Why I'm learning Khmer

2005 family photo from the Phnom Penh river

I've been working for a Cambodian NGO, Riverkids, for the past 7 years. I don't live in Cambodia but I visit fairly often and read a lot of documents translated from Khmer. Fluency would help a lot in my work.

I have four children born in Cambodia before they joined our family as well, and they speak (but can't read or write) Khmer to differing degrees. One has almost no Khmer, and I'd like him to be reasonably fluent like his siblings. My children also speak Vietnamese, and we've chosen to have them read and write in Vietnamese because the roman alphabet made it much easier for them, and they were struggling to read and write in English.

I speak very basic "market" Khmer. Years ago, when I was first in Cambodia for several months for the adoptions, I had daily lessons from a very patient teacher. I had a pretty good vocabulary and that spoken Khmer made a huge difference in communicating to my children.

So this year I'm determined to pick up my Khmer again. I want to be fluent enough to read newspaper headlines and have a decent conversation. In time, I'd like to be able to read and write in Khmer as a full second language.