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Cambodian Translation Services

The Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly Kampuchea, is a country in South East Asia. Its population is over 13.5 million people and has an area of about 79 thousand square miles.

Its people are "Cambodian" or "Khmer," though the latter strictly refers to ethnic Khmers. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists and there are also many Muslim Cham, ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese.

The country neighbours Thailand to its west and northwest, Laos to its northeast, and Vietnam to its east and southeast. To the south is the Gulf of Thailand. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong River ("the great river") and the Tonlé Sap ("the fresh water lake").

Cambodia's main industries are garments, tourism, and construction. In 2007, foreign visitors had passed the 2 million mark.

In 2005, oil and natural gas deposits were found beneath Cambodia's territorial water, and once commercial extraction has begun in 2011, the oil revenues will profoundly affect Cambodia's economy.

In 1960 Sihanouk became head of state, taking the title of Prince. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted a policy of neutrality until he was ousted in 1970 in a military coup led by General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak. Then based in Beijing, Sihanouk realigned himself with the communist Khmer Rouge rebels who had been slowly gaining territory in the remote mountain regions and urged his followers to help in overthrowing the pro-United States government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of civil war.

Operation Menu was a series of secret bombing raids by the United States on alleged Viet Cong bases and supply routes inside Cambodia, whose existence was acknowledged after Lon Nol assumed power. U.S. forces briefly invaded Cambodia in a further effort to disrupt the Viet Cong. The bombing continued and, as the Cambodian communists began gaining ground, it eventually included strikes on suspected Khmer Rouge sites which continued until halted in 1973.

Over two million Cambodians became refugees and thousands were killed by the bombing and fighting and fled to Phnom Penh. As the war ended, it was clear that the country faced famine in 1975: over three quarters of its draft animals had been destroyed in the war and rice planting for the next harvest would have to be done by seriously malnourished people. Without large-scale externally supplied food and equipment there would be widespread starvation. General deprivation and suffering were to stretch over the next two or three years before Cambodia got back to self-sufficiency in rice.

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975, changing the official name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea. They evacuated the cities and forced the entire population to work on rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century. They also discarded Western medicine, with the result that hundreds of thousands died from starvation and disease.

In the Killing Fields estimates vary as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime: they range from one to three million victims and hundreds of thousands more fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand.

In 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to prevent further Khmer Rouge incursions across their border and to stop the genocide of Vietnamese in Cambodia.

Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989, culminating two years later in a peace settlement. The United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire, and deal with refugees and disarmament.

After the brutality of the 1970s and the 1980s, and the destruction of cultural, economic, social and political life of Cambodia, it is only in recent years that reconstruction efforts have begun and political stability restored. That stability was tested by the coup d'état in 1997. Cambodia has been aided financially by countries such as Japan, France, Canada, Australia and the United States. Money has gone into new schools and the rebuilding of infrastructure and housing.

The politics of Cambodia, according to the nation's 1993 constitution, comprises a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister is the head of government and of the multi-party system. The position is appointed by the King, with the approval of the National Assembly. Legislative power is vested in both the executive and the two chambers of parliament, the National Assembly of Cambodia and the Senate.

Cambodia's temperatures range from 10° to 38 °C (50° to 100 °F) and experiences tropical monsoons which blow inland bringing moisture-laden winds from the Gulf of Thailand and Indian Ocean between May and October. The northeast monsoon ushers in the dry season, which lasts from November to March. The country experiences the heaviest precipitation from September to October with the driest period occurring from January to February. The best months to visit Cambodia are November to January when temperatures and humidity are lower.

The civil war severely damaged Cambodia's transport system, but with assistance and equipment from other countries Cambodia has been upgrading the main highways to international standards and most have been vastly improved in the last five years. Cambodia has two railway lines, totalling about 400 miles of single, one metre-wide gauge track.

The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in international trade. The Mekong and the Tonle Sap River, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonle Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 2,300 miles which are navigable all year by craft drawing up to 2 foot and another 175 miles navigable to craft drawing up to 6 foot.

Cambodia has two major ports, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, and five other minor ones. Phnom Penh, located at the junction of the Bassac, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap rivers, is the only river port capable of receiving 8,000-ton ships during the wet season and 5,000-ton ships during the dry season.

The country has four commercial airports. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is the largest and serves the most international flights in and out of Cambodia. Phnom Penh International Airport is the second largest. The other main airports are at Sihanoukville and Battambang.

Tourism was Cambodia's fastest growing industry, with visitors increasing from over 200 thousand in 1997 to over one million in 2004. The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of hard currency (after the textile industry): 50% of visitors go to Angkor, and a similar percentage visit Phnom Penh. Other tourist destinations include Sihanoukville in the southeast which has several popular beaches, and the nearby area around Kampot including the Bokor Hill Station.
Per capita income is now rapidly increasing but it still remains low compared with other countries in South-east Asia. Most rural households depend on agriculture and its related sub-sectors.

Rice, as in other Southeast Asian countries, is the staple grain, while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet. Some of the fish can be made into prahok for longer storage. Overall, the cuisine of Cambodia is similar to that of its Southeast Asian neighbours. The cuisine is relatively unknown to the world compared to that of its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam.

Rice, fish, timber, garments and rubber are Cambodia's major exports.

The recovery of Cambodia's economy slowed dramatically between 1997and 1999, due to the Asia region’s economic crisis, also local civil violence and political infighting. Foreign inward investment and tourist visitor numbers also fell off drastically. Since then, growth has been steady: in 1999, the first full year of peace after over 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and growth resumed at an annual rate of 5.0%. From 2003 onwards the growth rate remained steady at 5.0% but as at 2005, GDP per capita was only $2,200 which ranked 178th out of 233 countries in the world.

The Khmer language is a member of the Mon-Khmer subfamily of the Austro-Asiatic language group. French, once the lingua franca of Indochina and still spoken by some, mostly older Cambodians as a second language, remains the language of instruction in various schools and universities. Cambodian French, a remnant of the country's colonial past, is a dialect found in Cambodia and is frequently used in government. However, in recent decades, many younger Cambodians and those in the business-class have favoured learning English. In the major cities and tourist centres, English is widely spoken and taught at a large number of schools due to the overwhelming number of tourists from English-speaking countries. Even in the most rural outposts, however, most young people speak at least some English, as it is often taught by monks at the local pagodas where many children are educated.

Khmer culture has distinct styles of dance, architecture and sculpture, which have influenced its neighbouring countries of Laos and Thailand. Angkor Wat (Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple") is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture from the Angkorian era and hundreds of other temples have been discovered in and around the region. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, and Choeung Ek, one of the main Killing Fields are other important historic sites.

Bonn Om Teuk (Festival of Boat Racing), the annual boat rowing contest, is the most attended Cambodian national festival. Held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong River begins to sink back to its normal levels allowing the Tonle Sap River to reverse flow, approximately 10% of Cambodia's population attends this event each year to play games, give thanks to the moon, watch fireworks, and attend the boat race in a carnival-type atmosphere. Football is one of the more popular sports, although professional organized sports are not as prevalent in Cambodia as in western countries due to the economic conditions.

Western sports such as volleyball, bodybuilding, field hockey, rugby union, golf, and baseball are gaining popularity while traditional boat racing maintains its appeal as a national sport.

Martial arts are practiced in Cambodia, as well the native art of Pradal Serey and Bokator.

Translation projects undertaken in Cambodian include web site content, sales and marketing material, documentation requirements for engineering and manufacturing.

Translation projects undertaken in Cambodian include web site content, sales and marketing material, documentation requirements for engineering and manufacturing.

Total Language Solutions are translation specialists in DTP, print ready and electronic forms of material, integrating text and diagrams and more besides into and out of Cambodian.

Total Language Solutions are translation experts in the relevance of text, drawings, colours and layout presentation and localisation to meet consumer expectations and norms, without causing offence.

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