The Development of Cambodian (Khmer) Sign Language

In 1996, Ms Katja Merentie from Finland came to Cambodia for three months to conduct a survey on the living standards of deaf people in Cambodia; Ms Kiev Navy was recruited by the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation to assist in this research. Ms Merentie worked very closely with Ms. Kiev using some information gathered by Maryknoll, an international non-government organisation that is involved in disability issues and vocational training for people with physical disabilities. Maryknoll had conducted a research survey of deaf people living in Phnom Penh and a list of names was collected. This information was useful in making the initial contact with deaf people in their homes in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Ms. Merentie and Ms. Kiev encouraged the deaf people to come together socially and to meet regularly at the offices of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation to discuss the sign language used amongst the community. The Deaf Development Programme was formally established under the auspices of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation in 1996 and received financial support from various donors to provide activities for the Cambodian deaf community.

During 1997 and 1998, the deaf people continued to meet to develop their sign language, and deaf people in the provinces establish meetings to learn about this new Khmer Sign Language. During this time, Ms. Merentie, along with the DDP staff members, assisted in the development of Khmer Sign Language and provided training and support to the deaf community in Phnom Penh and the provinces.

The majority of deaf adults in Cambodia have not received an education because there was no deaf school for them to attend, and therefore the majority of the deaf community is illiterate.

In 1997, a French Non Government Organisation, Krousar Thmey, under the leadership of Mr. Benoit Duchateau-Arminjon, established the first school in Cambodia to provide formal education for deaf children. Krousar Thmey Deaf School uses sign language in the education of deaf children. Currently there are four Krousar Thmey schools for deaf children in Cambodia-in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, and Battambang; and Krousar Thmey supports twelve integrated classes for deaf students located in government schools in seven provinces.

In November 1997, the Khmer Sign Language Group was established, the Deaf Development Programme and Krousar Thmey working in collaboration on researching Khmer Sign Language and disseminating the information to the Krousar Thmey school and throughout the deaf community.

Because the Khmer Sign language research was proceeding very slowly, Khmer Sign Language was not developed enough to be the only sign language used within the education system at Krousar Thmey. Krousar Thmey discussed this with a group of experts and decided on adopting the use of American Sign Language at the deaf school until Khmer Sign Language is developed enough to use. Not all of the signs used at Krousar Thmey are American. Some Khmer Sign Language has been introduced to the children and some of the American signs have been adapted to suit the culture of Cambodia.

The Khmer Sign Language Group experienced some working difficulties and philosophical differences about what sign language to use, and the group ceased meeting in mid-1999.

In 1999, a partner co-operation agreement between the Finnish Association of the Deaf and the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation was signed to provide financial support for the Deaf Development Programme with funding from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland and the Finnish Association of the Deaf for five years until 31st December 2004.

As part of the partner co-operation agreement between the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation and the Finnish Association of the Deaf, one of the main objectives of the Deaf Development Programme is to continue to develop Khmer Sign Language.

In mid 2000, as a neutral organisation, the Disability Action Council (DAC) directed by Ms. Helen Pitt invited the Deaf Development Programme and Krousar Thmey to meet again, and it was agreed to re-establish the Khmer Sign Language Group as the Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-Committee. This sub-committee would monitor the work of the Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group. This work is coordinating by Ms. Punya Droz, national coordinator responsible for the Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-Committee and Public relation and Information Unit of the DAC. Fr. Charlie Dittmeier was appointed in August 2002 as Deaf Sub-sector Coordinator, which seconded by Maryknoll to work at DAC as counterpart with Ms. Droz.

The Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-Committee consisted of deaf and hearing members from the Deaf Development Programme, hearing members from Krousar Thmey, a hearing representative from the Disability Action Council, and a hearing representative from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

The Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group consisted of one hearing and two deaf members from the Deaf Development Programme, two hearing members from Krousar Thmey, one hearing member from the Disability Action Council, and one hearing member from the Ministry of Education. The Deaf Development Programme provided staff to illustrate the developed signs of Khmer Sign Language. In May 2001 Mr. Peter Ward was recruited to act as facilitator for the Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group.

In December 2001, Mr. Colin Allen and Ms. Liza Clews, two advisors sent by the Finnish Association of the Deaf, conducted a Mid Term Review of the Deaf Development Programme. The review team conducted individual interviews with representatives from Krousar Thmey, the Disability Action Council, and the Deaf Development Programme regarding issues of Khmer Sign Language. From these individual interviews, several recommendations were proposed to both the Finnish Association of the Deaf and the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation.

The Mid-Term Review made recommendations for changes to the Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-committee, which had been set up by the Disability Action Council. The Finnish Association of the Deaf and Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation, the co-sponsors of the Deaf Development Programme, approved these recommendations for change in February 2002. The Disability Action Council implemented these changes after consultation with the Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-Committee members.

The recommendations resulting from the Mid Term Review were as follows:

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The Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-committee will be renamed the Khmer Sign Language Committee. The Disability Action Council will coordinate the Khmer Sign Language Committee. The Committee will have members from the following organisations:

1- Deaf Development Programme,
2- Disability Action Council,
3- Krousar Thmey, and
4- Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

The responsibility of this Committee will be to prepare a national plan of action that includes performance indicators and timelines for the development of Khmer Sign Language, prepare vocabulary for the Khmer Sign Language Development Team, and approve all recommended signs that are developed by the Khmer Sign Language Development Team.

II. Khmer Sign Language Development Team (formerly known as the Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group)

The Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group will be renamed the Khmer Sign Language Development Team. The Deaf Development Programme will coordinate the Khmer Sign Language Development Team. The Deaf Development Programme will recruit the positions of a Researcher and an Illustrator to work within the Khmer Sign Language Development Team.

The Team will be responsible for conducting the actual sign language research. As part of this research the Team will conduct a number of consultation meetings with the deaf community through the year. The consultation meetings will include the members of the Team and representatives from Krousar Thmey and from the deaf community throughout Cambodia.

The Team will work with a list of vocabulary words prepared by the Khmer Sign Language Committee, discussing them at the deaf community consultation meetings, and agreeing on the recommended signs for each word on the list. The Team will submit the recommended signs that have been agreed by the consultation meetings to the Khmer Sign Language Committee for final approval

Once the Khmer Sign Language Committee has approved the signs, it is the responsibility of the Illustrator to draw the signs that have been approved.

III. A workshop on “What is Sign Language?”

A workshop needs to be arranged for all interested parties involved to improve the understanding of sign language and to discuss and develop a national plan on the development of Khmer Sign Language. The Disability Action Council will coordinate this workshop.

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The Khmer Sign Language Technical Sub-committee and Khmer Sign Language Research Working Group suspended their meetings between the end of May and the workshop in September.

September 2002

A workshop on sign language was held on 10 September 2002. The goal was for the participants to improve their understanding of sign language and begin to develop a national plan for the development of Khmer Sign Language. The workshop, coordinated by the Disability Action Council, was led by Dr. James Woodward, a sign language linguist now working in Vietnam.

The meetings of the Committee were resumed with a special meeting scheduled on the day after the workshop in September to take advantage of Dr. Woodward’s presence and input. At that meeting he was asked to serve as advisor for the Committee and he accepted. It was also agreed to revise the Terms of Reference for both the Committee and the Development Team and to develop a comprehensive plan for the development of Khmer Sign Language.

October 2002
It was discovered in October that the Development Team had been working on a Grade One Social Studies textbook, preparing Khmer signs, and that at the same time a group at Krousar Thmey had been working on the same textbook, using mostly American signs. There were differences of opinion about how to proceed. The options were to (1) go ahead with the textbook as it had been prepared by Krousar Thmey, or (2) replace the first 26 lessons of mostly American signs with the signs prepared by the Development Team, or (3) delay the book until Khmer signs were ready for the whole book. Sign language experts were also consulted for their opinions about how to proceed.

There was also a question about the correctness of some signs in the Krousar Thmey book and confusion because of a mixture of American and Khmer signs, so Mr. Colin Allen reviewed the signs in the book.

November 2002
In the November meeting, it was decided that the Committee would stop working on the Social Studies textbook and Krousar Thmey would go ahead and finish it. Krousar Thmey would also continue to develop all the remaining textbooks for the first grade. The KSLC would begin working on signs for textbooks in Grade Two and above.

Other questions about signing and sign language had come up in the discussions, so it was decided to have a one-day workshop to look at the ideas suggested by the experts who had been consulted and to discuss the issues involved with the use of sign language in education.

January 2003
This second workshop was held in January 2003. Dr. Woodward came to assist with the workshop again. The focus of the workshop shifted away from the focal points of the experts’ ideas and sign language in education. Some felt that we discussed again what had already been decided.

The workshop did discuss the structure and operation of the Committee and Development Team. Lists of words needing signs will be given to the Development Team, along with pictures or explanations by a resource person. The Development Team will consult with deaf people and then send the signs to the KSLC for review

The workshop also talked about focusing on deaf adults as a way of developing sign language; about setting up a committee to help develop deaf education in Cambodia; and about setting up a third workshop as a forum for discussing ideas on deaf education with invited experts. Two working groups were established to work on the Committee’s Terms of Reference and a Plan of Action.

March 2003
A Japanese group called Asia Mind will come in March to discuss a project using videotaping in connection with sign language and education of deaf students.