South Korea's baby-boomer parents in increasing numbers recently are sending
their preschool youngsters for outpatient mouth surgery to snip the tissue
under the tongue because they believe more tongue freedom will permit the
children to pronounce the difficult "l" and "r" sounds that have long
stigmatized many Asians when speaking English. "Learning English is almost
the national religion" in South Korea, according to one educator quoted in a
March Los Angeles Times report, but many authorities in South Korea say
Asians' pronunciation trouble is purely cultural and that only a very few
people are born with tight-enough tongues to be helped by these
"frenectomies." [Los Angeles Times, 3-31-02]
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