Khmer–English Phrasebook: Essential Words & Phrases for Travelling in Cambodia

Travel Cambodia with more confidence — even if you don't speak Khmer.

Heading to Cambodia? Whether you're exploring temples, ordering food, negotiating at a market, checking into a guesthouse, taking a tuk-tuk, or simply trying to make yourself understood, knowing a few useful Khmer phrases can make your trip easier and a lot more enjoyable.

Khmer–English Phrasebook is a practical pocket reference designed specifically for travellers in Cambodia. It contains 19 useful categories and more than 261 words and phrases, organised around the everyday situations you're most likely to encounter.

What You'll Find Inside:

🗣 Greetings & Everyday Conversation

Learn useful expressions for saying hello, thank you, sorry, goodbye, asking someone's name, and explaining that you don't understand.

🔢 Numbers, Prices & Money

Understand basic numbers and ask how much something costs essential skills when shopping, eating out, or arranging transport.

🛺 Directions & Transport

Find your way around, ask where you're going, discuss prices, and communicate with tuk-tuk and taxi drivers.

🍜 Food & Dining

Order meals, ask for the bill, talk about common foods, and explain preferences such as wanting something less spicy or without ice.

🏨 Hotels & Accommodation

Useful phrases for checking into hotels and guesthouses, asking about rooms, Wi-Fi, breakfast, checkout times, towels, air conditioning, and more.

🚑 Emergency & Health

Important phrases for situations when you need help, a doctor, hospital, pharmacy, dentist, or ambulance.

🛍 Shopping & Bargaining

Ask prices, negotiate, discuss payment methods, and communicate with vendors at markets and shops.

🏛 Sightseeing & Temples

Useful vocabulary for exploring Cambodia's temples, museums, statues, entrance fees, photographs, and other attractions.

👋 Making Friends & Small Talk

Start simple conversations, talk about where you're from, say you like Cambodia, and introduce yourself.

🏧 Banks & ATMs

Find an ATM, ask about exchanging money, request smaller notes, and explain that you need to withdraw cash.

Designed for Real Travel

You don't need to learn the Khmer alphabet before using this phrasebook.

The phrases use simplified phonetic spellings in plain Roman letters, allowing English speakers to read and pronounce them without having to learn Khmer script first.

Everything is arranged by situation, so you can quickly flip to the section you need rather than searching through pages of vocabulary.

And when you can't quite remember how to say something, there's an especially useful solution: show the page to the person you're speaking with. The included quick-reference cheat sheet highlights 15 of the most useful phrases for everyday travel.

Perfect For:

• First-time visitors to Cambodia
• Backpackers and independent travellers
• Couples and families travelling around Cambodia
• Visitors exploring Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and beyond
• Travellers staying in hotels, guesthouses and local accommodation
• Anyone who wants to communicate more easily with local people
• Travellers who want a compact reference they can keep handy

Don't let the language barrier become one of the hardest parts of your trip.

Learn the essentials, keep the phrasebook close, and use the words you need when you need them.

Khmer–English Phrasebook — simple, practical Khmer for travelling in Cambodia.

Sok sabaay — safe travels!