Language Troubles
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
19
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Kompong Thom, Cambodia
Sunday, May 21, 2006
I thought it was time you were all educated on the subtleties of learning the Khmer language...
Khm'anglais is now the language of choice for those who have been in Cambodia for a few months with VSO. It's a unique blend of heavily accented Khmer mixed with English words when you get stuck. There is also a fair amount of gesticulation and immense amounts of frustration.
I have had 7 weeks of language training and speak Khmer every day in my office with my colleagues, to a greater or lesser success rate depending on the person I am talking to. But still, I can be bad enough to fox a confused waitress when I ask for a coffee or last week, I tried the tricky task of asking for tea and went through 3 waiters before being understood. God, it drives me mental!!
Basics
So, first to basics. Khmer language is tricky. That is the main thing you need to know. There is also I am sure some history stuff, Sanskrit origins blah blah... but knowing that is sod all use to anyone when you want to explain your stomach symptoms to a pharmacist who is worried about the possible mess on his floor. It's easy enough to learn from a grammar point of view, but pronunciation is impossible as people make noises in parts of their throats and noses which I am sure I don't even have.
Logic
The logic of the language is fabulous though. You learn a few words then put them together to make new words. For example, the word for 'parents' is just the words for 'mother' and 'father' said together - how logical is that, hurrah I thought, lured into a false sense of security.
I have written some Romanised alphabet versions of how I spell some words (obviously learning Khmer script would involve a level of dedication I can only dream of) to show how you make up new words and how to pronounce things:
Iced milk coffee (favourite drink) café-teuk-doh-ko-teuk-koh
Okay, so café, that is easy, that means coffee. Teuk is 'water' doh is 'breast' and ko is 'cow' so you ask for coffee with water from a cow's breast. Teuk koh is frozen water or ice cubes as they were known to me before I came here. Saying all together in one sentence, that gets difficult, especially without spitting at the person you are talking to.
'Tea' is 'Teuk Thai' - so means water from Thailand. The only trouble is that last time I asked for this they wanted me to have Teuk Tray - this is translated as 'fish water' which is fish sauce. I was sitting there waving an empty glass asking for tea and the waiter wanted to fill it with fish sauce???
One of my favourites has to be 'the person who is responsible' for something. This is:
'Neack-to-tual-koh-trauw'. This translates as 'person who receives the wrong and the right'. You can't argue with it! It does what it says on the tin.
One of my more recently acquired words is 'chorra-chor-tray'. For those of you who are following this, you will know from remembering what you read 30 seconds ago that 'tray' means 'fish'. So also knowing that 'chorra-chor' means 'traffic', what do you think chorra-chor-tray means?
White tourists
Everyone who speaks Khmer at any level still has a problem with being understood, especially with people who don't know that you speak any Khmer. I have had this confirmed by white guys who are fluent, so am not using this as an excuse for shoddy pronunciation.
Basically because we are white, people just assume that we are not speaking Khmer as most people who visit form the West don't speak it. Also because the accents are so different it takes a while to actually recognise if people are speaking a language you understand or not. It's the same for us in meetings when someone stands up and only after a few mins do I sometimes realise that the guy is speaking English but with an almost indecipherable accent. Even after 6 months of saying the same things, when I go to meetings in the villages, my Khmer is repeated by my Khmer colleagues so the villagers can understand me. Its not like my colleagues correct my vocab or grammar, they just repeat me! Oh how we laugh...those long winter evenings just fly by.
Yes, yes, yes
But the good thing is that you say 'hello' in Khmer (sua-suh-day) and the immediate response is (in Khmer) 'Oh you speak Khmer, how exciting, how the devil are you?' Well, I understand the bit about the speaking Khmer but they people tend to launch at me with really fast Khmer and this confuses the hell out of both of us. I nod and say 'Chaaaa' (yes, but only for girls, boys are lucky as they get to 'baaaa'). I must have agreed to so many odd things since I have been here but seeing as I don't understand the question, I decided no harm done!
Boys are lucky that they can baa. Chaa-ing is just not as satisfactory. Most blokes don't just say one baa, why would you when you can link them together and baa-baa? That is very common, and some boys prefer a vigorous nod and a swift four-er 'baa-baa, baa-baa'. Bram opts for a more elegant two usually. He is a baa-baa man.
Phew what a scorcher
So in terms of the level of Khmer we are at, well, what can I say? Fluency is a long way off. It's just a dream of mine, but maybe one day, I will order a coffee and be confident that if I want sweet milk, I will have it, or if I want it black with no ice, it will be.
Whilst I am writing this, the cable TV guy came to get his money. I know enough Khmer to ask him about why he was here, I just assumed he wanted money and said 'so, you want money, what for?' He said 'TV' in English. I think that is the extent of his vocab, but to be honest for a cable TV collection man, what more does he need? He told me he wanted $5, I gave it to him. It was easy, language was no problem. But, then I went and ruined it. At the moment, I am limping from a bit too much bank holiday temple action. I wanted to explain that I hurt my leg so I got cocky with cable TV guy, said I had 'cheu-churng' (literal translation = sick legs). He was confused, looked embarrassed then left. I knew I had pushed it too far - I can only hope that our relationship is not permanently damaged by my linguistic foolhardiness.
Monk in ox-cart scandal
But, despite the cable TV related and other set backs, I am still learning and so is Bram, but not in such an enthusiastic way. For competitive Bram, who cannot master a Yorkshire accent, learning Khmer doesn't appeal as much as he knows the cable guy will win every time. But both of us always try and speak Khmer when we go out. The listening part is SOOOOO hard, as people can say the same thing 5 different ways, but I really don't think that even after learning French for about 20 years, I would have the capability to talk to a landlord about problems with the house, or explain to a sex obsessed accountant that in the UK people can have more than one girl/boyfriend in a lifetime (she is still reeling from this revelation).
By the way, chorra-chor-tray means 'fish migration'. I never thought I would need to know that in another language. Let's face it, the heady world of fish migration does not often crop up in conversation in England. You don't usually go down the pub, talk about the weather, sport and fish migration. But still, I can add this to my CV. What employer would want someone who can talk about spawning fish in Khmer???
Because a photo of Bram or me poring over a Khmer dictionary would be a little bit dull for you all, instead I have taken this opportunity to attach a photo of my recent pre-surgery eye infection, this was before it got too grotty. You gotta love that streptococci.
Also attached are some photos from our work, as that is really where we need the Khmer most. There are two pics from my work; one is of two villagers who are putting up the posters we have just given them in the blue village notice boards - which every village has. Usually posters end up inside the chiefs house, so I was really pleased that they put them up straight away. The second of my pictures is a fisherman presenting his group's thoughts on a workshop on livelihoods. You will look at this and see why we are not attempting Khmer script lessons yet...Bram has a photo of him and some dancers who were visiting the government offices and blessing things or people (or both??) for the Khmer New Year celebrations. The second is of a ceremony we both went to, which officially opened a new environmental management centre on the lake. You will see on the left, the TV camera men. This ceremony went out on national TV and a friend saw us and was most impressed - he is a bit misguided about how useful us foreigners are at these sorts of events!! We cant contribute because...we don't know the language..yet.
