17 Facts About Keng Vannsak

Keng Vannsak was a Cambodian scholar, philosopher and Khmer linguist.

Keng Vannsak lived in exile in Paris, France, from 1970 until his death in 2008.

Keng Vannsak died at the age of eighty-three at the hospital of Montmorency in the outskirts of Paris after suffering from a chronic illness.

In modern Cambodia, Vannsak is known for being one of the influential figures for the next generations of Cambodian scholars and intellectuals.

Keng Vannsak left behind him a legacy in literature, including two drama plays, short stories, many poems and his research from the 1940s.

Keng Vannsak was a friend and mentor of Saloth Sar while both of them were studying in Paris.

Keng Vannsak Vannak was born in a small village in Kampong Cham province on 19 September 1925, the same year Pol Pot was born.

Keng Vannsak later married Suzanne Colleville, a French national, who shared with him a passion for Eastern languages.

Keng Vannsak held diplomas in the Cambodian, Lao, and Thai languages, and obtained a degree in physical science at the University of Caen, as revealed by the writing of Khing Hoc Dy, a former student as well as friend of Keng Vannsak.

Keng Vannsak later worked as a teacher at the prestigious Lycee Sisowath and the National Institute of Pedagogy in Phnom Penh, and decided to stay there from 1952 to 1958.

Keng Vannsak covered for the president of the Cambodian Students Association when the group was invited to attend "youngsters' world peace celebrations" in Berlin, but was eventually asked not to go with the group just before they were due to leave.

Keng Vannsak explained to him that the other ones wanted to get rid of him.

Strongly opposed to the Cambodian monarchy, Keng Vannsak was known for his role as a mentor to Saloth Sar, later known as Pol Pot, who ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Keng Vannsak became one of the key figures of the Cambodian student community in Paris.

Philip Short details that at that time communism was not their main concern, and recalls that Keng Vannsak himself was more aware of political reality than most of his fellow-students.

Keng Vannsak appeared to offend a young Frenchwoman of the high bourgeoisie by offering her, a year before, to go and spend the afternoon at the Fete de l'Humanite, organised by the French Communist Party.

Keng Vannsak and French-oriented scholars opposed the Khmerization program invented by Chuon Nath, and chose another way for language they transformed French words into the Khmer vocabulary using the same pronunciation as much as possible with the Khmer alphabet.