Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

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.
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StroppyChops
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by StroppyChops »

Happy to forward his details WJF, just let me check with him first - he's already massively busy. As a linguist (yes, yes, cunning and all that, very funny boys) I know the strength of transliteration but I'm starting to suspect that jumping straight to script might be an equally acceptable approach with Khmer, other than for your own system of noting high/low, short/long, sharp/soft sounds. The international phonetic equivalents are readily available, but in my experience they are not exact matches, you won't pick up the nuances using translit if you want to speak like a local.

I'll ask our tutor when we have a lesson tomorrow and get back to you - what part of town are you in?
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walkjivefly
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by walkjivefly »

Cheers, SC.

I'm on St.178, about half a block from the National Museum.
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

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walkjivefly wrote:StroppyChops, General Mack, can you PM me your tutors contact details please?
PM sent. Image
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Jacobincambodia
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by Jacobincambodia »

StroppyChops wrote:Happy to forward his details WJF, just let me check with him first - he's already massively busy. As a linguist (yes, yes, cunning and all that, very funny boys) I know the strength of transliteration but I'm starting to suspect that jumping straight to script might be an equally acceptable approach with Khmer, other than for your own system of noting high/low, short/long, sharp/soft sounds. The international phonetic equivalents are readily available, but in my experience they are not exact matches, you won't pick up the nuances using translit if you want to speak like a local.

I'll ask our tutor when we have a lesson tomorrow and get back to you - what part of town are you in?
If you are planning in being here indefinitely, there is no reason to not learn the script. You will be better equipped for everything here. That's what I'm learning anyways.
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StroppyChops
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

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walkjivefly wrote:Cheers, SC. I'm on St.178, about half a block from the National Museum.
No problem, I'll ask him tomorrow and get back to you.
Jacobincambodia wrote:If you are planning in being here indefinitely, there is no reason to not learn the script. You will be better equipped for everything here. That's what I'm learning anyways.
I'm starting to believe this is very true. Mrs Stroppy and I have just finished our first pass on the consonants AND vowels, but have a few more passes ahead of us before we can rote memorise more than the first few lines on the chart. But I'm confident that for the long run it's actually not a bad strategy. The difference with Khmer and English is how the Khmer integrate characters to build a word sound, rather than just stringing them together and perhaps adding prefixes or suffixes. Get a tutor to demonstrate verbally the starting sound of a complex word, and the aural transitions it goes through as each element is added to form the final word. To my mind, not seen in other language structures I've encountered.
Bodge: This ain't Kansas, and the neighbours ate Toto!
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StroppyChops
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by StroppyChops »

PMed you, WJF
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by Username Taken »

StroppyChops wrote:
Jacobincambodia wrote:If you are planning in being here indefinitely, there is no reason to not learn the script. You will be better equipped for everything here. That's what I'm learning anyways.
I'm starting to believe this is very true. Mrs Stroppy and I have just finished our first pass on the consonants AND vowels,
Doing it that way you'll suffer from information overload.
You just need to focus on the main vowels that you will see all the time, like ស​​​, ន, ក, ម, and simple vowels.
Learn to read words that you already know, like house, have, shop, rice, restaurant (big word, but you see it everywhere). This will help to reinforce and build your confidence. (When you can read those words, you'll be reading Khmer every time you leave the house. Shop signs, menus, etc.).
Some of the Khmer consonants are seldom seen. Some are so similar in appearance that it can get confusing.
I wouldn't try to learn the Khmer alphabet in the same way that we learn A,B,C.

:D
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Jacobincambodia
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by Jacobincambodia »

Username Taken wrote:
StroppyChops wrote:
Jacobincambodia wrote:If you are planning in being here indefinitely, there is no reason to not learn the script. You will be better equipped for everything here. That's what I'm learning anyways.
I'm starting to believe this is very true. Mrs Stroppy and I have just finished our first pass on the consonants AND vowels,
Doing it that way you'll suffer from information overload.
You just need to focus on the main vowels that you will see all the time, like ស​​​, ន, ក, ម, and simple vowels.
Learn to read words that you already know, like house, have, shop, rice, restaurant (big word, but you see it everywhere). This will help to reinforce and build your confidence. (When you can read those words, you'll be reading Khmer every time you leave the house. Shop signs, menus, etc.).
Some of the Khmer consonants are seldom seen. Some are so similar in appearance that it can get confusing.
I wouldn't try to learn the Khmer alphabet in the same way that we learn A,B,C.

:D
It took me awhile, but it's worth it. True about some consonants are rarely used.
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sanjuro
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by sanjuro »

Good info so far~

My girlfriend, who's usually wiping her sweet little ass with 20's, took a buck out for me and got me a couple of laminated posters, one with khmer script to 100, and one with pictures of fruit and vegetables, both suitable for primary school.
She swears like a sailor.
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StroppyChops
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Re: Can you recommend a Khmer language tutor?

Post by StroppyChops »

sanjuro wrote:Good info so far~
My girlfriend, who's usually wiping her sweet little ass with 20's, took a buck out for me and got me a couple of laminated posters, one with khmer script to 100, and one with pictures of fruit and vegetables, both suitable for primary school.
She swears like a sailor.
I now have this mental manga image of this... thanks.
Bodge: This ain't Kansas, and the neighbours ate Toto!
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