Of the many surprises that awaited me on my first trip to Cambodia, the high level of English fluency was the most striking. I had read that people working in tourism would at least know a few phrases, but I did not expect to be able to get by using only English so easily. Like most expats, I failed to learn much Khmer, an error I'm trying to correct this time around. I am still very curious as to how the country managed to promote the language so successfully, much more so than neighboring Vietnam.

Despite the many French visitors and the well-attended French Institute, French language has been mostly relegated to 'hobby' status. I've read that the French presence in the country during the colonial period was never very strong, especially when compared to Vietnam or Algeria. Only the elite and well-educated would have spoken French. Such a status would have immediately marked them for execution by the Khmer Rouge. That being said, I have met a fair number of Franco-Khmer expats and permanent returnees in Phnom Penh, far more than from the US.

I have yet to read anything or get a good explanation of language-politics in Cambodia, beside 'it's good for business,' which may be all there is to know. This piece, in the blog 'I see Cambodia', discusses growing concern over the dominance of English and the romanticization of written Khmer. I find it quite interesting that all of the countries in which I've spent significant time (the US, France, Cambodia) seem to be having a similar internal debate about language, and especially its relationship with communication technology.