Online Transliteration tool? learning Khmer by texting... and Khmer writing books for kids?
Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:32 pm
So I am looking for something similar to www.Thai2English.com but for Khmer. I used this site for a long time to learn Thai and it worked.
Basically, if you have a Thai phrase like วันนี้ผมอยากไปซื่อโทรศัพท์แต่ไม่มีเงิน www.Thai2English.com will break apart the words and transliterate them. It uses it's best guess to determine where the words stop and then you end up with something like this:
วันนี้ ผม อยาก ไป ซื่อ โทรศัพท์ แต่ ไม่ มี เงิน
wan née pŏm yàak bpai sêu toh-rá-sàp dtàe mâi mee ngern
and then below that it has 3 columns, so for the first word it would be:
วันนี้ wan née today
and for a breakdown of a more complicated part of the sentence it will be:
ไม่มีเงิน mâi mee ngern be penniless ; be broke ; be short of money
When I was learning Thai I would use this site nonstop. Every time I saw a Facebook post, I could pop it in here, and it would at least break down the pronunciation for me even if it couldn't translate all of the slang. I could see how individual words were spelled and I could copy-paste words back in replies to people. I knew pŏm meant I already, so after I copy-pasted ผม into a text message 3-4 times I already knew about to spell that word. Within a few weeks, I could put together basic sentences and within a month I knew the alphabet more or less. I continue to practice this way and after 2 years I can read and type messages quickly, only looking up difficult words.
So, what I am looking for - and what I have been looking for - is a similar transliteration site for Khmer. Does anything exist at all? (And if not, would someone want to message me and partner to build one?)
I have a Cambodian girlfriend and we speak and communicate entirely in Thai, but I have learned some basic Khmer so I can say things (please forgive my mistakes) that she will understand like bong jong meu teuk (I want to shower) or jong hok bai (I want to eat/eat rice). At this point I want to take it to the next level and do what I did with Thai, so that's my reasoning for seeking something out like this.
I also used kids writing books to learn how to write Thai. I haven't seen those in Cambodia, and thought maybe that's because Cambodia is so much smaller so it doesn't have the same incentive for commercialization of materials, but if anybody can point to stores in Phnom Penh, I will be going again in a week. I've been to bookstores there and had very poor success to find books for learning as well as Thai-Khmer and English-Khmer dictionaries.
Thanks!
Basically, if you have a Thai phrase like วันนี้ผมอยากไปซื่อโทรศัพท์แต่ไม่มีเงิน www.Thai2English.com will break apart the words and transliterate them. It uses it's best guess to determine where the words stop and then you end up with something like this:
วันนี้ ผม อยาก ไป ซื่อ โทรศัพท์ แต่ ไม่ มี เงิน
wan née pŏm yàak bpai sêu toh-rá-sàp dtàe mâi mee ngern
and then below that it has 3 columns, so for the first word it would be:
วันนี้ wan née today
and for a breakdown of a more complicated part of the sentence it will be:
ไม่มีเงิน mâi mee ngern be penniless ; be broke ; be short of money
When I was learning Thai I would use this site nonstop. Every time I saw a Facebook post, I could pop it in here, and it would at least break down the pronunciation for me even if it couldn't translate all of the slang. I could see how individual words were spelled and I could copy-paste words back in replies to people. I knew pŏm meant I already, so after I copy-pasted ผม into a text message 3-4 times I already knew about to spell that word. Within a few weeks, I could put together basic sentences and within a month I knew the alphabet more or less. I continue to practice this way and after 2 years I can read and type messages quickly, only looking up difficult words.
So, what I am looking for - and what I have been looking for - is a similar transliteration site for Khmer. Does anything exist at all? (And if not, would someone want to message me and partner to build one?)
I have a Cambodian girlfriend and we speak and communicate entirely in Thai, but I have learned some basic Khmer so I can say things (please forgive my mistakes) that she will understand like bong jong meu teuk (I want to shower) or jong hok bai (I want to eat/eat rice). At this point I want to take it to the next level and do what I did with Thai, so that's my reasoning for seeking something out like this.
I also used kids writing books to learn how to write Thai. I haven't seen those in Cambodia, and thought maybe that's because Cambodia is so much smaller so it doesn't have the same incentive for commercialization of materials, but if anybody can point to stores in Phnom Penh, I will be going again in a week. I've been to bookstores there and had very poor success to find books for learning as well as Thai-Khmer and English-Khmer dictionaries.
Thanks!