Kammekor wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:05 pm If you know the conversion rules you can read Khmer in Latin and pronounce it correctly. You just have to be aware which combi of Latin letters relates to what sound. That might be confusing in the beginning, but it will save you months of studying the Khmer characters.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:05 pm If you know the conversion rules you can read Khmer in Latin and pronounce it correctly. You just have to be aware which combi of Latin letters relates to what sound. That might be confusing in the beginning, but it will save you months of studying the Khmer characters.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 1:13 pm

explorer wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:58 pm

Kammekor wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:05 pm If you know the conversion rules you can read Khmer in Latin and pronounce it correctly. You just have to be aware which combi of Latin letters relates to what sound. That might be confusing in the beginning, but it will save you months of studying the Khmer characters.

If people learn the conversion rules, how close do you believe it is to the way Cambodians speak?

I know there are some sounds in the Cambodian language you cant write in English, and if you try it is not accurate.

I believe the way it's written is not that important, especially for a beginner. Young kids learn a language by copying sounds. How those sounds are represented in script is another issue that comes later.

I think these are important factors in someone talking accurately:

How good can someone listen and identify the correct sound. Khmer language has a lot of consonants that seem identical, but they are not, they're pronounced slightly different. It all starts with hearing the difference. How that specific sound is converted in a combination of letters (either Khmer or Latin) is the second or the third step.

Next is how good is someone at copying the identified sound. It takes quite some effort to let the muscles in and around your mouth do the right thing. Sometimes it's not the sound itself that makes it difficult, but the place of the sound in a word. Western languages have no words ending with nh / ny / nj like Phnom Penh. Khmer has no words ending with a s-sound. It takes time to learn to make those sounds at that position of the word and it's a condition for being able to speaker correctly.

Next is what I call the rhythm of the language, the way words are pronounced, and the rhythm of a sentence. Khmer have the tendency to put the emphasis on the last syllable of the word, Western languages tend to emphasize the first or the second syllable. A Westerner will emphasize Ratanakiri, a Cambodian will emphasize Ratanakiri or even Ratanakiri. Emphasizing the correct syllable like the Khmer do adds a lot.

If I would be teaching Khmer I would focus on these before even hanging up a poster of the Khmer alphabet.

Kayve wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:16 pm Can we set up a ring where instead of fists we would use khmer words ?

Jamie vs Explorer vs Kammekor