Problems with Cambodian

[Sukhumvit]

Whilst not an accomplished linguist I do like to pick up a few words and phrases on me travels. Unlike Vietnamese, which was first written down using the Roman alphabet by a French Jesuit in the nineteenth century, nobody has bothered to do the same for Cambodian. Whilst the Chinese have an official westernised version of Mandarin called pinyin, which was much promoted by the Commies from the 1950's onwards and which makes learning the language easier than trying to read cuneiforms and although Thailand has an official government approved transliteration system, lil' old Cambodia is poorly served by linguists.

 

As a spoken language it is fairly straightforward. There are no tones, unlike Thai and others. Sentence construction is simple without verb conjugations or pluralisation of nouns etc. According to my reading it is an almost 100% phonetic language. The problem for foreigners is that it is written in an archaic script, akin to Thai. (Thai speakers may notice similarities with some words, particularly with numbers 20,30 etc to 100 and the phrase to ask if you are well or not.) Apparently Thai was derived from this script and not the other way around, and as such academics regard Cambodian as possibly being the most important regional language. Problems arise however when trying to use one of the many and varied transliteration systems adopted by various parties to actually speak/read the language. I'll give an example of how the same words have been transliterated by six different sources as an example of some of the difficulties that one may encounter. I'll use the simple words for one and ninety and give the transliteration as published by the various authors. Further, several books refer to the language as Khmer whilst others call it Cambodian so it can be confusing even right at the start to decide what name to give to the language, let alone try to speak it.

 

1. Cambodian For Beginners by Richard Gilbert and Sovandy Hang, published by Paiboon publishing. This is the same publishing house that produces Benjawan P. Becker's useful Thai/Lao series. It is available for purchase in Thailand and comes complete with a 3 cd set to assist in pronunciation. This book also teaches how to read and write from lesson one.

One = MUAY, Ninety = GAU SEB

 

2. Rough Guide to Cambodia. Refers to the language as Khmer.

One = MOI, Ninety = COW SEP

 

3. Lonely Planet South East Asia Phrasebook. Refers to the language as Khmer.

One = MUY, Ninety = KAO SUHP

 

4. Khmer Phrase Book Mini Dictionary (publishers/authors unknown).

One = MOOUY, Ninety = KAOW SEUP

 

5. Tuttle Practical Cambodian Dictionary by David Smyth and Tran Kien. Smyth is/was a lecturer in Thai and Cambodian at School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. Kien is/was an assistant lecturer there in Cambodian. Tuttle are well respected with regards to their publishing of esoteric languages.

One = MOO AY, Ninety = GAO SEUP

 

6. Sihanouk Ville Advertiser. Free paper with mini guide to language.

One = MOOEY, Ninety = GAOW SUP.

 

From the above one would perhaps think from the Lonely Planet that one sounds like the Spanish word for "very" which is "muy". Alternatively from the Rough Guide one may think that the one sounds like the French word for "me" which is "moi". In reality One sounds most like either MOOUY, MOO AY or MOOEY, depending on one's own accent and pronunciation. The initial syllable is like the word MOO, as in what a cow does. The second syllable sounds like a cross between A and EE.

 

Turning to the transliterations for ninety, the actual word is written in Cambodian using the consonant GAW/GOR( rhymes with Cor as a Cockney would say "Cor blimey guv". It does not use the KAW consonant. Therefore the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet are wrong as is the anonymous Khmer Phrasebook. The pronunciation is nearest to that given by Tuttle, GAO, or the Sihanouk free paper, GAOW. Despite it's being very good the Cambodian For Beginner's version of GAU could be mispronounced so that the -AU rhymes with Australia which is often said Osstraylea. The second part of ninety, is a cross between Tuttle's SEUP and Cambodia For Beginner's SEB. It is certainly not SEP, as per Rough Guide, or SUHP, as per Lonely Planet.

 

So, as can be seen, learning to speak Cambodian from written sources is very much a hit and miss affair. I would recommend the Tuttle dictionary, although be careful when purchasig a bootleg copy as often there will be missing pages or repetition. Cambodian For Beginners is also recommended as it contains the cds to help with pronunciation. Plus it teaches you how to recognise the symbols, if not actually write them. With study that should be able to wean you off using the various transliteration systems and then as it is phonetic one should be able to actually pronounce words, although one may not actually be able to understand what they mean.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[dddave]

A member of this forum is not only fluent in Cambodian, but has written a comprehensive Cambodian language text with accompaning CD's which he sells to businesses, institutions and NGO's.

 

Up to him if he wishes to identify himself.

[Flashermac]

<< Apparently Thai was derived from this script and not the other way around, and as such academics regard Cambodian as possibly being the most important regional language. >>

 

 

Cambodian, Thai, Lao and other alphabets are all derived from the same script from India (despite the Ramkhamhaeng "legend").

 

"The Pallava writing system forms the basis for several writing systems of Southeast Asia and beyond: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sulawesi (the Celebes) and the Philippines."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallava_script

 

[Julian2]

Interesting post, I've seen some very different spellings for the same Thai words in various publications as well.

Be interested to know what the Cambodians call their language, and for that matter themselves; I've always thought it was Khmer but am happy to be instructed.

[Central Scrutinizer]

They speak Khmen? Might be mistaken, but if I remember right that's what it is called.

[colorwolf]

"khnom ah-cheh khmei teh, bong"...

khmers refer to their languange as "khmei"...in thai/lao it sounds more like "kha-men"...

fairly easy language to pick up; not quite as wonderfully easy as bahasa indonesia, but more simple than thai or vietnamese...ymmv

not much point in learning the lingo though, unless you're there for work (like i was)...

[Flashermac]

Sort of my feeling too. I'm interested in Khmer, but have no real reason to go to the trouble of learning it. With Thai, it was a matter of survival. I was a volunteer assigned to a university campus in a small city where speaking Thai made life a helluva lot easier. Off campus, the only folks who spoke English were the very few who had been educated abroad and the half a dozen expats.

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

"khmei" is correct. I pronounce it "kh-my".

 

HH

[Sukhumvit]

Yeah, they say "Kh my" as you've pointed out.

[Sukhumvit]

The guy that co-wrote the Tuttle dictionary, David Smyth, has also authored the Routledge Colloqiual Cambodian course which comes with a couple of tapes. From glancing through the book it seems a lot more useful than some of the other books I've picked up. It's easily available in Phnom Penh although didn't spot it in Sihanoukville. Bootlegs are about $4 and up.