Question about a possible culturally-relevant phrase in Khmer

amejia · Post by **amejia** » Fri May 15, 2020 6:05 am

I am currently helping out on a research project looking at the effects of gardening on emotional health. My team has discovered we have around 10 Khmer speakers who wish to participate in our study. Knowing that, I am going to hire not only an interpreter but a translator to work on the survey. However, there is an expression in one of the survey questions that will not make sense if translated. The expression, in English and the original language of the survey (not English), is "man is a wolf to man", which is like saying humans will hurt other humans. Is there a phrase or expression in Khmer that might embody the spirit of this phrase?

I have emailed others as well but was curious to hear this board's response.

pissontheroof · Post by **pissontheroof** » Fri May 15, 2020 7:09 am

amejia wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 6:05 am I am currently helping out on a research project looking at the effects of gardening on emotional health. My team has discovered we have around 10 Khmer speakers who wish to participate in our study. Knowing that, I am going to hire not only an interpreter but a translator to work on the survey. However, there is an expression in one of the survey questions that will not make sense if translated. The expression, in English and the original language of the survey (not English), is "man is a wolf to man", which is like saying humans will hurt other humans. Is there a phrase or expression in Khmer that might embody the spirit of this phrase?

I have emailed others as well but was curious to hear this board's response.

Try “ dog eat dog “