When listening to Samoans speak you often here a variation in speaking different than how the word is written. Maria becomes Malia, Leroi becomes Leloi. Fata becomes Faka and so on. In common language the "R" becoms "L" and the "T" becomes "K."
This is something that started after the missionaries came to Samoa.
At that time there were 14 letters in the Samoan alphabet, 5 vowels a,e i,o,u and 9 consonants g, l, m, n, p ,s, l, and v.
Samoan was a rich language learned by listening before the missionaries.
When the missionaries started to write down Samoan words and teach and translate the bible in Samoa they added the letters k, r, and b. Jesus Christ became Lesu Keriso in Samoan. K, R and B are found in words added or borrowed to Samoan after the missionaries came.
With the introduction of a written language there came a variation in pronunciation.
"T"s are spoken as "K"s, "R"s as "L"s and sometimes "N"s as "G"s !!!
"We live in America" in English.
"Tatou te nonofo i Amerika" in proper Samoan, and pronounced
"Kakou ke gogofo i Amelika" in common spoken language
Using the pronunciation as written is proper Samoan and learning to speak the K-L-G slang dialect is learned as a variant, It certainly can be confusing for the student, but proper Samoan is the only one taught, the other is learned by osmosis.