How long does it take to learn Cambodian?
How long does it take to learn Cambodian?
Hello, this question is to Joon and others who have managed to learn Cambodian.
I'm curious after how much time of study did you start feeling like you are able to understand Khmer ? I'm not talking about speaking, because that always takes longer.
What I mean is understanding perhaps 80% of what they're saying so you know what's going on and able to follow situations or watch tv or movies in Khmer? How much time did you spend studying per day for how long to achieve this?
I'm at the one year mark in learning Khmer now and feel like I'm another year away from there. I would say my studying comes out to an average of 30-40 minutes per day.
I've never taken any formal courses so just learning on my own from books and watching khmer media, I'm a European bilingual and pretty good with languages, but finding Cambodian more difficult than any of the other 6 languages I've studied so far.
Also, what was the most effective method for you?
Thanks
I'm curious after how much time of study did you start feeling like you are able to understand Khmer ? I'm not talking about speaking, because that always takes longer.
What I mean is understanding perhaps 80% of what they're saying so you know what's going on and able to follow situations or watch tv or movies in Khmer? How much time did you spend studying per day for how long to achieve this?
I'm at the one year mark in learning Khmer now and feel like I'm another year away from there. I would say my studying comes out to an average of 30-40 minutes per day.
I've never taken any formal courses so just learning on my own from books and watching khmer media, I'm a European bilingual and pretty good with languages, but finding Cambodian more difficult than any of the other 6 languages I've studied so far.
Also, what was the most effective method for you?
Thanks
Last edited by marc45 on Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
- MerkinMaker
- Reactions: 62
- Posts: 3232
- Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:04 am
For me it was once I focused on listening and reading rather than speaking and writing. Output will come naturally if you get enough input.
That's good advice starkmonster. I made the mistake of spending a long time learning from books, about 8 months, before I realized that spoken language is completely different. I though I wasn't learning enough and the language was too difficult that's why I didn't understand. As it turns out, the reason I didn't understand is because Cambodians have several ways of shortening and saying the same words, and real spoken language is a completely abridged form of what's in the books. In addition they use particles in every sentence often shortened to vowels only. These particles have a wide range of meaning that is not covered by anything in English. Currently there is no book that will tell you this, or even attempt to tell you this. All the modern books are poor excuses for language teaching material. The only valuable language books are from the 60's and 70's, and only one of these even makes an attempt to address this, which is Cambodian Basic Course from 1966!starkmonster wrote:For me it was once I focused on listening and reading rather than speaking and writing. Output will come naturally if you get enough input.
-
- Damn, I just saw my Internet Bill !
- Reactions: 3
- Posts: 4420
- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:04 pm
I'd say after 4-6 months I was getting by ok. At the one year mark I was pretty good. It's hard to say as I can't recall how good I was at the time (compared to now), and it also depends what you consider "good". But I was definitely getting by in most situations by then. Come to think of it, I had my first khmer girlfriend from months 5-9 or so. She didn't speak a lick of English and communication wasn't a huge problem, so my khmer was definitely passable by the 9 month mark (when I was forced to go back to the west for a bit). Had we lived together, I probably would have improved even faster.
A bunch of circumstances also come into play when it comes to acquiring a foreign tongue. I'm pretty good with languages (Khmer was my 6th language at the time--though it's now replaced two of them--), so I picked it up faster than say, someone who has never studied a foreign language. I'm not trying to brag and this isn't based on my own opinion, but rather according to most khmers I've met and my teachers at the time who said I learned fast. They had no reason to bullshit me. However, I've now been here several years and I'd say I'm still far from fully fluent. I got quite lazy after the 1 year mark. I never bothered to learn to write properly and stopped actively studying (I only studied khmer the first 5 months I was here). Though I can manage 100% in just about any situation, I have a lot of trouble understanding official speeches, some of the news on TV etc. I should kick myself in the ass and give it another go. Reading and writing would likely only take me a few months, and increasing my vocabulary in a systematic manner (rather than my current "on the fly" approach) would also likely help me exponentially as my vocab isn't stellar in every category. There are actually several easy words I should know which for some reason, I don't. I'd say don't rush it. Learning a language is different for everyone, and people pick up different various languages at different speeds. You seem to be enjoying yourself and that's what counts. Find your groove and keep at it. It's also normal to reach plateaus now and then.
Do you live in Cambodia? I'd say having a khmer teacher to learn speaking will make you progress waaaaay faster than with books which tend to be geared towards native speakers and spend an inordinate amount of time on reading/writing. As I said, I was speaking fairly good khmer by the 6 month mark, I then got too lazy to learn reading/writing as I figured I could communicate already. But I think my approach was good. I've seen tons of people wasting time trying to learn khmer as you would a European language (through complementary writing/reading combined with speaking). For khmer I'd say it's much easier to learn to speak first (no articles, no verb conjugations etc), and THEN, once you can speak, learn to read/write as the script is phonetic (and it'll help pronunciation to an extent). You also seem to be quite good with languages, so I can see how a lack of progress can be frustrating. Just an idea as you seem to be having doubts about your current approach.
A bunch of circumstances also come into play when it comes to acquiring a foreign tongue. I'm pretty good with languages (Khmer was my 6th language at the time--though it's now replaced two of them--), so I picked it up faster than say, someone who has never studied a foreign language. I'm not trying to brag and this isn't based on my own opinion, but rather according to most khmers I've met and my teachers at the time who said I learned fast. They had no reason to bullshit me. However, I've now been here several years and I'd say I'm still far from fully fluent. I got quite lazy after the 1 year mark. I never bothered to learn to write properly and stopped actively studying (I only studied khmer the first 5 months I was here). Though I can manage 100% in just about any situation, I have a lot of trouble understanding official speeches, some of the news on TV etc. I should kick myself in the ass and give it another go. Reading and writing would likely only take me a few months, and increasing my vocabulary in a systematic manner (rather than my current "on the fly" approach) would also likely help me exponentially as my vocab isn't stellar in every category. There are actually several easy words I should know which for some reason, I don't. I'd say don't rush it. Learning a language is different for everyone, and people pick up different various languages at different speeds. You seem to be enjoying yourself and that's what counts. Find your groove and keep at it. It's also normal to reach plateaus now and then.
Do you live in Cambodia? I'd say having a khmer teacher to learn speaking will make you progress waaaaay faster than with books which tend to be geared towards native speakers and spend an inordinate amount of time on reading/writing. As I said, I was speaking fairly good khmer by the 6 month mark, I then got too lazy to learn reading/writing as I figured I could communicate already. But I think my approach was good. I've seen tons of people wasting time trying to learn khmer as you would a European language (through complementary writing/reading combined with speaking). For khmer I'd say it's much easier to learn to speak first (no articles, no verb conjugations etc), and THEN, once you can speak, learn to read/write as the script is phonetic (and it'll help pronunciation to an extent). You also seem to be quite good with languages, so I can see how a lack of progress can be frustrating. Just an idea as you seem to be having doubts about your current approach.
Wow, 6 months is pretty impressive, so good for you, you should definitely continue studying and building vocabulary.LexusSchmexus wrote: Do you live in Cambodia? I'd say having a khmer teacher to learn speaking will make you progress waaaaay faster than with books which tend to be geared towards native speakers and spend an inordinate amount of time on reading/writing. As I said, I was speaking fairly good khmer by the 6 month mark, I then got too lazy to learn reading/writing as I figured I could communicate already. But I think my approach was good. I've seen tons of people wasting time trying to learn khmer as you would a European language (through complementary writing/reading combined with speaking). For khmer I'd say it's much easier to learn to speak first (no articles, no verb conjugations etc), and THEN, once you can speak, learn to read/write as the script is phonetic (and it'll help pronunciation to an extent). You also seem to be quite good with languages, so I can see how a lack of progress can be frustrating. Just an idea as you seem to be having doubts about your current approach.
I'm actually trying to learn 20 words a day systematically, despite whatever they say this that really does help a lot, I hear the words I recently learned on a daily basis, so I know it's useful. Yeah I know a khmer teacher would be great, but I can't afford one right now. I do live in Cambodia, and you're right I'm a bit disappointed at my progress but I think that's because I'm logically oriented as opposed to intuitively, and I think latin or germanic languages are much easier to learn in a logical way. I found German so much easier than Cambodian. I think It'll take time to incorporate the specific Cambodian nuances that make it difficult for me. What annoys me is that I'm constantly thinking "what the hell did he/she just say?" when I know they're saying very basic, everyday things. With other languages I understood these basic things very fast, and that really gives you the feeling of knowing the language. At least now I've finally figured out why I'm not understanding these things and have turned to concentrate on spoken form.
- Falcon Randwick
- Damn, I just saw my Internet Bill !
- Reactions: 3
- Posts: 4381
- Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:55 pm
Pretty sure Joon had a bit of a home ground advantage when she was learning Khmer...marc45 wrote:Hello, this question is to Joon and others who have managed to learn Cambodian.
Like Potato Stars on facebook. We're likable...
https://www.facebook.com/potstars1
...and make your ears hate you by listening to us here
https://soundcloud.com/falcon-randwick
https://www.facebook.com/potstars1
...and make your ears hate you by listening to us here
https://soundcloud.com/falcon-randwick
I guess it depends on a lot.... And it depends on what your goal is as well.... Listening, speaking, understanding the news, being able to read the papers, .....
In general, I think if you've studied a foreign language before you'll learn Khmer more easily, because you've learned how to look at the structure of your own language compared to a foreign language before. I've seen UK people struggle with Khmer language a lot, they never studied a foreign language before and really struggled, both with the pronunciation and the (lack of) grammar. After over two years in Cambodia they couldn't help themselves in day-by-day situations.
I consider myself lucky. After initial courses provided by the NGO I used to work for (one course 5 weeks, 4 hrs a day, another course 2 weeks, 4 hrs a day) I started studying with a local high school teacher, five days a week, every day one hour. I think after about 1Y my Khmer was good enough to get by in any day-by-day situations and I quit learning. Day-by-day situations don't include meeting high shots, teaching, visiting workshops etc. For those occasions there's a whole different vocabulary needed.
Since I stopped studying, I picked up loads of new words, but the speed has decreased. Whenever I have time, I will learn the alphabet, but currently I'm illiterate....
If you start studying, one tip. Whenever the teacher will teach you the word 'neck' to translate the word 'you', hit him/her on the head and ask him/her to teach you the incredible amount of words Cambodians use to address another person (you). After being programmed to use the word 'neck' I found it very difficult to re-program myself to use the specific words actually used in Khmer.
In general, I think if you've studied a foreign language before you'll learn Khmer more easily, because you've learned how to look at the structure of your own language compared to a foreign language before. I've seen UK people struggle with Khmer language a lot, they never studied a foreign language before and really struggled, both with the pronunciation and the (lack of) grammar. After over two years in Cambodia they couldn't help themselves in day-by-day situations.
I consider myself lucky. After initial courses provided by the NGO I used to work for (one course 5 weeks, 4 hrs a day, another course 2 weeks, 4 hrs a day) I started studying with a local high school teacher, five days a week, every day one hour. I think after about 1Y my Khmer was good enough to get by in any day-by-day situations and I quit learning. Day-by-day situations don't include meeting high shots, teaching, visiting workshops etc. For those occasions there's a whole different vocabulary needed.
Since I stopped studying, I picked up loads of new words, but the speed has decreased. Whenever I have time, I will learn the alphabet, but currently I'm illiterate....
If you start studying, one tip. Whenever the teacher will teach you the word 'neck' to translate the word 'you', hit him/her on the head and ask him/her to teach you the incredible amount of words Cambodians use to address another person (you). After being programmed to use the word 'neck' I found it very difficult to re-program myself to use the specific words actually used in Khmer.
- horace
- I can not turn my computer off ...
- Reactions: 307
- Posts: 5484
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:27 pm
- Location: different planet
Been learning for 18 years and I still don't know my numbers above 29, nor my days of the week and as for months well forget them.
k440, something to do when you're pissed.
-
- Damn, I just saw my Internet Bill !
- Reactions: 3
- Posts: 4420
- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:04 pm
I think the way to approach Cambodian is to see it as a phonetically difficult language rather than a grammatically-challenging one. Whereas in latin or Germanic languages, you focus on grammar structures and how sentences are constructed, with Khmer and other Asian languages, you have to take a more phonetic approach. Trying to learn the script first is way too time consuming and gets you nowhere. Khmer contains sounds which simply don't exist in most European languages and trying to read/pronounce stuff on your own without prior knowledge is close to impossible. That's why you always have trouble undertsanding what people are saying (or end up with a huge accent when you speak). For Spanish, German, French and so forth, you can often get by with a book and reading. Even Cyrillic is very easy to learn and one can quickly read to improve vocab/grammar. Not so much with Khmer.marc45 wrote:Wow, 6 months is pretty impressive, so good for you, you should definitely continue studying and building vocabulary.
I'm actually trying to learn 20 words a day systematically, despite whatever they say this that really does help a lot, I hear the words I recently learned on a daily basis, so I know it's useful. Yeah I know a khmer teacher would be great, but I can't afford one right now. I do live in Cambodia, and you're right I'm a bit disappointed at my progress but I think that's because I'm logically oriented as opposed to intuitively, and I think latin or germanic languages are much easier to learn in a logical way. I found German so much easier than Cambodian. I think It'll take time to incorporate the specific Cambodian nuances that make it difficult for me. What annoys me is that I'm constantly thinking "what the hell did he/she just say?" when I know they're saying very basic, everyday things. With other languages I understood these basic things very fast, and that really gives you the feeling of knowing the language. At least now I've finally figured out why I'm not understanding these things and have turned to concentrate on spoken form.
The main issue I think you were having is taking a European language learning approach to Khmer. You can learn German and Spanish for example, by yourself. Once you learn a few basic sounds, you can pretty much self-teach to a big extent. Read the words and that's how they're pronounced. Of course, people will speak faster in real life and there are tons of regional dialects, but for the most part you'll be ok. French and English offer additional difficulties in that the words written are often pronounced differently from how they're written, which can be a challenge. Furthermore, articles can be troublesome in pretty much every language except Spanish, where they're obvious (German and French are both difficult in that respect). Russian is similar to German in its logic, the cases and all that. Gender is also similarly easy as Spanish (whereas French and German genders are more difficult).
For Khmer, you need to set aside all this grammar/pronunciation approach and focus on listening/speaking. After learning Indo-European languages, it should seem to you that Khmer has virtually no grammar. It does of course, but it's very easy/basic. Future/past tenses, conjugation, articles... All those things which one tends to focus on first in European languages, all of that goes out the window. The only very minor difficulty is with word order. What's truly difficult is pronunciation.
You're on the right track. If you can't afford a teacher, then I'd say just go out to the market everyday and buy your food there. Make en effort to speak Khmer with every Khmer you meet. Insist they correct your pronunciation when you notice they originally had trouble understanding what you were trying to say. You should pick up on the sounds fairly easily. Khmer is very nasal at times, which can be a challenge to some people. I know I still mispronounce some words, or my accent comes out strongly in others. That's perfectly normal. The important thing is that you've narrowed down what you're doing wrong and you've decided to adapt and change your approach a bit. If you're learning new words everyday, make sure you go out an practice them. You speak several languages so you obviously know this already, but I'm just emphasizing the point. When I first came I'd buy everything at the market and tried to make a few Khmer friends so I could practice. It just grew naturally from there. Oh! And have you made your own phonetic alphabet yet? I assume you're writing in Khmer at the moment... If you speak several Euro languages, it should be dead easy to write out words in your own personal phonetic script. Feel free to use the German umlaut for some sounds, French "a" for others and so on. That's what I did for vocab (and still do) and it worked way better/faster than trying to read it in Khmer script.
Funny you should mention that. I originally learned the months by name, but quickly ditched that after realizing that everyone referred to them by number. I'd have to start "counting" in my head which month was which, so I quickly dropped the whole makara/tola names. Khmers would look at me all confused and try to recall which month was which out loud. Kind of like how the average westerner has to "count" when they see their credit card's expiration date or something... I've since completely forgotten the "official" months and just use "kai mouille, kai pii" like 95% of Khmers. The only issue is that in official outlets like the news, they use the proper names. So in those cases I'm left trying to remember which month is mitona, which one is kakada etc...horace wrote:Been learning for 18 years and I still don't know my numbers above 29, nor my days of the week and as for months well forget them.
Hello Marc, since you name-checked me in your OP, I'm replying but there have been great feedback and pieces of advice so far, that I would've given to you as well (but much less clearly explained!). LexusSchmexus has actually described what I had done when learning the language by myself, so you can definitely consider his tips and see if they work for you.
Falcon Randwich mentioned that I probably had a home ground advantage... which is partly true, as my parents spoke in Khmer at home when I was in France so my ears were used to the Khmer language, but I was unable and actually reluctant to speak in Khmer, besides the mandatory "Chum reap sour" and "Chum reap lear."
My native language is really French, then I learned English at school and it's only when I decided to live in Cambodia 10 years ago that I took upon myself to seriously learn Khmer. When I was coming to Cambodia for holidays, among my siblings, I was the worst in Khmer. I was self-conscious, didn't want to make an ass of myself and was frustrated with Cambodians laughing and not understanding what I was trying to say.
I daresay that I'm self-taught. I didn't have a regular tutor, didn't use books, except for a few hours during which a "tutor" (a distant cousin) had me write and learn the Cambodian alphabet. In the beginning, I was pretty obsessed with "rules" and wanted to understand WHY spelling, sentence structure and words were designed as they were. Then, at some point, I had an epiphany and realized that it didn't matter, because all I wanted to know was how to read, speak, listen and write. I didn't need to be a linguist! So I just took every pronunciation and phrase structures as a given rule.
So after I got the basics of how to read and pronounce the combination of Khmer letters, I just went ahead and read articles from gossip magazines with someone. Didn't matter if I understood it or not. I just focused on deciphering the words. Then, in my case, it made it easier to recognize spoken words.
And as mentioned by other non-native Khmer speakers here, nothing will beat practice and conversing with Cambodians!
I pick up new words (both conversational and technical) everyday. For the various words usage, idioms, phrase structure, I would just carefully listen to people around me and mimic them. At some point, there are some speech idiosyncrasies that keep popping and they start to get imprinted in your mind just by sheer repetition.
I make a point in pronouncing words "as they should be pronounced" because even if I fuck it up with my accent, people will still get what words I'm trying to say and they will happily correct me.
Don't be afraid of trying and making mistakes, even embarrassing ones! The worst thing that you'll get is some hearty laugh, a correction and a bit of embarrassment, which is totally harmless.
As for your question about how long it took for me to understand people around me speaking in Khmer so that I would feel confident going anywhere on my own... that's pretty hard to say! Because I've come to visit Phnom Penh in spurts, 2 months for holidays almost every year between 1999 and 2003... Then I came to live in Cambodia in October-November 2003 and the growing proficiency in my Khmer has been steady. Can't pinpoint or remember at what point I was able to hold my own at the market!
If you can't get a tutor, the next best thing (or maybe I would say the better thing) is to make friends with Cambodians around you. I've learned the most when reading and speaking with my then-Cambodian boyfriend, friends, and then work colleagues.
Falcon Randwich mentioned that I probably had a home ground advantage... which is partly true, as my parents spoke in Khmer at home when I was in France so my ears were used to the Khmer language, but I was unable and actually reluctant to speak in Khmer, besides the mandatory "Chum reap sour" and "Chum reap lear."
My native language is really French, then I learned English at school and it's only when I decided to live in Cambodia 10 years ago that I took upon myself to seriously learn Khmer. When I was coming to Cambodia for holidays, among my siblings, I was the worst in Khmer. I was self-conscious, didn't want to make an ass of myself and was frustrated with Cambodians laughing and not understanding what I was trying to say.
I daresay that I'm self-taught. I didn't have a regular tutor, didn't use books, except for a few hours during which a "tutor" (a distant cousin) had me write and learn the Cambodian alphabet. In the beginning, I was pretty obsessed with "rules" and wanted to understand WHY spelling, sentence structure and words were designed as they were. Then, at some point, I had an epiphany and realized that it didn't matter, because all I wanted to know was how to read, speak, listen and write. I didn't need to be a linguist! So I just took every pronunciation and phrase structures as a given rule.
So after I got the basics of how to read and pronounce the combination of Khmer letters, I just went ahead and read articles from gossip magazines with someone. Didn't matter if I understood it or not. I just focused on deciphering the words. Then, in my case, it made it easier to recognize spoken words.
And as mentioned by other non-native Khmer speakers here, nothing will beat practice and conversing with Cambodians!
I pick up new words (both conversational and technical) everyday. For the various words usage, idioms, phrase structure, I would just carefully listen to people around me and mimic them. At some point, there are some speech idiosyncrasies that keep popping and they start to get imprinted in your mind just by sheer repetition.
I make a point in pronouncing words "as they should be pronounced" because even if I fuck it up with my accent, people will still get what words I'm trying to say and they will happily correct me.
Don't be afraid of trying and making mistakes, even embarrassing ones! The worst thing that you'll get is some hearty laugh, a correction and a bit of embarrassment, which is totally harmless.
As for your question about how long it took for me to understand people around me speaking in Khmer so that I would feel confident going anywhere on my own... that's pretty hard to say! Because I've come to visit Phnom Penh in spurts, 2 months for holidays almost every year between 1999 and 2003... Then I came to live in Cambodia in October-November 2003 and the growing proficiency in my Khmer has been steady. Can't pinpoint or remember at what point I was able to hold my own at the market!
If you can't get a tutor, the next best thing (or maybe I would say the better thing) is to make friends with Cambodians around you. I've learned the most when reading and speaking with my then-Cambodian boyfriend, friends, and then work colleagues.
-
- MerkinMaker
- Reactions: 62
- Posts: 3232
- Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:04 am
I don't think I'll ever feel 100% proficient in Khmer, every time I think I've got it licked I get reminded I'm not even close.
Yesterday was one of those days, while watching a karaoke video I saw an old actor that I had met the week previous at the screening of The Last Reel at the PP film festival and asked the people I was with if he was very famous.
I then got asked what the film I'd seen was about, I said it was a sad romance and left it at that, then they wanted to know the story. Wow, that was an ask, it was a quite complex story that spanned generations, jumping back and forward in time and had a few big twists. What also made it super complicated from a language perspective was that the movie was about people making a movie.
I tried brushing them off, but they weren't having it. Anyway, I got there in the end, but it was exhausting and I can assure you it was far from poetic. It reminded me that I've got the vocab and finesse of an over enthusiastic eight year old. Lots of work still to do.
Yesterday was one of those days, while watching a karaoke video I saw an old actor that I had met the week previous at the screening of The Last Reel at the PP film festival and asked the people I was with if he was very famous.
I then got asked what the film I'd seen was about, I said it was a sad romance and left it at that, then they wanted to know the story. Wow, that was an ask, it was a quite complex story that spanned generations, jumping back and forward in time and had a few big twists. What also made it super complicated from a language perspective was that the movie was about people making a movie.
I tried brushing them off, but they weren't having it. Anyway, I got there in the end, but it was exhausting and I can assure you it was far from poetic. It reminded me that I've got the vocab and finesse of an over enthusiastic eight year old. Lots of work still to do.
I almost never used Khmer spoken, really just on a few occasions. I learned by reading and it probably takes too much time and resources, endless looking in the dictionary etc. In the books too many Pali/Sanskrit terms are used that almost never used in the everyday speech, also there's many old Mon/Khmer adjectives, rustic speech, borrowings from Thai, French etc. Some words are not in the dictionary so you have to figure it out yourself.
From reading Khmer you can copy some patterns, idioms, words etc. which would give you more intellectual look. On average I read a page in 5 minutes. What is a hard thing is a motivation. If you think Khmer culture inferior to Western it's hard to push yourslelf to read the novels. If you think it's superior then you will be disappointed too. Many novels are pretty straight forward and monotonous but there are a few exceptions. But I think they give a good insight in what's happenning in Khmer culture, behind so called "smile".
From reading Khmer you can copy some patterns, idioms, words etc. which would give you more intellectual look. On average I read a page in 5 minutes. What is a hard thing is a motivation. If you think Khmer culture inferior to Western it's hard to push yourslelf to read the novels. If you think it's superior then you will be disappointed too. Many novels are pretty straight forward and monotonous but there are a few exceptions. But I think they give a good insight in what's happenning in Khmer culture, behind so called "smile".
-
- I live above an internet cafe
- Reactions: 0
- Posts: 246
- Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:10 pm
I'm sorry but what do you mean by particles. Can you give some examples?marc45 wrote:That's good advice starkmonster. I made the mistake of spending a long time learning from books, about 8 months, before I realized that spoken language is completely different. I though I wasn't learning enough and the language was too difficult that's why I didn't understand. As it turns out, the reason I didn't understand is because Cambodians have several ways of shortening and saying the same words, and real spoken language is a completely abridged form of what's in the books. In addition they use particles in every sentence often shortened to vowels only. These particles have a wide range of meaning that is not covered by anything in English. Currently there is no book that will tell you this, or even attempt to tell you this. All the modern books are poor excuses for language teaching material. The only valuable language books are from the 60's and 70's, and only one of these even makes an attempt to address this, which is Cambodian Basic Course from 1966!starkmonster wrote:For me it was once I focused on listening and reading rather than speaking and writing. Output will come naturally if you get enough input.
I have been studying over a year and consider myself an overenthusiastic beginner. The funny thing is that texting with Khmer people (even native speakers) I will communicate quite easily and I read and write Khmer relatively quickly. However, the same is not true for my listening, which is still not great. I chalk this up to never living in Cambodia; I am sure I would feel differently with time there.
-
- I need professional help
- Reactions: 0
- Posts: 1180
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:32 pm
I just wanted to learn basic spoken khmer. I had three hours a week of lessons with an excellent tutor for three months and then just noted down new words in my phone as i heard them and asked what they meant. Having a khmer girlfriend who spoke very basic English also helped a lot, forcing me to learn khmer faster.
I think I could deal with most situations within about five months of starting to learn.
Understanding spoken khmer is another story. The locals in Phnom Penh use a lot of slang and different pronunciations which made it hard to understand people's responses, especially if they were speaking fast.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think I could deal with most situations within about five months of starting to learn.
Understanding spoken khmer is another story. The locals in Phnom Penh use a lot of slang and different pronunciations which made it hard to understand people's responses, especially if they were speaking fast.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 2 Replies
- 1939 Views
-
Last post by khmerhit
Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:12 am
-
- 38 Replies
- 4177 Views
-
Last post by Lucky Lucan
Sun Jan 03, 2021 1:10 am
-
-
Best visa option for long-term stay
by Bill Shakey » Sun Dec 17, 2023 9:27 am » in Questions and Answers - 12 Replies
- 1272 Views
-
Last post by Night Owl
Wed Jan 31, 2024 10:30 am
-
-
- 4 Replies
- 2132 Views
-
Last post by mai
Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:37 pm