taabarang wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:31 pm "Curiosity - is there a Khmer equivalent for "Shut up!" other than the literal translation of "don't speak"? Something that conveys the same aggro?"

Don't know if we're talking about the same expression, but there is " Beut moat" which translates as close (your) mouth.

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:10 pm The social enterprise crew are constantly listening as Mrs Stroppy and talk to each other or other foreigners, trying to pick up every shred of idiom they can - it seems to be a competitive area of learning for Khmer. We have a particularly noisy parrot who responds when I yell at her to "Shut up, Lizzie!" at which point the crew look at each other in wonderment and quietly try and work out how those particular words blend into some new white-man magic that even birds can understand. The best I've been able to give them is ot nityay, but that doesn't convey the true meaning.

taabarang wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:59 pmThe villagers tease me about only wanting to learn Khmer psar or psah which means colloquial Khmer and they're right.

taabarang wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:32 pm Well SC, if you're asking me you're asking the wrong person

taabarang wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:58 pm I of course know how to talk around the issue like " to speak Cambodian correctly ". but I've never heard the equivalent of " hoch Deutsch "
or Parisian French in relationship to Khmer.