Learning to Read Again

I cannot quite remember when I first began to read. The process was gradual one, as I can remember lots of spelling mistakes and misuse of words from an early age. Dan Quayle was vice-president then, and this grown man who could not spell simple words was something of a hero to those of us struggling over our notebooks and spelling lists. As I got better at spelling, the fascination passed. Like many of us, I forgot about Quayle when the Democrats were in power in the 1990’s.

I do have one precious memory from the time before I knew how to read. I was over at a friend’s house (I think his name was Thomas Casey) looking for something to watch on the television. Thomas said that he had a tape of “Davey Crockett,” a favorite Disney classic of the both of ours, and the two of us went looking through a pile of tapes for the right one. This would have taken a minimum of effort had we known how to read the labels on the tapes. After inserting about a dozen videotapes into the VCR, Thomas called to his mother for help. Thomas’s mother came over and quickly found the tape for us. She then quipped, “Won’t things be better when you know how to read?” Indeed, Thomas’s mother was right. Things were better then, but now they are much worse.

In Cambodia, I am illiterate. What I mean by this is that I cannot read Khmer script. Most traffic signs, posters for Thai energy drinks and Black Panther beer, and store signs all elude me equally. Lately I have been trying to get around this problem by studying the Khmer script more closely with my tutor. The first step in trying to get around this problem was to get a textbook that would help me learn better. I managed to get a hold of the book that all children use now to study the script, and it is actually incredibly helpful. While its targeted age is under 7 and assumes that its reader already has a profound knowledge of oral Khmer, the book is actually fantastic. It has pictures and cartoons to help you learn about what it is you are studying, and it uses repetition to teach you the Khmer script well enough to read and write basic sentences. This is a great help, because the language itself is already very difficult to learn.

Khmer script has almost 96 letters. These letters are divided into several different groups: 1st series consonants, second series consonants, subscript consonants, vowels, and punctuation marks. While learning the consonants and vowels is not impossible, the difficulty comes when you are trying to spell out a word that you do not know. This is because the sound of the vowel changes depending on what consonant it is used with. Another confusing element in trying to read Khmer is the addition of sub-consonants. These are written below or above the normal consonants in addition to the vowel. However, when this happens you are actually required to read backwards again and then forwards. The whole process has you reading in circles, but thankfully I have not reached that part of the children's book yet.

I will give you an example of what I am learning how to read. At the current moment, I have before me a sentence that is 28 letters in length. It begins with the consonant jo, and the vowel aye is written above it. However, since jo is a second series consonant, aye is now pronounced ee. This is followed by dto and aah, which completes the first word of jee dta (grandfather). The rest of the process is rather tedious, so I will skip to the end and tell you that the whole sentence sounds like Jee dta boo naa dthar som buhr bee kait. This literally translates as, “Grandfather Boo Naa walks sailing ship two months.” With a little tweaking, what this actually means is, “The grandfather of Boo Naa is sailing for two months.” With a little hard work, I’ll be able read more things like this with greater ease.

Slowly, I am beginning to recognize patterns between words. I can the license plates of cars and a few signs, but it is still a slow and tedious process.