Sophea was born and raised in Cambodia but she has travelled with her work to Vietnam and Thailand. She gained a qualification in English at the Royal University of Phnom Penn while working towards her BA (First Grade Honors) in Khmer Literature where she also received a Merit of Khmer Literature Competition. Her thesis was a Comparison between Khmer Ramayana and Thai Ramayana. She then earned a Secondary School Teaching Certificate from the National Institute of Education (Faculty of Pedagogy), again earning a First Grade Graduation merit. In 2004 she earned an MA in Khmer Literature from the Faculty of Sociology and Humanities, Royal Academy of Cambodia where her thesis was entitled SASTRA LBENG (Khmer Classical literature during Udong and Longvek era,carved on Leaf as the manuscripts). She has also done extensive training courses on tourism, child protection, prevention of human trafficking, journalism and writing.
With this background, Sophea has established herself as a highly successful free-lance translator and tutor of Khmer, working a simultaneous translator with universities, media outlets, NGOs and governmental delegations in many international conferences relating to environmental, economic and humanitarian matters, including human trafficking and children’s issues. Besides tutoring adults, she has also in recent years begun to work with two IB World Schools as a tutor of Cambodian Literature working with middle years and IBDP students at the International School of Phnom Penh SSST, and supporting IBDP SSST Khmer Literature students at the United World College of Southeast Asia in Singapore. Sophea is delighted to share her love of Cambodian literature with IBDP students worldwide.
