Ok -- pull out the dunce caps! I have put off asking this for a long time, but can't anymore.

Anyway, I can only guess at the pronunciation of "Siem Reap." Is "Siem" like "Siam"?

Please, English phonetics for the "old dog who is trying to learn new tricks."

mcbeanie

I say "seem reep".

me too.

I was told by a former Cambodia/Thailand peacecorp worker it is pronounced See-um ree-op. That is the best phoenetic spelling I can come up with. And he may be wrong. And it means defeated by Siam. Which the Khmer empire was and then the city and temples were abandoned.

Lonely Planet guide says see-em ree-ep

Oops! I don't want to offend any Cambodians. Siem Reap means Siamese defeated although the Thai eventually defeated and ocuupied Siem Reap in 1794 to 1907 if my Lonely Planet guide is to be believed.

I've always heard see-em reep (two sylables for the first word, one for the second). I notice that all of the proposed pronunciations are pretty close to each other, and may well represent how difficult it is to represent the tones phonetically.

When I was in Cambodia, my guide for three days at Angkor Wat consistently pronounced the name SIM RIP.

What about Phnom Penh??? Is it P-nom Pen?

Thanks to all! Yes, Kathie, they are all similar phonetically, so guess it really doesn't matter.