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Title: Colloquial Cambodian: A Complete Language Course by David Smyth ISBN: 0-415-10006-2 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: good language book
Comment: Tha roman-alphabet renderings of the Khmer words is misleading, but for most aspects of the course only good things can be said. The exercises are well-chosen and paced in a way that makes learning Khmer about as painless as it can be, which is still pretty painful.
This book supposes no prior knowledge of Khmer. The other Khmer book I have seen, by Huffman, is very technical and seems to suppose a level of training in structural linguistics and phonetics that is beyond what most people have.
Rating: 4
Summary: a good beginning book and tape
Comment: This is a good starting point for someone who doesn't know any Cambodian. It is certainly the most affordable course and the easiest to obtain. From the very first lesson, you get real sentences with real content instead of just formulas- Hello, Good morning, how are you?- which is where so many language courses start. So from the opening bell you can get a sense of how the language works and how sentences are put together. The grammatical explanations are good, although some of them could be more detailed.
Another feather in the author's cap is that the material on the tapes really does follow the book. The speakers are quite easy to follow and one can get into the flow of the language very quickly. I suppose you could buy the book without the tapes, but would you feel very confident saying a words like "t'ngai" or "g'baal" for instance? In a lot of language courses (including some in the "Colloquial's" series) the material on the tapes does not coordinate well with the printed text. This one does.
The major minus in this book is its system of transcription. Given the choice between trying to represent Cambodian phonemes accurately (especially the vowels) and approximating what is now a very unphonetic system of writing, the author has come up with system that does a poor job of both. I really believe that he should have used Huffman's system which is much more precise in representing phonemes that differ only very slightly to a Westerner's ear. It would certainly help someone who also wants to consult Huffman's text. The author makes no bones about the fact that he wants to wean the learner away from transcription, and he succeeds, but mostly because his system is too inaccurate to be any help. He does introduce the writing system gradually and there are illustrations in the book showing how the letters are handwritten- which is another feature not every language book has when there is a writing system different from our own.
So- I'll give it four stars. I'd give five stars to a future edition if the author found a better solution to his transcription problems.
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent introduction to khmer
Comment: This book is extremely helpful for those who would like to learn enough khmer to really enjoy a trip to cambodia. It is pretty basic, but it will get you to have small conversations in no time. It's really a great introduction to a fascinating language and culture.
p.s. If you are not going to be in cambodia or don't have any khmer friends, you REALLY need the tapes.
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Title: Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader (Language Texts) by Franklin E. Huffman ISBN: 0300013140 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1987 List Price(USD): $21.34 |
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Title:Talk Now! Khmer ASIN: B0000899NX Publisher: EuroTalk Pub. Date: 31 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $18.99 |
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Title: Cambodian-English/English-Cambodian Dictionary by Kem Sos ISBN: 0870528181 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Colloquial Cambodian: A Complete Language Course/Audio Cassettes by David Smyth ISBN: 0415100070 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Cambodian by Norma Shapiro, Jayme Adelson-Goldstein ISBN: 0194351947 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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