Serious question for all you barang Khmer speakers. How much are a kg of potatoes? (that's 2.2 lbs for you Americans)

phuketrichard wrote:who cares if any Barang can read an write Khmer??

This anthem is the precursor to the decent to jaded expat status. If you are living in a country the benefits of speaking and reading the language are immeasurable. I'm sure there are Pakistani's in the UK and Mexicans in the US who say the same thing about learning English.

If you don't you will always be dependent on others for all but the most menial tasks and end spending all of your time in English speaking ghettos. It also restricts you in terms of who you can interact and do business with.

The problem is exasperated once you are married, because you tend to then gravitate away from the English speaking ghettos and then become over dependent on your partner to perform all of the day to day tasks that require Khmer language. This can put a strain on the relationship.

The Khmer alphabet is much more difficult to learn than English, but it's much more easy to learn to read. In English learning the alphabet is just the first step in a long journey to becoming literate, in Khmer once you've mastered the alphabet it's much easier to become literate as the writing system is so much more accurate than English with it's never ending list of rule exceptions and complicated grammar.

phuketrichard wrote:

Samouth wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:who cares if any Barang can read an write Khmer??
most likely 50% of the Locals cant.

not only that but, its a dead language with less than 16 million, only .24% of the worlds population using it

If your going to learn a language for business/travel i suggest;
1. English Spoken by 5.4% of the world
2. Chinese 14%
3. Spanish 6.5%
4. Hindi 4.7%
5, Arabic 4.43%

List of territorial entities where English is an official language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... l_language

Thanks for the link. i actually just read that link this morning. I was searching about the spoken languages in the state. I am happy as it also included Khmer/Cambodian. Moreover, i was trying to find out why English become the official language of the United State while there are so many Spanish speakers there and it is also known as the second spoken language in the state. Historically, most white Americans came from European countries and have their own mother tongue.

You are right. There are not so many reasons to spend your time to learn khmer, however since you are living here. It is such a good way to impress that you appreciate the country, people, culture and language. In the future, if i end up living somewhere outside Cambodia, i will learn the official language of that country. Saying so, i am assuming that you don't speak khmer and you have never gotten the feeling that khmer praise you for speaking their language.

I speak thai , French and American LOL
MY gf wants me to learn to speak khmer but i tell her , "for what"

You dont need to speak any language to live anywhere, I spent a month in Greece one year an just to see if i could, did not speak a word!!

At times hard but learned how to communicate

It is such a good way to impress that you appreciate the country, people, culture and language

why do i need to impress anyone? just so they can say < "ohh you speak XXX very good" an than forget about it
I can appreciate the country, the people the culture fine without speaking the language.

It is absolutely your own decision to learn or not to learn. No one force you. I think the reason that you can just live everywhere without having to know the language, because English is spoken everywhere throughout the world and this is your native language ( a bit bonus), that's why you have not pressure to learn a foreign language to survive in a foreign language. Unlike us, Cambodian, we have to learn English in order to get a good job, well paid and support our study at school while many resources are available in English.

Note, you can still appreciate Cambodia, people and culture without speaking khmer, but if you did, you would be able to do more than that.

The debate over whether to learn a local language began at the dawn of language and will continue until we all (as in humanity) finally shuffle off this mortal coil. I don't rely on locals for much of anything (other than transport) and I do fine without Khmer... I suck at learning languages and I don't really need to learn to Khmer to improve my life at this point in time. It's a nice to have for me, rather than a must have.

In economic terms the only second language that pays significant dividends for English speakers is German... Germans don't much like learning English and have lots of cash to spend. Mandarin, conversely, is a stupid language to learn with more Chinese learning English at the moment than there are people in the US, speaking Chinese carries no special economic benefit. But if you live in China and want to talk to the locals, why not learn it?

Learning or not learning a language does not make you a better person or expatriate than another. That relies on rather more than your language talents...

It's worth noting that Richard lives in Thailand, so knowing Khmer for annual trips here or to speak to his girlfriend is a bit pointless. However, being an immigrant here and not knowing the bare basics is odd. You can't claim to know the culture without knowing the language, as both are tightly entwined.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:It's worth noting that Richard lives in Thailand, so knowing Khmer for annual trips here or to speak to his girlfriend is a bit pointless. However, being an immigrant here and not knowing the bare basics is odd. You can't claim to know the culture without knowing the language, as both are tightly entwined.

I don't consider myself an immigrant, I consider myself an expatriate. (Though it remains to be seen if I will indeed repatriate before I die). Cambodia, at the moment, feels like a step on a long road (I've lived in a lot of countries) not the final destination.

You can learn as much of the culture by speaking to a local in your language as you can in his/her language. You may not be able to integrate in that culture without the language... but not all expats are looking to integrate, many are seeking a better quality of life than at home. You need a purpose to learn a language, fun, interest, work, family, etc. - I don't have a purpose for Khmer and that's true for many others. The joy of being an English speaker is that English is the international language, it allows you to get by just about everywhere...

phuketrichard wrote:

Samouth wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:who cares if any Barang can read an write Khmer??
most likely 50% of the Locals cant.

not only that but, its a dead language with less than 16 million, only .24% of the worlds population using it

If your going to learn a language for business/travel i suggest;
1. English Spoken by 5.4% of the world
2. Chinese 14%
3. Spanish 6.5%
4. Hindi 4.7%
5, Arabic 4.43%

List of territorial entities where English is an official language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... l_language

Thanks for the link. i actually just read that link this morning. I was searching about the spoken languages in the state. I am happy as it also included Khmer/Cambodian. Moreover, i was trying to find out why English become the official language of the United State while there are so many Spanish speakers there and it is also known as the second spoken language in the state. Historically, most white Americans came from European countries and have their own mother tongue.

You are right. There are not so many reasons to spend your time to learn khmer, however since you are living here. It is such a good way to impress that you appreciate the country, people, culture and language. In the future, if i end up living somewhere outside Cambodia, i will learn the official language of that country. Saying so, i am assuming that you don't speak khmer and you have never gotten the feeling that khmer praise you for speaking their language.

I speak thai , French and American LOL
MY gf wants me to learn to speak khmer but i tell her , "for what"

You dont need to speak any language to live anywhere, I spent a month in Greece one year an just to see if i could, did not speak a word!!

At times hard but learned how to communicate

It is such a good way to impress that you appreciate the country, people, culture and language

why do i need to impress anyone? just so they can say < "ohh you speak XXX very good" an than forget about it
I can appreciate the country, the people the culture fine without speaking the language.

Everybody just say "whhaatevvverrrrr Richard"

TheGrinchSR wrote:You can learn as much of the culture by speaking to a local in your language as you can in his/her language.

No you can't, it's not even close. Language is part of culture, when speaking in a foreign language we tend to avoid sensitive subjects because we are worried that we will make a mistake and our intentions or opinions will be misunderstood or cause offense.

When speaking Khmer I duck sensitive subjects that I would have no qualms discussing in English. Cambodians and Asians in general are way more sensitive about causing offence than we are, so will stick to safe subjects, when you speak to them in their own language it's a different story.