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Khmer and Vietnamese are supposed to be in the same family, the Mon-Khmer/Austro-Asiatic family, yet to me they don't really sound similar. My Vietnamese friend says she actually understands basically no Khmer. She understands more Chinese but that's mostly due to borrowing. I'm sure there are some similarities with Khmer (Cambodian), but to my ears Khmer sounds more similar to Thai but just not tonal. Of course it probably shares more words with Khmer, and Vietnamese vocabulary is about half Chinese.
Culturally, of course, Vietnam and Cambodia are pretty different, but I'm talking more about the language here. I don't know if many here are experts but it'd be interesting to hear comments/observations/opinions.
To me they seem more like Thai rather than Vietnamese, i mean in Cambodia you can actually see lots of similarity between them and the Thais, from the temple to people.
Actually, the Muong and Tho languages sounds quite similar to Khmer as you can see in the video below. The Muong and Tho people are closely related to Kinh Vietnamese, most often times being completely indistinguishable, and yet their language sounds much closer to Khmer than Northern Vietnamese. I believe this is due to the fact that Vietnamese came into contact with Sinitic and Tai languages while Muong remained isolated and thereby preserved the original form of their language.
Actually, the Muong and Tho languages sounds quite similar to Khmer as you can see in the video below. The Muong and Tho people are closely related to Kinh Vietnamese, most often times being completely indistinguishable, and yet their language sounds much closer to Khmer than Northern Vietnamese. I believe this is due to the fact that Vietnamese came into contact with Sinitic and Tai languages while Muong remained isolated and thereby preserved the original form of their language.
Yes several Tai languages like Zhuang still exist in southern China, like Guangxi, and also Hainan, represented by the Li people. I believe the core homeland of the Viets is the Red River delta to Guangxi province in China.
To me they seem more like Thai rather than Vietnamese, i mean in Cambodia you can actually see lots of similarity between them and the Thais, from the temple to people.
I am however no expert :P
Culturally yes, the similarities between Khmer and Thai are more obvious. Khmer often claim Thai took all their culture from them, from religion, architecture.etc. For a time they conquered Angkor Wat. The town of Siem Reap near Angkor literally translates as 'Siam defeated'. The animosity between the two peoples continues to this day.
Yes the Khmer and Burmese tend to have more Indian influence than other Southeast Asians.
Eh? i always thought that classic Indonesian culture is more similar to the Khmers than the Khmers to the Burmese. I mean from the music, dances, costumes, monuments and ancient temples etc, there are more similarity between the two than those the Burmese had. The ancient king of the Khmers have strong ties with the Javanese king too.
Eh? i always thought that classic Indonesian culture is more similar to the Khmers than the Khmers to the Burmese. I mean from the music, dances, costumes, monuments and ancient temples etc, there are more similarity between the two than those the Burmese had. The ancient king of the Khmers have strong ties with the Javanese king too.
Hmmm I don't know that much but yeah, I think all three cultures are similar, although I wonder how Hindu Burma was.
Here in the U.S a lot of Vietnamese immigrants I see look Chinese, but most Khmer immigrants I see do not look Chinese. Most of them resemble other Southeast Asians like Filipinos and Thais.
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