Khmer

The Khmer people are an ethnic group from Southeast Asia who mainly live in Cambodia, but also in Vietnam and Laos. The Khmer people speak the Khmer language, which is the national language of Cambodia.
In the Western world the word "Khmer" gained public recognition due to the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge (rouge meaning red in French) were the members of Cambodia's communist party (CPK), which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, under dictator Pol Pot. In particular, the Khmer Rouge are known for having committed several acts of genocide against Cambodian minorities.
The correct pronunciation of Khmer in the Khmer language is Km-ah-eh. This pronunciation differs from the usual pronunciation of Khmer in English, which is phonetically pronounced. The reason for this pronunciation is that in the 19th century Cambodia was controlled by France, which Romanized the word from its spelling rather than its pronunciation. It must be noted that in some dialects such as Northern Khmer the "r" is pronounced. The audio pronunciation contains the standard Khmer pronunciation of Khmer.

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