I’ve been trying to learn new Khmer songs, especially ones that I sing at church each week. I’ve started off simple, often with children’s songs and ones with familiar tunes. This is because it’s hard enough trying to learn the words in a foreign language, let alone learn unfamiliar tunes that a culturally different, with unexpected trills or chord sequences.
Christian songs provide quite a good opportunity as often they are closely translated and keep the original tune. So that makes it easy for me to understand and to learn the new vocabulary!
I’ll provide a video, the Khmer script, then a Romanised version, then the IPA for linguistic nerds. If you want to find out what system I used or why I made the choices I did in transliteration or transcription, see my Khmenglish page. I will also provide a link to a pdf of all versions side-by-side, as well as a list of each of the words and their meanings.
ដើរនៅក្នុងពន្លឺនៃព្រះ – Walk in the Light of God
Khmer and English
១.
គឺជាការល្អដែលសរសើរព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលសរសើរព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលសរសើរព្រះ
ដើរនៅក្នុងពន្លឺនៃព្រះ
Chorus
ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ក្នុងពន្លឺ
ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ក្នុងពន្លឺ
ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ដើរ ក្នុងពន្លឺ
ដើរនៅក្នុងពន្លឺនៃព្រះ
២.
គឺជាការល្អដែលស្រលាញ់ព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលស្រលាញ់ព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលស្រលាញ់ព្រះ
ដើរនៅក្នុងពន្លឺនៃព្រះ
៣.
គឺជាការល្អដែលបម្រើព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលបម្រើព្រះ
គឺជាការល្អដែលបម្រើព្រះ
ដើរនៅក្នុងពន្លឺនៃព្រះ
1.
It is good to praise the Lord,
It is good to praise the Lord,
It is good to praise the Lord,
Walk in the Light of God.
Chorus
Walk, walk, walk, walk in the Light,
Walk, walk, walk, walk in the Light,
Walk, walk, walk, walk in the Light,
Walk in the Light of God.
2.
It is good to love the Lord,
It is good to love the Lord,
It is good to love the Lord,
Walk in the Light of God.
3.
It is good to serve the Lord,
It is good to serve the Lord,
It is good to serve the Lord,
Walk in the Light of God.
Romanisation and IPA
1.
kueu chea ka l’a dael sasaeu Preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael sasaeu Preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael sasaeu Preah
daeu nov knong ponlueu ney Preah
Chorus
daeu daeu daeu daeu knong ponlueu
daeu daeu daeu daeu knong ponlueu
daeu daeu daeu daeu knong ponlueu
daeu nov knong ponlueu ney preah
2.
kueu chea ka l’a dael sralanh preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael sralanh preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael sralanh preah
daeu nov knong ponlueu ney preah
3.
kueu chea ka l’a dael bamreu preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael bamreu preah
kueu chea ka l’a dael bamreu preah
daeu nov knong ponlueu ney preah
1. kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael sɑsaə preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael sɑsaə preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael sɑsaə preah ɗaə nɨw kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ nɨj preah
Chorus
ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə ɗaə kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ ɗae nɨw kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ nɨj preah
2. kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael srɑlaɲ preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael srɑlaɲ preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael srɑlaɲ preah ɗaə nɨw kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ nɨj preah
3. kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael ɓɑmrə preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael ɓɑmrə preah kɨ ciə ka lʔɑ ɗael ɓɑmrə preah ɗaə nɨw kʰnoŋ pɔnlɨ nɨj preah
Get the pdf version of the lyrics here.
Thomas in Cambodia 