Cambodians Invite Me to Their Home When I Speak Their Language
I recently found myself in the US state of Massachusetts and so I decided to visit the town of Lowell which happens to have tons of Cambodian immigrants to test out my Khmer, the Cambodian language. I had a great time enjoying lots of great Cambodian food, shaved ice, and coffee. And the best part was when I switched from Cambodian to Chinese!
0:00 Introduction
0:09 Switching mid-conversation between Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese
2:12 Buying Khmer barbecue
3:28 Ordering Cambodian coffee
5:44 Trying Cambodian shaved ice
6:31 Buying dessert from a Cambodian convenience store
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I am Cambodian from Lowell, MA. Thank you for exposing our culture to the world. Your Khmer was very good.
Let me tell you, that you Cambodians have really cool money :D
ah Cambodian here and um it is either you love it or hate it! :D@@wirti94
hey! i’m from Peabody, MA
@@wantedflybird9541 hope everything is going smooth there! From sunny Phnom Penh :D
I used to live in Lowell. Hope you and yours are doing well.
I had an UberEats delivery person during the pandemic* that had Khmer on his profile as his first language. I wrote a thank you on a card in Khmer, using the power of internet, and left it outside for him. I’m sure it looked like a little kid’s handwriting since I’d never written in that script before, but it apparently made him happy enough that he messaged me to say thank you for using his language. It was a nice one off exchange between strangers that I’ll remember, despite not being too significant in the grand scheme of things. *edited
You typed out half an essay but had to shave two keystrokes off pandemic to be different.
In the grand scheme maybe not, yet, from a personal level you connected with the driver. A very kind gesture. He will keep your note and you will remember the experience. Beautiful.
@@Roman14Fox88if you say pandemic you used to get your comment auto deleted so people stopped saying it
I love this story its good vibes for sure but don't ever say "demic" again bro. Ew.
@@Roman14Fox88 I didn’t want my comment to get censored by a filter. If it’s not a thing anymore, I’ll gladly change it.
Cambodians are the nicest people we have met on our travels. Super friendly people and we can't wait to go back and visit the locals we met while there!
Thank you ❤
I'm Cambodian. Appreciate your good words about Cambodians in general. You may have met only good Cambodians but just keep in mind that there are a lot of bad Cambodians as well. By the way, I'll give you a free ride in my Tuk Tuk for your whole stay if you visit Siem Reap.
Thank you I'm Cambodian you are so nice❤
only if you aren't their neighbor
I'll always remember the few days I spent in Phnom Penh. Folks would sit out in the street and call us over saying come have a beer with us. A very warm and welcoming people
He casually bounced between chinese, Khmer and vietnamese... What a legend.
I love how widespread Xiaoma is, where ever he goes he's bound to meet a fan
i would say hello for sure unless he was with his family
He barley leaves his neighborhood in New York lol
hes walking the road that laoshu paved rest in peace.
He is very wide with that annoying fish lens camera 🎥 adds 100lbs to him
RIP MOSES
This dude does the hardest part so often, mad props. It’s SO hard to even TRY to speak to someone once when learning a new language
Sige Sige ("I agree", in Tagalog). 😁
My son learned mandarin in high school and continued in college and is fluent. But this guy a whole other level. I’m still learning English properly 🤣
A lot of things in English are nonsensical, so don't worry, there's no such thing as 'perfect English'....
@@TheJohnnywbredI wish you luck in learning English, and don't worry about whether or not it's "Broken English", I sometimes struggle to speak English, and it's my first language.
@@TheJohnnywbred hope it goes well, learning english is a lifelong journey, as is most languages, youll always find nuance you never noticed or fully grasped, many adult english speakers see words almost every day that they dont fully understand, but with context get the gist of what it means. mandarin is a fun language to learn, grats on him getting fluent, i took the highschool course and tried learning on my own online but lost motivation. still try and maintain my french and mandarin as much as possible, and am currently learning japanese, which is very hard!
According to legend, most Americans can't learn other languages because all the linguistic talent went to Xiaoma
In the mid-1980s, the church where I was organist at the time sponsored two Cambodian families as they made their way to the USA from refugee camps in Thailand. Having once experienced travel overseas without the benefit of knowing the native language, I immediately took it upon myself to help these folks learn English. They made wonderful progress as we took them to visit supermarkets and ethnic food stores in the area of western Connecticut, and it soon became customary to invite me to lunch after each lesson. As the mom in one family made soup, the dad returned to the livingroom where I was packing up my teaching materials. He held a tiny, rather dangerous-looking (to me) pepper in his hand and asked me what the English word was for it. I knew if I called it a pepper, he wouldn’t fully understand the difference between it and, say, a bell pepper, so I responded to his query with the word FIRE. A couple seconds elapsed, he began chortling, and a rapid flurry of Khmer ensued as he translated for the benefit of Grandma, who hadn’t participated much in the lessons. We all had a good laugh! His sister was the mom in the second family, where an eighteen-year-old boy lived who seemed pretty capable with English, making me concentrate my efforts on the first family. They had two young children and mom was about 5 months along with the third. Knowing that there wasn’t going to be a proper Khmer/English dictionary in the school where the children would soon attend, I created something rudimentary so that the teachers would understand what was meant, for instance, if a child fell ill. Basic foods, clothing items, colors, numbers, etc. were included (I immediately recognized your numbers!). Teaching these folks was a wonderful experience overall, one that I highly recommend to anyone who has the time and the opportunity.
username checks out
Thank you and the church from around the world. I realize God move the church to work mysteriously. All Glory to God ,praise Jesus
When she invited you to her home in Cambodia that was so wholesome 😂❤️
I love how they were all patient when you were searching for a word or phrase that you weren't too familiar with and then praised you for how well you spoke in general. A great example of building someone's confidence and you could see the pride they had for you taking the time to both learn and practice their language. Plus there's something about those little shops of various cultures that are just amazing. As someone who doesn't speak/read other languages I find it fun to go in and randomly get something based on packaging or recommendation because you have no idea what it could be, but it may very well be your new favorite thing.
I love doing that as well. So many good snacks and dishes that really add to meals. And yes a new favorite with each store.
Language food and music are universal unifiers. Go to any country and know a good bit about one of those three and you’ll find friends. If you don’t know anything about them then someone will sit you down and help you learn. It’s my favorite thing about travel yt channels. People anywhere will open up to you when you show you want to learn about their culture.
That sounds pretty cool. However, if you want to decipher foreign writing, Ggl Translate has an option using your camera. Very handy for street signs, etc.
As a Cambodian, you talk like baby. Lol my uncle was white and when he tried to speak khmer, my other uncle laughed at him and said that he talks like a toddler. This reminded me of that. I miss you uncle Ryan. RIP.
I love how they were so nice and encouraging to say that he spoke Khmer so clearly
Khmer sounds so melodic to me, it's one of those languages that feels like it has real power behind it (like Finnish or Basque). Amazing stuff.
People: wow how long have you been speaking "our" language you speak it so well. Xiaoma: I just learned it 5 minutes ago. 😂😂
Cambodians are some of the nicest people I’ve met, very hospitable to say the least. Keep doing your thang Xiaoma!
Cambodians have so much suffered post-WWII with Pol Pot and "Khmer Rouges" but they are always nice and gentle. I'll definitely visit Cambodia one day before I die.
@@alexandrech8874 an ex of mine, her mom was in the Khmer Rouge, she luckily got away. I recall her telling me she had bad scars all over her body from it. A lot of their family and friends were apart of it as well, sad it happened but glad they got away and made it to the U.S.
@@Zer0Fall3n Luckily my girlfriends mom/dad were turned into nurses, but one of the kids were left behind and became a child soldier. I actually went to Siem Reap and him. He definitely regrets not coming to Canada with the rest of the family.
@@3quipto damn, I couldn’t even imagine that. Hopefully he’ll move there some day 🙏
I love when he didnt understand a word, they were patient and taught him the word. I just love this so much.
One of Khmer language speciality is no matter how mess up of grammar and how bad accent you are, we can alway understand what you wanna talk or meant. You can even ask questions without using Question sentences or Questions mark or question sound.
Cambodians are so amazing, can't wait to visit their beautiful country and culture! Greetings from Italy!
3:24 I love this scene It's like you are feeding Xiaoma with you own hands
I read this comment before getting to that scene and I'm cry-laughing at it. 😂😂😂
HAHA, I don't want to laugh out loud because it's one AM but this is too silly
Omg I have been WAAAAAITING for you to learn Khmer but I didn’t want to mass-comment your videos, I wanted to see you genuinely get to it. Your conversation is pretty good! Especially for just starting with the language. The Khmer pronunciation can be tough to get (I’ve been Khmer for almost 40 years and I still struggle with it, my elders ask me to speak English to them instead because of my bad accent😂), so shout-out to you Xiaoma!🇰🇭
You look pretty good for 40
The person who sold you the iced coffee was so sweet!
I am Cambodian. Thank you for speaking Khmer with us! ❤ I really appreciate it and i bet you made everyone day!
Me too I'm Cambodian
I am mixed Khmer and British and I can say that im glad you have a try to speak our language. I'm actually not really fluent in it, but the rest of my family is. Also, ny great-grandfather was Chinese and Vietnamese which I find insane because thats who you met first. Anyway, I do enjoy your videos and probably next time you could come to Cambodia to speak with the locals. Message fron Malaysia 🇲🇾 ❤️ មានថ្ងៃល្អ!
Which country in Britain do you come from?
@@TheLordIsMyShepherd75 uhm my dad is from Kent but in cambodia I was born in Phnom Penh and so as my mum
damn that is actually cool. I'm cambodian, never seen a cambodian that has British in them thats sick
@@aznbeast781 yeah its very cool, my dad is British and my mum is Cambodian
@@umimcallum3239 interesting as i live in Kent
Crazy how I now can understand a language he’s trying to learn and hear the struggle while he’s trying to speak the language. Other times when I hear him speaking other languages that I don’t understand, I’m like wow he’s doing so great! But he’s a newbie I understand and it’s amazing he’s is amazing for attempting to learn it all!
Same. I've noticed, does he have a Chinese accent when he's speaking khmer? I think that's why he's having a hard time pronouncing some words.
It's a nice try, with terrifying pronunciation but it's a nice try. 😂
oh he does hahahahha. he has the supernatural asian accent that most white people dont. that probably make it alot easier for him to learn asian language.@@Observer-O
as a french cambodgian i really did like the way you interact with the elders, with a lot of respect and kindness. Plus your will to try and learn more. 😁
I’ve been learning French on and off for 3 years and Xiaoma speaks better Khmer after 3 weeks of learning than I speak French. Sure he’s super smart, but it just shows how much time and commitment you’re putting into a language is what really matters.
Bravo, il faut continuer!
I love his videos, but I never really believe him when he says three weeks and it's not like we can fact check him.
@@alec57 They say every language you study allows you to learn other languages in the future with much more ease, considering how many this guy has studied, I'm not totally skeptical
@@tokukao8987For me personally, it's a yes/no situation. I used Pimsleur for Finnish and Croatian, and because the format is the same, sometimes certain words got a bit crissed crossed in my brain.
Félicitations !! 👍👍
Cambodians are so gentle! Nice video. It's about the time you speak brazilian portuguese as well. That would be quite a challenge. Cheers from Brazil!
Except for store lady who sees trouble maker 😅 had me laugh a bit. She turned very serious when she saw him in her store
He knows Spanish, so it would be easy to learn portuguese But I guess Brazilians are easily impressed by any gringo speaking their language
it would be interesting if he visits some brazilian shops too trying the language they are pratically everywhere
I'm pretty sure he's learning Portuguese too
I live in Massachusetts and I have Cambodian cousins it is such a cool culture
Yo,I’ve subscribed to your channel for years and I’m actually Cambodian myself and I’m really impressed you took the time to learn the Khmer language thank you for everything you do and Laoshu would be so proud RIP 🙏
As a cambodian it was hilarious listening to his broken khmer XD, it's clear but the pronounciation is sometimes wrong although it's quite easy to understand what he's saying, would love to meet you since I've seen many foreigners around lately
Same
Khmer is not an easy language to learn. It is easier to understand than it is to speak. Even after being with my wife for 20 years sometimes speaking is troublesome.
Not to dismiss his obvious talent for learning languages, but keep in mind that a lot of us (including you!) are just normal dudes while he makes a living off of learning language! I want to say I'm jealous, but I think my passion would disappear if I felt so compelled. I'm sure, especially with these vids, he's built a repertoire of the most important stuff to learn to say and listen for. I'm happy enough just speaking Japanese with my wife, I'll leave the 49 other languages to this guy haha
@@karlwithak. my wife is actually American born Cambodian and is fluent. I was just saying that even if you hear it daily it is extremely difficult.
@@karlwithak. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your comment or something, but that was a bizarre thing to say to a person you do not know...
as a fellow khmer , this was so entertaining and awesome , bravo xiaoma!
I had some Cambodian friends when I was younger and I will never forget their faces. They were so kind to me it was beyond belief.
The "ចង់ទៅ ទិញសំបុត្រយន្តហោះទៅៗ" had me dying here 😂😂😂
Switching from English Chinese Vietnamese in the space of a few seconds is crazy👌🏼🔥
I’m a Cambodian from Weymouth but Xiao can speak better than me as in I don’t even know my own language. My parents won’t even give me a chance to learn it. But this was still cool. Thx for visiting our state!
It is very important to speak the language of the country you reside in. Don't expect the natives to learn your language; there are too many different languages. Speaking a common language creates harmony and understanding among diverse peoples.
@@MrTruckerfbut if we all spoke the different languages just in our neighborhoods (or cities), we would all be able to understand each other on an even deeper level.
One of the requirements of U.S. citizenship is the ability to communicate in English. There is a good reason for that. As I said earlier, people should know the language of the country they live in. If they are visiting, that is a whole different situation.@@AA-jt8xn
I live in Tewksbury, Ma , the next town over from Lowell and know tons of Cambodians. I met them all playing cornhole and they are some of the nicest and most genuine people ever. So proud of their heritage and generous in every way. I've tried lots of delicious food and shared many laughs and drinks with some amazing Cambodians. Most of my Khmer friends are ruthless competitors and will gamble on anything. Nothing but love
Cambodia is a beautiful place man, the people are so friendly. I especially liked Kampot, proper chilled out town, and they've got some stunning islands too. You have to go!
The amount of Wives this man could have had would make Genghis khans family tree seem small 😂😂
😂😂
im convinced this guys brain just wired differently than ours
Definitely different than mine. I’m always forgetting English words and it’s the only language I speak! 😬
You wire your own brain through experience. I got my kids a toy when they were babies that spoke Asian languages for this exact reason
When I went to Cambodia 10 years ago the people were absolutely amazing. The food was among the best I've ever had but it really was the people who made it such an amazing trip
I’m not Cambodian but I have a bunch of Cambodian friends in Lowell and it’s good seeing them get some love.
I just love how easy it is for people to show their kindness and sweet side just from showing interest in their culture 💖
Positivity, you hit the nail on the head. Xiaoma spreads joy, brotherhood and positivity everywhere he goes. Thank you!❤
Cambodia, hands down, best grilled chicken I ever had in my life. Be sure to get some if you ever find yourself there.
I grew up in Lynn Ma and there's a good amount of Cambodians here. I learned some basic Khmer phrases from school friends and coworkers, such a beautiful language and culture!
I lived in Salem for seven years and Lynn was a nicer place than many gave it credit for.
@thegrimmretails3777 yea it definitely has a reputation that's somewhat warranted cause it does have ghettos and gangs and drugs but it's by no means as bad as people like to imagine it is. The thing I love about it is there's a deep sense of community here
Lynn, Lynn, city of sin. Best roast beef three way sandwiches in the country?
I'm Cambodian and you speak our language so much better than me, respect!
All of the cambodian ladies you met seem so sweet! The ladies in the coffee shop remind me of my grandmother
Leaving a random Cambodian cafe in Massachusetts… “Truly some of the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life” 😂😂😂
Dude I never thought I’d see you learn Khmer ever. It’s quite an underrated language so to see you try your best and even go to Lowell MA to practice is so cool. I go to Cambodia town a lot and it’s shocking to see you go to the same places I do!!!
Cambodians are the nicest people I worked with many in a factory here in Canada 😊
I love that you get to see the struggle some - getting out and using the language is so hard when you're not confident in it but it's the only way to really get better. You have to swallow your pride and just try. Most people I know (and as is seen here) really appreciate the effort! Love it.
I’ve been suggesting Khmer to his channel for years. I’m so happy to see it. Thank you. Take a trip to Cambodia.
I was the mailman in that neighborhood for 5 years. They fed me well. I miss lowell
I am from Lowell. We have a great diverse community. Thanks for visiting.
As a Cambodian American who has been watching you for a while it is awesome to see you finally speaking Khmer! You did a good job for only learning for a short time. Our sounds kind of come from the throat which is difficult to get unless you practice a lot. The language itself is actually really easy to speak because theres no masculine/feminine or conjugation. Writing, however, is extremely difficult as we have the largest alphabet 😢 Been struggling to learn it myself. I think if you focus on where you are putting emphasis and syllables in the Khmer words (i.e, 3 BEYh, Thank you, AwKOON) you’ll sound even better! Thank you for supporting Khmer businesses and people ❤
How important is the "bong" and "own" to be used?
@@staff0flagbong is used regularly for addressing someone older than you, or your older sibling…and oun is for younger
@@staff0flag we use "បង" (bong) and "ប្អូន" (own) to politely ask strangers for something or address them. Or that's how i use them.
@@staff0flag i forgot about "គាត់"
@@staff0flagBong use for address someone older. Oun use for address someone younger. If you meet some one older and you don’t know their name you can talk to them like “ Hello Bong (it’s like hello mr) “
Xiaoma video title "Cambodians-" Me: Say less. Awesome that you're learning and speaking the language. Thank you!
I love your videos!!!! It is amazing how welcoming people are when you speak their native tongue.
Whenever i see your videos, they inspire me to learn new languages. So many ways yo experience the worlds of those around you; language and food being the biggest ive come to know.
As someone from Lowell, this is super cool. I love all the amazing Cambodian restaurants we have.
YESS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO!!!
Bro, I'm happy you took the time to learn my language! You are Amazing!
It's nice that you got to visit Lowell. Wonderful little city.
I just love how you really keep Moses dream and goals for spreading culture and language alive. No one else really fills the gap he left behind besides you for various languages.
Thank you for putting the heart of Lowell and sharing amazing Cambodian community ❤️
YASSSS MY PEOPLE! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO!
The more languages you learn, the easier it gets picking new ones up (easier, not easy, mind). I love this.
Very glad you finally decided to do Khmer!
I am an Australian learning Khmer; this was uploaded as I was studying it!
These videos make me smile. I love seeing the connections being made.
Stoked for the Cambodian video! They do truly have amazing coffee too.
I cannot express to you enough how happy your content makes me! I'm always left with a big grin on my face after watching your interactions. You really do spread a lot of positivity to the world. Thank you for exposing me to so much more culture than I ever would have been able to know about from my little town in Ontario. Keep doing what you do best - you really are making a significant positive difference in this world!
Hi! I am from Quebec❤
Cambodian people are SO lovely. I cannot wait to go back.
your videos make me smile! But they make everyone else smile also! My daughter is so inspired by you (she is the one learning Portuguese, and the smiles of the people in Brazil when she visits and speaks, not perfectly yet but she is getting there... well please assure people that you don't have to be perfect to have everyone happy you speak even a bit)
His khmer is basic but the pronunciation is way better than the average foreigners I've seen. His pronunciation is also very casual, not too robotic and too formal to the ear of native speakers.
I used to live near Lowell, MA and still have family living there! So cool to see you using Khmer in a place I grew up around! I had no idea there was such a large Cambodian population! I'll have to check it out the next time I visit.
Yayy I have been waiting for you to learn Khmer. What a great start! Can’t wait to see your language skill in Khmer evolve.
there is something so cozy about these videos i cant explain
I saw the thumbnail and I knew exactly what restaurant you were at! Phnom Penh Restaurant is pretty good and they have tons of classic Khmer dishes available. Too bad they didn't make the cut for the video, but hopefully you have another one cooking up!
Dude that’s sweet you’re in mass! I’ve been practicing my Spanish with people in Woburn at restaurants and stuff
Bringing me back memories, I miss Lowell, can't wait to visit again next year.
I love the effort your putting in to learn the language. Major props to you.
I love how that older lady in the drink shop taught him how to say sweet and a couple of stops later it helped him out when again he was asked about something sweet.
He said it wrong the whole time but it was a valiant effort.
I like how this is a food channel as much as it is language.
Love your vids man!!! Keep em coming..
I’ve been waiting for so long for this video 😭😭 thank you king
1; damn you're clearly working out good for you 2: the shave and the haircut look amazing on you!! good job man
I don't comment on videos often, but I'm 2nd Gen Khmer and while I picked up some of it growing up, I never really took an interest in *learning* until I saw Xioma doing all of his other videos and I was silently hoping he'd do Khmer one day and it made me incredibly happy, keep doing what you do Xioma
Was waiting for this 🙏
i have been waiting for this episode so long!!!
FINALLY!!! A Cambodian one! You’re the best Xiaoma, you did a great job. Keep practicing ❤️💪🏽
THE BAKERY IS RIGHT NEXT TO MY HOUSE 🥲🥲🥲🥲
Your Khmer is ok! Practice makes perfect!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
So happy to see you doing Khmer. I'm going to be headed to Cambodia in November to teach English. I now have to step up and follow you in learning to speak it
I grew up in Lynn MA and had a Cambodian family as my neighbors. Mrs. Seng was one of the best home cooks I ever met and would invite my family over for family dinners once a month it was awesome
សួស្តីពីកម្ពូជា😍
Never expected to see my own language on this channel 🙌 Nice work
So glad you came to Lowell! Large South East Asian population there: Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese.
broooooooooooo, wtf. im khmer. dafuq, looool you surprised me with this video. out of all languages.. ahahah keep up the good work. your accent is horrible but i love the effort bro.
I'm from Philippines but now seeing you eat Cambodian desserts makes me find any Cambodian stores in here 😂😂😂 if only there's authentic food and drinks somewhere ❤ thank you for the vlog
Thank you, brother. For showcasing our food and culture in a positive light. You're awesome. Cool to see you immerse yourself in other culture. True ambassador.
So glad you’ve finally done a Cambodian episode. So great to hear you speak Khmer.