Introduction to Khmer (Khmer II)
When: Mon, 13.04.2026 4:00 PM until Mon, 13.07.2026 7:00 PM
Where: Abteilung für Sprachen und Kulturen Südostasiens, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1/ Ostflügel, 20146 Hamburg, Rm 233
Introduction to Khmer (Khmer II)
(advanced course), summer semester 2026
Department for languages and cultures of Souteast Asia
Course number: 57-334, Teacher: Savuth Prum,
Monday, 13.04.2026, 16-19 h, ESA O, Room 233
The Kingdom of Cambodia is a Southeast
Asian country bordered by Thailand, Vietnam
and Laos – and bounded by a coastline to the south. The country, with a total area of 181,035
km², is divided into 24 provinces and one spe-cial administrative region, namely the country's
capital, Phnom Penh. Cambodia is therefore about half the size of Germany or a little more than twice the size of Austria.
Cambodia's official language is Khmer – also
known as Cambodian – and belongs to the Aus-
troasiatic language family. It was influenced by Sanskrit and Pali through Hinduism and Bud-
dhism and is spoken by 17–20 million Cambo-
dians inside and outside of Cambodia.
The Khmer language has a script of its own. It consists of 33 consonants, 24 vowels and 14 initial vowels. Unlike the neighboring coun-tries' languages – Thai, Lao and Vietnamese –Khmer is not a tonal language.
This Khmer II language seminar (advanced course) is aimed at interested students from all departments at the University of Hamburg who want to learn the Khmer language or refresh or deepen their Khmer language skills and who are interested in the culture and history of Cambodia.
In order to take part in the Khmer II course (advanced course) in the summer semester of 2026, suc-cessful completion of the course "Introduction to Khmer I" in the winter semester of 2025 or com-parable language skills is required.
Learning objectives: Through this seminar you will be able to acquire the most important basics of
the Khmer language and understand and use familiar, everyday expressions as well as various types
of sentences both orally and in writing. You will also be able to write simple personal letters, post-cards and emails.
Registration for this course number 57-334 is possible on STiNE. More information about this
and other courses can be found in our current course catalog. If you have any problems with
the registration, please contact Mr. Prum, who will be happy to help you unbureaucratically!
Contact:
Savuth Prum <Savuth.Prum@uni-hamburg.de>
Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky < Volker.Grabowsky@uni-hamburg.de>