Hi guys!

It's my first post here so please bear with me. I'm currently studying Khmer script on my own while in Europe waiting to get back to Cambodia. As an alternative to finding a tutor online I'm wondering if there are any good forums to discuss language specific issues? A place both to ask and answer specific questions but also to meet people in the same situation. This forum looks great, but there's not so much activity here specifically related to learning Khmer I think. I've also search Reddit but not there either.

As an example, I'm currently struggling to find out which consonant in a consonant cluster that decides the pronunciation of the next vowel. Like ម្ចាស់​​ is pronounced "Mdja", so there it would be the subscripted ច​ that causes the ា to be pronounced "a" rather than "ia" I belive, but how do i know this? My initial guess would be it would be pronounced "Mdjia" because of the ម consonant class, but not so according to google translate. How to know which consonant takes precedence?

DagBong wrote:Hi guys!

It's my first post here so please bear with me. I'm currently studying Khmer script on my own while in Europe waiting to get back to Cambodia. As an alternative to finding a tutor online I'm wondering if there are any good forums to discuss language specific issues? A place both to ask and answer specific questions but also to meet people in the same situation. This forum looks great, but there's not so much activity here specifically related to learning Khmer I think. I've also search Reddit but not there either.

As an example, I'm currently struggling to find out which consonant in a consonant cluster that decides the pronunciation of the next vowel. Like ម្ចាស់​​ is pronounced "Mdja", so there it would be the subscripted ច​ that causes the ា to be pronounced "a" rather than "ia" I belive, but how do i know this? My initial guess would be it would be pronounced "Mdjia" because of the ម consonant class, but not so according to google translate. How to know which consonant takes precedence?

It often varies for example as you said ម្ចាស់ - Mjaa where its dictated by the 2nd consonant in the cluster but theres also words like ខ្លាច - klach where it’s dictated by the first consonant, im a little rusty so can’t remember if theres any set rule for it but as i pointed out even if there was it doesn’t always work

Ps. Completely scrap using Google Translate, especially for the romanised translation as it often writes the wrong vowel sounds its not a great source at all

Jamie_Lambo wrote:

DagBong wrote:Hi guys!

It's my first post here so please bear with me. I'm currently studying Khmer script on my own while in Europe waiting to get back to Cambodia. As an alternative to finding a tutor online I'm wondering if there are any good forums to discuss language specific issues? A place both to ask and answer specific questions but also to meet people in the same situation. This forum looks great, but there's not so much activity here specifically related to learning Khmer I think. I've also search Reddit but not there either.

As an example, I'm currently struggling to find out which consonant in a consonant cluster that decides the pronunciation of the next vowel. Like ម្ចាស់​​ is pronounced "Mdja", so there it would be the subscripted ច​ that causes the ា to be pronounced "a" rather than "ia" I belive, but how do i know this? My initial guess would be it would be pronounced "Mdjia" because of the ម consonant class, but not so according to google translate. How to know which consonant takes precedence?

It often varies for example as you said ម្ចាស់ - Mjaa where its dictated by the 2nd consonant in the cluster but theres also words like ខ្លាច - klach where it’s dictated by the first consonant, im a little rusty so can’t remember if theres any set rule for it but as i pointed out even if there was it doesn’t always work

Ps. Completely scrap using Google Translate, especially for the romanised translation as it often writes the wrong vowel sounds its not a great source at all

Theres also words that are still spelt traditionally from hundreds of years ago that in modern times are now pronounced differently so i think thats why some of that happens too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Khmer school books show the list, usually in different colours. I'm sure you can find it online.

Where do you live? I was able to find a Khmer tutor in my home country years ago. Commute was like an hour but it was good for some writing and vocabulary work.

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:22 am

DagBong wrote:Hi guys!

It's my first post here so please bear with me. I'm currently studying Khmer script on my own while in Europe waiting to get back to Cambodia. As an alternative to finding a tutor online I'm wondering if there are any good forums to discuss language specific issues? A place both to ask and answer specific questions but also to meet people in the same situation. This forum looks great, but there's not so much activity here specifically related to learning Khmer I think. I've also search Reddit but not there either.

As an example, I'm currently struggling to find out which consonant in a consonant cluster that decides the pronunciation of the next vowel. Like ម្ចាស់​​ is pronounced "Mdja", so there it would be the subscripted ច​ that causes the ា to be pronounced "a" rather than "ia" I belive, but how do i know this? My initial guess would be it would be pronounced "Mdjia" because of the ម consonant class, but not so according to google translate. How to know which consonant takes precedence?

It often varies for example as you said ម្ចាស់ - Mjaa where its dictated by the 2nd consonant in the cluster but theres also words like ខ្លាច - klach where it’s dictated by the first consonant, im a little rusty so can’t remember if theres any set rule for it but as i pointed out even if there was it doesn’t always work

Ok, seems like a lot of exceptions when it comes to Khmer script. I'm hoping that practice makes perfect if I just keep at it.

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:22 am Ps. Completely scrap using Google Translate, especially for the romanised translation as it often writes the wrong vowel sounds its not a great source at all

Yea, I'm really trying to not look at it, but it's not so easy since the eyes just wanna go there . In fact when I write down the words I want to memorize into my flash card software (Anki app on Windows 10) I write my own romanisation based on how it's pronounced where I take advantage of the fact that my native language Norwegian has 3 extra vowels compared to English (æ, ø, å) which is pretty close to some of the vowels in Khmer. Makes it a little bit easier for me.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:10 am The Khmer school books show the list, usually in different colours. I'm sure you can find it online.

Where do you live? I was able to find a Khmer tutor in my home country years ago. Commute was like an hour but it was good for some writing and vocabulary work.

I'm from Oslo, but currently living in Lisbon. I've searched Meetup.com and done some general googling but haven't really been able to find anything Cambodian here.

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:26 am

Jamie_Lambo wrote:

DagBong wrote:Hi guys!

It's my first post here so please bear with me. I'm currently studying Khmer script on my own while in Europe waiting to get back to Cambodia. As an alternative to finding a tutor online I'm wondering if there are any good forums to discuss language specific issues? A place both to ask and answer specific questions but also to meet people in the same situation. This forum looks great, but there's not so much activity here specifically related to learning Khmer I think. I've also search Reddit but not there either.

As an example, I'm currently struggling to find out which consonant in a consonant cluster that decides the pronunciation of the next vowel. Like ម្ចាស់​​ is pronounced "Mdja", so there it would be the subscripted ច​ that causes the ា to be pronounced "a" rather than "ia" I belive, but how do i know this? My initial guess would be it would be pronounced "Mdjia" because of the ម consonant class, but not so according to google translate. How to know which consonant takes precedence?

It often varies for example as you said ម្ចាស់ - Mjaa where its dictated by the 2nd consonant in the cluster but theres also words like ខ្លាច - klach where it’s dictated by the first consonant, im a little rusty so can’t remember if theres any set rule for it but as i pointed out even if there was it doesn’t always work

Ps. Completely scrap using Google Translate, especially for the romanised translation as it often writes the wrong vowel sounds its not a great source at all

Theres also words that are still spelt traditionally from hundreds of years ago that in modern times are now pronounced differently so i think thats why some of that happens too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Like មិន that definitely should not be pronounced "man"?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%9E%9 ... 7%E1%9E%93

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:10 am The Khmer school books show the list, usually in different colours. I'm sure you can find it online.

Where do you live? I was able to find a Khmer tutor in my home country years ago. Commute was like an hour but it was good for some writing and vocabulary work.

Thanks for the tip on the Khmer school books. I'm assuming you're not talking about consonant class for the different consonants but consonant clusters?

I'll have a look online. Would really appreciate tips if there are any specific books that are good for adult westeners rather than Cambodian children which I guess is the main target audience of these books.