Equipment!

I have several Khmer-English dictionaries. The one I have used the most, back when I first learnt Khmer and as a reference since then is the Tuttle Practical Cambodian Dictionary. The big advantage of this one is that it is very tiny and the Khmer words are indexed by an approximate english version, rather than the Khmer script. The downside is that it's tiny.

I also have the Oxford Student's Dictionary, an English-Khmer one which I'm pretty sure is a photocopy (the markets in Phnom Penh sell a lot of counterfeit books) but has a big vocabulary. The explanation of what the various khmer translations mean is in khmer, so it's limited in its usefulness for now.

I have the New Oxford Picture Dictionary in English/Cambodian. We had the Vietnamese/English one for our kids which was really helpful early on when they were learning English. I don't think I'll use this as much, but for my sons who are interested in learning Khmer, it might be useful.

And, my current favourite: the GF 386, or the CanaTech English-Khmer and Khmer-English electronic dictionary. I bought this in Phnom Penh at the Peace Bookstore, but I gather you can buy it at Sorya and the other big bookstores now. Mine cost US$190 a few months ago. Cambodian friends went through and said that the spoken translations are good. They can be hard to hear without earphones, but I find them pretty clear. Using it is a bit fiddly at first, and then the index makes sense.

I also have a small pile of Cambodian first-readers, meant for kindergarten children, a children's bible in Khmer and a pile of magazines and (thanks to my daughters) enough Cambodian pop music to sink a ship.

I have both Huffman's Modern Spoken Cambodian and the Everyday Khmer book, the two guidebooks that are most commonly used for Cambodian learners. I'm not planning to use them until April however.