am    Post subject: Re: No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue! Reply with quote

Vicissitude wrote:
This is the first time I've heard of this nonsense.

I've heard this as far back as '98, although admittedly not as much these days. Haven't heard people doing this in the last couple years at all.

IIRC, they were cutting the connecting flap of skin under the tongue, so they could "have longer tongues" Rolling Eyes
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yingwenlaoshi



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The future of Korea:

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huffdaddy



Joined: 25 Nov 2005

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:49 am    Post subject: Re: No more hakwons! Just cut your tongue! Reply with quote

Young FRANKenstein wrote:
Vicissitude wrote:
This is the first time I've heard of this nonsense.

I've heard this as far back as '98, although admittedly not as much these days. Haven't heard people doing this in the last couple years at all.

IIRC, they were cutting the connecting flap of skin under the tongue, so they could "have longer tongues" Rolling Eyes


Last year, I had a kindy's mother say her son's tongue was too short.

http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=1259
Quote:
Cut Tongue for English?
A scene from a movie "If You Were Me" shows that a small child gets ready to undergo a surgery in a Seoul clinic for cutting underneath part of his tongue to make it longer for better pronunciation of English. The surgery called a frenectomy � a minor surgery which lengthens the tongue by about one millimeter, is gaining its popularity among the South Koreans.
Photo caption by Lee Hyun-Ju




It appears to be done in China as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2161780.stm
Quote:
More and more people in China are seeking tongue operations to improve their English.

Plastic surgeons say that with minor surgery, patients can improve their pronunciation almost overnight.

With China's growing internationalisation, people's determination to become more proficient in English has reached fever pitch.

The operation itself is simple and quick - just a snip of the muscle under the tongue using local anaesthetic - even if it does make you twinge.

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Vicissitude



Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Chef School

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is just incredibly disturbing. Shocked
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Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A couple of years ago it cost W100,000.
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Scotticus



Joined: 18 Mar 2007

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yetanotherSarah wrote:
Also, some Indian yogis cut their tongue too, in order to stick it up their navel passage and achieve a greater transformation of consciousness.


Wow. I had no idea yogis jammed their tongue in their belly-button to achieve enlightenment. Weird.
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Axl Rose



Joined: 16 Feb 2006

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Laughing @
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nobbyken



Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Location: Yongin ^^

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yetanotherSarah wrote:
....in order to stick it up their navel passage....

Could be a typo on a couple of levels!
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