I'm continuing to study the Khmer language, learning lots of new words, but having trouble with pronunciation. My tutor gives me flash cards to study at home, but reading the words written in the roman alphabet doesn't tell you much about how they're pronounced (for example the word Khmer itself is actually pronounced more like K'mai). I think part of the problem is training myself to hear the sounds that don't exist in English before I can even pronounce them. I remember having Mexican students that couldn't distinguish between words like cheap and chip without practice. Some weird thing where your brain can't find what its not looking for.
So I've started recording my teacher Nim to listen to how she forms vowels. We meet in a busy coffee shop, so the sound quality isn't great, but anyway here is a rather odd, if typical sequence:
Also, I can add the following to things I've successfully communicated outside the safety net of language class:
- Turn left, turn right, go straight, stop here
- Check please
- How much does it cost?
- Beer, ice, hot coffee, iced coffee
- How are you?, I am fine
- I'm studying Khmer, a little
- Goodbye
- May I see a menu? (Not that the restaurant had menus).
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