sklmeera wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:11 pm Yes its only a 2 week visit but I have and have had many 2 week visits and eventually may stay on a semi permanent basis . So I want to get my ear in . Of course I know Au khon chran and the numbers but its nice to be able to banter with the shopkeepers when I stop for beer upcountry . I travel by bike and enjoy having a yak with the locals in remote areas of Vietnam or Thailand . Thanks for the Thai - Khymer words that will be useful .I guess stock phrases would be best the place to start .

Follow the link I posted
http://www.khmerphrasebook.com/AKOnline ... pterek.asp

Khmerican wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:23 pm

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:23 pm

Khmerican wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:42 pm

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:18 pm
30,40,50,60,70,80,90 are all the same, although 40 is "Sii Sip" in Thai but "Sae Sip" in Khmer

Isn't it also Sup in KH, not Sip?

Sarm Sip/Sup, Ha Sip/Sup, Hok Sip/Sup...


OP: http://www.khmerphrasebook.com/AKOnline ... pterek.asp

naa its Sip mate, spelt - សិប

Well, there you go - nearly 20 years and I don't think I've ever heard it pronounced sip - or never noticed it anyway. But that's why I wrote it as a question, knowing you have been trained/studied the language and I never have. However, it sure sounds much more like sup here:

http://www.khmerphrasebook.com/AKOnline ... asp?pNum=2

and is written phonetically as sâm suhp, sa-e suhp, hâ suhp...

google translate is written and sounds quite different:
https://translate.google.com/#view=home ... ext=thirty samseb
https://translate.google.com/#view=home ... ext=thirty S̄āms̄ib

And lastly the Tuttle Practical Cambodian Dictionary uses seup



These all seem to point to more of a u than an i, and seem to justify my error/confusion. With your training, can you explain this?

i was mainly putting Sip for the Thai relevance,

but yeah the Vowel is actually "eh" but pronounced as "saamsǝp" with a Schwa so thats where your slight 'Uh' or throaty "Eh/Er" sound comes from but should really be written as Sam Sep as thats how its spelt and commonly written, (like in the word "The", but you wouldnt write it Thuh)
Sup ស៊ុប on the other hand is a different word and means soup

That'll do it, cheers!

Right, my sup was a bit (too) simple, but I used to accentuate the difference from the Thai sip...and I didn't know I was going to get a freebie KH lesson!

Most likely scenario that will play out with your plan of speaking the few Khmer phrases that you know in the provinces.
You will speak a few greetings to them.
They will answer you in Khmer complimenting you on speaking lots of Khmer which you probably won't understand.
They will then ask you in Khmer how long you have been in Cambodia which you most likely won't understand either.
End of conversation.

Khmer GF says Sup
Sip is thai

Problem with speaking a little is, once you do, they think you really speak the language and start talking as if you do, nothing u can do than but smile...

God forbid if you than agree to buy them a new cow

re: sip and sup. Regardless of spelling, the pronunciation is 'sip' in Thai and 'sup' in Khmer. Listen with your ears not your eyes.

As Cooldude mentioned above, if you're going to get chatty with locals, you need to be able to answer the standard list of questions that they'll fire at you.
Where do you come from?
What is your name?
How old are you?
Are you married?
How much money do you have?

If you can answer all them, then they'll say, "Ohhh, je khmer chern". (Thai equivalent, "Oh-hooo, pood thai geng").

When taking a tuk tuk, moto or whatever, you need to know
Turn left
Turn right
Go straight ahead
Stop here.
Wait 5 minutes.

I'm sure you'll find all of them in the Tuttle Practical Cambodian Dictionary.

Khmerican wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 8:50 pm That'll do it, cheers!

Right, my sup was a bit (too) simple, but I used to accentuate the difference from the Thai sip...and I didn't know I was going to get a freebie KH lesson!

haha i get too technical sometimes, and i also write how the khmers write (which is often not how its actually pronounced) just out of habit, which can confuse people

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:23 pm Problem with speaking a little is, once you do, they think you really speak the language and start talking as if you do, nothing u can do than but smile...

This!!!

No doubt you know already, but with all of the words, ask the locals to say them for your, and get your pronunciation from them. Some sounds are not the same as English.

explorer wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:26 pm No doubt you know already, but with all of the words, ask the locals to say them for your, and get your pronunciation from them. Some sounds are not the same as English.

god,please stop stating the obvious
we are not 8 years old