As auto-translation and speech recognition technology advances rapidly, one might start to wonder if there’s any reason to learn another language any more? Why not just pull out our smartphone, speak into it, and then tap ‘play’ on the translated text? There’s some risk of mistranslation but we read that that auto-translation has incorporated machine learning and is becoming more accurate with each use.

This misses how fundamental language really is. Learning a new language makes us aware of the assumptions inherent in our own language, greatly deepens our cultural understanding, and can be a respectful endeavor that builds reciprocal cross-cultural relationships. The recent advances in auto-translation are, of course, very helpful functionally but they don’t negate the importance of learning other languages. For me, the Google translate app has primarily been a wonderful upgrade from my worn pocket Khmer-English dictionary.

To illustrate some of the complexity of language I’m going to share five Khmer words whose full meaning is usually lost in translation.

5. សំណាង Saamnang

The Khmer word សំណាង is often translate as luck but the concept is a bit different from what luck usually means in North America.

Homer’s Iliad opens with the Greek armies consulting a soothsayer to divine why a plague had broken out in their ranks. It is revealed that their leader, Agamemnon, angered Apollo and that amends must be made for the plague to stop.

In Khmer culture, luck isn’t just seen merely as bad or good probability but rather as always having some underlying cause. The state religion of Cambodia is Buddhist but there are strong Hindu, Animist, and Ancestor Worship influences. So, luck might be considered the result of karma, an ancestor’s spirit feeling disrespected, a capricious local divinity, a bad spirit or ghost haunting the person, or – following Chinese customs – by how well a person has observed auspicious/inauspicious names, numbers, dates, and colors. There are local traditions on top of that. We once met a prospective landlord who told us that he had a Buddhist shrine, a Taoist shrine, an Ancestor shrine, and a Christian Bible in his house just to cover all the bases of spiritual favor/disfavor.

In Cambodia, there are secretive local traditions and rituals around divining the source of bad luck. Some people hang elaborate diagrams, believed to be magic spells, in their houses and vehicles; some even have them tattooed on their bodies. An expatriate should never really talk about having ‘bad luck’ in Khmer as it’s taken very seriously and might result in you being invited to a soothsayer’s house for some kind of cleansing ritual. Many Christian Cambodians still believe in evil spirits and turn to the Church instead of soothsayers for aid, but some might still consult a traditional soothsayer.

4. ​ស្មុគស្មាញ​ Smokosmanh

The Khmer word ស្មុគស្មាញ is often translated as complicated or intricate, but it’s actually a bit messier than that. ស្មុគស្មាញ is not neutral but has a mildly negative connotation. In English, ‘messy’ is the closest comparison that I’ve been able to think of.

• “How are local politics?” “Complicated.”
• “How are local politics?” “Messy.”

Of course, Khmer has it’s own words for messy. Several of them actually. My comparison here isn’t of meaning but of tone or connotation. The takeaway is that complexity is inherently viewed as mildly negative. I can imagine the artisans chipping away at the 1,200 square meters of intricate bas relief at Angkor Wat and offering the mildly negative feedback of it’s ‘complicated’.

3. ទំនាក់ទំនង Tomneaktomnong

The Khmer word ទំនាក់ទំនង is often translated as ‘relationship’ but it also simultaneously means ‘contact’ and ‘communication’. Words with multiple simultaneous meanings are the source of regular mistranslations but the broader meaning of ទំនាក់ទំនង also tells us something important about Cambodian culture – that relationship, communication, and contact are inseparable.

Now what does this mean when we share the MCC vision statement with Cambodians?

MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation.

It becomes a bit more complicated to translate. Then consider something like a communication standards manual which governs how to manage points of contact and how to maintain good relationships.

2. ខឹង Khoeng

The Khmer word ខឹង is often translated as ‘anger’ but it’s meaning is closer to an older usage of the English word ‘mad’. That is, the person was so angry that they temporarily went insane. To be ខឹង is to be so angry that you’ve lost control of yourself. This is because, in traditional Khmer culture, it is socially unacceptable for most people to show strong negative emotions like anger so if you did it must be because you lost control of yourself. To be ខឹង is to embarrass yourself and shame your family.

1. ខ្ញុំ Khnom

The Khmer word ខ្ញុំ is often translated as ‘I’/’me’/’my’. This is one of the first words you’ll learn in Khmer and is one of the ones that you’ll say the most often. What most expatriates do not know is that ខ្ញុំ historically indicated that the person speaking was a slave, bondsman, or serf. Monks, nobility, and royalty each use distinct pronouns for ‘I’/’me’/’my’ other than ខ្ញុំ in order to indicate their higher social status. There are also distinct verbs for ‘eat’, ‘drink’, and so on that further reinforced the social hierarchy.

As I’ve studied Khmer more deeply, it’s become clear that there are, at least, three distinct classes of language; everyday Khmer as spoken in the village, religious Khmer as spoken by Monks, and formal Khmer (historically for use in the royal court). This began to change after Cambodia gained Independence from France and King Norodom Sihanouk began an ambitious public education campaign; in the 1960s Cambodian spending on public education was the highest in the region and rivaled only by Singapore’s. For the first time Khmer writing began to be taught broadly to the entire population and formal language shifted from the royal court to professional usage.