Cambodian gov’t approves establishment of Khmer language council

PHNOM PENH, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The government of Cambodia on Friday passed a draft royal decree on the establishment of the National Council for Khmer Language (NCKL), said a press release after the meeting of the council of ministers.
   “The council will be a national mechanism to conserve and develop language use substantially with maintaining the country’s national identifications,” the statement said.
   The NCKL has obligations to make uniform in “word writing, word pronouncing, word using and word borrowing from languages”.
   Cambodia is in need of resources to improve its language use and development, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech last month.
   The country has been under shortage of language expertise as for every law written, there has to have a lexicon attached to it, he said.  “We need to have a unified form of language use.”  (Nguon Sovan)