Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 5:15 am you will find that if you take a single word it does have many meanings, it all depends on what other words the word is connected to in order for you to get a more accurate understanding, for example from your first word for orphan...

you can use the word កំព្រា Kompria to mean Orphan, you go on to say many other things it can mean, which it can, but there are actual words for them too, such as..
កូនកំព្រា/ក្មេងកំព្រា - Koun Kompria/Kmeng Kompria - an Orphan child
កំព្រាម្ដាយ - Kompria Mdaay - orphaned because the mother has died
កំព្រាឳពុក - Kompria Au Puk - orphaned because the father has died
មនុស្សកំព្រា - Mnus Kompria - someone with no living relatives
ត្រមោចកំព្រា - Tramaok Kompria - to be abandoned
កំព្រាចិត្ត - Kompria Jet - to feel lonely/alone

Ghostwriter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 5:21 am Is Khmer a more comfortable language to talk about fight ? ( i mean fights like Mr Lambo does, physical). Do the vocabulary around fits it better in English or Khmer ?
In French we use many English words for it, so it seems from here that English is more efficient than French on this. A certain language is certainly more efficient than all the others on one subject, and this goes for all subjects. Maybe French for philosophy, maybe English for humor, and so on.
What is Khmer best for ?

explorer wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 1:21 am Many words don't have an exact equivalent in another language. This is true if you pick any two languages, but some languages may have more equivalent words than others.

The examples I will discuss here will be with English and Khmer.

Take the English word 'orphan.' This is normally translated in Khmer as a word which sounds like 'gompria.' The English word orphan means a child where both parents have died. The Khmer word gompria can be used for a child where both parents have died. It can also be used where one parent has died, or where the parents have not died but separated. It can also be used where a child has been abandoned by the parents. There is no exact equivalent in Khmer for the English word orphan, and no exact equivalent in English for the Khmer word gompria. But it is translated as the word with the closest meaning.

Lets look at the English word 'car.' This is normally translated in Khmer as a word which sounds like 'laan.' The word laan can also mean truck or minivan. It is closer to the word vehicle. But car is translated as the word with the closest meaning.

The English word 'drown' is normally translated in Khmer as 'loong tduk.' Drown in English means 'death as a result of having difficulty in the water.' Loong tduk in Khmer means 'having difficulty in the water.' The person may live or die. There is no word with the exact same meaning, but it is translated as the word with the closest meaning.

The English words 'tall' and 'high' are both translated as a Khmer word which sounds like 'kpoo.' I sometimes tell people birds fly high, but birds are not tall. The Khmer word 'kpoo' can mean both tall and high.

There are many other English words without an exact equivalent in Khmer, and many other Khmer words without an exact equivalent in English. People who only learn from books often learn how words are translated, but not the true meaning.

For people learning English to be good at English, they need to spend time communicating with people who speak English well.

For people learning Khmer to be good at Khmer, they need to spend time communicating with Cambodian people.

It can take a long time to become good at a language.