Foreign languages in Laos Most of them speak Cantonese and Teochew and a few speak Southwestern Mandarin. In addition, Vietnamese and Thai are also widely understood, especially near the country’s borders.
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Can Laos people speak Vietnamese?
When Laos was a French protectorate, the French colonial administration brought many Vietnamese people to Laos to work as civil servants.Ethnologue’ states that there are 79,000 Vietnamese speakers in Laos.
Are Vietnamese and Laos the same?
Where is Vietnam and Laos? Both countries are right next door to each other. Laos is on the west and Vietnam is on the right. Laos is a landlocked country, so you won’t see a lot of seafood dishes in Lao cuisine.
What languages does Laos speak?
Lao: The Official Language Of Laos
Several languages used in Laos and Thailand are closely related to Lao such as Tai Daeng, Phu Thai, Tai Dam, and Nyaw. Lao and Thai share a significant portion of its core vocabulary. Over time, Lao has been influenced by Pali, Thai, and Khmer languages due to their proximity.
Is Khmer spoken in Laos?
Khmer language, also called Cambodian, Mon-Khmer language spoken by most of the population of Cambodia, where it is the official language, and by some 1.3 million people in southeastern Thailand, and also by more than a million people in southern Vietnam.
Is Khmer a tonal language?
About the Khmer Language
In marked contrast to Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, and Burmese, Khmer is not a tonal language. However, not unlike Thai, Lao, and Burmese, Khmer has been influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, largely as a result of the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism in Cambodia.
Is Lao an ethnicity?
The Lao people are a Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, who speak the eponymous language of the Kra–Dai languages, originating from present-day southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Laos, making up 53.2% of the total population. The majority of Lao people adhere to Theravada Buddhism.
Who colonized Laos?
The French protectorate of Laos was a French protectorate in Southeast Asia of what is today Laos between 1893 and 1953—with a brief interregnum as a Japanese puppet state in 1945—which constituted part of French Indochina.
Who is Vietnam’s closest ally?
Today the Philippines and Vietnam are economic allies and have a free trade deal with each other. Both nations are a part of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Is Lao hard to learn?
Lao does not take really long to learn (compared to other languages that might take many years or decades).Both Lao and Thai are from the Tai-kadai language class, so by learning Lao first as the foundation, you’ll be able to understand a variety of Lao regional dialects and Thai quicker.
Is Lao a tonal language?
Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (ລາວ, [láːw] ‘Lao’ or ພາສາລາວ, [pʰáːsǎːláːw] ‘Lao language’), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao people.It is a tonal and analytic language, similar to other Kra-Dai languages as well as to Chinese and Vietnamese.
Do Laos People speak French?
French is spoken by a significant minority in Laos. Laos has the second largest Francophone community in Southeast Asia, the others being found in Vietnam and Cambodia. French is used as a diplomatic and commercial language and is also studied by over a third of students in Laos.
Both the Vietnamese and the Khmer (Cambodian) peoples descended from ancient Austroasiatic-speaking peoples who settled throughout the eastern and southeastern regions of Indochina.From 1128 to 1150, Đại Việt successfully repelled several invasions from the Cambodians.
Is Khmer similar to Vietnamese?
According to ethnologue, Vietnamese, Mon and Khmer belong to the same language family, viz. Austro-Asiatic.
What language is spoken in Vietnam?
Vietnamese
What language is Thai derived from?
Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary is derived from or borrowed from Pali, Sanskrit, Mon and Old Khmer. It is a tonal and analytic language, similar to Chinese and Vietnamese.
What language family does Burmese belong to?
Burmese and most of the other languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman subfamily of Sino-Tibetan languages. The Shan language belongs to the Tai family. Languages spoken by the Mon of southern Myanmar and by the Wa and Palaung of the Shan Plateau are members of the Mon-Khmer subfamily of Austroasiatic languages.
Does Cambodia speak French?
The French language began its presence in Cambodia in the late 19th century after French explorers and merchants made their way from Vietnam into Cambodia. In 1863, Cambodia became a protectorate of France and was incorporated into French Indochina in 1887.After the war, French again became the sole official language.
Is the S in Laos silent?
In English, the ‘s’ is pronounced, and not silent. In the Lao language, the country’s name is Muang Lao (ເມືອງລາວ) or Pathet Lao (ປະເທດລາວ), both of which literally mean ‘Lao Country’.
What are Laotian people called?
The correct term for people that live in Laos is ‘Laotian‘. The term ‘indigenous peoples’ is not used by the Laotian government. Instead, they refer to non-Lao people as ‘ethnic minorities’.
Is Laos and Cambodia the same?
To the south of Laos, between Vietnam to the south and east, and with Thailand on its northern and western borders, lies the former Khmer kingdom now known as Cambodia.
