I found some time today to do something about the spam comments. There arrived 2 to 10 spam comments every day. Finished now. When you post a comment, you have to enter the code show in the image. This way, I know that the comment was entered by a human. Comment do not directly show up on the blog if this is the first time you post a comment. A have to approve it.
Some administration activities were executed on this weblog. I downloaded and installed a ‘Recent Comments’ section on the sidebar. This makes it easier to spot the latest activities.
There is a lot of spam comment submission lately. It is still manageable and I am not (yet) worried.
Keep on commenting! I will try to post on a higher frequency on my side…
Why are there some many different webbrowsers? Why are there different versions of the same webbrowser around? They call it ‘progress’!
As mentioned previously, search engines work with words. Khmer does not use word separators. Therefore, when you write in khmer, you add ZWSP’s (zero width space) in your text. They are there, but are not visible (zero width). This character has the Unicode value 200B.
But it seams that not all browsers, in casu my older version of Internet Explorer 6, do ‘know’ about this character. These browsers show this character as a ‘not so zero width space’!
I’m getting frustrated! Why do other sites, like Wikipedia, do not have the problem I am looking at? After several hours (hacking), I found that the difference was in the style sheet. I had to add the ‘Lucida Sans Unicode’ font to the font-family list. The ZWSP is now a real ZWSP.
In my previous post, I wrote a song text down in Khmer. Before I could post it on this weblog, there were some technical issues to resolve like fonts and the like. Some issues were resolved with the help of some of you out there. By this, thank you all.
The last few days, I was struggeling with the following: a text written in Khmer appears as long sentences without word separators. In a western language, we put ‘whitespace’ characters between the words. ‘Whitespace’ characters is the technical term for blanks, tabs, newlines, etc… At first sight, written khmer does not. How would search engines like Google handle this? The basic elements a search engine works with are words (also called terms). Do they break these long sentences into words? Are there any rules one can use to develop some piece of software?
I found a Java program (khwrdbrk.jar) that can do the job, or at least tries to. If you give this program a Unicode file with a Unicode encoded text in khmer, you get an output file in Unicode. But when I opened the output file, the text looked exactly like the original text. The output file on the other hand was bigger than the original?! The reason why is that this program inserts indeed a word break character between each word. This word break caracter is called the ZWSP. It is not visible, or has a zero width! I tested the program on one of my texts. The result is not 100% correct. Some word boundaries were not found.
I was so proud of my previous post, but now I have to admit that it is NOT what it should be. Time for a second try!
The song text from the previous post is from a song sang by a boy. This song is based on an older song, sang by a girl and made popular by the singer Oeun Sreymom. Her song in its turn is the khmer version of an even older Khmer Surin song.
The song is about a girl that saved some money, sold three chickens for money (without telling her mother), just to buy herself a new shirt (shirt: អាវ) which she (and the boys) likes so much that she does not want to take it off (undress: ដោះ). It is this last word (breast: ដោះ) that made others to put new lyrics on the same music. And this introduces a classic word play because of the double meaning of “ឃើញដោះ”. These two words can be interpreted as “wearing a shirt that none seen taking off” or “wearing a shirt that never shows her boobs”.
The text of the song, and now with the necessary ZWSP’s, goes as follows:
អាវថ្មីមិនខ្ចីដោះ
មានអាវមួយសន្សំលុយយូរខៃ
ស្រលាញ់ម្លេះទេ អាវថ្មីចេញម៉ូតស្រស់
ពាក់អោយកេដឹង ថាមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
ទៅនេះមកនោះ ពាក់តែអាវមួយហ្នឹង
អាវជិតកល្អត្រូវចិត្តស្រី
លក់មេមាន់បី មិនអោយម៉ែគត់ដឹង
ពាក់ដើររាល់ថ្ងៃ ប្រុសលួចសម្លឹង
ខ្លះស្ទើរភ្លឹកព្រលឹង សរសើរស្រលាញ់ខ្ញុំ
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
គិតអីឬវាយ៉ាងណា យ៉ាងម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
អាវថ្មីខ្ញុំមិនខ្ចីដោះ អាវថ្មីខ្ញុំមិនខ្ចីដោះ
កំលោះនាំគ្នាចោមរោម បើសរសើរខ្ញុំ ខ្ញុំរិតតែលែងដោះ
រូបរាងស្រីទាំងសម្ដីវាចា
ឬកពាចរិយា អាវថ្មីឆើតស្រស់
មានអាវថ្មីមួយ ពាក់មិនខ្ចីដោះ
ប្រុសណាស្រណោះ ចូលដល់យាយតា
រូបបងប្រុសមិនយល់សោះចិត្តស្រី
ស្រុកសីវីល័យ ស្រីតែងខ្លូនសង្ហា
ពាក់មិនឃើញដោះ អាវនោះយ៉ាងណា
បើប្រុសសង្ហា ស្វែងយល់ខ្លូនឯង
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
កើតអីឬវាយ៉ាងណា យ៉ាងម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
អាវថ្មីខ្ញុំមិនខ្ចីដោះ អាវថ្មីខ្ញុំមិនខ្ចីដោះ
កំលោះនាំគ្នាចោមរោម បើសរសើរខ្ញុំ ខ្ញុំរិតតែលែងដោះ
I checked it carefully: all ZWSP’s are there! I will keep an eye on Google to see if a search on one or more of the above words will hit this weblog.
I will correct the previous post asap.
And finaly, here is my first post in khmer.
It took me a long time to find out that there are currently two ways in use to publish a piece of text written in khmer.
The older system uses fonts which show a garbage looking text in nice khmer. This system is still in use on for example the Khosanthepeap website. Their page starts with a message saying that Firefox users should first download some fonts. Internet Explorer users on the other hand, no issues (héhé Microsoft). With an extra entry in the cascading style sheet, the same fonts are downloaded to the cache automagically.
The newer system uses Unicode. Gone are all these character encodings. One encoding for everyone, the dream of a programmer. This is how the khmer version of Wikipedia works.
I installed the Khmer Unicode Support, and…nothing happened. These small boxes were still on the screen. A quick visit to M|O|N|G|K|O|L to verify if the khmer text is visible, but no luck. A new test: to the computer of my daughter, installed the Khmer Unicode Support, and…bingo, Wikipedia ok, M|O|N|G|K|O|L ok.
So, what’s the difference between her and my computer? Internet Explorer 6 (hers) ok, Internet Explorer 7 (mine) not ok. Google help: with IE7 you have to specify which fonts to use for pages in the khmer language (héhé Microsoft).
And now a word about the text. It took me almost 2 hours to get it into a document. But don’t laugh, this was my first try and I am still learning. The text is from a khmer song I found in a karaoke movie on YouTube. In fact I found two versions: the first one a Khmer Surin version, the second a ‘normal’ khmer version. So, I sat down, watched it, paused it, typed it over, continued it, paused it again, typed over the next piece, copy/pasted some sentences, etc…
Cambodians like word games (at least that is what I experienced), and the song is such a thing. It’s all about the word ដោះ (dah or doh) which has two meanings…
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ
មានអាវមួយ ពាក់មិនដែលឃើញដោះ មានមួយប៉ុណ្ណោះ ឬយ៉ាងណាស្រីង៉ា
ឃើញសព្វដង មិនថាង៉ៃណា ឃើញកល់ណា ពាក់តាអាវដែលៗ
អាវយឺតក្រហម ល្មមត្រូវចិត្តស្រី ថាមើលស្រដី មិនដែលដោះម៉ាក់ម្តង
ប្រមាណង៉ៃហើយ ក្រមុំផន់បង ដល់ណាដោះម៉ាក់ម្តង ព្រោះតាបងចង់ឃើញ
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ កើតអុយ ឬមួយយ៉ាងណា
រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ
មុខមាត់ស្រី មើលទៅស្នំស្នួន តែអាវក្នុងខ្លួន ពាក់មកច្រើនង៉ៃ
អាវដែលៗ ក្អែលចាប់ហើយស្រី ប្តូអាវថ្មី បានទេស្រីង៉ា
បងសង្ស័យ មកច្រើនង៉ៃហើយ មិនដែលដោះទ្បើយ អូនគិតយ៉ាងណា
បងចង់ដិញ ទំនិយស្រីង៉ា ឃើញកល់ណា ពាក់មិនដែលឃើញដោះ
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ កើតអុយ ឬមួយយ៉ាងណា
រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ
បងសង្ស័យ មកច្រើនង៉ៃហើយ មិនដែលដោះទ្បើយ អូនគិតយ៉ាងណា
បងចង់ដិញ ទំនិយស្រីង៉ា ឃើញកល់ណា ពាក់មិនដែលឃើញដោះ
ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ ពាក់អាវមិនដែលឃើញដោះ កើតអុយ ឬមួយយ៉ាងណា
រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ រម៉េចស្រីង៉ា បងមិនគើយឃើញដោះ
Sorry for those who can not read khmer. But don’t worry, stay tuned! One day, I will post a reading course…
(The translation will follow in a few days)
This weekend, someone told me about a British boy (found out that the boy is 17 years old) who received an offer from the BBC for his website. He refused it.
Can you imagine how many schools you can build, how many hospitals you can modernize with that amount of money? In Cambodia of course!
Read about the story here… The website referred to can be found here…