Khmer Alphabet - Lesson 2: Khmer Vowel - Part 1

 Hello again កូនសិស្ស/Kon Sers (students)  :)

With previous lesson you probably learned the consonant in Khmer Alphabet.

In this lesson, let's get to know the "Khmer Vowel" the "ស្រៈនិស្ស័យ" (Srak-nee-sai/sight)

The vowels are as follow:

ា    ិ      ី     ឹ       ឺ      ុ        ូ        ួ      

 ើ    ឿ    ៀ      េ    ែ     ៃ    ោ

ៅ    ុំ        ំ       ះ         ុះ        េះ    ោះ

Now let's try to combine it with the consonant we have learned. 

*Tip: do you see the little circle between the vowel? that's where the consonant will be placed. 

If you are using computer or phone when combing the consonant you have to press the consonant key and then press ្ which will be the "J" on your keyboard and then press the vowel key.

let's combine some word together!

Cambodian pronunciation will be hard for foreigner especially for English-speaking people. You can learn how to pronounce it through this video: Khmer Vowel Pronunciation.

The pronunciation in the video the original pronunciation which will be pronounce as such when conjugate with the "AWW" consonant, however, the pronunciation will be changed when used with "OR"​ consonant. Unfortunately i can't find the pronunciation of that so i suggest writing it in the google translate for the pronunciation.

Remember the "AWW" and "OR" group? the sound it will produced  when conjugated with consonant "AWW" will be colored in BLUE while "OR" in RED. Let's start!

1. ា (A/AH) = "AH→" or "EAR" 

    Example: 

•     ក (K) + ា (AH)​ = កា > GA
•     គ (K) + ា (AH) = គា > GEAR

2.ិ  (E/EK) 

- EK/EH↘ : say EH but dropped the sound at the end

- EEK↘ : when you say this try to remove the sound of "k(uh)" where you usually pronounce at the end of the word.

Example: 

• ខ (KH) +ិ (EK) = ខិ > KEH 
• ឃ (KH)​​ +ិ (KHEEK) = ឃិ > KEEK

3.ី (EY) 

- EY/EI: say Ayy↘  but drop the tone.

- EE/Y/I

Ex:

• ប +  ី > បី (BEI)
• ម+ី> មី (ME/MI) just  "me".

4.ឹ (ERK)

-​ ERK/EO: ERK↘ | EUK

Ex:

• ក+ឹ​ = កឹ > KERK/GERK
• ឃ+ឹ= ឃឹ​ > KHEUK/KEUK

5.ឺ (ER)

- ER: similar to the "ir" in girl.

- EU : when you say "mm" try say the sound of "e" in that mannaer "eummm" but remove the mm

Ex:

• ក+ឺ =​ កឺ > KEUR
• គ+ឺ = គឺ> KEU

*Remember the ក/គ  here is pronounce as "G" but cambodian always romanized it as "K" as shown in previous lession.

👉See you in next part