"A Look At: Khmer" -- Check out the Khmer (Cambodian) language, from its courtesy words to its interesting number system, and learn to say something in Khmer as well.
Very cool channel! The last video of the playlist I'm watching, and I loved watching this playlist! I Also love the video for Portuguese (My Language)! Keep great work! :D Greetings from Brazil
Hi , a foreigner living in Cambodia here. What makes learning Khmer difficult is ; 1) it is hard to find good learning materials for foreigners ! Most videos on youtube and apps on google store are for tourists who just want to learn the basic conversation. If you wanna go beyond that , you have to scratch for better materials. 2) There is no "Official Latin Script" in Khmer unlike in Mandarin (Pinyin) or in Japanese (Roomaji). Some people use the English way to write Khmer words , other use the French way. For example for the word "Thank you" អរគុណ , some books spell it "Aw-goon" (English way), others spell "Or-koun" (French way). Very confusing ....so I just learned the Khmer script. It takes time but it is more efficient than learning with the latin alphabets :) 3) In a major touristic city like Siem Reap , many people (especially the younger ones) speak English in a certain level. And they are keen on learning this language. When a foreigner tries to speak Khmer , some of them just switch off to English.. So I mostly talk to the older ladies at the market selling fruits and vegetables. They cannot speak English and these "aunties" like to hold a small talk , so it is a good practice lesson for speaking and listening. 4) Yep , Khmer has has no tones unlike its neighbours , but you clearly have to make the differences between "Aspirated" and "Non-Aspirated" sounds. ( Example : "pow "ព and "phow" ភ are different sounds ! For an English speaker, to pronounce "p" without that "h" sound is tough, I have to think more like an "b"(voiced sound by vibrating the throat) with a little "p" -> "Bp", instead if a "p" sound without "h". And don't round too much your lips. It is a softer Bp sound (close to F) than an English B or P. Same idea for "Dt" and "Th" sounds. Example: ពងទា (Bpowng Dtie) means "egg duck" -> duck egg , very common here and delicious :) If you pronounce with aspirated "h" sound , locals won't understand you. Other example: ទឹកកក (Dtek Gkor), means "ice". If you pronounce "Thek Khor", you cannot get the ice and survive the heat of Cambodia: )) Dispite all this Khmer is a beautiful language to learn , so enjoy it !!
សូមអរគុណសម្រាប់ការទស្សនា/thanks for watching! (and thanks for your comment!) Just fwiw, I studied with the Routledge book/CD set during the few months that I lived in Phnom Penh -- It was pretty thorough and a great help, although I did not manage to finish the course before I left. That said, this was in 2001, so I'm guessing there are even better resources for learning K'mai out there now. (For example, I know the Mango Languages app has a course, though I don't know how good/bad it is) Would love to hear which courses/materials you would recommend!
The World is Our Thing Can you read French ?( no need to be high level. "School French" is enough.) If so , I highly recommed you "ASSIMIL KHMER". I mainly learnt with Assimil. I like it , because first you will learn how to say a short sentence , based on the pronunciation. Then you will learn how to say longer sentences based on everyday conversation. Unlike other phrasebooks for tourists , you will not start with learning how to book a hotel room or order a food etc. This you will learn at a more advanced level in Assimil. This book also teaches you how to read and write Khmer letters. The other material I recomnend , is the youtube video called " Natural Khmer". You hear native speakers talking with geasture ( to show the foreigners the meaning.) There is no sub , but you can guess its meaning. Good exercise. I also watch a youtube video of a guy called SOCHEAT THIN. He actually teaches English phrases to Khmer people, with audio and scripts , both in Khmer and English. Since I can read Khmer in a "foreigner level" , I do the opposite way. I listen to his Khmer and learn from it. Finally , I listen to fairytales series in Khmer for kids. For example : " the grasshopper and the ants", "musicians of Bremen" etc . Originally in English , this series were dubbed in Khmer ( and in so many other languages , including "obscure" ones like Gujarati or Albanian.) The subtitle is in English , so I can read it while watching it. And I already know the story , so it is quite easy to " guess" what they are saying. Hope this will help you :)
Köszönjük a figyelmet! (If that's correct?) Yes, I definitely hope to do a video on Hungarian as part of this series. In fact, this video briefly mentions Hungarian (and highlights my poor pronunciation of the language!) ruclips.net/video/e5gmUsUmkSM/видео.html
Easy indeed. But you'll find it hard to understand what people are talking about because the way we pronounce /say words are different from what is written. Only if you knew a few tricks your speaking would be close to a native and listening won't be a big deal any more.
Thanks for watching! I found, as an English speaker, some of the vowels and diphthongs took a while to get used to (like the vowel in បើ for example), but I've heard that among people from outside SE Asia, Dutch speakers are usually good at pronouncing Khmer correctly -- do you think this is true?
I'm afraid I've no idea about that. Maybe we have similar vowel and consonant sounds. I'm glad when foreigners can speak our language. Anyway, thanks for introducing our language to the world. If you have any questions about Khmer language, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll try and help you as much as I can.
Thanks much -- that's greatly appreciated! By the way, Khmer is also mentioned in passing in this video: ruclips.net/video/TKOrUFwX9mg/видео.html Thanks again for watching this channel!
La-o' nah! :) And thanks for watching! As noted in this other video (ruclips.net/video/TKOrUFwX9mg/видео.html), it's also spelled with a silent letter at the end (the equivalent of "r", which is why it's "Khmer" in English instead of "Khme" or "Khmai" or something) You likely noticed though that the title card for the video uses the longer "peeasa kmai" ("Khmer language") -- it seems like the more normal usage. (And that said, my own Khmer is very weak -- I was there for 3-4 months in early 2001, studied a little and forgot a lot! :( Fortunately though, there is a Cambodian couple who runs a business just near me, and they've been willing to help me on this)
This channel is very good for listening training!Thanks to this channel, I enjoy studying English.
Very cool channel! The last video of the playlist I'm watching, and I loved watching this playlist! I Also love the video for Portuguese (My Language)! Keep great work! :D Greetings from Brazil
Muito obrigado por assistir meus vídeos! And greetings back to you from Los Angeles :-)
Please make a look at Thai!
ขอบคุณที่รับชม -- for sure, I hope to have a video on Thai out sometime this year!
You have good dreams like me, My friend.
Hi , a foreigner living in Cambodia here.
What makes learning Khmer difficult is ;
1) it is hard to find good learning materials for foreigners ! Most videos on youtube and apps on google store are for tourists who just want to learn the basic conversation. If you wanna go beyond that , you have to scratch for better materials.
2) There is no "Official Latin Script" in Khmer unlike in Mandarin (Pinyin) or in Japanese (Roomaji).
Some people use the English way to write Khmer words , other use the French way.
For example for the word "Thank you" អរគុណ , some books spell it
"Aw-goon" (English way), others spell "Or-koun" (French way). Very confusing ....so I just learned the Khmer script. It takes time but it is more efficient than learning with the latin alphabets :)
3) In a major touristic city like Siem Reap , many people (especially the younger ones) speak English in a certain level. And they are keen on learning this language. When a foreigner tries to speak Khmer , some of them just switch off to English..
So I mostly talk to the older ladies at the market selling fruits and vegetables. They cannot speak English and these "aunties" like to hold a small talk , so it is a good practice lesson for speaking and listening.
4) Yep , Khmer has has no tones unlike its neighbours , but you clearly have to make the differences between "Aspirated" and "Non-Aspirated" sounds. ( Example : "pow "ព and "phow" ភ are different sounds ! For an English speaker, to pronounce "p" without that "h" sound is tough, I have to think more like an "b"(voiced sound by vibrating the throat) with a little "p" -> "Bp", instead if a "p" sound without "h". And don't round too much your lips. It is a softer Bp sound (close to F) than an English B or P.
Same idea for "Dt" and "Th" sounds.
Example: ពងទា (Bpowng Dtie) means "egg duck" -> duck egg , very common here and delicious :) If you pronounce with aspirated "h" sound , locals won't understand you. Other example: ទឹកកក (Dtek Gkor), means "ice". If you pronounce "Thek Khor", you cannot get the ice and survive the heat of Cambodia: ))
Dispite all this Khmer is a beautiful language to learn , so enjoy it !!
សូមអរគុណសម្រាប់ការទស្សនា/thanks for watching! (and thanks for your comment!) Just fwiw, I studied with the Routledge book/CD set during the few months that I lived in Phnom Penh -- It was pretty thorough and a great help, although I did not manage to finish the course before I left. That said, this was in 2001, so I'm guessing there are even better resources for learning K'mai out there now. (For example, I know the Mango Languages app has a course, though I don't know how good/bad it is) Would love to hear which courses/materials you would recommend!
The World is Our Thing
Can you read French ?( no need to be high level. "School French" is enough.) If so , I highly recommed you "ASSIMIL KHMER". I mainly learnt with Assimil. I like it , because first you will learn how to say a short sentence , based on the pronunciation. Then you will learn how to say longer sentences based on everyday conversation. Unlike other phrasebooks for tourists , you will not start with learning how to book a hotel room or order a food etc. This you will learn at a more advanced level in Assimil. This book also teaches you how to read and write Khmer letters.
The other material I recomnend , is the youtube video called " Natural Khmer". You hear native speakers talking with geasture ( to show the foreigners the meaning.) There is no sub , but you can guess its meaning. Good exercise.
I also watch a youtube video of a guy called SOCHEAT THIN. He actually teaches English phrases to Khmer people, with audio and scripts , both in Khmer and English. Since I can read Khmer in a "foreigner level" , I do the opposite way. I listen to his Khmer and learn from it.
Finally , I listen to fairytales series in Khmer for kids. For example : " the grasshopper and the ants", "musicians of Bremen" etc . Originally in English , this series were dubbed in Khmer ( and in so many other languages , including "obscure" ones like Gujarati or Albanian.) The subtitle is in English , so I can read it while watching it. And I already know the story , so it is quite easy to " guess" what they are saying.
Hope this will help you :)
Thanks for this great list of resources, both for myself and for other viewers interested in Khmer! I'll definitely check these out
Could you do Hungarian? Would be cool to see a video on the language of my background!
Köszönjük a figyelmet! (If that's correct?) Yes, I definitely hope to do a video on Hungarian as part of this series. In fact, this video briefly mentions Hungarian (and highlights my poor pronunciation of the language!) ruclips.net/video/e5gmUsUmkSM/видео.html
Make Korean please!
한국어도 만들어주세욥!
이 비디오를 시청 해 주셔서 감사합니다 (if that's correct?) -- for sure, I am planning to do a Korean video this year!
Easy indeed. But you'll find it hard to understand what people are talking about because the way we pronounce /say words are different from what is written. Only if you knew a few tricks your speaking would be close to a native and listening won't be a big deal any more.
Thanks for watching! I found, as an English speaker, some of the vowels and diphthongs took a while to get used to (like the vowel in បើ for example), but I've heard that among people from outside SE Asia, Dutch speakers are usually good at pronouncing Khmer correctly -- do you think this is true?
I'm afraid I've no idea about that. Maybe we have similar vowel and consonant sounds. I'm glad when foreigners can speak our language. Anyway, thanks for introducing our language to the world. If you have any questions about Khmer language, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll try and help you as much as I can.
Thanks much -- that's greatly appreciated! By the way, Khmer is also mentioned in passing in this video: ruclips.net/video/TKOrUFwX9mg/видео.html
Thanks again for watching this channel!
Would you take into consideration making a video about the Welsh language?
Thanks for watching! I definitely want to cover Welsh at some point in the future
Ah, yr iaith Gymraeg!
can you do thai please
Thanks for watching! Thai is definitely on my list
What is the song called?
Blobby Blobfish Gaming, it's called "Overture Asian Opening" by Mike Farraway and licensed via Envato
I think it is pronounced as 'kh-maai', correct me if i'm wrong
La-o' nah! :) And thanks for watching!
As noted in this other video (ruclips.net/video/TKOrUFwX9mg/видео.html), it's also spelled with a silent letter at the end (the equivalent of "r", which is why it's "Khmer" in English instead of "Khme" or "Khmai" or something)
You likely noticed though that the title card for the video uses the longer "peeasa kmai" ("Khmer language") -- it seems like the more normal usage. (And that said, my own Khmer is very weak -- I was there for 3-4 months in early 2001, studied a little and forgot a lot! :( Fortunately though, there is a Cambodian couple who runs a business just near me, and they've been willing to help me on this)
It is pronounced like that
Its not kha-mer its ka-mai , im cambodian i know this
សូមអរគុណសម្រាប់ការទស្សនា :-)
The World is Our Thing អូសូមស្វាគមន៍! (Oh! Your welcome) and ខ្ញុំស្រលាញ់វីដេអូរបស់អ្នក (I love your videos)!
Make German
MisterSausage German has been made but had to be reuploaded
It is there
It is pronounced khmai
Or really ភាសាខ្មែរ (piasa kmai) as in the video, no?
សូមអរគុណសម្រាប់ការទស្សនា :-)