I’m happy to share with you a new set of free Khmer learning materials, which includes over 180 minutes of audio recordings with transcripts.

These materials comprise 60 short stories that are designed to help you pick up Khmer through listening with minimal effort.

The stories come from the collection of “Mini-Stories” that were created for the language-learning site LingQ and have been translated into many languages.

I’ve had them translated into Khmer and recorded so that Khmer language learners can now benefit from them.

You can find the materials here:

English text with Khmer translations:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R54YcxL3Msu2RDeyaVsLfo1hUpdPyJpptEnR6EniweA/edit?usp=sharing

MP3 recordings of each Mini-Story:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pqLTHfZkpPuf8ZwJ65Q7hmDvkJk4WhFP?usp=sharing

Contact me if you have any corrections, suggestions on formatting, or would like to contribute, for example by providing further recordings for this material, or are interested in creating and sharing similar material.

It would be helpful to hear these stories recorded with a variety of voices and speaking styles, and the more materials there are like this, the better.

How the Mini-Stories work

The stories provide a source of listening input that uses language in a highly repetitive yet meaningful way that’s different from ordinary language learning materials.

This repetition, achieved through retelling the stories using different perspectives and many questions, makes them easier to understand and makes it easier to remember and pick up the new words and structures that you hear.

Understanding the stories from different perspectives and answering the questions also helps train you to think in Khmer.

To better understand how they work, let’s look at the first Mini-Story in the series, called “Mike Is A Cook”.

The story is first told in the third person, telling us about Mike:

Mike gets up at 6:00am every morning. ម៉ៃក្រោកពីគេងនៅម៉ោង០៦.០០ព្រឹកជារៀងរាល់ព្រឹក។ He makes breakfast and drinks a coffee. គាត់ចំអិនអាហារពេលព្រឹក និងផឹកកាហ្វេ១កែវ។ He drives to work in his car. គាត់បើកឡានទៅធ្វើការ។ His work starts at 7:30am. ការងាររបស់គាត់ចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង៧.៣០នាទីព្រឹក។ Mike is a cook at a restaurant. ម៉ៃជាចុងភៅនៅភោជនីយដ្ឋាន។ He makes food for hungry customers. គាត់ចំអិនអាហារអោយអតិថិជនដែលឃ្លានបាយ។ The customers are from many countries. អតិថិជនមកពីប្រទេសជាច្រើនផ្សេងៗគ្នា។ They speak many different languages. ពូកគេនិយាយភាសាជាច្រើនខុសៗគ្នា។ Mike can meet many friendly people. ម៉ៃអាចជួបមនុស្សរួសរាយរាក់ទាក់ជាច្រើននាក់។ Mike is happy when he talks to the customers. ម៉ៃសប្បាយចិត្តនៅពេលគាត់និយាយាជាមួយអតិថិជនទាំងនោះ។

Next, we get to hear the same story told again, but this time in the first-person perspective, with Mike himself telling the story:

I get up at 6:00am every morning. ខ្ញុំក្រោកពីគេងនៅម៉ោង០៦.០០ព្រឹក ជារៀងរាល់ព្រឹក។ I make breakfast and drink a coffee. ខ្ញុំចំអិនអាហារពេលព្រឹក និងផឹកកាហ្វេ១កែវ។ I drive to work in my car. ខ្ញុំបើកឡានទៅធ្វើការ។ My work starts at 7:30am. ការងាររបស់ខ្ញុំចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង៧.៣០នាទីព្រឹក។ I am a cook at a restaurant. ខ្ញុំជាចុងភៅ នៅភោជនីយដ្ឋាន។ I make food for hungry customers. ខ្ញុំចំអិនអាហារអោយអតិថិជនដែលឃ្លានបាយ។ The customers are from many different countries. អតិថិជនមកពីប្រទេសជាច្រើនផ្សេងៗគ្នា។ They speak many different languages. ពួកគេនិយាយភាសាជាច្រើនខុសៗគ្នា។ I can meet many friendly people. ខ្ញុំអាចជួបមនុស្សរួសរាយរាក់ទាក់ជាច្រើននាក់។ I am happy when I talk to the customers. ខ្ញុំសប្បាយចិត្តនៅពេលខ្ញុំនិយាយជាមួយអតិថិជនទាំងនោះ។

Finally, we hear the story again, but this time, each sentence of the story is followed by a question, with the answer given right after:

Questions: សំណួរៈ 1) Mike wakes up at 6:00am every morning. ១) ម៉ៃក្រោកពីគេងនៅម៉ោង០៦.០០ព្រឹក ជារៀងរាល់ព្រឹក។ Does Mike wake up early? តើម៉ៃភ្ញាក់ដឹងខ្លួនពីព្រលឹមឬ? Yes, Mike wakes up at 6:00am every morning. បាទ ម៉ៃភ្ញាក់នៅម៉ោង០៦.០០ព្រឹក ជារៀងរាល់ព្រឹក។ 2) Mike drinks a coffee. ២) ម៉ៃផឹកកាហ្វេ០១កែវ។ Does Mike drink a tea? តើម៉ៃផឹកតែឬ? No, Mike does not drink a tea, he drinks a coffee. ទេ ម៉ៃអត់ផឹកតែទេ គាត់ផឹកកាហ្វេ។ 3) Mike drives his car to work. ៣) ម៉ៃបើកឡានទៅធ្វើការ។ Does Mike drive his car to work? តើម៉ៃបើកឡានទៅធ្វើការឬ? Yes, Mike drives his car to work. បាទ ម៉ៃបើកឡានទៅធ្វើការ។ 4) Mike’s work starts at 7:30am. ៤) ការងាររបស់ម៉ៃចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង៧.៣០នាទីព្រឹក។ Does Mike’s work start at 7:00am? តើការងាររបស់ម៉ៃចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង៧.០០ព្រឹកឬ? No, Mike’s work does not start at 7:00am. ទេ ការងាររបស់ម៉ៃមិនមែនចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង៧.០០ព្រឹកទេ It starts at 7:30am. វាចាប់ផ្តើមនៅម៉ោង០៧.៣០នាទីព្រឹក។ 5) Mike is a cook at a restaurant. ៥) ម៉ៃជាចុងភៅនៅភោជនីយដ្ឋាន។ Is Mike a cook? តើម៉ៃជាចុងភៅឬ? Yes, Mike is a cook at a restaurant. បាទ ម៉ៃជាចុងភៅនៅភោជនីយដ្ឋាន។ 6) The customers are from many different countries. ៦) អតិថិជនមកពីប្រទេសជាច្រើនផ្សេងៗគ្នា។ Are the customers from one country? តើអតិថិជនទាំងអស់មកពីប្រទេសតែមួយឬ? No, the customers are not from one country. ទេ អតិថិជនទាំងអស់មិនមែនមកពីប្រទេសតែមួយទេ។ They are from many different countries. ពួកគេមកពីប្រទេសជាច្រើនផ្សេងៗគ្នា 7) The customers are friendly. ៧) អតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះរួសរាយរាក់ទាក់។ Are the customers friendly? តើអតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះរួសរាក់ទាក់? Yes, the customers are friendly. បាទ អតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះរួសរាយរាក់ទាក់។ 8) Mike feels happy when he talks to the customers. ៨) ម៉ៃមានអារម្មណ៍សប្បាយចិត្តនៅពេលគាត់និយាយជាមួយអតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះ។ Does Mike feel happy when he talks to the customers? តើម៉ៃមានអារម្មណ៍សប្បាយចិត្តឬ នៅពេលគាត់និយាយជាមួយអតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះ? Yes, Mike feels happy when he talks to the customers. បាទ ម៉ៃមានអារម្មណ៍សប្បាយចិត្តនៅពេលគាត់និយាយជាមួយអតិថិជនទាំងអស់នោះ

All of the Mini-Stories follow this basic structure of the story told twice from different perspectives followed by a series of questions, but the higher levels add more variations.

For example, instead of just first-person then third-person, the first two stories might be told with a different pair of perspectives, such as third person singular, then third person plural, where another character is included.

Questions go from simple yes/no questions in the first level to questions asking who, what, when, where, and why.

In later stories they also can shift perspective, for example by putting the story in the past or in the future.

To pick up words and structures in a language and use them naturally, you need to hear them many times and often in different contexts.

The different perspectives and many questions provide a lot of repetition to help you achieve this, and they train you to think in Khmer.

Using the Mini-Stories to learn Khmer

The LingQ Approach

The LingQ website and app are built around listening to materials in the language you’re learning with transcripts that you can study by highlighting and saving words to learn what they mean and review them.

The approach advocates spending a lot of time listening repeatedly to interesting content in the language you’re learning on your smartphone or MP3 player, and spending some time on the site reviewing the transcripts and learning new words to gain better understanding of what you’re listening to.

The idea is by becoming familiar with the language, its patterns, and how words are used through listening a lot first, you will gradually be able to speak more and more without a lot of effort.

The freemium site covers and includes content for many languages, but like most Southeast Asian languages, Khmer is not among them yet.

You can replicate the LingQ approach somewhat using the transcripts of the Mini-Stories in Google Sheets.

For example by using Chrome’s Google Translate plugin, you can highlight an word or phrase you don’t know in Khmer and get an English translation.

By repeatedly listening to the recordings while looking up unknown words in between, the meaning of what one is listening to should become clearer and clearer over time.

It’s probably possible to start as a complete beginner with this approach and these kinds of recordings and gain a good comprehension of them, however, many total newbies to Khmer who don’t know a related language may find this daunting, especially having to deal with the Khmer script.

For these beginning learners, it may be advisable to start with simpler listening materials and other exposure to become more familiar with the language first.

Compatibility with the ALG approach

While using the Mini-Stories as part of learning Khmer can be compatible with the Automatic Language Growth approach that was used by LINK (Language Institute of Natural Khmer—unrelated to LingQ although the acronym is pronounced the same way), there are some aspects of the ALG approach that should be noted.

Both the ALG approach and LingQ’s approach put great emphasis on learning through comprehensible input by listening to the language one is learning in a way that’s both highly interesting and understandable.

While the LingQ approach encourages using translation to learn new words, ALG advocates picking up words through context, especially real-life experience and meaningful happenings, for picking up words, and wants learners to avoid entirely the use of translation in their language acquisition.

The goal of ALG is to have learners of any age, starting from scratch, come as close as possible to native-like abilities in their second language, being able to use it practically as well as if it were their first language.

ALG argues that using abilities gained with maturity to study and think about language interfere with this, and explains why adult language learners tend to do worse than children.

In this view, using translation to understand and learn a language would produce a different and less native-like representation of language than learning through context.

It should be said that LingQ’s use of translation is about understanding the overall meaning of interesting texts, rather than focusing on memorizing individual words.

It thus has common ground with the ALG approach in the idea that words should be learned through hearing and understanding the word in context many times.

The difficulty in applying the ALG approach of learning a language from the start without looking up or translating words is that, as with most languages, very little material or teaching exists in Khmer that is interesting for adult learners while providing enough context to pick up the language.

LINK provided teaching like this, however, it closed in 2016.

One compromise in learning using the Mini-Stories could be to become familiar with the stories by reading them first in English (or the various translations if they exist in one’s native language), and then later listening to them in Khmer.

This would boost one’s comprehension of the stories while avoiding the use of direct translation.

Research finds that we generally remember the meaning of what we read and hear, while most details like the exact wording are discarded from memory.

That suggests such an approach of more indirect use of translation might largely avoid the problems that ALG seeks to avoid of prematurely making connections with words in one’s native language.

Using the Mini-Stories to teach English in Cambodia

If you are teaching English in Cambodia, your students may find the English versions of the Mini-Stories useful.

You can find them on LingQ.com and download them (registration required):

English level 1 https://www.lingq.com/learn/en/web/course/263520

English level 2 https://www.lingq.com/learn/en/web/course/271393

English level 3 https://www.lingq.com/learn/en/web/course/289032

As with learners in many countries, many Cambodian students may have studied English academically and therefore know a lot of vocabulary and grammar but struggle to naturally understand and speak the language.

Listening to materials like the Mini-Stories, with their use of variation and repetition, and especially their use of questions and answers, can be helpful in training these learners to think in English.

Limitations

This set of Mini-Stories, while not being tied to any specific country’s culture, contain a lot of content that’s based in experiences in Western or developed countries, and as such it’s not really reflective of everyday life for most Cambodians.

This may actually be beneficial for many foreign learners who may find the content more familiar than content originating in Cambodia, and thus comprehend more, but it would be good to have further content like this that also reflects everyday life and situations in Cambodia

Although not in the format as the Mini-Stories, a lot of listening content discussing life in Cambodia this is available from Aakanee.com, which I introduced in a previous post.

Contribute

It would be helpful to have more recordings for these stories so that learners can hear different speakers of Khmer and different styles of speaking—for example, male and female, young and old, fast and slow, soft and cute or loud and exaggerated, and so on.

Hearing a language spoken by multiple speakers is very helpful for acquiring the language, especially when the sounds of the language are very different from one’s own, as is the case with Khmer for speakers of Western languages.

If you are interested in contributing or sharing recordings or other material like this, please get in touch.