Since arriving in Phnom Penh I have employed myself as a butcher, not of meat but of language. I mince my way through daily conversations and out of the ordinary situations in a clumsy attempt to try to communicate.
I’ve mastered some of my old faithful phrases, the “suesdey”s (hello) and “sok sa bai”s (how are you/I’m good) of the friendly and consistently uttered greetings. I kindly get myself out of trouble with a smile and a “khnom ot doung dey”s (I don’t know), a “somdoe, khnom ot yul dey”s (Sorry I don’t understand) or a “Khnom nit yet pisar khmer tek tek”s (I speak Khmer a little). When I feel foolish the “somdoe”s (sorry) and “Khnom plip” (I forget) pour out of my mouth as I franticly search my brain for the right words.
Other times I splice Khmer and English sentences together in a mix match of language. Small English utterances still creep into my awkward speech. My grammar is turned around and back to front as my Khmer is flowing out from my English wired brain.
To make things even more interesting Cambodians enjoyably laugh in your face once you speak, even if your phrasing was clear and correct. They nervously chuckle at your attempts and are bemused that the “foreigner” is trying to talk. It is a task to push past the feeling of foolishness and supidity and to keep on going.
At times I am frustrated at how little of the language I know when others around me seem to have a far better understanding. It can be so discouraging. Other days I even surprise myself at my quick recall and understanding. Slowly I am learning to give myself a bit more grace, language occurs over time and you need to give it to yourself to learn. With my busy English teaching schedule language can swiftly take a back seat as I try to stay afloat with all the other things I am attempting to do.
Yep it is a challenging exercise to learn, remember and recall new and foreign things which are vastly different to your first language. Motivation easily slip away because it is hard and painful task. I don’t want to be a butcher forever, but patience is needed to endure the ongoing learning experience.
