Learn Khmer With Me

ជំរាបសួរ! Hello!

ជំរាបសួរ!

That is many folks' introduction to the Khmer language--ភាសាខ្មែរ-- and it is my introduction to you.

To begin with, ជំរាបសួរ (chomreabsuor, /cumriep suǝ/) means, "Hello!" and is used as a greeting.

I've lived in Cambodia for about a total of abou1 18 months, I can speak Khmer a little bit. At this point, I have also had one year of Khmer classroom instruction at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in its Khmer Language Program.

This blog is meant to record my journey as I learn more. I will be blogging in Khmer much to the delight of many Cambodians who will no doubt find my attempt (and many mistakes) humorous. I hope that you will take time to comment and correct any mistakes you have or add any lessons for a

Luckily, Khmer isn't so difficult to learn. There are no inflections, conjugations or case endings. Instead, particles and auxiliary words are used to indicate grammatical relationships. General word order is subject–verb–object just like in English. This is a relief because Khmer is the third language I am learning. I do Sanskrit and Bahasa (the language of Indonesia and Malaysia) as well. Sanskrit has 63 nominal forms and 180 verb forms--so I'm happy that Khmer does not. It also is not a tonal language, but it does have some vowel sounds and a lot of diphthongs or "gliding vowel sounds" not familiar to most Western languages, and some unusual consonant clusters as well (like "kt" as in "Ktuk loi," or "Check, please.").

Please do note that most of the time I will not be using the IPA--International Phonetic Alphabet. But I will try. Most of the time, though, I will just be writing things as they sound. We will be including some videos, though, from our just created YouTube channel for learning Khmer (nothing there yet) to help everyone learn pronunciation as well.

It does have a challenging writing system, though, that I will introduce to you in the next post. It uses a Brahmic scripts borrowed from India; India has been the main cultural influence on Cambodia, and many words are borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali. All the consonants occur in a voiced and an unvoiced form. It can be a little harrowing since it seems each letter can be pronounced in at least two different ways--but it is still more systematic than English, I do think.

There are a couple things that you will need to do if you are going to learn with me first.

Khmer Fonts

You will need to install Khmer fonts on your computer so that your Web browser can display them and so you can type in Khmer when we get there.
KHMER TRUETYPE FONT ONE (Windows)
KHMER TRUETYPE FONT TWO (Windows)
KHMER UNICODE (If you have Windows Vista you should already have this--check out HERE on how to enable it; this is a zipped file that also includes the keyboard layout)
You will have to follow the directions for putting Khmer on your Mac You might also like to try the Khmer Unicode typing trainer developed by the folks at the Khmer Software Initiative.

Free Resources to Learn Khmer

It may look a little rough, but there is a free textbook available for download from the Foreign Studies Institute. This is totally free and in the public domain, so don't worry that it is pirated. You can download the Khmer textbook in .pdf. My wife (who is fluent in Khmer--she is Cambodian!) says the accompanying recordings are terrible, but if you like you can download them directly from the site here: http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Cambodian%20Basic

There are several decent sites for learning Khmer, but I don't know of many that can match the North Illinois University. The site is ugly, but it has some great and accessible resources. Check it out here to see the materials it has.

In the next post, I'll begin working on learning the alphabet. I might even be persuades to create a Flash video to help us out. Let's wait and see though. So, until next time . . . Chum reap leah (that means "Goodbye")!

Written Khmer

Do you know how to pronounce Khmer? It isn't what you think (unless you already know). It is pronounced "K'mai". See, you are learning everyday!

In my very first post, I told you some free resources for learning Khmer available for download or on the Web. Now I'd like to share one that isn't free, but is excellent. I have a copy myself, and I'll be sharing a lot from it. However, I highly recommend that you get a copy for yourself. It is the book Communicating In Khmer. Here is the description:

DESCRIPTION OF COMMUNICATING IN KHMER: READING & WRITING FOR BEGINNERS

Communicating in Khmer: Reading and Writing for Beginners is a fundamental resource for the acquisition of modern Khmer for learners on all levels. The materials, comprising a book and CD, focus on the theoretical and practical aspects of the reading and writing system of modern spoken Khmer. Once the beginner learns the symbols of the system together with the sounds of language, s/he will have mastered the rudiments of reading Khmer. On the practical side, the learner will follow the materials as they have been systematized: s/he learns to read and write by applying herself/himself to texts and activities of progressive sophistication. The learner who completes the material will be well grounded in modern written Khmer. S/he will be well prepared for the challenge of materials of increasing complication, and will have added a new and invaluable dimension to her/his knowledge of language, literature and culture of this admirable people.

It is definitely worth purchasing. You can click on the link above to purchase. The cost of the book and the CD-Rom is $50 plus shipping; it is well worth it. Note that the author, Dr. Sak-Humprey, who recognized as the leader of teaching Khmer language, offers online programs through the University of Hawai'i. She is on sabbatical this year, but if you want credit for learning Khmer you could take her courses. Who knows--maybe I will be in that class with you!

An Old Khmer Inscription--maybe Middle Khmer?

Anyway, I hope like me that you have been studying your consonants. I'm not ready to take the leap to the high register consonants or the diacritics yet. Certainly not the vowels! So, take your time and practice. I'm still not perfect on my consonant. But I should give you a little more overview on written Modern Khmer.

Writing Khmer

It uses the 33 independent consonants as you saw in the last post. It also has twelve independent vowels, which we will learn in the next post. It also uses 31 conjunct or dependent consonants and 16 conjunct or dependent vowels. What this means is the letters change (in more or less recognizable ways) as they are combined with other letters, whether it be consonants or vowels. There are also nine diacritic marks that alter the pronunciation of either vowels or consonants. These diacritics combine with the dependent consonants to form a system consisting then of 44 independent consonants (the 33 and 11 others modified by the diacritics).

In our next lesson, we'll look at the rest of the independent consonants. Then, we move to the vowels, and then we move to the conjunct letters! Once we finish that we will have the basic tools needed for writing Khmer. Then things get really fun as we move on to speaking Khmer so that we can read as well as write!

Khmer Consonants

Chum reap suor (chumree-uhp soo-uh)! That is a more formal way of saying hello. See, already you've learned two ways of saying hello and one way to say goodbye!

Before we begin our language learning, just a little more on the history and background of Khmer. We'll do a little bit of background like this in each entry. Linguistic study of the Khmer language divides its history into four periods one of which, the Old Khmer period, is subdivided into pre-Angkorian and Angkorian. This is what Dr. Sak-Humphry, one of the preeminent scholars of Old Khmer, has to say about it (I trust her much more than the Wikipedia article on Khmer language that has some gross inaccuracies)

From: The Syntax of Nouns and Noun Phrases of Pre-Angkorian Khmer Dated Inscriptions.
Mon-Khmer Studies Vol. 22:1-126, A Journal of Southeast Asian Languages, Mahidol University.

Our first lesson is to learn the alphabet, beginning with the consonants. If you are following along in the Communicating in Khmer textbook and CD-Rom this is the first unit, and independent consonants.

Just like the English "ABCs" the letters of Khmer have names. There are a lot of YouTube videos out there that review these. I've embedded one that is short and simple, with the pronunciations that can allow you to practice; I thought it was very helpful, more than any others I found. Below is also a list where you can see them all with hyperlinks to .mp3 files. Each consonant is expresses with what is known as an inherent vowel. This is a feature of the alpha-syllabic system of Indic scripts. That means when you see ក written it isn't just the /-k/ sound--it has a vowel with it--the basic /aa/ sound (like the sound "a" in "father" but drawn out a little longer). Now, there is also what is called a low register or voiceless--like below--as well as a high register, or voiced. We'll move on to looking at the high register consonants in the net few days, but the change is that the high registered is accompanied by the /ɔɔ/ sound which is like the "a" sound in "arm" but again drawn out a little longer.

So, take your time and practice these consonants. We'll spend another lesson on the high register consonants we well before we move to the diacritics and the vowels (more on this next time). After we've mastered saying the alphabet, we'll move onto phonetics--that is, learning the sounds of the language--as well as writing simple words. The sound files in the char below courtesy of the Khmer Website bongthom.com.