Post
by black69wolf69 » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:49 pm
Come on people, the OP must be new to Asia to be asking such a ridiculous question (no offence)!
For starters, how many foreigners speak Khmer, even those that have been in the country a while? Most jobs that employ skilled locals require them to have at least a reasonable understanding of English. All written communication at the workplace is done in English in Cambodia (government offices might be an exception), because Khmer is such a small language that the printing press never really developed like it did in Thailand, China, Vietnam etc. Case in point: for those Khmer speakers out there, try searching for anything in Khmer on the internet and see what comes up. The amount of information in Khmer on the internet is very, very limited. Additionally, if you look at FB many Khmers will use English or a latin phonetic version of Khmer to communicate rather than the actual Khmer alphabet.
Cambodia isn't China. Or even Japan. While I am all for learning the language after you arrive, I can't see the point of requiring it as part of a professional job a foreigner will perform. At the very least you'll have an assistant with you that can translate if necessary. Besides, last time I was in Thailand I was the only foreigner I knew that could speak Thai and at my previous job, surprise surprise, even Thai to Thai email communication was in English! Most foreigners who have been there even for decades speak at most limited Thai, which is useless for anything other than ordering food at a restaurant or so. Even fewer foreigners can read Thai (it's not that hard, but few people bother). Khmer is no different and as a smaller language, requires even less dedication - I even found Khmers that could speak English living in the countryside.