Before each trip I try to familiarize myself, at least a little bit, with the local languages. A while back, I began my valiant but ultimately doomed attempt to learn Khmer (or Cambodian) . Given the complexity of the language and my overall lack of linguistic acumen, I'm not expecting too much. If I can sputter through a few polite social pleasantries, purchase basic items, and not have the waiter snicker as he delivers my meal, I will consider this exercise a success. I have also started to review French- partly because it is the Colonial language of Cambodia and a useful secondary language to know, but mostly because my pronunciation will really annoy any native speakers I encounter.
Khmer itself is pretty logically structured. The sentence construction is easy enough There are no weird verb tenses or freakish grammatical exceptions to the established rules. If you can remember to add the right modifier to denote a question, plural, or past/future tense, you would seem to be set. While this is also a tonal language, it doesn't contain any sounds that are particularly difficult to pronounce or are too alien for a western speaker. So far so good.
The trouble I find for the casual student is in the written form. Khmer, like Hindi has a phonetic alphabet that I find as beautiful as it is impenetrable. The modern form of this alphabet contains 33 "letters" which can be stacked and combined aesthetically to form words and syllables to eye-watering variety and complexity. To make matters worse, at least two phonetic sounds have a pair of symbols a piece to represent them in spite of the fact that there is no apparent reason for the distinction. I'm not saying I couldn't eventually wrap my head around it. It just very clearly isn't going to happen in the month I have left. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be functionally illiterate in Khmer.
Most Cambodian lessons for English speakers helpfully use the Latin alphabet to approximate the sounds of Khmer. Slightly less helpfully, each individual translator and teacher has decided independently of the others what that is and seems prepared to fight the others to the death rather than adopt anyone else's spelling. Thus, without an audio accompaniment it would be entirely possible to get bogged down in widely differing interpretations of what sound an "R" makes.
Fortunately the internet exists. Not only are there several resources available for free, I have found a series of videos that are taught by a native speaker who lets you hear how words are supposed to sound, and also helpfully explains the literal translation of each sentence before allowing you to try to repeat it several times. It is through this series that I learned the word "tauk" means"cheap" in the exact phrase used in this post's title. Because it is a stupid trans-linguistic pun, It is pretty much the only word outside of "Hello" I can guarantee that I'll remember in a pinch.
I stumbled upon a video that claims to teach you the Khmer language while you sleep. There is, unfortunately one minor fundamental flaw to this strategy that the creators of it overlooked. That is quite simply that it would be virtually impossible to sleep while this is playing. The native Khmer speaker they chose has a pleasant soft clear voice which makes him easy to understand and pleasurable to listen to. On the other hand, the English portion is delivered by a narrator who- all evidence suggests -took the side gig to pick up extra money from her job as a tornado siren. The basic structure of the video is as follows: A word or phrase is flashed onto screen in both English and Khmer The Khmer is presented helpfully in both the Khmer script and what the creators judge to be the nearest phonetic approximation in the Latin Alphabet. The English speaker bellows her phrase into the microphone. This is then repeated three times in whispered Khmer by the native speaker pausing long enough between repetitions for the audience to absorb the information and ponder whether the speaker himself has slipped into a coma. With a blinding flash that suggests that your screen is now imprisoning some malignant ghost, the phrase changes and the whole process starts again. I assume that the sample I watched was representative of the entire nine hours. I cannot say for certain as ten minutes in, I was forced to concede defeat. It turns out, through a previously unsuspected character flaw, I am unable to relax while every fifteen seconds a new social nicety is blasted at me by a very genial air-horn.
All in all, by dedicating about 15 minutes a day to Khmer, I'm hoping just enough sticks to get me by. Other than that I'm relying almost exclusively on the Cambodian people's reputation for kindness, patience and hospitality. Something tells me I'm going to really test it.
Khmer itself is pretty logically structured. The sentence construction is easy enough There are no weird verb tenses or freakish grammatical exceptions to the established rules. If you can remember to add the right modifier to denote a question, plural, or past/future tense, you would seem to be set. While this is also a tonal language, it doesn't contain any sounds that are particularly difficult to pronounce or are too alien for a western speaker. So far so good.
The trouble I find for the casual student is in the written form. Khmer, like Hindi has a phonetic alphabet that I find as beautiful as it is impenetrable. The modern form of this alphabet contains 33 "letters" which can be stacked and combined aesthetically to form words and syllables to eye-watering variety and complexity. To make matters worse, at least two phonetic sounds have a pair of symbols a piece to represent them in spite of the fact that there is no apparent reason for the distinction. I'm not saying I couldn't eventually wrap my head around it. It just very clearly isn't going to happen in the month I have left. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be functionally illiterate in Khmer.
Most Cambodian lessons for English speakers helpfully use the Latin alphabet to approximate the sounds of Khmer. Slightly less helpfully, each individual translator and teacher has decided independently of the others what that is and seems prepared to fight the others to the death rather than adopt anyone else's spelling. Thus, without an audio accompaniment it would be entirely possible to get bogged down in widely differing interpretations of what sound an "R" makes.
Fortunately the internet exists. Not only are there several resources available for free, I have found a series of videos that are taught by a native speaker who lets you hear how words are supposed to sound, and also helpfully explains the literal translation of each sentence before allowing you to try to repeat it several times. It is through this series that I learned the word "tauk" means"cheap" in the exact phrase used in this post's title. Because it is a stupid trans-linguistic pun, It is pretty much the only word outside of "Hello" I can guarantee that I'll remember in a pinch.
I stumbled upon a video that claims to teach you the Khmer language while you sleep. There is, unfortunately one minor fundamental flaw to this strategy that the creators of it overlooked. That is quite simply that it would be virtually impossible to sleep while this is playing. The native Khmer speaker they chose has a pleasant soft clear voice which makes him easy to understand and pleasurable to listen to. On the other hand, the English portion is delivered by a narrator who- all evidence suggests -took the side gig to pick up extra money from her job as a tornado siren. The basic structure of the video is as follows: A word or phrase is flashed onto screen in both English and Khmer The Khmer is presented helpfully in both the Khmer script and what the creators judge to be the nearest phonetic approximation in the Latin Alphabet. The English speaker bellows her phrase into the microphone. This is then repeated three times in whispered Khmer by the native speaker pausing long enough between repetitions for the audience to absorb the information and ponder whether the speaker himself has slipped into a coma. With a blinding flash that suggests that your screen is now imprisoning some malignant ghost, the phrase changes and the whole process starts again. I assume that the sample I watched was representative of the entire nine hours. I cannot say for certain as ten minutes in, I was forced to concede defeat. It turns out, through a previously unsuspected character flaw, I am unable to relax while every fifteen seconds a new social nicety is blasted at me by a very genial air-horn.
All in all, by dedicating about 15 minutes a day to Khmer, I'm hoping just enough sticks to get me by. Other than that I'm relying almost exclusively on the Cambodian people's reputation for kindness, patience and hospitality. Something tells me I'm going to really test it.
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