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From: preahko
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  • Let me point out and elaborate on Khmer accent issues. There are always various accents from different regions of Cambodia, and thus in past Khmer regions(Khmer leur and Khmer krom); so accents alone are not a problem, for as long as they are understandable; and the problem arises when they are not fully understandable. Personally, I can understand any accents from any regions of present day Cambodia, but I can't say so for accents from Khmer Leur and Khmer Krom -- 30-50% of speech I can't!

  • @Khmer1Naek Yes, that's normal, to understand 30-50%...for most Surin speakers it's the same when they meet Central Khmer (Cambodia) speakers...Surin (and the related dialects of Buriram and Sisaket) and the most distant dialects of Khmer, way farther removed from standard Khmer (following the writing system) than anything in Cambodia, with the possible exception of a few Siem Reap dialects...the intelligibility problem with Surin is compounded by the fact that they are influenced by Thai...

  • She speaks traditional Khmer. This type of accent is still found everywhere in Cambodia except Phnom Penh. But the majority is in Northern part of the country. Some part Khmer Krom in Vietnam shares a similar accent. You have to understand that Phnom Penh have always been commercially run by the chinese in modern Khmer history so this is partly of the reason where the Khmer accent has shifted through the foreigners tongue. InSurin of course there are alot of old Khmer words are still in use.

  • @Rajasen06

    The closest accent to Khmer Surin/Northerner Khmer is Battambang and Siem Reap. I find that Khmer Krom speak Khmer with a slight Vietnamese accent. I understand Khmer Surin speech, I grew up around a Thai Isan woman, whom can speak Khmer and her accent is almost the same as Khmer Surin.

    I find Khmer Surin vocabulary to be archaic and since Khmer has social registers, their choice of wording reflect those of rural farmers. and with most not able to read Khmer doesn't help.

  • u even hear her say siam not thai at 5:16.

  • thais only recently changed there name to thai from siam a few decades ago... the reason why they changed it was to export there country and do as much as they can to take the cambodian tradition and make it there own.. if there so called muaythai is from hundreds of years ago why didnt they name it muaysiam instead. they used a modern name for there kickboxing and say its? from hundreds of generation along with everything else. just correcting u btw. there not tai, there siams.

  • funny how some thai dont know there from china and adopted khmer culture and writing and number system as their own.. oh well atleast khmer is Original..and khmer do admit alot of our culture is influenced from india,.. unlike many brainwashed THAIS

  • khmer surin speak khmer is a little than khmer krom.

  • The best way to speak good Khmer, for all of you out there, is to pronounce whole Khmer words as if you are reading them. Every Khmer can do this!

  • i am kui people from surin province. but i can speak khmer and loved khmer language .

    now i want studing khmer language

  • @Tekana99

    Very good for you!

  • to NfastN, I hope you come back and see this :-). I am from Buriram and all my family speak Khmer. I travel to Cambodian often and have several khmer friends. What I want to say is "I really LOVE your comments and all the answers/responses to preahko". It really captures my feelings and I guess I can our shared feelings towards our Thai :-). I'm really proud of that! Khmer may be a great kingdom and and so khmer people. I have khmer heritage, however I'm truly happy and proud that I am THAI.

  • LOL.................Khmerrrrrr­rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr<-----------­---that a lot of roooooooo sound, Yes not to be stupid on this matter. I had study a lot of Khmer language and most words from Siem are use Khmer. Khmer Surin, Khmer Krom, and Khmer kandel are still Khmer Angkor people. Don't forget your roots as Khmer or Khmerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. : )

  • lol I didn´t understand Khmer with Thai accent

    but the White guy I understand ^^

    

  • I find that lady's look, style and demeanor kind of attractive...

  • the man in the beginning speaks the most perfect khmer ever im khmer myself and i would have to give this man an applaud cause he to awsome he speak way better khmer then me

  • i have a hard time when i have a conversation with combodia people. i easily understand what they said but they don't understand what i said. btw i speak khmer-surin. :(

  • @sardnhi Yes, I agree...unless the Central Khmer speaker in question knows some Thai, it's generally harder for them to understand Surin speakers than the other way around...

  • @preahko i like kmer text, it looks so unpragmatic. i also heard kmer is without punctuation and spaces.

  • @sardnhi

    It's just the way people speak away from the true Khmer pronunciation. All Khmers generally speak imperfect Khmer, it's just that some speak much less perfect than others -- i.e. Khmer Leu and Khmer Krom. The best way to speak good Khmer, for all of you out there, is to pronounce whole Khmer words as if you are reading them. Every Khmer can do this!

  • @Khmer1Naek You make it sound like certain ways a language is spoken means like you are lesser because of it. I on the other hand think it's great that even in such a language there is diversity. It's a new experience and an interest. My parents speak with the Battambang accent, my friend speaks it with the Siem Reap accent yet I find it fascinating comparing both.

  • @gomez164

    I just tried to point out how Khmer speech(speaking) is different from what Khmer words should be pronounce(as by reading whole Khmer words). When people speak they tend to short cut the words; they don't say whole Khmer words. And some speak worse than others, but all are not perfect. So my suggestion is that all Khmers can speak better by pronouncing whole Khmer words -- sort of a formal Khmer speech ... as in meetings, in front of audience, even singing.

  • @sardnhi I guess the Khmer in PP is not used to the traditional Khmer accent of Surin or Northern Khmer. I'm sure if you meet more of Khmer Leur you will have no problems. As for me i'm from central Cambodia but i can understand any accent really. I guess I have picked up a lot from the Khmer Surin songs as well. It is the fact that during Angkor time northern Khmer accent was the traditional Khmer language.

  • Man where did you learn to speak fluent khmer dude?...You're awsome!

  • I love this video!

  • I love this series. Unfortunately my University does not have Khmer as a language. Oh well, I can speak and understand it. SWEET SERIES!

  • My aunt has a thick accent like her :P

    Fortunately, the rest of my family doesn't ;)

  • Amazing what people can learn when they study hard.

  • O_O :)

  • i feel shameful :( i can't speak khmer, but i can conversationally understand it...

  • I agree.

  • I'm jealous, speaks better khmer than I do =/ lol Great video, keep it up!

  • I agree.

  • Oddar Mean Chey/Siem Reap dialect is related to the Surin dialect. Oddar Mean Chey/Siem Reap are not real Khmer?

  • To thai32usa LoL

  • I could not really understand the Thai lady. She got a different accent from Cambodia. That guy can speak better Khmer than her hehe

  • That's why they're called Khmer Surin, durrr! You guys didn't even watch the video, geesh!

  • haha i agree

  • Hands down he speaks better khmer than she does!!! thick thai accent she has

  • Oh, she speaks Khmer just fine, she just has a non-standard (non-Central Khmer) accent. There are many dialects of Khmer, all valid forms of the language, Surin is however the one probably the most distant from Central Khmer.

  • What the heck are you weird people talking about? He's just giving an insight on different cultures, freaking ay take a chill pill folks!!

  • I wish I can speak as good as he does

  • Khmer sounds interesting...

  • i need to step my khmer up now. he has the words down, but he ain't got the khmer flow, shit i don't have the khmer flow. my friends tell me i sound like an american speakin khmer. hard to learn with such a small communtiy here.

  • need to move to Lowell Ma over 50,000 KHMAI here!

  • If you want to sound really khmer, talk to people in Cambodia. Much different than the way we talk here in the states.

  • he freakin good better than me lol great job man keep it up

  • You guys should hear those "Muk" guys speak Khmer...now thats fricken impressive.

  • Is the reporter speaking Khmer with a British accent by chance?

  • He's cool haha, he speak so good Khmer for foreign :P

  • HAHHAA DAMNN..DIS DUDE IS A TRIPP...

  • He has good pronunciation. :]

  • I love this episode. I can watch it again and again...never get sick of it. I like her accent--she speaks like my aunt in Stung Treng, Cambodia.

  • Fantatic!! I am proud of you man!! Frank!

    Please stay and live in Cambodia!! we need the person like you to help khmer kids in a broad. If they know about khmer empire and history in the past, they will be proud as khmer.

  • Does he has a khmer wife?

  • nope

  • LOL.

  • this guy speaks Khmer better than some Khmer kids i know!!

  • lol

    he speaks so...proper.

    i don't understand everything he's saying since i was raised speaking english for the most part, but....i just forgot what i was going to say.

    I think it's funny to see a non-khmer person speaking khmer. lol

  • this is fun.. "khmer chet chea"

  • I been waiting for the #16 episode too, he told me that he will up load in a week about a month ago but we still haven't seen it yet. I don't think he will produce it any more.

  • I got very busy this spring so I fell behind. I will try to get an episode up this summer (I have footage for four episodes right now, I just don't have the time to edit them!); if not then, definitely in the early fall.

  • hey frank,

    where is the number sixteen episode. i cant wait.

  • hahaaah lol Frank speaks Khmi better than that girl lmao, hella funny. KEEP IT UP FRANK!!!

  • well the girl speaks in surin khmer. . . - -*

  • i kno! but i'm just say that Frank speaks better Khmi than she can.. its just impress me thats all!!!! it's still KHMER PRIDE AND KHMER LUV....

  • Frank doesn't speak better Khmer than her, her Khmer is actually closer to old Khmer since it preserved some pronunciations. Its a different dialect.

  • Actually, he does speak better Khmer than her..she speaks Khmer with a Thai accent.

  • O.K., Thank Frank.

  • Hey Framk, when your next episode's comming?

  • Sorry, I know I'm behind, I've been very busy, I'm hoping to get the next one up within the week.

  • Got it? I made it in Bangkok...that's me up there, haha.

  • That's right, the Thai were copying our culture,No doudt, however they are teaching their children the otherway,which mean we copied from them,even they said the Angkor Wat is theirs,but every body in the wold knows that's not true,there are a lot of khmer ruins [prasat]in Thailand ,that show that they took it from us.

  • Thank you Loke Kroo Frank,for khmer history info. Were do you live now? Wisconsin,Srok Khmer, or Thailand?

  • where is surin khmers from?

  • Surin was part of the Khmer kingdom in the time of Angkor, Khmers have lived in the area at least that long...

  • I agree ,Frank khmer surin better off than khmer krom, they been miss treated badly by the YOUN for so long in their own homeland,our people were suffer for so long from the invader ,just because we're nice people, they took advantage off.Or goon Loke kroo Frank.

  • this guy's awesome. hahahahha

  • very creative... prop.

  • I know war isn't good, but I kinda wish Cambodia was better at warfare so we can keep our ancestor's land. Just my random thoughts, don't mind me. Anywho's...My brain hurts listening to the different accents.

  • It's not that we weren't good, it's the fact that we were always outnumbered.

  • Actually the Khmer Empire was very excellent at warfare. In fact, they were able to fend off the mongols. But because they were constantly fighting, it took a toll on them and they evenually fell just like all the other empires around the world. Other reasons were civil war, cruption, stupidity by the last several kings giving away land for women etc...

  • I agree..pouk thai chet min sov chea..lolzz

  • I'm kmer buriram but i didn't understand all they said

  • Try going to studykhmerDOTcom, in the Podcast section, follow the link for "Episode One Extras": it's my interview with a Khmer woman from Buriram who works at that same bar that didn't make it into the final edit of the episode.

  • thais were from china so how come their culture is almost identical to khmer? i dont see any apsara dancer or khmer sanskirit writing in china so it makes sense they copy our culture when they came to invade our land

  • @alladin21 ......... They're not from China at all. They're from a combination of places. I think you're referring to the "Tai" who were from southern China perhaps, and who came into what is present-day Thailand. In fact, Thai culture and language has only recently had Chinese influence (over the past 500 years or so). Prior to the Chinese, it was strongly influenced by Indian and Khmer (both Khmer and Thai have strong Indian influences in their language and culture, by trade & religion)

  • @alladin21

    You are correct!

  • when u think about it, people who say they are proud of thai culture ARE REALLY PROUD OF KHMER CULTURE because the thai escaped the mongol invasion and settled in khmer land. then they invaded us in the 13th century and adopted our culture haha

  • It's true that Thailand had adopted and modified some customs and language from Khmer in the past and those had developed to become our distinct Thai culture. History is history. Don't be such a nationalistic idiot, alladin21. You must learn how to respect other cultures.

  • I would like to wish her-the owner of Bar- with great success in doing business. Thank for posting the educational video clips.IF you have more... please kindly upload them here. I am here to watch them and have fun together...:)

  • I agree all guy,you are a man with ideal and love the justic. and they -khmer surin should find the way of learing khmer language as standard then they can read and know their roots and their own ancestors- at the time of khmer empires.

  • jk maybe he's not.

  • dang, i think frank is better than me at speaking khmer. sad.

  • This is SO good : i was happy to understand more or less. Khmar rules !!!! Khmai Khmairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

  • Wow, this's enlighten and very educational. I appreciated so much for the gentleman who produced this video. I'm very happy and proud to hear from the bar owner, a Khmer Surin who considers our Khmer people are laor ning "chetchea". May god bless your heart and business, bongsrey! By the way, you look beautiful just like a true Khmer lady!

  • hahaha yes i agree. very intresting.

  • good job! it's funny and educational. Well done!

  • It's great to see this series of videos. I studied Khmer at SEASSI in 1996, and I still understand a little bit...a very little bit!

  • it's very nice to see khmer surin speak khmer.

  • Stay tuned for more episodes about Surin this fall--including one about a school there I just found out about that teaches Surin Khmers how to read and write in Khmer script!!!

  • I just love this, bout time some1 do this..

  • this white dude is CRAZY!! much love fo u ma dude.

  • Preah Ko, I have watched all your videos, especially this one. I watch this one the most, actually, because it's so funny and interesting. I'm Khmer-American, and I never met any Khmer Surin. It sounds like they have a really hard life. I've been to Cambodia 5 times. Thanks for opening my eyes.

  • All my khmer friends i have are khmer surin :-)

    This VDO rocks !!! So good !!

    I loved hearing him talking about the difference between khmer surin and other Khmer --- Khmer Lue and Khmer Khrom

  • I love to watch Extreme Khmer. Who is the anchor man? What's his nationality? How long has he been learning Khmer? Khmers need more people like him.

  • the man learned the language and got love for the country and the people! give him his props! i will! ... white dude, you the truth!!!

  • dude why don't you go interview some khmer deportees tha ones that came back from the states?

  • Why don't they call themselves as surintua? That's how we spell សុរីន្ទ

  • This word is Pali. The Sanskrit version is សុរិន្ទ្រ . The សុរ prefix means "god" and ឥន្ទ or ឥន្ទ្រ is Indra, so the name of Surin means "The god Indra".

  • first i like to say thanks you and thanks you again and again for post this your show you did a really good job to post a strue story and ilove it,even those i am living in canada but my heart still in cambodia so please ,keep a good work and may god bless you and your family ...thanks you again na

  • wow he can speak better khmer than me=0

  • This should encourage you more and many others to learn your own language. Make sure to teach your young ones. I try my best with mine. It made it a lot harder when kids get bigger to teach them new language.

  • Oh I love khmer surin! thanks for sharing!

  • Since Khmer Surin seems to be so popular, I'm planning on doing two more Surin episodes this fall: farming/silk weaving (some aspect of rural life) and a live Kantreum performance!

  • It would be great if you would go to interview that famous movie star known around the world name "Tony Jaa". I believe he's Khmer Surin and he lives in Surin province.

  • I would love to interview him! And yes, he is Khmer (Sisaket, I believe). That would be a tough one to get set up but I'll try...

  • I hope ur able too! That would be awesome!

  • Go! Go! Go! I have a ton of questions for him. But most important is how he feels about being Khmer.

    I know all the publicity is focusing on his Thai-ness. That's fine as a money making/marketing thing. I understand, but how does he really feel about his Khmer ethnicity. I've only heard him speak khmer once on Cambodia TV in Cambodia, when he was promoting his "kine cheh chonkong hoh" movie.

  • It's a political thing. The Thai government insists on denying one's real ethnic background, they pretend everyone is part of the (imaginary) "happy Thai family" of citizens. If he ever flaunted his Khmer-ness publicly, he'd be in real trouble.

  • I think you get it wrong on flaunting khmer-ness in public would be a trouble. I don't think Thai people are concerned about that much.If you walk in bangkok.you will hear many languages like laos,khmer,chinese and I don't see them get any troubles there. Regards

  • No, trust me on this, I live in Bangkok 9 months a year. The Thais (especially the government, but they've trained the people to think this way too) like to pretend ethnicity in Thailand is non-existent, and that everyone's a happy Thai citizen. You can't even call the Surin Khmers "Khmer," they're "Thais who happen to speak Khmer."

  • I think every countries try to pratice that, to protect a civil war in its country. UK,USA,Malaysia,etc. Nowadays,races is mixed up everywhere.British is not just the white race anymore,now they'er indian faces,chinese faces,etc. As you are a westerner,you should understand what i mean

  • Right, but I'm just saying that the notion "modern nation state" is predicated on a myth...the idea of "citizens" and "borders" has only been on this earth a short time. I'm not arguing racial essentialism, but in Thailand the individual traditions and histories of anyone not Central Thai are downplayed, and history is rewritten. They ignore and don't take responsibility for the oppression they've carried out on the southern Muslims (Malays), Khmer, Laos, Lanna people.

  • Anyway, my main point is that for Thais, a Surin Khmer's "Khmer-ness" is a highly sensitive issue...especially a so-called "national treasure" like Tony Jaa (Jaa Phnom). They don't just behave like that to prevent civil war (although, see--that's happening with the southern Muslims now!), they're trying to preserve the myth that everyone in the country is Thai and always has been.

  • It is called Thaification. It is on Wikipedia. It is very hard to get the younger generation what has gone through the process to understand you were trying to say, dude. Anyways, I'm very proud of KhmerSurin for keeping our culture and language with them all over the centuries. Even more surprisingly, I was excited when I recently heard KhmerKrom Speak Khmer.

  • what do you mean by oppression on Muslims,khmer,laos,lanna people? what make you think thai people oppress on them? I think they can speak their own languages,free to have their own cultures and religions. I don't see any chinese,muslim or khmer get beaten by Thai,Unlike Malaysia or Indonesia where chinese get beaten or killed from their races. By the way,I'm trying to claim everything is thai in thailand.

  • Chinese? No. Malays, Khmers, Lanna, and (especially) Lao?! Are you serious? I think you need to read some history of Thailand that wasn't written by Thais...

  • Example,please if you care to educate me but as my mom/dad are from china and i'm a thai citizen who live in Thailand for more than 20 years.I don't see it,By the way,what is your intention?to help khmer in Thailand?Khmer krom is more concerning,i think and if you read history of thai,they are from china. Will you help thai to claim the land back from China,too? come on look at the future, not the past(but not forgeting them>

  • look at your own country's history and you'll see more ugly side for what your country have done to this region or even now to the world....

  • I agree! The US is much worse than Thailand, since we have the power and money to do serious damage to other countries...it's very embarrassing to be an American.

  • my point is SE people trying to get together if we still keep fighting over the past,we won't go anywhere. why do you think im here because i want to learn many cultures and I love SE culture.that's it!by the way i admire people like you who try to learn and understand others.

  • @NfastN

    You may wish to go back to China; present Thailand is occupied Khmer land; you lost and wayward Chinese children will have to go back to China; and the Khmer kingdom will become wholesome again.

  • @NfastN Love your comments!

  • Happens to viewing on your clip. I cant agree with you on sayig Khmer Surin cant all themself Khmer afterall they're born in TH. By ethnic saying they are Khmer is true but belive it or not many of Khmer Surin do feels Thai. I dont belive anyone have brainwash me for being Lannathai. Nothing like you said about the goverment. Tai ppl are the ethnicities that made TH like today. There is no denying or anything. N every Thai know how diverse our country is.

  • Thanks for sharing.

  • good informations. can you do the episode on khmer campuchea krom? khmerkrom net

  • I've had lots of requests to do Khmer Krom and I would love to, I'm just a little worried about walking around southern Vietnam with a video camera recording people speaking Khmer (even though I wouldn't be focusing on anything political), if you know what I mean...and I'm more worried for the people I'd be taping than for myself.

  • This is awesome! Yeah, Khmer Jet lo-or!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Tara at Khmervoice dot com

  • really like it. esp i love the word "Khmer jet laor!!" live it up, khmer!

    Be kind as us!!

  • yup..khmer jet laor!!!

  • GGGGGGGGGGGGggggreat Job... love this video... keep it up...

  • khmer chet chea. te khmer hurt chet

  • hahha...love your show...keep me update on your next show. hmmm...about the "r"...kmer call chicken for feeding in the farm, they call, "rrrrrrrrrrrrr", curled their tongue and vibrate it really fast; lol...I thought that was cool to share with all of us. :)

  • Hahahaha ^.^'

    I like it very much. Very good upload :)

  • dis is awesome video, I wish his group will continue to search more of Khmer in other provinces....

  • luv this.

  • Great Job Preahko!  Thank you for bring this clip to live. You are absolutely right. THe land is from Malaysia to Loa, including Vietnam. You can check in Encyclopia, search for Khmer Empire. I am proud to be khmer.

  • ha ilujr so do i even i never go visite in cambodia for 19 years till to day i am proud to be khmer we have every thing and we have to do some thing to stop take urvietname killing us

  • good video, where did you learn to speak Khmer?

  • I would like to meet you someday

    it's a shame how there are more foreigners doing good things in Cambodia than the khmer borahteh

    keep up the good work =)

  • khmer is correct accent ....we still rolling the "r"

  • Nuh uh! There aren't many words you roll.

  • preah ko like I stated before, the "R" guides the "e". For example, i,o,e, all sound different right?? In Khmer, consonants can change(direct) the sound of the vowel without changing the typographical letter. Thats why some vowels come before consonants. Why is phone spelled without an "F"??? Best example is the word "are" (how are you) not pronounced arrre, but still has an a"R"e in the spelling.

  • Khmerunity is right on the "R" issue. This is well documented by Lok Euv Kes and later by the American Franklin Huffman.

  • haha, but the fact remains: Surin Khmers pronounce the final "r" consistently without knowing it's there in the spelling (since they can't read or write Khmer). That tells us that the "r" used to be pronounced in Khmer by everyone speaking the language. That's why it's there in the spelling! In modern dialects we no longer pronounce it...but Surin is ancient.

  • yes, their dialect has been influenced by the thais, but they retain strong markers of REAL KHMER-ness, vowels and consonants that could never exist in thai. it's how the Khmer language sounded like back in the day when they ruled everything around here.

    you should all be proud of that fact, that there are aspects of the height of Khmer civilization and power that the Thais could never destroy...

  • I'm intrigued by the khmer surin dialect. Alot of khmer I hear in cambodia sounds almost vietnamese or chinese.

  • @GGSBY

    You must be joking! Chinese and Vietnamese are where close to Khmer ...

  • the word "khmer" is spelled with a final "r," that in the modern language is not pronounced. however, surin khmer speakers pronounce that final "r"...yet that don't know written khmer, only spoken.

    why is that "r" there? and why do surin khmers, who don't know the modern written language, pronounce it?

  • If you listend to Sin Sisamouth/Ros Sereysothea, or watch Cambodian movies from the 60's/70's you will know what I am talking about. They refer to mother and father as Pok and Madai or Ov/may. Now many use mac and pa which is (Chinese).

  • Surin khmer is fusioned with the thai language, and khmer krom is fusioned with the vietnamese language, just listed to their dialect/accent. This is because their government oppressed them from speaking their native KHMER language. Even Phom Penh Khmer is not real Khmer, it is a dialect of merchant Chinese. The real Khmer is spoken in Battambang, for example the dialect of the lady telling the story of Preah Ko in another episode.

  • Khmerrr is Not the old khmer way of saying khmer!!!

    Khmai or khmay is also INCORRECT. The correct way is KHME->R. The last "r" is not pronounced, it is a guide for the DESTINATION/PATH of the vowel. Making the last vowel into a form of a consanant. For instance you are driving on the highway, you take an exit to get to your final street. The "r" finalizes the route of the "e". Look closely and you will understand. K-H-M-E-->R.

    You see not KHME(Y) but KHMER.

  • the word that woman speak is thai word we alway speak khmer mixed thai word ,some word we don't know in khmer words so that we speak in thai words ..and now many thai words mixed in khmersurin.

  • i love to speak boran accent style ....i am surin people...

  • you bet khmer is nicer and have more manner then thai.

  • this is cool! thank u for sharing this

  • that was educational as well as entertaining!! keep it up!

  • I understand the host better than the Surin lady, did she basically say khmers are more nicer than thais near the end?

  • yes, that's exactly what she said!