English is an unforgiving language, at times the smallest mistake can completely change the general meaning of a phrase. Many ESL learners know first hand just how precise we must be when speaking. The slightest slip of the tongue can change the pronunciation of beach to bitch; sheet to shit; slot to slut; and piece to piss. Common mistakes such as these are very well known but for me, the ultimate pronunciation faux pas is related to the word focus. Focus, properly said, would be 'FO-KES' (phonetically written). Unfortunately, some students do not stress these sounds properly and focus becomes 'FEK-ES', which is exactly the same as saying "Fuck us".
Obviously this is highly problematic especially if you are trying to motivate a group of people and you say repeatedly: "YOU MUST FOCUS; FOCUS MORE; FOCUS HARDER." Although comical, such a grandiose mistake could really hurt your message.
So the obvious problem is pronunciation "O" becomes "E". What is the other problem? And can you give an example of the second problem?
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