Learning Khmer

By Kuneary Mao

            There are many languages that are spoken all around the world. Some people learn a couple of them and become multilingual. However, learning a new language is not an easy task. You need to put in a lot of time and effort to memorize and understand it. You must be able to read, write, and speak it.

For the past four months, I have been learning Khmer. Usually people learn languages from a young age, whether it is one or two languages, the earlier, the better. As a young adult pursuing a medical career, I think it would be useful to know a second language to help those who may not understand something. I am Cambodian myself and yet I can only understand what others say to me and respond with broken words. What I can reply with is just myself mimicking what I thought I heard. I watched dubbed films and shows to learn more words and the only time I used the new words that I learned was to speak with the elders in my family.

Growing up as a Cambodian-American person, you speak English almost 95% of the time. Though your family wants you to speak Khmer, if they can speak English themselves, they end up doing just that. You lose the opportunity to communicate as well as practice. You may have friends who are also Cambodian-American but they would not speak Khmer with you. It is not that we are ashamed of our culture, we are just shy and prefer to speak in the language that we are more fluent in.

My grandparents would always question why none of the grandchildren in the family could speak Khmer or understand it. The family consists of eight grandchildren. The eldest three (myself included) could speak and understand Khmer and the middle grandchildren, which consists of teenagers, can say bits and pieces and barely understands anything that is said to them. Lastly, there are the two young children who spent more time studying Khmer at a young age so they can read, write, and speak it fluently. What happened with the elder grandchildren is that we were forced to learn whereas the middle children were being taken care of by us and so, they ended up speaking mainly English. I am always blamed for not speaking Khmer at home to my younger sibling. As someone who is not completely fluent, how could I teach what I know to them? Plus, once again, we always end up speaking the language that we are more fluent in. However, I do see the importance of teaching my sibling Khmer. One, they can communicate with everyone else in the family who cannot speak English and two, knowing a second language will help them later in life as well as their career.

Previously, I mentioned that learning another language takes a lot of time and effort. Though four months is a short time, I spent many hours, trying to memorize consonants and vowels. At first, I could not write any of the consonants. It was so difficult to copy it. What was supposed to look like beautiful shapes turned out to be scribbles. After a few weeks and practicing for two-four hours outside of class time, I could say that I have improved. Also, there many different styles to write the consonants and at some point, I became confused but I just stuck with writing it in the style that was shown to me. I should mention that there are two sounds for the consonants. The first set has an ‘or’ sound and the second has an ‘o’ sound. There are different set of vowels for these consonants as well. I thought that trying to memorize and learn the consonants was difficult until I tried to learn the vowels. For the vowels of the ‘or’ sounding consonants, I spent about a week, an hour each day until I memorized it. However, the vowels of the ‘o’ sounding consonants was the most difficult for me. The pronunciation was tough. I felt like I had to use the back of my throat more often. I spent 3 hours on free time that I had outside of class trying to memorize the sound and pronounce it correctly. Each time, I thought I improved but I would get all jumbled up with the vowels for the ‘or’ sounding consonants.

Overall, learning Khmer was difficult. All my life, I was told that I did not have to or that I should not learn more Khmer because I could at least understand it. However, the people who told me that were wrong. I knew nothing at all. Now, it may not be perfect, but I can write some words, perhaps a beginner’s sentence if you give me enough time. I can read the consonants and vowels as well but I am still slow. Since I know how the sounds work now, when listening to someone else speak, I can pay close attention to how it is pronounced and practice it myself. I plan on continuing to learn until I somewhat master this language. I am interested in learning other languages too, but this is the language of my people and culture, and I missed out on learning it for so long. I remember as a child, I knew more but as I grew up and spent time in place where only English was spoken, I lost my ability to speak Khmer properly.

To others who are trying to learn Khmer, here are some tips from me as a fellow learner. On your free time, if your mind is clear and not tired, use it to practice pronouncing and memorizing. It may feel awkward but saying the consonants and vowels out loud helps. If you have a Cambodian friend (or any friend who speaks Khmer) who is willing to speak Khmer with you and help you, use the opportunity to practice and improve yourself. I often ask my mother for help since she is fluent. I use an online translator to help me translate words that I am stuck on, but it is not always accurate. Having another person to go is more helpful. Also, do not rush and go at a pace that you are able to handle until you can move on. Cramming all the information into your head is not good method. If you are determined, you can do it. You can always make time to learn, even if it is just for a minute. While waiting or walking somewhere, practice in your head.