Customer Reviews

Cambodian for Beginners

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The good points: clearly written in general, font easy to read, very useful vocabulary and well paced for easy learning. Covers written as well as spoken Khmer and this is carefully and well explained - absolutely essential yet sometimes overlooked by introductory texts. Key piece of advice in the introduction is to get the CDs that accompany the book or get hold of a native speaker. One of the best books for this very basic level for a reasonable price. Only small downside is the occasional mistranslation (such as translating koon bpov as youngest sibling rather than youngest child) which is unfortunate since unlearning is always harder than learning. In one or two cases there are differences from the commonest usages but these may be just dialectal differences and aren't significant. All in all, to be highly recommended for the absolute beginner or as a rapid refresher for those who have done a bit of Khmer and just want to brush up. But do buy the CDs with the book as the intro recommends because you cannot learn Khmer pronuncation from a book.

I found this product superior to other self study material; well organized and reasonably paced. Recommend using it on a PC so you can go over sentances/words repeatedly, but that applies to any CD material. Minor quibble, mans voice is a bit strong in English compared with the woman's voice in Cambodian, but all in all a product I would describe as superior.

I have read a few different books on learning cambodian, and this has been the most helpful for me.

The book has a grammar section, vocab section, and you get introduced to reading/wrtiting cambodian script in each lesson. (also some practice areas) The grammar section is especially helpful, it explains clearly some useful concepts/words. For example, some other books I have read just start throwing sentences at you that you could memorize, but this book gives you some of the underlying principles behind the cambodian language. Such as the different ways to say "I know", or how to answer questions, or the fact that camobodian generally does not use words like "is, at, the, etc".

**The only reason I do not give it a five is the absence of a cd or some other way to hear cambodians speak the language. To me, pronunciation is one of the hardest parts of learning Kmai. I am lucky that my wife is Cambodian-American so she can help me.
This a great companion book if you have other cd/audio materials.
VERY HELPFUL!

While most reviews of this book are fairly glowing I must really disagree. There are two very serious flaws to this book and CD.

One is that the book requires you to learn a difficult and non-intuitive phonic alphabet system to approximate the sounds of the Khmer language. In the vast majority of the cases the tortured phonics made up by the authors could have been very closely approximated by already known and intuitive english letter/phonic cominations that every english speaker already knows. In other words the authors have made up symbols and then give you english word equivalents that approximate the Khmer sound. Then it is these symbols that are used throughout the text to "learn" the Khmer sounds. In reality most guidebooks do a much better job by using combinations of letters that we all know the sounds of to approximate the Khmer. It is needlessly complex.

The second fatal flaw is the CD set. Throughout the CD the Khmer speaker only says the word or phrase ONCE, never repeating. For any language this is just not adequate but for a language that is as difficult as Khmer is to western ears this is a serious shortcoming. You really need to hear these words more than once, then repeated in a sentence, in context, then repeated in the english translation.

Some areas of the book are better as are the lettering practice sections. However they too are hobbled by the really unworkable phonetic symbols used throughout.

Give this set a pass. If I could get my money back I would.
Alan Perry
Seattle Wa

This book and audio offers a easy to follow and sequential study of the Cambodian language. It starts with the basics for conversation and progresses in a logical order. The audio covers all the vocabulary and conversations. It allows plenty of time for the listener to repeat the words after the native speaker. It even starts teaching the Cambodian characters in lesson 1! Giving a simple explanation of the Cambodian alphabet, it explains the use of both vowels and consonants. This book also provides plenty of practice exercises in speaking, reading, and writing. I've found it to be very helpful.

the paperback version is simple, user friendly, with a rich vocabulary and many useful tests and conversation samples; you read it and you learn it!
combined with the audio book all that you learn will no longer be mere theory; pronunciation is the biggest challenge with the khmer language and the cd roms help practice over and over with real good results. it is worth to buy them both or the paperback alone (cd roms only is not a good choice - they would leave you...speechless!).
by the way...the Khmer language is easier than what I figured out it would be :-)

Excellent tool. Have no aprehension recommending it to others. Must add though that you would need to get the tape which the book mentions to make the most use of this book.

Having a roomie from Cambodia - I had him take a review of the book/CD's. He was quite impressed. Now I just need to use it for the basics. Give it a shot.

The problem with most "comprehensive" foreign language audio programs is that they contain way too many tapes/CDs for the casual learner, and thus are out of such a learner's price range. This product, in contrast, seems to have distilled what you really need to know into an affordably modest program. It's keyed carefully to the book, and unlike most short programs, this one DOES have an introductory sound discrimination unit -- absolutely essential for mastering the sound system of a new language completely. Complete with some corny Cambodian court-style dance music at the beginning to set the mood, this is a program worth investing in for everyone -- from those looking to acquire nativelike Khmer all the way to the casual tourist just wanting to learn the basics.

I do recommend this book, but with reservations. Khmer (Cambodian) is a difficult language to learn with sounds that English speakers are not used to. I purchased this book at the request of my instructor. Both he and my tutor are native Cambodian speakers and they have taken issue with the way this book presents phrases, words, etc. For instance, just yesterday my tutor explained that the term for airport in chapter three actually means airfield and provided me with another term that he thought was better and more up-to-date. This is one of numerous examples from my private lessons and my classroom instruction. Having said that, Khmer seems to be a rather dynamic language and I'm not sure my instructor and tutor, both well-educated, would agree on the best way to say things both formally and informally!

The other thing that is not a criticism of this book, but difficult about Khmer in general is spelling the words in English. If you're not using the proper Khmer script which I have to assume is more accurate, the translation of words/sounds into English can take on multiple forms. I've seen the same word spelled in multiple ways trying to capture the right sound in English which is horribly confusing. Still, it's a fun language to learn and this book is helpful, albeit problematic. There just aren't really that many options.