CIVIL RESISTANCE


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CIVIC EDUCATION


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Listen to the Bible read to you in KHMER!

The Streaming Bible.

 

In KI-Media


Both Christians and non-Christians understand the POWER of the Word of God.  The Christians know through personal experience and by Scripture, for Paul in writing to the 1st-century Jews (Hebrews 4: 12 Khmer) states: "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."


The non-Christians know intuitively the power of Christian Scripture, as reflected by the comments and discriminatory diatribes against Christians, one example being the posts of Christian Scripture in KI-Media (alongside the Buddhist, animistic, atheistic posts, etc.)


This is most unfortunate.  In this current Khmer society where there is a great paucity of quality reading materials, the raging refusal to read, just because it is Christian Scripture, is first and foremost a loss to oneself.  Gandhi and a great many non-Christian philosophers throughout the ages read Christian Scripture and were edified by it.


I was also struck by the confused understanding between coercion/emotional manipulation and open competition of ideas.  Providing access to high quality reading materials, particularly materials which have formed the foundation of the western world, human dignity and the human rights movement as we know it is intentionally or unintentionally viewed mistakenly as a negative or coercion.  I have seen coercion and emotional manipulation by the Christians, as well as by the Buddhists, the Jews, the Muslims, the animists, the atheists etc. and it should be shunned any and every time it is employed, no matter who does it.  One sure sign of coercion is "blind obedience or else", the "or else" being societal sanction, withdrawal of favor or even death.


For me, I am edified when someone shares something that is important to him or her, even if I disagree with that person.  As long I have my thinking cap on, reading and thinking--especially reading of excellent materials and ideas which challenge us to think--are to be always welcome.  That,  simply, is what LEARNING is all about.

 

It would be useful for all of us periodically to read and re-read Miroslav Volf's concept of "DOUBLE VISION" (click and scroll down to bottom half of the page).

 

- Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 24 Feb. 2013

 

. . .

 

 

The antonym of humility (below) is PRIDE.


"Pride follows our heels more closely than our very shadow. It cannot be beaten away or bribed away. It is a cancer of the soul. It acts like acid upon our graces. It swells us up with ludicrous self-importance. It chokes the life of prayer, stifles our usefulness, and will, if not brutally treated, sap the spiritual life within us almost to death."

 

-- Maurice Roberts (The Thought of God)



My favorite place for morning meditation, my apartment's terrace.  Now, re-reading a treasure I received as a Georgetown graduation gift (May 1995) which I loved then and continue to love since -- THE THOUGHT OF GOD -- a compilation of timeless essays.

 

 

. . .

 

My current favorite song:


Your Heart (David)


By Chris Tomlin

 

. . .

 

POWERFUL, POWERFUL, POWERFUL sermon on the last book of the Bible, REVELATION, by Dr. Rob Norris (my pastor when I was at Georgetown University and attending his church at nearby Bethesda, Maryland, Fourth Presbyterian Church), especially this one in the Feb/March 2010 series entitled "The Victory Chant of the Over-comers"


. . .

 

Losing our mother tongue

Opinion by Soprach Tong

The Phnom Penh Post, Feb. 9, 2013


Some young people seemingly pretend to be unable to speak their mother tongue...


But when writing in Khmer, which is their native tongue, no one seems to care about accuracy. Even if the dictionary of Patriarch Chuon Nat is installed on their computer, they never bother to open it...


"Khmer citizens must know the national language clearly, in both oral and written form, to ensure it survives."

 

. . .

 

 

HUMILITY = teachable spirit + flexibility


Here's a simple test if you have humility:

Can you be corrected?

When you are corrected, do you REACT or RESPOND?

 


(Photo: CBF Global Mission)

 

. . .

 

Rare reading materials in the Khmer language that have been edited for clarity and easy comprehension!


With the scarcity of available reading materials in the Khmer language in electronic form where I can edit to raise my larger point of the NEED FOR USE OF PUNCTUATIONS, I am glad I can illustrate using the Khmer Bible.

 

If you ONLY know English, and this is how you have been habituated to read English, how far would you go in your education?

 

For the KHMER reader, click here and read this chapter from the book of JOSHUA.


(The verse numbers are acting as a punctuation, but without them, the chaos would be UTTER CHAOS.)


For the ENGLISH reader, click here and read this chapter, but imagine there are no proper nouns (no capitalized words) and no punctuations except for the full stop.


The vocabulary (translation) is very good -- as it done by a committee with checks and rechecks, unlike most of the other translations being produced in the whole of society.  But without commas and other punctuation, is the Khmer chapter clear and understandable?

 

This is how Cambodians read the Cambodian language. For Cambodians with means or an opportunity to rely on another language, after they're stuck with the Cambodian language (which is very early on), they rely on their 2nd language for knowledge.

 

But for the MAJORITY of Cambodians who do not know a 2nd language, they have to fight the printed page and mangled language (of misspelling, of "creative" texting-style punctuation, or just run-on phrases) to get even a scant piece of knowledge.



It is in English to give a non-Cambodian reader a feel for how Cambodians read Khmer (and the magnitude of the crisis.)

 

 

. . .


A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS

 

4-Part Series of Commentary to

The Phnom Penh Post

Re-posted on KI-Media and Facebook Accounts

Sent to 1,500 on Email List-serve

 

Part I

A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS

(edited version published in The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Aug. 2011)


www.box.com

 


Part II

A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS

The Written Khmer: The Problem

(edited version published in The Phnom Penh Post, 17 August 2012)


www.box.com

 

 

Part III

A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS

The Written Khmer: A Few Questions

(anecdotes of the problems on the ground posed in list of questions, forthcoming)

 

 

Part IV

A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS

The Written Khmer: A Few Recommendations

(a few initial recommendations of the way forward, forthcoming)



Background

 

Venerable Chuon Nath's Dictionary

and other Authority

(the learned monk of the 20th century is the strongest authority on all things educated, in Khmer)


Venerable Chuon Nath with King Norodom Sihanouk

 

 

Language and National Identity

by Dr. Stephen Heder

(a chapter on Cambodia in a book published by Oxford University Press)

 

. . .

 

សេចក្តីប្រកាស ជាសកល ស្តីអំពី សិទ្ធិមនុស្ស

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

This version is from a couple of translations published by the UNOHCHR (booklet, webpage) which I have edited mainly with regards to spacing and punctuations for easier comprehension.


On occasions, I have corrected translation inaccuracies.


– Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 30 Nov. 2012



www.box.com

 

. . .


The Khmer Bible

Version with Proper Punctuations/Formatting

Theary Seng Version


As the Khmer Standard Version of the Bible, 2005 is extremely well translated in terms of word choice/vocabulary, and recently made available in electronic form on the internet, and because I am already very well familiar with the stories and books of the Bible (reading, re-reading them since I first became a Christian at the age of 9 years old--32 years ago!), I am editing the KSV 2005 with proper, consistent, and "new" punctuations as well as reformatting it for clarity and easier comprehension.


I am starting with books and portions of the Bible which contain ideas and concepts which are already familiar, even if the non-Christian Khmer reader may be surprised to find the source as the Bible, e.g. the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Sermon on the Mount, Gospel of Luke and of John, Letter of James, etc.


Both Christian and non-Christian Cambodian readers will be able to appreciate these edited books of the Bible in Khmer, mainly because they rare reading materials available in the Khmer language that are clear and understandable. For the non-believing Khmer readers, take these edited books of the Bible as good literature, which they are (plus more, for the Khmer believers!).


In all instances, I have changed to the correct spelling of ឲ្យ (from អោយ, which is incorrect).

 

Samdech Sangh (Venerable) Chuon Nath Dictionary (1967) and another dictionary before 1977 have ឲ្យ. Dictionaries of 2004, 2007 have ឱ្យ.

ឱ្យ​ is an accepted form of ឲ្យ. However, the introduction page of Samdech Sangh Chuon Nath dico (1967-1968) edition - note No. ខ៣, he also indicated that while this form is correct, we should not use: ឱយ or អោយ.

Writing អោយ (which is INCORRECT) is akin to texting in English luv . It is common practice to write informally text or email messages "I luv you" but it doesn't make "luv" the correct spelling of "love". The principle also applies to writing Khmer properly.


I am also changing the spelling of សម្រាប់ (correct) from សំរាប់ (incorrect).


When the dictionaries are in conflict without a reasonable explanation, go with the strongest authority, Ven. Chuon Nath dictionary of 1967 which has សម្រាប់ as the correct spelling (as well as the Dictionnaire Détaillé des Homonyses et des Paronymes, 2007).


(សំរាប់ is found in 2 later dictionaries published during great political instability when there were no infrastructure: Cambodian-English of 1977, during the Khmer Rouge genocide, American University Press, and Oxford English-Khmer of 2004, only one year after UNTAC left.)


I am currently having my staff at CIVICUS Cambodia typing two basic books on the history of Cambodia, already translated but lacking proper punctuations, so that I may edit them and make them freely available online for the public.


READING


MUST BE TRIGGERED

with INTERESTING MATERIALS.

 

READING


Must be free of the burdens

of having to fight the printed page

and mangled language.

 

READING


Is the beginning of effective DIALOGUE, of quality EDUCATION, of RECONCILIATION, of Cambodian FLOURISHING (PEACE with JUSTICE, or SHALOM).

 

* * *



Theary Seng Commentary, Phnom Penh Post, 16 Aug. 2011
Commentary by Ms. Theary C. Seng, The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Aug. 2011


Commentary by Ms. Theary C. Seng, The Phnom Penh Post, 17 Aug. 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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