Consistently Mispronounced Words
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Consistently Mispronounced Words
One thing that surprised me when I was in Cambodia is why there isn't a dictionary or list for words that are consistently mispronounced, meaning that they are always said a certain way that deviates from the written text. If you learn Khmer formally, you will easily be thrown off the trail of these words, but even in two weeks, I was quickly starting to pick up on the slangy variants. This is all the more surprising because Khmer will acknowledge that they are speaking the ភាសានិយាយ.
Here are some of the most common words, and I would love to see if we could add to the list and make a very good list for future reference:
ក្រៅ is usually said as កិហោ (ke ow).
គ្រូ is usually truncated to ឃូ (koo).
គ្រួសារ usually loses the r sound and becomes simply គួសារ (gkoa saa).
មក becomes simply ម៉ោ (mow).
ព្រោះ loses the r sound as well (it seems like Khmer don't like pronouncing it when speaking quickly) and becomes ពោះ (same as belly).
ព្រឹក becomes ផឺក (phuk), very similar to the sound of the word for drinking.
ម្នាក់ឯង becomes simply អ្នកឯង. I had a lot of confusion when I entered a restaurant the few first times till I realized this was a simple mental switch.
ប្រពន្ធ is dropped to simply ពន្ធ. Had a few tuk tuk drivers ask me if I had a boun until I made this mental switch as well.
ល្ងង់ simply becomes ងង់ (ngong).
ដែរ sometimes sounds more like ដើ
ប្រាប់ almost always turns into ភាព (peyap).
ប្រាំ turns into ពីអាម (be am).
I will continue adding to this list as I discover new ones.
Here are some of the most common words, and I would love to see if we could add to the list and make a very good list for future reference:
ក្រៅ is usually said as កិហោ (ke ow).
គ្រូ is usually truncated to ឃូ (koo).
គ្រួសារ usually loses the r sound and becomes simply គួសារ (gkoa saa).
មក becomes simply ម៉ោ (mow).
ព្រោះ loses the r sound as well (it seems like Khmer don't like pronouncing it when speaking quickly) and becomes ពោះ (same as belly).
ព្រឹក becomes ផឺក (phuk), very similar to the sound of the word for drinking.
ម្នាក់ឯង becomes simply អ្នកឯង. I had a lot of confusion when I entered a restaurant the few first times till I realized this was a simple mental switch.
ប្រពន្ធ is dropped to simply ពន្ធ. Had a few tuk tuk drivers ask me if I had a boun until I made this mental switch as well.
ល្ងង់ simply becomes ងង់ (ngong).
ដែរ sometimes sounds more like ដើ
ប្រាប់ almost always turns into ភាព (peyap).
ប្រាំ turns into ពីអាម (be am).
I will continue adding to this list as I discover new ones.
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Anything with a R sound - just change it to an L or stick a vowel in there.
Those bloody R's are too much hassle
Those bloody R's are too much hassle
OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
- Lucky Lucan
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That's more of a Thai thing.ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote:Anything with a R sound - just change it to an L or stick a vowel in there.
Those bloody R's are too much hassle
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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Thai speaking Thai - or Thai speaking English?Lucky Lucan wrote:That's more of a Thai thing.ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote:Anything with a R sound - just change it to an L or stick a vowel in there.
Those bloody R's are too much hassle
In addition to the op's list I can immediately think of several words that when I saw the spelling I was surprised to see there was an r instead of an l
E.g. l'mot instead of r'mot for tuktuk
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Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
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Yeah I actually don't think any are 'mispronounced'Joon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
People choose to speak that way, it you ask them to clarify then they can say it the 'written' way.
Mispronounced implies a mistake (to me). The pronunciation is intentional & every language has stuff like this.
ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
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You hear Khmer consistently use all of the vowels and consonants in these words?Joon wrote:ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
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I'm with you on some of these: 'morning', 'teacher' and 'because' definitely use a shortened slangy pronunciation. Some others are more subtle.merchantsmutual wrote:You hear Khmer consistently use all of the vowels and consonants in these words?Joon wrote:ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
I do.merchantsmutual wrote:You hear Khmer consistently use all of the vowels and consonants in these words?Joon wrote:ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
And I tell you, it comes down to YOUR ear, and it's pretty normal.
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sorry but i do have to agree with Joon on this one,Joon wrote:I do.merchantsmutual wrote:You hear Khmer consistently use all of the vowels and consonants in these words?Joon wrote:ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
And I tell you, it comes down to YOUR ear, and it's pretty normal.
the only one you would have definitely heard differently is the word for 5, being sometimes said as Pa'em instead of Bram and is as common as saying Bram Pul instead of Bram Pii,
khmers (down here in SHV anyway) sometimes miss out the Bram all together and when they get to 6/7/8/9 they will say it with a rising tone to indicate that Mouy = 6, Pii/Pul =7, Bey = 8, etc. not sure how common that is in PP
but
Kru - Teacher,
Krusaar - Family
Pruah - Because
Mneak Aing - Alone/one person
Bropun - Wife
Dae - Too/also
are all pronounced how they are written, as Joon said maybe your ears arent quite picking up the sounds yet,
im surprised the word ច្រើន wasnt on your list as that is a very common one when saying thank you in PP, they say Orkun Chaan and skip the R
Mok/Mouk/Mou is a little different, its even highlighted in my dictionary...
មក ( v ) [mɔɔk, mao]
to come (toward the speaker in space or time); to come to / towards (often used as a fp indicating that the action began at some point in the past and continued up to the present).
if you listen to the song Mou Pii Na by sinn sisamouth you should have been aware already lol
Mean Dtuk Mean Trey, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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obvious ones being...ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote:Thai speaking Thai - or Thai speaking English?Lucky Lucan wrote:That's more of a Thai thing.ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ wrote:Anything with a R sound - just change it to an L or stick a vowel in there.
Those bloody R's are too much hassle
In addition to the op's list I can immediately think of several words that when I saw the spelling I was surprised to see there was an r instead of an l
E.g. l'mot instead of r'mot for tuktuk
Fellang - Farrang/Foreigner
Leally - Really/English word
Teelak - Teerak/Darling
Alai - Arai/What
Mean Dtuk Mean Trey, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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I'm kinda in between you guys.Jamie_Lambo wrote:sorry but i do have to agree with Joon on this one,Joon wrote:I do.merchantsmutual wrote:You hear Khmer consistently use all of the vowels and consonants in these words?Joon wrote:ក្រៅmerchantsmutual wrote:Which onesJoon wrote:OP, some on your lists are not "mispronounced". It's just your ear that doesn't hear it.
គ្រូ
គ្រួសារ
ព្រោះ
ព្រឹក
ម្នាក់ឯង
ប្រពន្ធ
ល្ងង់
ដែរ
And I tell you, it comes down to YOUR ear, and it's pretty normal.
the only one you would have definitely heard differently is the word for 5, being sometimes said as Pa'em instead of Bram and is as common as saying Bram Pul instead of Bram Pii,
khmers (down here in SHV anyway) sometimes miss out the Bram all together and when they get to 6/7/8/9 they will say it with a rising tone to indicate that Mouy = 6, Pii/Pul =7, Bey = 8, etc. not sure how common that is in PP
but
Kru - Teacher,
Krusaar - Family
Pruah - Because
Mneak Aing - Alone/one person
Bropun - Wife
Dae - Too/also
are all pronounced how they are written, as Joon said maybe your ears arent quite picking up the sounds yet,
im surprised the word ច្រើន wasnt on your list as that is a very common one when saying thank you in PP, they say Orkun Chaan and skip the R
Mok/Mouk/Mou is a little different, its even highlighted in my dictionary...
មក ( v ) [mɔɔk, mao]
to come (toward the speaker in space or time); to come to / towards (often used as a fp indicating that the action began at some point in the past and continued up to the present).
if you listen to the song Mou Pii Na by sinn sisamouth you should have been aware already lol
E.g. Teacher.
Kru is also popularly pronounced kuu. I use both in different settings.
Whilst MM isn't completely right - he isn't completely wrong either.