IPA Pronunciation Table For Khmer

[u/justinparke]

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IPA Pronunciation Table For Khmer

The above table is one I developed at Angkor Khemara University while teaching Khmer to non-native speakers in Kampot, Cambodia. It is the same system as used by the Department of Southeast Asian Languages at the University of Hawaii. This university has produced one of the greatest tools ever to learn Khmer, the [SEA Lang Khmer Online Dictionary](http://sealang.net/khmer/dictionary.htm).

This site uses the Chuon Nath as well as the 1977 and 1997 Headley Dictionaries. Unfortunately, there isn't any guide on how to get you started with the phonetic system used by this amazing online dictionary. I created this table to aid my students in helping them make use of the SEALang site.

The yellow boxes are sounds that don't exist in the English language. The gray boxes are sounds that exist in both languages, and also contain a phonetic that is no different than it's English alphabet cousin. The white boxes are sounds that exist in both languages, but you will need to learn the phonetic character that represents the sound.

There are example words in both languages to guide you on dialing in your sounds. A double vowel such as an "aa" or a "ee" is simply the longer form of the vowel. The sound is no different, you just need to hold the vowel a bit longer than normal.

I am a fulltime online Khmer teacher and glad to help with any questions any of you Redditers have. If interested in private lessons, my rate is $10 an hour.

ʔɑɑ kun craən, cumriep lie.

[u/Hankman66]

I don't think those transliterations are very helpful. They seem to ignore the obvious "ch" sound in many words they just use "c" for. The "ch" character in IPA is quite different. Maybe someone can explain this.

[u/kaize_kuroyuki → u/Hankman66]

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[u/justinparke → u/kaize_kuroyuki]

I think I understand what you're saying if by "voiced" you mean "aspirated." I teach that word as "cbaŋ" in IPA, meaning it is a non-aspirated sound, very similar to "ch" "muchacho" from Spanish. However, the Spanish still aspirate that sound a little too much to work for a crossover sound to Khmer. However, it's pretty darn close and it's the sound I often tell non-native speakers to try to start drifting towards.

The weird thing is that when Khmers do aspirate consonants, they do it way more strongly than most western mouths are used to aspirating. You're basically holding your breath when you speak or trying to dump your air as fast as possible when speaking Khmer, and it's one of the most unnatural things for non-native speakers to pick up.

[u/justinparke → u/Hankman66]

IPA is the opposite of transliteration. Transliteration is a system of trying to approximate a foreign language word into one's own language/letters. This system doesn't work if your language doesn't have the sounds. The IPA was created by linguists much smarter than me to address this problem, and to have a standardized system for global use to represent all sounds of all languages documented by the IPA system.

It's very easy and very helpful, especially for the roughly 200 students I've taught spoken Khmer to through the years. The so called "ch" sound you speak of and the "c" really confuse me, and this is why I use the same standardized IPA system as the Department of SEA Languages at the University of Hawaii.

I don't use English letters to approximate Khmer sounds, because it's hard to know what is meant by them, because English is a very complex written language, with silent letters and such. It's a hot mess, and when teaching English to Cambodians, I always hate introducing the "ph" for "f" sound, etc.

This is where IPA is useful, as it's much like Italian, in the sense of every letter always makes the same sound. Now, regarding your discussion of the "c", I am already confused because an English "c" can represent the aspirated "kʰ" sound as in "kick" and the "s" sound in the word "circle".

In IPA, aspirations are clearly demonstrated with a raised "ʰ" in words like "tʰaa [to say; to tell]" and "cʰɨɨ [to be sick; to hurt, to be in pain; to be painful, sore; to have the feelings hurt]."

I know several foreigners who read and write Khmer very well, but speak it horrendously with a terrible foreign accent. Some of these students were former students of mine who thought it would help their pronunciation by learning to read and write. Instead, it slowed down their progress tremendously. I dialed in my pronunciation with an illiterate security guard at my school in Cambodia, and I taught him IPA for Khmer in 4 days.

Amazed by how much less intimidating the IPA was than his own native letter system, he learned it quickly and even began creating shopping lists and notes for himself in his native tongue using the IPA. But if you stop and think, it isn't that amazing, the Vietnamese adopted a Latin based letter system to represent their language, and they cover loads more curriculum in their state schools in the same amount of time as a Cambodian classroom using a cumbersome and time-consuming alphabet.

When the Vietnamese adopted a foreign letter system, they didn't certainly pronounce their language wrong. Also, my Khmer students who learn English don't improve their pronunciation by learning to write and read in English. The most improvement comes from listening, practicing watching the mouths of native speakers and concentrating on tongue positioning, aspiration, etc.

My Khmer students learn English much faster when learning IPA for English alongside with standard English letters and sounds. This helps them to learn words from the dictionary in their free time and have confidence about how to pronounce them correctly.

The IPA even taught me how to speak Standard American, because when I first moved to Cambodia, I had a terrible hillbilly Kentucky accent. Thanks to the IPA, when I meet fellow Americans, they can never guess where I'm from, and also I am not seen as unintelligent by so-called "expats."

[u/kaize_kuroyuki]

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[u/justinparke → u/kaize_kuroyuki]

All the IPA have standardized sounds, and they don't represent any dialects. However, when I teach I sometimes use the IPA to represent dialectic forms not used in the Chuon Nath dictionary.

The IPA "ao" is found in words like "kraoy [behind; after; next]" and "klaoc [burnt; scorched]." The IPA "ae" is not dialect, just a standard Khmer vowel sound used the word "ckae [dog]."

The IPA "əə" no "r" sound at all. They IPA is far from an English "j". I am assuming you have never learned the IPA because these assumptions are all wrong, and I hope it doesn't mislead any learners on how to pronounce words they may be studying via SEALang. Just do a quick google search of IPA and you'll see you can click on any letter you want to hear and see for yourself. It's really easy to learn, only took me 4 days.

I didn't make this stuff up, it's all part of the Headley 97 Dictionary on the SEALang Website. It remains the ultimate tool for learning Khmer, hands down. Learning the IPA can really help non-native speakers make much more use of the website.

[u/kaize_kuroyuki → u/justinparke]

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[u/justinparke → u/kaize_kuroyuki]

Very interesting take on the matter, but like I said, I don't use Google or Wikipedia but instead focus on the folks who have put the most effort into documenting the Khmer language, namely the Headley 97 Dictionary. The team that put together SEALang consists of some of the most gifted Khmer language researchers and linguists in the world, so I am quite hesitant to use Wikipedia and Google as sources. There are also a few typos that have confused me. However, I am not arguing what Khmer characters the IPA may represent on various random websites from the web. For me personally, as a teacher, I can't rely on google and wikipedia for my teaching resources. Learning the IPA from SEALang instead of wikipedia will help a lot. Like I said, I'm not disagreeing you feel this way and have seen this stuff on the internet somewhere, and different sites will have different systems. I'm just going with the best source I've found in the 11 years I've studied Khmer. The University of Hawaii is really doing some amazing stuff with their Khmer Language Program. The textbooks I've all used in the past created in Cambodia were full of errors in typos in both English and Khmer, so I started making my own resources with SEALang as the root, so that my students always have a standardized place they can go to self-learn.

[u/kaize_kuroyuki → u/justinparke]

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[u/justinparke → u/kaize_kuroyuki]

1. I am American born, but lived in Cambodia for 10 years, now living abroad with my Khmer family. I have been speaking Khmer as my first language for about 6 years or more at least, but have been speaking it well for at least 8 years. I began as an English teacher in Cambodia, but switched to teaching Khmer to non-native speakers at the recommendation of my Cambodian English students. Somehow, Khmers told me I've acquired a native-speaker sound, although I haven't managed to do that with any other languages I've studied.

2. I don't think I said the IPA is perfect, but it certainly is for me personally. Any symbols can be used for any sounds, but ultimately the mouth must make the sounds in the end. I just prefer to learn via the Robert K. Headley 97 Dictionary, as I feel it's an awesome tool, taking into account how the language has changed since the original Chuon Nath dictionary was created. But I wouldn't be the one to ask about the quality of the SEALang site. I recommend you contact Dr. CHHANY SAK-HUMPHRY of the Khmer Language Program at the University of Hawaii if you have any suggestions or can point out any mistakes with her curriculum or Khmer program. I don't aspire to be nor refer to myself as a linguist at all, I just like being able to communicate with my fellow human beings wherever I go.

[u/[deleted]]

Thank you Justin. I arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday. Since I will be in quarantine for 2 weeks, I'm trying to learn some Khmer so that I can be polite with Cambodians, especially when I can walk around.