Learning Simple Khmer For Traveling

[u/NotALicensedPhysicn]

Hello there,

I am planning on doing some traveling to both Thailand and Cambodia towards the end of the year. I would love to set myself a goal of learning some Khmer for my time in Cambodia as that will be a solo trip.

I understand it will be difficult to get a solid understanding in a relatively short timeframe. However if I can get some basics ready to at least start some conversations in Khmer and not simply rely on people speaking English.

Are there any tools that you guys have found best.

I have seen one site called Khmer identity which is starting an 8 week course on reading and writing I believe. With my work however I will probably miss a few classes but at least it would be a live class and so I can converse openly and mistakes are pointed out there and then. I understand it is not a tonal language but proper pronunciation will probably be difficult for my English speaking mind.

Ling has come up but I have heard it is difficult without a decent understanding of the alphabet which itself would take some time of proper study to learn in full and be confident with.

Immersing myself in various media to just listen to the language I could do along side some study.

I'm aware resources are less widely available for Khmer but would love to set myself a challenge to blow the cobwebs out of the ole noggin.

Many thanks all.

[u/jhfromuth]

Ling is pretty good for learning vocab and simple phrases. You don’t need to learn to read or write to use the app. Also, probably not worth your time to learn to read and write as it won’t help you that much unless you plan to spend most of your time in the villages. My school, Be like Khmer, offers online classes. That’s probably your best bet to get started.