Are you planning to visit Cambodia (or កម្ពុជា, pronounced as Kampuchea) anytime soon? If you’re a first-time visitor, we recommend you travel to Siem Reap. It’s the home of Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Cambodia’s former capital city. In particular, it’s the best location to pick up Khmer language skills from native speakers. And perhaps you might begin by asking for accommodation in Khmer after a long day of exploration.
Fortunately, there are many hotels in Cambodia, especially in tourist destinations or the city center. You can choose from boutique hotels to tiny guest houses—no need to stress where you’ll live while studying Khmer in Cambodia. So let’s look at some of the best places to stay and learn how to call them in Khmer, shall we?
Vocabulary About Accommodation In Khmer
| Khmer | Pronunciation | English Definition |
| សណ្ឋាគារ ប៊ូតិក | santhakar bou tek | Boutique hotel |
| សណ្ឋាគារ | son taa gia | Hotel |
| ផ្ទះសំណាក់ | p’dtech som nag | Guest house |
| រមណីយដ្ឋាន | rom nei yod than | Resort |
| ផ្ទះ | phteah | House |
| ផ្ទះល្វែង | phteah lveng | Apartment |
| បន្ទប់ | bon dtub | Room |
Best Places To Stay And Learn Khmer
Let’s imagine you’d want to study Khmer in a new setting. When it comes to a new environment, it usually offers you different benefits. Of course, a different environment also means a different opportunity to meet new people. So here are what you will learn when staying at these places.
1. Hotel (សណ្ឋាគារ)
If you’re a person who loves to stay in a luxurious environment and full of service, the hotel would be a good value for you. Most hotels provide a complimentary airport pickup which you can practice the Khmer greeting word, សួស្តី, pronounced as suostei, meaning “hello,” right after you meet the driver. You can expect good hospitality and a nice learning environment while staying at the hotel. Because local staffs intend to speak all the time politely, so you’ll hear proper Khmer sentences from them during your stay.
It’s suitable for the people who learn Khmer to communicate in hospitality and also other industries. So we hope you find the best hotel to learn Khmer vocabulary for the hospitality world and be able to apply knowledge in your future endeavors.
2. Boutique Hotel (សណ្ឋាគារ ប៊ូតិក)
If you love to learn more about Khmer culture and architecture, we suggest staying at boutique hotels. While it’s smaller than a hotel, so you’ll feel like staying at your own house. It’s mostly located in the central districts and features a fascinating sense of Khmer culture. Staying at this property type, you’ll gain more passion for learning Khmer.
3. Resort (រមណីយដ្ឋាន)
The resort will be a good choice for those who love spacious rooms and don’t mind if the downtown area is not within walking distance. Staying at the resort, you’ll enjoy a quiet environment and an onsite restaurant. It means you’ll dine in the restaurant without traveling to find places to eat elsewhere. So how do you practice Khmer with locals?
As you know that most resorts provide massage services and a bar, so this is an excellent chance to speak with locals. If you like to chill, pay to get a massage and practice general conversation with the massage therapist. On the other hand, if you like drinking, let’s have a seat at the bar counter and practice your Khmer with the bartender. Aren’t you pleased with the idea?
4. Guest House (ផ្ទះសំណាក់)
This kind of accommodation offers you both a private room and a dorm room which can help you save money a lot. However, it is sometimes far away from the downtown or city center and just a short walk to the pub street. So, if you don’t like noise, you better think carefully. However, a good thing for Khmer learners to stay at this type of accommodation is you’ll have a good chance to speak with locals more casually. While the hotel or resort staff aims to serve you a high quality of hospitality, they’ll talk to you politely.
Instead, the guest house is usually owned by locals, so they’re more outgoing in service and treat you like their friend. It means you’re able to chit-chat with them in general Khmer conversation. So, for those who learn the Khmer language for daily conversation, staying at the guest house would be the best option to practice Khmer with locals.
Summary
Changing an environment to learn a new language would motivate you more than before. In case you’re a type of backpacker who prefers to walk in and ask for a room to stay in, learning vocabulary about accommodation in Khmer will help you communicate with local people. So, we hope you are well on your vacation to Cambodia and hope you learn a few words of Khmer along the way.
Learn Khmer With The Ling App
Looking for the best quality Khmer language learning app once you’ve already booked accommodation to stay? Let us take care of your needs! The Ling App is an all-in-one tool for boosting your language skills. Our app has all you need to enhance your listening, writing, and reading skills and a collection of grammatical tips and instructions. And many languages are spoken in Cambodia, so we’ve compiled a list of 60+ more languages you may study at any time!
Are you ready to start? So download the Ling App from the Google PlayStore and Apple AppStore now, and prepare to be fluent in Khmer very soon!
