The Coffee Saga
- khmerinade
- Expatriate
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 3:40 am
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Re: The Coffee Saga
cafe tuck dah koh tuh kawh. It's really not that hard.
Re: The Coffee Saga
Yeah, it's easy and I could write it in Khmer to help me order or I could explain the process of making it in great detail to aid comprehension.
The point was more that café staff don't listen or hear what you're saying 'cause you're barang.
The point was more that café staff don't listen or hear what you're saying 'cause you're barang.
- vladimir
- The Pun-isher
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- Location: The Kremlin
Re: The Coffee Saga
It's not just about barangs. My Khmer wife often complains that restaurant staff simply don't pat attention when she orders. I've noticed, in my 13 years of teaching here, is that it's very difficult to get Khmers to actually pay close attention to what one person is saying.Rama wrote:Yeah, it's easy and I could write it in Khmer to help me order or I could explain the process of making it in great detail to aid comprehension.
The point was more that café staff don't listen or hear what you're saying 'cause you're barang.
Jesus loves you...Mexico is great, right?
- khmerinade
- Expatriate
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Re: The Coffee Saga
That's also true.. sometimes they don't believe we can speak khmer and so they don't listen before we even start speaking.. then a look of shock on their faces as they hear you can.. Many times i get "Oiy! Niyeay chubah man" and other times i have the other customers near me repeating my order to the staff while they stand there with a confused look on their face.
- vladimir
- The Pun-isher
- Posts: 6077
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- Location: The Kremlin
Re: The Coffee Saga
Got pork and rice this morning from another seller, absolutely no problem.
I didn't feel lucky enough to ask for coffee...
I didn't feel lucky enough to ask for coffee...
Jesus loves you...Mexico is great, right?
- khmerinade
- Expatriate
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Wed May 28, 2014 3:40 am
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Re: The Coffee Saga
I'm enjoying some baw baw trey at the moment.. delicious.
Re: The Coffee Saga
I've had that experience at Psar Thmey when trying to buy a small backpack. I asked the women about three times in Khmer how much she wanted for the bag and she just stared at me until the guy owning the next stall interjected with "He wants to buy that bag you daft c**t" (or something like that although not quite as extreme). He followed up with "she can't understand Khmer she's "Yuon" The woman was not amused but I and the other stall owner thought it very funny.khmerinade wrote:That's also true.. sometimes they don't believe we can speak khmer and so they don't listen before we even start speaking.. then a look of shock on their faces as they hear you can.. Many times i get "Oiy! Niyeay chubah man" and other times i have the other customers near me repeating my order to the staff while they stand there with a confused look on their face.
Re: The Coffee Saga
That was a hoot, Vlad.
Same happens in Thailand. While I speak some very very basic Thai, I've often had other Thai customers or the GF say exactly what I said to a stunned store clerk who seemed to wake up and act upon my request. I have had western friends who speak and understand Thai to a high degree be greeted with motionless silence. A repeat doesn't seem to gain them any ground. What's even stranger is, why does a nearby Thai (or Khmer) understand but not the clerk? One for the psychologists.
In a related topic, I only drink my whisky straight. I know every phrase in Thai to say no ice, soda, coke, etc. After I say mai sai naam keng, "piu piu" etc., I am asked "on the rocks"? Which almost always has me fall over in laughter. Mai chai. They still bring the drink out with ice.
Same happens in Thailand. While I speak some very very basic Thai, I've often had other Thai customers or the GF say exactly what I said to a stunned store clerk who seemed to wake up and act upon my request. I have had western friends who speak and understand Thai to a high degree be greeted with motionless silence. A repeat doesn't seem to gain them any ground. What's even stranger is, why does a nearby Thai (or Khmer) understand but not the clerk? One for the psychologists.
In a related topic, I only drink my whisky straight. I know every phrase in Thai to say no ice, soda, coke, etc. After I say mai sai naam keng, "piu piu" etc., I am asked "on the rocks"? Which almost always has me fall over in laughter. Mai chai. They still bring the drink out with ice.
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