Just some attempted simple helpful tips on pronunciation for anyone learning, woke up at 5am and was bored...

With Khmer often Romanised into Latin letters its often impossible to write the true sounds, or the true sounds get lost, which leads to people who are trying to learn the language often mispronouncing words, or someone who is unfamiliar with the Khmer language and/or sounds of the alphabet who have an untrained ear to the many similar sounding consonants and vowels not hearing correctly,

ill try keep things simple, ill try and Romanise words to how they sound but obviously as the point of the topic its kinda hard, and the translations are just simplified too just for example purposes

ill start with the easy ones...

ក - G/K - Its not quite a Guh and its not quite a Kuh its somewhere in between as if you are pronouncing both letters at the same time - common words = Koun/Child, Kandaal/Central, Kraouy/Next
ខ - Kh - This one is more Simple and similar to the English 'Kh' or 'Ca' as in Car, Can, Caramel, Cave - Common words = Khnyom/me, Khlak/Scared, Khluan/Self, Kley/Short
គ - G/K - Again its pretty much the same as the first one, but sometimes tends to lean more towards the K sound - common words = Kmean/Without, Kit/Think, Knea/Together
ឃ - Kh - This one again is more Simple and similar to the English 'Kh' or 'Co' as in Colour, Comb, Commando, Corporate, Custom - Common words = Khernh/See, Khleat/leave

ច - J/Ch - This is a English J sound as in Jar, Jake, Jam - Common words = Jet/Feeling, Jong/Want, Chraern/A lot, Joul/Begin
ឆ - Chh - This is the English Ch sound as in Chain, Charm, Children - Common words = Chhnam/Year, Chhkuot/Crazy, Chhab/Soon, Chhnganh/Tasty
ជ - J/Ch - This is a English J sound as in Jesus, Justin, Jeep, Jewlery - Common words = Jruk/Pork, Juer/Believe, Jia/is
ឈ - Chh - This is the English Ch sound as in Church, Chunk, Chuck - Common words = Chheu/Hurt, Chhop/Stop, Chhmoah/Name

ប - B/P - This letter is often written interchangeably as an English B or a P and more accurately sounds something in between - Common words = Bros/Boy, Propun/Wife, Pradal/Boxing, Baan/able, Baek/Break
ផ - Ph - Simply the clean English P sound - Common words = Pteah/Home, Psar/Market, Pa'aem/Sweet, Phuk/Drink
ព - B/P - Again this more accurately sounds something in between a B and a P - Common words = Penh/Full, Pii/Two, Pi/From, Pi bak/Difficult
ភ - Ph - Simply the clean English P sound - Common words = Pnek/Eyes, Peakdey/Loyal, Piasar/Language, Pleng/Music

i find the D-T's are what catch a lot of people out, i wont do all 8 as some arent that commonly used, ill just use the main 5

ដ - D - This ones simple and the same as the English D - Common words = Douik/Similar, Dol/To, Dael/That, Dey/Land
ត - Dt - This isnt a D or a T its a Dt sound of a D and T mixed together and one i often hear mispronounced as a clean T sound- Common words = Dtara/Star, Dtik Dtik/Little(not Tik Tik), Dtouik/Small, Dtola/October, Dter/Question particle, Dtae/Only, Dtoah/Lets go
ថ - Th - Simply the clean sounding English T - Common words = Thmey/New, Tha/That, Tngai/Day, Thai/Thai
ទ - Dt - Again this isnt a D or a T its a Dt sound and one i hear mispronounced so much as a clean T sound - Common words = Dtuk/Water, Dteut/More(not Tiet), Dtomner/idle, Dtou/Go, SomDtoh/Sorry(not Somtoh), Dte/Queston-Negative particle, Dti Nih/Here, Dtia/Duck, DtorDtual/Get
ធ - Th - Another simple clean English T sound - Common words = Tom/Big, Tommda/Ordinary, Tver/Do

វ - V/W - This isnt quite a V or a W again its a sound thats somewhere in between but commonly written as a V - Common words = Jivit/Life, Vai/Fight, Vea/He, Tver/Do, Kvol/Care-Worry



Vowels are a bit more difficult to write down, ill just do the main two common ones that i think people struggle with

ើ - if its a strong consonant its "a^er" as in words like Chra^ern/A lot(not chran), Ha^ery/Already(not howie) La^ery/At All!, Da^er/Walk
or if weak consonants then its "e^er" as in words like Tver/Do, Khernh/See, Ler/Beyond, Merl/Watch

ៅ - this one leads to a lot of mispronunciations as its really pronounced as a^ou with an open throaty 'uh' sound at the end, you will hear this vowel in words like in the name "Ah Pov" its really Ah Pa^ou/Youngest, theres also - K'da^ou/Hot(not Kdaow), Ha^ou/Call, Kra^ou/Outside, Kma^ou/Black(not kmow)

**the vowel sounds (video is at the correct times)

ើ - "a^er"


ៅ - "a^ou"

I think it’s so valuable to know the language or at least attempt to learn it. Good for you!

I’ve always found that I get hung up on ប​ words due to the strong B sound which I don’t think is very emphasized in the English language. And then when you throw ប៉​ និង​ ប៊ into the mix it’s makes my mind swirl sometimes.


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Jacobincambodia wrote: ↑Fri Nov 16, 2018 11:18 am I think it’s so valuable to know the language or at least attempt to learn it. Good for you!

I’ve always found that I get hung up on ប​ words due to the strong B sound which I don’t think is very emphasized in the English language. And then when you throw ប៉​ និង​ ប៊ into the mix it’s makes my mind swirl sometimes.


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also, tbh you wouldnt see the ៉ ៊ particles on the same letter, as they do exactly the same job, one turns a strong consonant into a weak consonant and the other visa versa

៉ is used in weak consonants to turn them into strong consonants so the vowel sound changes eg. យ (Yo) យាយ - Yeay & យ៉ាង - Yang,
៊ is used in strong consonants to turn them into weak consonants so the vowel sound changes eg. ហ (Ha) ហាង - Hang & ហ៊ាន - Hean,
using the particle it changes the ា Vowel from aa > ea & ea > aa, depending on the consonant

hope that helps?

I found out the Cambodian version of cheers when mispronounced can land you in a spot of bother apparently! Not that it happened but my new Khmer friend was explaining to make sure it's jol and not joi, or something similar sounding, lovely guy, we took him out drinking until 2am. He's just took over the bar and grill in Ocean Siam reap guesthouse. Peter is his name if anyone gets the chance to visit