Language barrier: Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones, from Nottingham, had her tongue lengthened by 1cm to help her pronounce Korean words
Posted on 08/12/2011 2:07:51 AM PDT by Stoat
Student Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones dreams of living and working in South Korea once she finishes university, even though she has never visited the country.
But while taking language lessons, the 19-year-old found that she couldn't pronounce certain crucial sounds in the Korean alphabet.
Her dentist suggested it may be because she was born with a slightly shorter than average tongue, caused by having an unusually thick lingual frenulum - the flap of skin that joins the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth.
Language barrier: Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones, from Nottingham, had her tongue lengthened by 1cm to help her pronounce Korean words
After discussing the matter with her parents and language tutor, Rhiannon decided to undergo an operation to correct the condition, despite the fact it has never caused her any problems in speaking English.
She underwent a lingual frenectomy, which involves making an incision in the flap of skin. As a result, Rhiannon's tongue is now about 1cm longer, and she can say words that were impossible before.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Mother tongue: Rhiannon became obsessed with Korean culture at school
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3747478/Student-has-tongue-job-to-speak-Korean.html
IIRC, there was a story a couple years back about Koreans who had their tongues surgically altered so they could speaking English more fluently.
It’s a strange world...
"just boosted her facebook followers a few thousand, especially from the flannel shirt mob"
I’m in love~~~~~!
Well, she has that problem licked.
“Sometimes, a tongue is just a tongue” ~ Martha Freud, Sigmund’s wife
Looks like her tongue wasn’t the only thing she had enlarged.
I remember a story about an asian guy who was an inch too short to make it as a cop so when he moved to another location he tried again and made it but not before he gave himself a lump on the top of his head.
And then there is this dork...Oh look, she’s wearing those eyeglasses designed to make the wearer look intelligent!
:p
In the 3rd (bottom) picture, she looks like Angelina Jolie! LOL
Oh, that’s gross.
I would say she added an Inchon.
Of course.
You mean surgery can make your tongue longer?
Sigh, please - no one tell my girlfriend.
Ah, but kimchi really speak the language any better?
And here all I needed to speak better Korean was a few beers. It was surprising how much that helped. Too bad I couldn’t do it on the job, too.
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