Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Longest Alphabet Known to Man

Ready for your khmae lesson?

To those who don't know, Elder Rucker is learning Khmae (KA-my), the language spoken in Cambodia. He has 11 weeks to learn how to speak, read, and write in Khmae and the Romanized Khmae before he is sent off to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (Nom Pen). Here is a letter from him explaining the language and showing what he is learning while in the MTC (It is a little small to read but you can see the symbols).



There are 33 consanents (green), 32 sub-consanents (red), 25 vowels (blue), and 14 independent vowels (black). With 104 letters, I think it definately is the longest alphabet known to man.

Khmae romanization is the representation of the language using the Roman alphabet.

Ryan says it is really hard to learn, but he is studying hard. Ryan says, "I love learning more Khmae though, during this past week I was finally able to read the Book of Mormon (mostly correct) but I have no idea what I was reading, haha." His district practices together a lot out of class in the dorms so he is progressing.


At the end of all his letters, Ryan writes a sentence or two in Khmae bearing his testimony. He says, Khnom duy thaa preah yezsuu krin kuu cia preah ?>ys>ykruah robah yaan: I know that Christ is our Savior.


Remember to write Ryan, and if you ask, you could get a letter back from him in Khmae!

No comments:

Post a Comment