Karen Sgaw. Any learning resources available to learn the langauge

[canuckamuck]

I live in a primarily Karen Sgaw village. I would love to be able to speak with my neighbours more. Unfortunately my wife never teaches me more than a word or two. I have looked on the net for some help, but can't find anything. An English Karen, or a Thai Karen dictionary would be a start at least.

[CMHomeboy78]

In Northern Thailand it was Christian missionaries in the 19th century who made the first serious efforts to learn Kham Muang and the various ethnic and hilltribe languages.

The groups that are still active among the Karen would no doubt have sources of information about that language. The Hilltribe Research Institute at CMU might be worth checking out as well.

There is an English/Sgaw Karen Dictionary published by the Drum Publication Group available online.

Good luck with your studies.

[Johpa]

You might try the bookstore at Payap. But best just start writing down words. Been married to a Karen woman for nearly 30 years and still don't speak much apart from a few phrases. Most Karen now speak Thai so best to concentrate on your Thai unless you are really determined to get involved in the local gossip.

A few words of caution: There are few secrets in a Karen village. Also, keep some distance from the evangelicals if it is a Protestant village. Hope you enjoy the lao khao

[canuckamuck]

So I have found a few dictionaries for sale online, but they all seem to use English words and translate them into Karen words using Myanmar script. No transliteration in English. So I apparently have to learn Myanmar script in order to learn the words. That's a bit more work than I was hoping for.

So once again I ask if anyone has seen something that an English speaker can use to learn Karen Sgaw.

[bermondburi]

What's your Thai like? Surely it's fairly easy to find a Karen/ Thai speaker and ask them for help.

Better still your wife, why won't she teach you?

[canuckamuck]

What's your Thai like? Surely it's fairly easy to find a Karen/ Thai speaker and ask them for help.

Better still your wife, why won't she teach you?

No she won't. We are both pretty busy on different schedules. But your right it looks like my only option is to get a teacher. But then there is the problem of finding someone from the village that will stick to anything for more than a day.

[Johpa]

I gave up trying to find a Karen to teach me the language years ago. For some unknown reason Karen culture does not lend itself to formally teaching the language to westerners. Just start learning short phrases and words, and also the words such as "meu rah" (auntie) to address older folks with respect.

By the way, which village? Given the size of traditional Karen families we could already be cousins. But my wife's cousin who married a Canuck is already divorced up in BC.