Cambodian Immersion

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Surrounding yourself with Khmer words and sounds and music will be the very best way to learn this fascinating language. Of course, the best way to immerse yourself is by living in the country where you'll be forced to speak the language constantly. However if that isn't possible for you do your best to immerse yourself where you live, using the following suggestions…

1. Use a dictionary to print Cambodian words like “table”, "door", "window", "kettle", "bed", "chair", "mirror" etc and stick them onto those items around the house. Over time these words will automatically become part of your vocabulary, without even trying to memorize them! You could also in time join verbs to them, like eat, open/close, wash, boil, sleep, sit, look, etc so as to associate them with the objects. Try it!

2. Listen to Cambodian Music

Listen and sing along to Cambodian music. This is a great way to immerse yourself in the language and develop your pronunciation. Research shows that when we sing in a foreign language we loose our accent. e.g. Celine Dion has a very strong Quebec accent when she speaks English, but when she sings her accent disappears! Some popular Khmer singers include Meng Keo Pachenda, Noy Vannet and Lour Sarith.

Cambodian people love karaoke, so most music videos you'll find come with the lyrics and show you when each syllable is being sung. This is very handy for the language learner as you can follow along (try and learn the alphabet first). Listen to the following song "Kream Snaeh" by Khmer singer Nob Bay and follow the lyrics.

Try searching for other Khmer songs on Youtube or Google Video and following the lyrics in the same way.

3. Listen to the radio a little each day and tune in your ears! Even if you just play it in the background without actively trying to understand it, your brain will get accustomed to the sounds and rythm of the language. This will greatly help your pronunciation and will aid your understanding of others.

4. Keep up with the news each day! Of course this method lends itself to more advanced learners. However, even if you're a beginner, you can use this method effectively. Using a dictionary, try and figure out the main headline for each day. This is an excellent way of expanding your vocab.

5. Use www.google.com/intl/km/ instead of Google in English is a useful way for advanced learners to practise using the Khmer script.

Help Others Live & Learn Cambodian

Have you had experience in learning the Khmer language? If so we'd love to hear about how you learned the language. Did you go on any Cambodian immersion trips abroad? How did it go?

Please e-mail us your tips using the form below. Your shared language learning experiences will save other language learners' time, energy, and money. In fact, that is the the mission of Live & Learn Languages!