Cambodian belongs to the Mon-Khmer family of South Asian languages, referred to as Khmer. Modern Cambodian has also absorbed many foreign words, including Sanskrit, Pali, French, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. /kloc-In the middle and late 20th century, Cambodia became a protectorate of France, and French became the official language. Khmer is excluded and is not taught in schools. After Cambodia's independence, Khmer became the official language again and was written into the Constitution. The Pinyin method of Cambodian consists of consonants and vowels. Consonants are divided into high consonants, low consonants, overlapping consonants and voiced consonants, and vowels are divided into high vowels, low vowels, polyphony and independent vowels. Modern Cambodian has also absorbed many foreign words, including Sanskrit, Pali, French, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. In China, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Yunnan University for Nationalities, Yunnan Normal University and other universities have set up Cambodian majors.