Greeting in Cambodia
Greeting in Cambodia depends on the relationship between each other. There is a typical greeting called “Sampeah” that you raise your hands at the level of your chest, chin, nose, eyebrows or overhead that each position is used to show the respect to a different kind of people such as parents, grandparents, older people, and the highest is for “praying to the God”. The traditional greeting is palmed standing by together with the elbows brought at chest level.In Cambodian society, it is acceptable to ask for the age of the others so that people can know exactly what they have to call who they are talking with. They do not call both brother or sister, aunt or uncle. They always bonus a word “older” or “younger” to clearly define the relationship between each other. The personal name is not used much because it is a little impolite when you say directly the name of anyone, even they are younger than you.
When meeting, people will Sampeah and say “Choum Reap Sur” which means hello in English. And when leaving, they Sampeah again and say “Choum Reap Lir” as the goodbye. It is considered impolite if you receive a Sampeah and not give away one, same as rejecting a handshake in other countries.
Today, with the heavy cross-culture of Western and Khmer, shaking hands becomes a common way of greeting in business. But women still maintain the traditional greeting, especially with those of the opposite sex. They are not familiar with being touched by other people.
In formal situations, Cambodians call the others with Lok and Lok Srey which sequentially means Mr. and Mrs. before their name. They do not call other’s family name individually that can be impolite to their father or ancestor. Nowadays, the way they use the title also reflects the social class.
While in other more familiar cases, the way they call others is more complicated with many titles including Ta – grandfather, Yeay – grandmother, Po – uncle, Ming – aunt, Bang – brother and Bang Srey – sister. In this country, calling an older person without the title is considered rude and misbehavior.
Cambodia |
English |
Thai |
| Shuo Sa Dai | Hello | สวัสดี |
| Xruṇ Shuo Sa Dai | Good morning | สวัสดีตอนเช้า |
| Thiwa Shuo Sa Dai | Good afternoon | สวัสดีตอนกลางวัน |
| Thiwa Shuo Sa Dai | Good evening | สวัสดีตอนเย็น |
| Sk sa bay di? | How are you ? | เป็นอย่างไรบ้าง? |
| Som tok! | Sorry! | ขอโทษ! |
| Or gun | Thank You | ขอบคุณ |
| Jum riap lia | Goodbye | ลาก่อน |
