Four other volunteers and I have been getting up for a 7.30 breakfast and then cycling to our language lessons in the University buildings round the corner. Now when I say university, what I mean is large concrete building of small rooms with a canteen comprising of a hammock and plastic chairs gathered around a large cool box outside in the shade.
Our teacher is Mr. Khamdy and he has filled our brains and our books with absolutely loads of Khmer vocabulary, phrases and sentences. I can now say what my name is, where I come from, where I live and what my job is. I can also (in theory) ask a tuk tuk driver to take me to the petrol station, hospital; market and internet shop as well as ask how much 2 bottles of beer is. All very helpful stuff. It is a relatively simple language to learn as it has few words compared to the English language and the verb stays the same whether you’re speaking in past, present or future tense! Nouns do not have a gender either like they do in French or German for example. Every little helps.
The test comes when we practice on unsuspecting members of the Khmer public during our break times and realise that what we have been practicing for hours is in fact completely mispronounced. We have over 20 days of language training in all so I’m hoping to pick it up by then...!
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