PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- "A young man applied for a scholarship to go and study in Australia," says Helen Cherry, director of the Australian Center for Education, Cambodia. "His English was very good, and I asked him where he had studied. He replied 'By windows.'
"I tried to establish if this was a textbook or a computer program. Finally I worked out that he had actually learned English by standing outside classroom windows!"
Many Cambodians have overcome remarkable odds to learn English and currently the demand for English-language education is booming in the country. Judging from the linguistic ability of everyone from cyclo (bicycle rickshaw) drivers to government officials, English is fast becoming a second language for a considerable number of Cambodians.