More idioms and miscellaneous

Have questions or resources regarding Khmer Culture? This forum is all about the Kingdom of Cambodia's culture. Khmer language, Cambodian weddings, French influence, Cambodian architecture, Cambodian politics, Khmer customs, etc? This is the place. Living in Cambodia can cause you to experience a whole new level of culture shock, so feel free to talk about all things related to the Khmer people, and their traditions. And if you want something in Khmer script translated into English, you will probably find what you need.
taabarang
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by taabarang »

Ok, Samouth, SC beat me to the offer. I do want to add this however, If I were to join a Cambodian discussion forum, I would do so do improve my Cambodian, not show off my English to my foreign friends with whom I can talk to in English every day. So, invite your khmer friends; we will be delighted. But please invite ones like yourself who want to learn and use English, regardless of how painful it may be.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
Samouth
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by Samouth »

taabarang wrote:Ok, Samouth, SC beat me to the offer. I do want to add this however, If I were to join a Cambodian discussion forum, I would do so do improve my Cambodian, not show off my English to my foreign friends with whom I can talk to in English every day. So, invite your khmer friends; we will be delighted. But please invite ones like yourself who want to learn and use English, regardless of how painful it may be.
I will invite them, but i don't know if they like it or want to join.
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
taabarang
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Re: More idioms and Miscellaneous

Post by taabarang »

Samouth no worries. The forum will progress with or without them. By and large the English used here is colloquial(every day English) but add to that the fact that a huge number of posters are well educated and you are going to have strange mixtures of academic and erudite English mixed in with colloquial and local idioms from the country. This forum welcomes Khmer but it cannot change its spirit. As you know already, there are expats who will help Khmer who participate. If they want a Cambodian forum they can go elsewhere.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
Samouth
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Re: More idioms and Miscellaneous

Post by Samouth »

taabarang wrote:Samouth no worries. The forum will progress with or without them. By and large the English used here is colloquial(every day English) but add to that the fact that a huge number of posters are well educated and you are going to have strange mixtures of academic and erudite English mixed in with colloquial and local idioms from the country. This forum welcomes Khmer but it cannot change its spirit. As you know already, there are expats who will help Khmer who participate. If they want a Cambodian forum they can go elsewhere.
To be honest, i really don't care if they don't use proper English but colloquial and idioms. I might have to spend longer time to understand them, but it actually doesn't matter as i can learn new things. I don't know if i have told you that what i like the most about English language is not the proper usage of English language (I can learn at school), but the colloquial, proverbs, slang and idioms that i might not be able to learn from anywhere beside communicating with native speakers.

Lok taa, i actually always accept the fact that they are way well-educated.
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
taabarang
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by taabarang »

Samouth, if your English teachers are Cambodian, you belong here. By the way, colloquial English, idioms, and slang are highly proper, they just aren't formal. I taught English in Phnom Penh for quite a few years and out of hundreds of Cambodian teachers that I met, I only found two that I felt had a sufficient mastery of spoken English. That is why Cambodian teachers pretend that foreigners do not understand their own grammar and teach grammar, grammar, and more grammar. The real reason is that in general they have no idea or experience in using spoken English, so they invent this bullshit theory to justify their presence in a classroom. It sounds harsh, I know, but my experience has led me to this conclusion.
Last edited by taabarang on Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
Samouth
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by Samouth »

taabarang wrote:Samouth, if your English teachers are Cambodian, you belong here.
Most of my teachers and lectures at univ were Cambodian. I once studied with Nigerian and Pinay. I have never learnt English with American as well as other English native-speaker, because it is really expensive. :)
បើសិនធ្វើចេះ ចេះឲ្យគេកោត បើសិនធ្វើឆោត ឆោតឲ្យគេអាណិត។

If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you, if you are stupid, be stupid enough so they can pity you.
taabarang
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by taabarang »

Welcome to free lessons.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
prahkeitouj
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by prahkeitouj »

taabarang wrote:No, little salary(I'm going to call you that ) It is not Vietnamese, it is a short form(i.e.) of come on, which is a form of encouragement or sometimes disbelief. Here is an example of the latter.
You, I am a millionaire.
Me, Aw c'mon why do you call yourself little salary if that is true. Dak kluen e?
Now I got it. Thank you, taabarang :-)
កុំស្លាប់ដូចពស់ កុំរស់ដូចកង្កែប
thePeck
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by thePeck »

Sometimes we don't understand each other's English... Damn Aussies. Funny story, I was flying a long time ago and talking to a older woman from Australia. During our conversation she said telly and blew my mind. Actually took me several minutes to process that information lol.
taabarang
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Re: More idioms and miscellaneous

Post by taabarang »

For sure Peck, they have more local neologisms than the average English speaker can deal with. They are an imaginative lot and have many languages to steal from.
As my old Cajun bait seller used to say, "I opes you luck.
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