Languages at Berkeley: Khmer

Page created by Frank Smith
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Where can you learn Khmer, or learn about Khmer, at UC Berkeley?

• Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
• Khmer language study website

A few expressions in Khmer:

English	Khmer​​	Transliterated
Hello/Hi	សុខ​សប្បាយ​	sok sabaay.
What’s your name?	អ្នក​ឈ្មោះ​អី​?	nek chhmuah ey?
My name is Frank. What’s yours?	ខ្ញុំ​ឈ្មោះ​ Frank ចុះ​អ្នក​?	khnyom chhmuah Frank, choh nek?
Nice to meet you.	ត្រេក​អរ​ដែល​បាន​ជួប​អ្នក​	treik aw dael baan cuap nek
Thank you.	អរ​គុណ​	aw kun
I was born in Cambodia, but now I live in Berkeley.	ខ្ញុំ​កើត​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​ តែ​ឥឡូវ​ខ្ញុំ​នៅ​ Berkeley.	khnyom kaet niw srok Khmae, tae elow khnyom niw Berkeley
One, two, three, four, five	មួយ​ពីរ​បី​បួន​ប្រាំ​	Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ
Go Bears!	ជ័យោ​ខ្លា​ឃ្មុំ​!	muay pii bey buan pram

Listen to these expressions here: (file coming soon)

Is it difficult to translate any of these expressions into Khmer? Why?

Some of these phrases are almost never spoken in Khmer, such as “happy to meet you”...also, asking someone’s name is not a commonly asked question when first meeting someone.

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