yeah, maybe, i agree

there are likely far too many posts i could write about the daily struggles and triumphs of speaking khmer.  thusly, today, we'll keep it to the simple fact of my daily life.

in my new language, there are three phrases i utter more often than i blink.  literally. (not literally.)  they are akin to the oft-employed american phrases of 'yeah', 'uh-huh' and 'mm-hmm.'

the most important fact of this being, that i use the khmer equivalencies of these whether or not i've truly understood what they other person was saying.  they just work that well.


without further dallying, they are:

jaah.

bpro-hail. (the hail is pronounced like you are saluting a not-forgotten genocidal dictator.)

nung ai. (again, with the "eye" pronunciation of the ai sound.)

or, in english:

yes.

maybe.

i agree.

nung ai actually translates to "and what" but is used to indicate agreement, that you heard the other person, that they are correct or generally that yeah, you get it.

so, the meeng (woman seller, or aunt) at the market might remark on my long nose and i say:

thank you, i agree (aw-koon, nung ai.)

or the meeng might mention how large i am:

again, thank you, i agree. (aw-koon, nung ai.)

or even they say something wherein i catch the words "invite" "rice" and "later":

i say "maybe!"

i use maybe a lot, even when i have only heard the connecting words like "you" "and" "no?"

maybe!

so.  should i probably learn more verbs and adjectives so that i can use better responses than these in the future?

yes.

maybe.

i agree.