Girl Has Tongue Operation to Speak Korean: Admirable or Absurd?

Many of us have at least one good hobby we enjoy, whether it be pick-up games at your closest basketball court, playing guitar, or filling out Sudoku puzzles. And some of us take our hobbies more seriously than others.

Rhiannon Brooksbank–Jones is one of those super-serious hobbyists.

According to The Telegraph, the 19-year-old British student is so passionate about studying the Korean language she actually had an operation on her tongue to make it easier for her to pronounce it with a native accent.

She explained, "I'd been learning Korean for about two years, and my speaking level was high, but I was really struggling with particular sounds. It became apparent after a little while that I was having trouble with the Korean letter 'L' ... and that my tongue was too short ... The surgical procedure was my only option."

The surgery was a 15-minute operation called a "lingual frenectomy." Doctors made an incision in the flap of skin under her tongue (called the lingual frenulum) which essentially makes her tongue longer and more flexible.

Brooksbank-Jones says her operation was a success.

"My pronunciation was very 'foreign,'" she said, "but now I can speak with a native Korean accent."

She apparently plans to study Korean at the college level and eventually live in the country, though she has yet to visit.

Let's hope she likes it as much as she thinks she will. For her sake.