Why can’t Khmers translate into Khmer?
I know a few expats who struggle to form a written sentence that makes any sense. Then complain that locals don’t speak English.
I usually communicate with my eyebrows and in four years I’ve not had any issues.
I usually communicate with my eyebrows and in four years I’ve not had any issues.
pew, pew, pew, pew!
- Miguelito
- Ordinary Schmo
- Reactions: 219
- Posts: 7053
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 11:19 pm
- Location: Penh's Hill
Isn't the "how many languages can YOU speak" response a little null and void? I don't know how to fly an airplane, but if the captain tries to land in a rice field 50 meters short of the runway I'm pretty sure I know that he's doing it wrong, and I wouldn't need someone to say "well do you have your captain's license?"
I think the point is that if you had a captain's licence, or even a pilot's license, you would be better able to appreciate how tricky it actually is to get the thing down on the runway and not in the rice field.
TheGrimReaper wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:45 pmSlavedog, you do not belong on this forum as you talk too much sense.
Getting the dingy down on the runway isn't that difficult, unless....
The unless makes the difference due to often non-perfect circumstances and does distinguish goose pilots from the real ones. In the more poor countries, the concentration of goose pilots thinking they are real heroes is higher, especially those who don't want to lose face and for example "land long", instead of "going around". The "land long" making quite a metal mess at the end of the runway and the latter one in Asia often resulting in a nasty talk with the chief pilot (the boss of the pilots). The punishment being a perfect receipt for accidents to be created.
There's not so much of a Captains' license, though more a pilot license named "ATPL", which gives somebody the right to operate as a Captain on commercially operated flights, provided a suitable type-rating, sufficient experience as well as having followed an official airline organized training with an operational exam during (often more than one) commercial flight(s).
- Stokely
- Least Likely to be a Moderator, ever !
- Reactions: 183
- Posts: 784
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:19 am
I've always wondered, do female pilots sit in a cuntpit?
"Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the notion that white people can give anybody their freedom." Stokely Carmichael
I have an 11 year old daughter who has been in Australia for 18 months. Her knowledge of English is amazing, now she is learning Japanese. She could easily do a translation.
Her English would already put her in the top few percent of Khmers who are fluent in English. Kids like this have probably got a better future in Cambodia than Australia.
Her English would already put her in the top few percent of Khmers who are fluent in English. Kids like this have probably got a better future in Cambodia than Australia.
I asked a Chinese guy to translate a paragraph into mandarin for me, no problem. I then asked a Cambodian to translate the same paragraph into Khmer, and I might as well have asked him to give me the square root of 38363848 without a calculater.
Translating is a gift and it is a gift i do not have. My wife on the other hand who used to be a translator, has the gift and can translate between 4 languages whichever way and whichever language on the fly. I have two native languages and i cant translate between them without great difficulty.
-
- Bark plop plop bark woof woof
- Reactions: 8
- Posts: 1627
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:57 am
Even the so called professional translation places around town can be terrible. I've had lots of documents translated at places like Pyramid and sometimes things like basic written letters (Khmer - English) of even just a paragraph or two have come back with what reads like Middle School level English. One of them was laughable how bad the translation was and it was a very simple and straightforward statement of one paragraph.
In places like Japan reading comprehension and writing skills have plummeted since smartphone and computer use became widespread. Young people have started to really struggled with reading/writing basics as it's all done on a keyboard now. But that's coming from a country with an extremely high literacy rate. I think part of what has happened more recently in Cambodia is very similar. Add to that the literacy rate was quite low to begin with here and now they are all using smartphones and computers. I'm guessing a lot of young people can't read or write on paper their own language very well anymore let alone translate it to another language.
In places like Japan reading comprehension and writing skills have plummeted since smartphone and computer use became widespread. Young people have started to really struggled with reading/writing basics as it's all done on a keyboard now. But that's coming from a country with an extremely high literacy rate. I think part of what has happened more recently in Cambodia is very similar. Add to that the literacy rate was quite low to begin with here and now they are all using smartphones and computers. I'm guessing a lot of young people can't read or write on paper their own language very well anymore let alone translate it to another language.
-
- Making Khmer girls cry since 2003
- Reactions: 130
- Posts: 21358
- Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 10:15 pm
Can you explain this a bit more? Why would the explosion in text messaging and internet reading and smart phone use undermine a Japanese kid's ability to read and write in Japanese? Do you mean they can't form the letters any more because no one writes anything by hand? Or are they using too much English and forgetting or not learning Japanese?kansaicanuck wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:12 am
In places like Japan reading comprehension and writing skills have plummeted since smartphone and computer use became widespread. Young people have started to really struggled with reading/writing basics as it's all done on a keyboard now. But that's coming from a country with an extremely high literacy rate. I think part of what has happened more recently in Cambodia is very similar. Add to that the literacy rate was quite low to begin with here and now they are all using smartphones and computers. I'm guessing a lot of young people can't read or write on paper their own language very well anymore let alone translate it to another language.
I assume Japanese kids are texting each other all day long in Japanese instead of talking on the phone and thus I would think their reading and writing would improve.
Follow my lame Twitter feed: @gavin_mac
- ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ
- Daylight, I need Daylight !?!
- Reactions: 685
- Posts: 4708
- Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 4:42 pm
They can, not particularly well but most Khmer people who read English could make a reasonable effort. (although many Cambodian English speakers are. Speaker only - they struggle to read it)
Many just don't want to as it is difficult and they are worried about getting it wrong
Many just don't want to as it is difficult and they are worried about getting it wrong
-
- Bark plop plop bark woof woof
- Reactions: 8
- Posts: 1627
- Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:57 am
Yes, I mainly meant writing by hand and remembering proper Kanji is becoming a lost skill. Reading comprehension hasn't fallen nearly as fast as writing but learning the characters go hand-in-hand with learning how to read and write them so it has fallen a bit as well.gavinmac wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 10:41 am
Can you explain this a bit more? Why would the explosion in text messaging and internet reading and smart phone use undermine a Japanese kid's ability to read and write in Japanese? Do you mean they can't form the letters any more because no one writes anything by hand? Or are they using too much English and forgetting or not learning Japanese?
I assume Japanese kids are texting each other all day long in Japanese instead of talking on the phone and thus I would think their reading and writing would improve.
As an example when you type Japanese into your cell phone on the keyboard you write it in either hiragana or katakana and when it's written in hiragana the phone will automatically change it into the proper kanji characters or you pick the proper one from a list. So whereas before people had to learn how to hand write each kanji character now a lot of kids can't correctly write these characters properly anymore because all they've done is typed them and picked them from a list. this is fine for daily life and doing assignments on their computers for school but when they have to write tests it's a big problem because they can't kanji they need. Having bad kanji writing skills in Japan is actually quite embarrassing.
This has been a big problem for many high school students who have moved to the west to go to school on Exchange programs as well. If they end up missing last four years of high school in Japan they hardly ever write (pen/paper) in their own language and when they go back to do uni entrance tests their written language skills are subpar.
Older people who grew up writing everything by hand and reading newspapers have a much better grasp of the written language especially. Kind of like how kids in the west cannot write cursive like older generations.
In recent years furigana (where tiny hiragana characters are written on top or beside Kanji) to help people know how to read the is getting much more common but was hardly seen before. *See pic example
https://japantoday.com/category/nationa ... -computers
TOKYO
The Cultural Agency said in a report this week that 66.5% of Japanese surveyed believe their ability to write kanji characters has deteriorated due to the proliferation of cell phones and computers.
The nationwide survey was conducted between February and March of this year among people over the age of 16, in an attempt to establish the perceived influence of the electronic communication methods, TBS reported.
Of the 2,069 respondents, 66.5% responded that their ability to write kanji had decreased, due to constantly texting emails. That figure has risen 25% in the last 10 years, the agency said.
For respondents in their 40s, that figure rose to 79.5%, while it accounted for 57.7% of people in their 30s.
Furthermore, the agency added that the number of respondents who said that some oral communication could now just as easily be carried out via email was 29.5%, an increase of 12.3%. Respondents who felt it has become a burden to have to meet people face-to-face accounted for 18.6% of the total, a 7.3% increase, the agency said.
© Japan Today
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 6 Replies
- 2296 Views
-
Last post by Phnom Penh Trader
Sat Feb 25, 2023 12:07 am
-
- 6 Replies
- 2447 Views
-
Last post by ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ
Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:55 am
-
- 29 Replies
- 6669 Views
-
Last post by PSD_Kiwi
Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:24 pm
-
-
Are Khmers nicer than the people where you are from?
by Guest » Sun Apr 24, 2022 5:14 am » in Cambodia Speakeasy - 50 Replies
- 3659 Views
-
Last post by CSS
Tue May 10, 2022 1:51 am
-
-
-
What Would Happen If a Khmer Punched a Khmer Shopkeeper On the Nose for Trying To Cheat Him?
by Aseriousman » Sat May 18, 2019 6:36 pm » in Cambodia Speakeasy - 30 Replies
- 13297 Views
-
Last post by RainMan
Fri May 24, 2019 1:02 pm
-