Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

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Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

One Woman’s Fight to Bring Commas to Khmer

by Alex Willemyns | April 11, 2016 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

If Theary Seng had her way, hundreds of years of writing the Khmer language would be turned on its head, with spaces introduced between words and the Western comma utilized liberally for intelligibility.

A refugee who fled the civil war to the U.S. as a child in 1979 and returned in 1995, Ms. Seng has since become the sole proselytizer for an apocalyptic vision of written Khmer, which she depicts as a long-neglected form often unable to communicate complex ideas lucidly.

Pointing to the clarity that the comma can bring to English (such as, she notes, the important distinction between the phrases “Let’s eat, grandma” and “Let’s eat grandma”), Ms. Seng says its utility became apparent after she returned to the country having forgotten much of her native language.

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“After being unable to decipher the rhyme or reason for word spacing (or lack thereof) and the use of punctuation (or lack thereof)…I began to appropriate what I know of the written English to the written Khmer,” she said.

“I got away with it but only some of the time. For example, I edited the Khmer version of our Understanding Trauma in Cambodia hand- book; only a fraction of the commas made it into the published book!”

Read more: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one- ... er-111111/
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by bolueeleh »

not only written form , the verbal form is even worst, i just simply do not understand why they bother to even shorten 1 syllabus of of a spoken which in the end causes so much confusion and slow down the whole damn work process.
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

It would be a great thing. Most Khmers read incredibly slowly in their own mother tongue. The lack of spaces definitely adds to the general lack of clarity.
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Pointing to the clarity that the comma can bring to English (such as, she notes, the important distinction between the phrases “Let’s eat, grandma” and “Let’s eat grandma”), Ms. Seng says its utility became apparent after she returned to the country having forgotten much of her native language.
maybe she should go back to school and learn khmer grammar, im sure in Khmer they would not say "Lets eat Grandma" and they would actually say something more like "Grandma eat Food?" or "Grandma eat food already?".... correct me if im wrong

i can see the advantages of spacing words out etc as it would make it far easy to read/learn to read, but her example of the comma is a load of shit, she wants to speak khmer with english rules, from what ive learnt of khmer im sure its correct to address the person youre speaking to before asking the question
eg.
Khnom jong tov nyam mhoob khmer ter Yeay jong tov dai ruu te?
:tophat: Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Samouth »

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:It would be a great thing. Most Khmers read incredibly slowly in their own mother tongue. The lack of spaces definitely adds to the general lack of clarity.
I don't know where did you get this idea from. I really don't think anyone who went to school for 12 years and could only slowly read khmer. SMH. I wouldn't say i master khmer language, because there are more to it that i haven't learned about. However, i do think that i and as well as many educated Cambodian can read it fast and easily. Having or not having spaces and commas don't really matter at all, because we know each word in the whole sentence and the context the word or certain term is being used. That's why it is very rare that it would confused us.

Talking about spacing, in our writing, we do have spacing, but only between each completed sentence, not word by word.
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Neang Me Ombao »

I also agree that the comma is not needed, but maybe better placed spacing would make it easier to read for everybody.
Also, not sure whether spacing after each word or conjunction would help reading?

For instance:

Original from a Koh Santepheap article:
បើ​តាម​អ្នកឆ្លើយឆ្លង​ព័ត៌មាន​កោះសន្តិភាព​បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ទៀត​ថា ទោះបីជា​ស្រី​មុំ​ឆ្លើយ​សារភាព​ចំពោះ​មុខ​លោក សៀង សុខ ព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា​រង​ក្តី ប៉ុន្តែ​ពេល​ចេញពី​បន្ទប់​សាកសួរ​កញ្ញា ស្រី​មុំ មិន​បាន​និយាយ​អ្វី​ទាំងអស់​ទៅ​កាន់​អ្នកកាសែត រួច​ដើរ​ចូល​រថយន្ត​ទៅ​លំនៅ​ដ្ឋា​ន​វិញ​តែ​ម្តង ។

With space after each word:
បើ​ តាម អ្នក ឆ្លើយ ឆ្លង ​ព័ត៌មាន​ កោះ សន្តិភាព​ បាន ​ឲ្យ ​ដឹង​ ទៀត ​ថា ទោះ បី ជា​ ស្រី ​មុំ ​ឆ្លើយ ​សារភាព ​ចំពោះ​ មុខ ​លោក សៀង សុខ ព្រះ រាជ អាជ្ញារង ​ក្តី ប៉ុន្តែ ​ពេល ​ចេញ ពី ​បន្ទប់ សាក សួរ ​កញ្ញា ស្រី ​មុំ មិន ​បាន ​និយាយ ​អ្វី​ ទាំង អស់​ ទៅ​ កាន់​ អ្នក កាសែត រួច​ ដើរ ​ចូល ​រថ យន្ត​ ទៅ​ លំនៅ​ដ្ឋា​ន ​វិញ ​តែ​ ម្តង ។
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Username Taken »

Neang Me Ombao wrote:I also agree that the comma is not needed, but maybe better placed spacing would make it easier to read for everybody.
Also, not sure whether spacing after each word or conjunction would help reading?

For instance:

Original from a Koh Santepheap article:
បើ​តាម​អ្នកឆ្លើយឆ្លង​ព័ត៌មាន​កោះសន្តិភាព​បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ទៀត​ថា ទោះបីជា​ស្រី​មុំ​ឆ្លើយ​សារភាព​ចំពោះ​មុខ​លោក សៀង សុខ ព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា​រង​ក្តី ប៉ុន្តែ​ពេល​ចេញពី​បន្ទប់​សាកសួរ​កញ្ញា ស្រី​មុំ មិន​បាន​និយាយ​អ្វី​ទាំងអស់​ទៅ​កាន់​អ្នកកាសែត រួច​ដើរ​ចូល​រថយន្ត​ទៅ​លំនៅ​ដ្ឋា​ន​វិញ​តែ​ម្តង ។

With space after each word:
បើ​ តាម អ្នក ឆ្លើយ ឆ្លង ​ព័ត៌មាន​ កោះ សន្តិភាព​ បាន ​ឲ្យ ​ដឹង​ ទៀត ​ថា ទោះ បី ជា​ ស្រី ​មុំ ​ឆ្លើយ ​សារភាព ​ចំពោះ​ មុខ ​លោក សៀង សុខ ព្រះ រាជ អាជ្ញារង ​ក្តី ប៉ុន្តែ ​ពេល ​ចេញ ពី ​បន្ទប់ សាក សួរ ​កញ្ញា ស្រី ​មុំ មិន ​បាន ​និយាយ ​អ្វី​ ទាំង អស់​ ទៅ​ កាន់​ អ្នក កាសែត រួច​ ដើរ ​ចូល ​រថ យន្ត​ ទៅ​ លំនៅ​ដ្ឋា​ន ​វិញ ​តែ​ ម្តង ។
The space after each word would certainly be a help for beginner readers.
Agree, commas are not really necessary.
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Samouth »

Yes it might be easy for beginner. However, it doesn't look nice, i personally think. Actually in our writing, we do have spacing but only between the completed sentences and some conjunctions.
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by Neang Me Ombao »

I think in Khmer reading and speaking, pauses stand for commas.
The spacing after each word does look awkward but maybe it's a matter of habit?
I do feel though like I'm forced to actually read more slowly.
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Re: Khmer Script: Commas and spaces between words (?)

Post by qinjingyou »

a question for the Cambodians: when you write by hand(if you ever do), do you have small spaces between words? It seems to me that cursive script encourages that.

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