Khmer is an ancient language that has undergone numerous developments. The official language of Cambodia is one of the Mon-Khmer languages of the Austroasiatic language family – among those, it was one of the first languages known in writing. There are an estimated 14 million native speakers and two million people who speak Khmer as a second language. Of the native speakers, about two million live in Thailand and Vietnam – the countries that were once part of the mighty Khmer Empire.
Language History
The earliest written documents of Khmer culture are known from the sixth to seventh centuries AD. Only the establishment of state religions – the Indian cult of Shiva, and later Buddhism – created the need to record temple names, endowments, and ruler genealogies in writing. Accordingly, the earliest written records are in Sanskrit or Pali, but written in Khmer script, which uses consonants unknown to Sanskrit. Therefore, deciphering the inscriptions is difficult. Over time, the native Khmer language emerged, leaving only loanwords from the Indian languages. Influences from the Thai languages, Cham, from Lao and French were also integrated. Modern Khmer, spoken since the 19th century, is so different from its historical predecessors that it is incomprehensible from today’s point of view. It has a few dialects that are mutually comprehensible – but the more remote a mountainous region is, the more difficult communication becomes.
The Script
The script of the Khmer language is also based on Indian models. The relationship shows in the fact that consonants must be read including a vowel and deviations from this vowel must be marked – in Khmer there is a vowel row with A (អ) and with O (អ៊) vowels. Thus, a “K (ខ)” is read “Ka”, while a “T (ទ)” is read “To”. Other vowels can be placed around a consonant by additional characters or diacritics. Even more than the spoken language, the written language presents a challenge to foreign speakers – many characters that are spoken very differently look extremely similar. There is no standard transcription of the Khmer script; Western languages romanize according to their own pronunciation habits.
The peculiarities of the Khmer language in translations
Although Cambodia is surrounded by tonal languages, the Khmer language is not one of them. It has 33 consonants, some of which are reserved exclusively for loan words. Similarly, Khmer is known for its unusually high number of diphthongs.
The words of the original Khmer pair a prefix with a full syllable, the prefix being less stressed. Loan words or written language expressions also pair two full syllables, of which the first syllable also remains unstressed in spoken language.
As an isolating language, words in Khmer are invariant, strung together with the aid of prefixes and infixes – even tenses are expressed only by naming the time or with auxiliary tenses before the verb. Khmer grammar follows the subject-verb-object order and does not pose much of a problem for a translator – obstacles are the verb chains that are necessary and confusing in actions. However, since we work exclusively with native-speaking translators, texts are always translated quickly and professionally. Our translators have grown up with the Khmer language and have the academic translation education. We can offer you Khmer translations in all possible language combinations and specializations. When translating in Khmer, it should be noted that men and women speak differently – some words are used by only one gender at a time. Likewise, reductions take place in spoken language, so from the sentence “How are you?” – literally “Are you happy and are you well?”- only “Happy Well?” remains.
Price for a Khmer translation
The word price for a English-Khmer translation is USD 0.05 per word. This is a guideline that may differ from the individually calculated price for your project. This is due to the various factors on the basis of the technicality of the text or the deadline. Our project managers will be happy to advise you and provide you with a free quote. Simply send us the text to be translated or give us a call! We look forward to your project!