I’ve decided to learn Khmer. I had my first lesson this week and although it’s a bit overwhelming, it’s even more exciting. Thankfully, the grammar is relatively simple, but the pronunciation is quite strange. And of course, there is the question of how many new words this old brain of mine can remember.

But I’m already intrigued. We all know that languages evolve over time. I’m discovering, though, that Khmer is evolving at breakneck speed, just as the culture itself is evolving. My teacher has explained that as the the country moves away from the forced agrarian society that Pol Pot created to a more complicated, industrialised society, the grammar is becoming more complicated, as well. But as far as I can tell so far, the biggest change may be in the use of pronouns. The list of words meaning “you”, for example, is long and depends on degree of formality. But this isn’t formality in the way that French differs between tu and vous. There is a word for you, ne I believe,  which is not just formal, but highly authoritarian, the sort of address that a high ranking soldier might use against a peasant or even someone being arrested. You can imagine the pronoun being used in disdain and anger, and so it is considered, now, to be extremely rude. I’m sure this small word carries with it all sorts of memories and reverberations and when I begin to think about translating Khmer poetry into English, this is exactly the sort of thing which will be crucial to understand.

There is also another word for you, own, which traditionally was used in a romantic context. I believe you had to be quite careful about who you called own and who you didn’t. This, though, seems to be relaxing. An evolution of mores, perhaps? Certainly, one of the things that has struck me about the culture is how much more conservative it is when it comes to sexuality. The highly erotic images that we in the West see every day, larger than life, on billboards for fashion advertisements, for example, are unthinkable in Cambodia. A Khmer woman would never consider wearing a bikini at a beach or reservoir. But I am sure that this will slowly change as well and already, the language is loosening up.

I might well have gotten the specific words wrong here. Forgive me if I have. But the point is clear. I have seen how Cambodian society is changing as an older under-educated generation gives way to a younger, more educated one. But to see these changes starting to be reflected in the language itself, in real time, right before our eyes, is just amazing to me.

And by the way, my teacher told me that the sound of my name, Sue, in Khmer has a meaning. Unbelievably, and rather amusingly, it means perseverance.