FSI Cambodian Basic Course

What is the FSI Cambodian Basic course?

The FSI Cambodian course is a comprehensive collection of materials that was created for US diplomats preparing for postings in this Southeast Asian country.

It was intended to comprise 100 units along with accompanying audio. Unfortunately, the course is not available in its entirety at the moment, but the first 45 units and corresponding audio are included here as well as units 46-90 in text form only.

Although the course is currently incomplete, this still represents one of the most comprehensive resources for learning Khmer, and hopefully, in the future, the remaining materials will also become available.

How was FSI Cambodian Basic originally used?

This course was originally designed to be studied by US diplomatic staff in a near-perfect learning environment. The students would have around six hours of class time per day, which was supplemented by at least two hours of personal study.

Even when they weren’t engaged in formal learning, the students were expected to speak Khmer among themselves, and within a short amount of time, they were able to acquire a relatively high level of proficiency in the language.

How can you use FSI Cambodian Basic?

Although you can’t realistically hope to recreate the perfect study conditions enjoyed by US diplomats, if you know how to make the most of these materials, you can still benefit immensely from this fantastic free Cambodian course.

If you have another coursebook, you can use the dialogues and drills contained in FSI Cambodian to supplement your learning and improve your fluency and pronunciation skills.

Alternatively, you could use FSI as your main coursebook, in which case you will also be able to make good progress by working through the dialogs, drills and exercises it contains. Of course, you should also try to supplement this with whatever other materials you can find.

Taking it further

Whichever materials you decide to use, you won’t be able to learn Cambodian unless you practice, and this means you should look for opportunities to use your Cambodian wherever possible.

Try to find Cambodians who can help you practice, or perhaps try to find other people who are interested in learning this language with you.

Then, as you will soon see, regular study along with lots of practice will allow you to make rapid progress in this language, deepening your knowledge of a fascinating country with a rich culture and wonderful people.