Prahok

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…

ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ

​មាន​អាវ​មួយ ពាក់​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ មាន​មួយ​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ ឬ​យ៉ាង​ណា​ស្រី​ង៉ា
​ឃើញ​សព្វដង មិន​ថា​ង៉ៃ​ណា ឃើញ​កល់​ណា ពាក់​តា​អាវ​ដែល​ៗ

​អាវ​យឺត​ក្រហម ល្មម​ត្រូវ​ចិត្ត​ស្រី ថា​មើល​ស្រដី មិន​ដែល​ដោះ​ម៉ាក់​ម្តង
​ប្រមាណ​ង៉ៃ​ហើយ ក្រមុំ​ផន់​បង ដល់​ណា​ដោះ​ម៉ាក់​ម្តង ព្រោះ​តា​បង​ចង់​ឃើញ

​ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ កើត​អុយ ឬ​មួយ​យ៉ាង​ណា
​រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ

​មុខ​មាត់​ស្រី មើល​ទៅ​ស្នំស្នួន តែ​អាវ​ក្នុង​ខ្លួន ពាក់​មក​ច្រើន​ង៉ៃ
​អាវ​ដែល​ៗ ក្អែល​ចាប់​ហើយ​ស្រី ប្តូ​អាវ​ថ្មី បាន​ទេ​ស្រី​ង៉ា

​បង​សង្ស័យ មក​ច្រើន​ង៉ៃ​ហើយ មិន​ដែល​ដោះ​ទ្បើយ អូន​គិត​យ៉ាង​ណា
​បង​ចង់​ដិញ ទំ​និយ​ស្រី​ង៉ា ឃើញ​កល់​ណា ពាក់​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ

​ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ កើត​អុយ ឬ​មួយ​យ៉ាង​ណា
​រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ

​បង​សង្ស័យ មក​ច្រើន​ង៉ៃ​ហើយ មិន​ដែល​ដោះ​ទ្បើយ អូន​គិត​យ៉ាង​ណា
​បង​ចង់​ដិញ ទំនិយ​ស្រី​ង៉ា ឃើញ​កល់​ណា ពាក់​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ

​ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ កើត​អុយ ឬ​មួយ​យ៉ាង​ណា
​រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ រម៉េច​ស្រី​ង៉ា បង​មិន​គើយ​ឃើញ​ដោះ

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 entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 12:17 am and is filed under Cambodia, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.