Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Have questions or resources regarding Khmer Culture? This forum is all about the Kingdom of Cambodia's culture. Khmer language, Cambodian weddings, French influence, Cambodian architecture, Cambodian politics, Khmer customs, etc? This is the place. Living in Cambodia can cause you to experience a whole new level of culture shock, so feel free to talk about all things related to the Khmer people, and their traditions. And if you want something in Khmer script translated into English, you will probably find what you need.
RickOrMorty
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Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by RickOrMorty »

So I am looking for something similar to www.Thai2English.com but for Khmer. I used this site for a long time to learn Thai and it worked.

Basically, if you have a Thai phrase like วันนี้ผมอยากไปซื่อโทรศัพท์แต่ไม่มีเงิน www.Thai2English.com will break apart the words and transliterate them. It uses it's best guess to determine where the words stop and then you end up with something like this:

วันนี้ ผม อยาก ไป ซื่อ โทรศัพท์ แต่ ไม่ มี เงิน
wan née pŏm yàak bpai sêu toh-rá-sàp dtàe mâi mee ngern

and then below that it has 3 columns, so for the first word it would be:

วันนี้ wan née today

and for a breakdown of a more complicated part of the sentence it will be:

ไม่มีเงิน mâi mee ngern be penniless ; be broke ; be short of money

When I was learning Thai I would use this site nonstop. Every time I saw a Facebook post, I could pop it in here, and it would at least break down the pronunciation for me even if it couldn't translate all of the slang. I could see how individual words were spelled and I could copy-paste words back in replies to people. I knew pŏm meant I already, so after I copy-pasted ผม into a text message 3-4 times I already knew about to spell that word. Within a few weeks, I could put together basic sentences and within a month I knew the alphabet more or less. I continue to practice this way and after 2 years I can read and type messages quickly, only looking up difficult words.

So, what I am looking for - and what I have been looking for - is a similar transliteration site for Khmer. Does anything exist at all? (And if not, would someone want to message me and partner to build one?)

I have a Cambodian girlfriend and we speak and communicate entirely in Thai, but I have learned some basic Khmer so I can say things (please forgive my mistakes) that she will understand like bong jong meu teuk (I want to shower) or jong hok bai (I want to eat/eat rice). At this point I want to take it to the next level and do what I did with Thai, so that's my reasoning for seeking something out like this.

I also used kids writing books to learn how to write Thai. I haven't seen those in Cambodia, and thought maybe that's because Cambodia is so much smaller so it doesn't have the same incentive for commercialization of materials, but if anybody can point to stores in Phnom Penh, I will be going again in a week. I've been to bookstores there and had very poor success to find books for learning as well as Thai-Khmer and English-Khmer dictionaries.

Thanks!
Rama
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Re: Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by Rama »

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Re: Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

theres a couple of online dictionaries i use,
i do have a Cambodian for Beginners school coarse PDF which i think would be more useful to you, if you PM me your email i could try send it over
teaches you words, grammar and writing
:tophat: Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
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Re: Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by John Bingham »

There are loads of Khmer kid's writing books in shops like IBC.
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General Mackevili
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Re: Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by General Mackevili »

Learn Khmer Now is another good looking website for learning Khmer. Has cool lessons and most of them are interesting topics you can jump right into.

https://www.learnkhmernow.com
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RickOrMorty
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Re: Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?

Post by RickOrMorty »

thanks everyone for the replies. i hadn't noticed anybody replied to this thread! will check out those resources! will also PM you @Jamie_Lambo
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