by Albeiror24 » Sun Jul 22, 2018 10:43 am
Wayward Woods wrote:Ok, so I getting the technical difference between them. But there are some complicated times:
I once called my young secretary at the office “oun” - a guy told me not to do that, it was too flirtatious. But, calling a 22 year old woman “bong” seems odd.
And what about relationships? In theory, what if the girl is older?
What about lower level staff in general?
The use Bong/Oun in speaking (បង/អូន) is related to love affairs between a couple or in flirting. Using those terms within a working environment, would mean flirting with your colleagues, so it would give the impression that you are interesting in that young woman beyond that she is
your secretary.
If you say
Oun to a young woman, you can translate it as "Honey" or "Love", etc. As for men, saying
Bong to a man is less compromising even if it comes from a woman.
Khmer Language is very clear: If you work with Cambodian people, you can call them by their own name if they are younger than you or by their position such as
Secretary (លេខា),
boss (ថៅកែ) or by their age condition: Miss (កញ្ញា).
[quote="Wayward Woods"]Ok, so I getting the technical difference between them. But there are some complicated times:
I once called my young secretary at the office “oun” - a guy told me not to do that, it was too flirtatious. But, calling a 22 year old woman “bong” seems odd.
And what about relationships? In theory, what if the girl is older?
What about lower level staff in general?[/quote]
The use Bong/Oun in speaking (បង/អូន) is related to love affairs between a couple or in flirting. Using those terms within a working environment, would mean flirting with your colleagues, so it would give the impression that you are interesting in that young woman beyond that she is [i]your[/i] secretary.
If you say [i]Oun[/i] to a young woman, you can translate it as "Honey" or "Love", etc. As for men, saying [i]Bong[/i] to a man is less compromising even if it comes from a woman.
Khmer Language is very clear: If you work with Cambodian people, you can call them by their own name if they are younger than you or by their position such as [i]Secretary[/i] (លេខា), [i]boss[/i] (ថៅកែ) or by their age condition: Miss (កញ្ញា).