Has anyone learned Surin Khmer?

[Mike Asia]

i have picked up only a couple of words and usually get slapped when I say one, "some-joy' which means i want to have sex with you. My guess is 10-20% of the girls in Pattaya speak Surin Khmer as their native language. does anyone know of any learning resources for Northern/Surin Khmer as spoken in Buriram, Surin, Sisaket.

 

Or if you have some phrases add them here

[shamus]

hey mike i only know one ( sounds like this kinyom chernikay khmer tik tik)

means i can speak khmer little bit!

hopt that helps mate!.......shamus.....

[noodles]

Pud khmer dai mai... because i don't really see the point unless you live in the area and then even pud Thai or Khmer should get you around ok. I didn't realise there was a distinct dialect for "Surin Khmer" but i'd think learning either Thai or Khmer would be more practical.

[aitch]

Three words that will always turn my head

 

Sa-dai (sometimes sounds like Sadoi) -> What ?

Doh-nad (sometimes sounds like Donah) -> Where are you going ?

Ta-oi -> what are you doing ?

 

I have spent some time looking on the net for info/tools and the more i look, the more mysterious that language/dialect becomes. would make a great dissertation. If i find someting really helpful, will post

[el_jefe]

here's my khmer dictionary. I had more dirty phrases in my previous dictionary but lost it.

 

งาม. ลาออ laa aaw beautiful

ทักทาย. สรูลลาออย srul laa ouy hello

ไม่รู้ซิ มันเดงเรอง man dang reung I don't know

ไปไส. โตวนา dtoy na where you go

กินข้าวหรึยัง โฮบบาย hoope baay have you eaten (for those that read Thai, I think the H here is more like a haaw heep but this is what the girl wrote...)

น้องสาว เนียง neang younger sister

ไม่เอา มันยัวเต man you-a dtaa I no want

ตูดสวย ตะปุกลาออ dta book laa aaw your ass is kickin or you're ass is beautiful - up to you

เดี๋ยวพี่จัดการให้. แต็ดบองเถอออย dtaet bong teu ooy daddy is gonna take care of you (in my flavor of english this means ... not send you money)

เมาหรืยัง. ซวางบาย sawang baay are you drunk?

พี่เชื่อย เจือยบอง jeauy bong daddy gonna help

คิดถึงมาก กุดดอลจอลอนจอ gud daul gaw laun jau I really miss you - i got this one for a buddy whose returning soon to see his tee rak

 

to be honest, since my transcription may not be great and the encoding of khmer sounds in thai isn't great, you may have a hard time being understood without showing them the thai translation.

 

ps the first column is the Thai, the second is the khmer written in thai and the third is the khmer written in english and the fourth is the english.

Edited August 24, 2010 by el_jefe

[Sam Hill]

Surin Khmer is called Khmer Sung (mountain Khmer). Oddly enough Cambodians can understand the Khmer Surin dialect, but the Surin folks usually can't understand Cambodians!

 

My old maid was from Surin and one day I heard her talking to her sister in a language I didn't understand. I asked her later and she said her father was Issan Lao and her mother Khmer Sung. She and her sister spoke in Khmer when they didn't want others to listen. It was their "secret language".

 

Khmer is non-tonal, which might make it easier for westerners to learn.

 

p.s. The border was drawn mainly by the French colonialists and left the Khmer Sung on the Thai side and tens of thousands of Thais on the other. However, the Khmer Rouge killed of most of the Thais in Cambodia, except for those who managed to flee. There are very few ethnic Thais (Issan Lao actually) left inside Cambodia today.

[kensvay]

I speak reasonable khmer and i have found a surprising number of khmer speakers here in pattaya.

Most of them understand proper khmer but not all,they have a dialect.

i posted a lot of khmer phrases somewhere on these threads this morning.

Heres some more:

sua sdey-gidday

sok sabai ot-how are you going

knom srawlaing oun-I love you

knom jong si gdaw boh oun-I want to suck your cock

ah yoo phnon mahn-how old are you

cha muah ai-whats your name

moak bpee nah-where are you from?

dtou nah-where are you going?

 

knom dtou,niek gore dtou-im going,want to come with me?

dtop dtou-lets go or take your clothes off,minute difference in pronunciation can mean either

srey sa at-beautiful woman

bpro song ha-handsome man

sruel sruel-feel good after sex

dah laeng-go out

dtou passah-go to the market

dtou twer gah-go to work

srey koich-prostitute

pnee oh-customer

looey-money

ot mien looey-no have money

ma ai dtee-doesnt matter

phom ot kwal kwai-i dont care at all

kleeun-hungry

oh gomlung-tired

khung-angry

greeum grong-sad

sop bai jeut-happy

srop srowl-horny

koh jeut-disappointed

dtaing dai-always

meun dial-never

bpi brooah-because

bpow sen-if

Despite the language not being tonal I belive that thai is easier to learn.Khmers have a formal and a colloqiual language and they really mangle the language in everyday life.

the sounds are really alien to us

[Sam Hill]

From Wikipedia :

 

 

 

<< Northern Khmer, also called Khmer Surin, is the dialect of the Khmer language spoken by the Khmer native to the Thai provinces of Surin, Sisaket, Buriram and Roi Et as well as those who have migrated from this region into Cambodia.

 

Northern Khmer differs from the Phnom Penh dialect (considered the standard) in the number and variety of vowel phonemes, consonantal distribution, lexicon and grammar, giving Northern Khmer a distinct accent easily recognizable by speakers of other dialects. Some speakers of Northern Khmer may understand other varieties of Khmer but speakers of standard Khmer who have not been exposed to Northern Khmer often have trouble understanding Northern Khmer. These facts have led some linguists to advocate considering Northern Khmer a separate, but closely related language. >>

 

 

p.s. I agree that Khmer does sound more "foreign" than Thai.

[kensvay]

Just gone through the dictionary pronunciations above-way off the mark with the sounds and some of the words.

It is a language with very difficult sounds,more difficult than thai I think.

But there are similariries.

The days of the week are almost the same and the occasional word like learn,teacher,here and there.

[Sam Hill]

These are generally words borrowed by both languages from Pali and Sanskrit, the ancient languages of India. Many religious terms are almost the same, as are words used in regard to royalty.