Korean's have a difficult time pronouncing the "f" sounds so it usually comes out as a "p". To their ears it's the same thing. Needless to say when my students talk about coffee they say "kopee". I, as well as the other teachers have tried time and again to correct the pronunciation but to no avail.
Today my students informed me that "ko" in Korean means "nose" and "pee" means "blood". So when they tell me they are drinking "kopee" it could also mean they are drinking "nose-blood".........that's gross.
Well, if they weren't dareful on the steep slops, they really could be drinking kopee. It's all making sense now... :)
ReplyDelete-Tony
:) heehee exactly
ReplyDeleteThis is why in Brazil I do everything I can to not say the word coconut. If you pronounce this word wrong in Portuguese then you are saying a really bad word that a missionary should not say. I can not always hear the difference so I avoid the word.
ReplyDelete