Lao and Thai Mutual Intelligibility

Alexander Arguelles discusses the mutual intelligibility of Lao and Thai with a bilingual native speaker. This film is the third in a series about the languages of Southeast Asia. For further information: www.foreignlanguageexpertise.com/

[@RolandDulwich]

Tai peoples = Lao, Thai, Isan, Lanna chinese Tai groups etc. These people all share a common origin in southern China. The Tai groups in China are remnants of the earlier migrations. One did not originate from the other. It's ludicrous to think so. Over time the original Tai peoples separated in to the modern south-east asian groups which inhabit regions in southern Thailand. All of this is evidenced by linguistic and genetic evidence.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Steven84629]

As a Laotian boy born and raised in California. I can sort of understand thai people pretty well. I only know english but i grew up hearing Laotian in my house.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@temp___]

This was an entertaining and informative video. This one-on-one interview approach seems to be more well organized, as well. Thank you for the video, Dr. Argüelles! I can't wait for more languages.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@rickysanchez8709]

Thanks for sharing letting people know Alexander about these Southeast cultures. I didn't know that Lao and Thai were mutual intelligible. That's great to know. Hope you can find enough Thai and Lao students to help you in the future.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@HamzaDudgeonthelinguist]

Great video! very well put.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@indykethdy5983]

Thai and Lao are dialects of a single language. They are mutually intellectuable. Thai came from Lao, except Thai (Siamese Thai to be exact) borrowed more words from Khmer. Northern Thai and Issan are both Lao dialects. If you take all the standard Thai words out of those dialects they would be like Lao of Laos. The kingdom of Lanna was called Western Lao and Lanxang was called Eastern Lao by the Siamese. Lanna was called black bellied Lao (Lao phum dum) and Lanxang was called white bellied Lao ( Lao phum kao) because of their tattoos, one was tattooed below the waist and other was above the waist. The only reason why Lanna and Issan called themselves "Thai" today is because of "Thai-fication", a campaign enforced by the Central government to erase all things "Lao." The word "Issan" was coined in replace of the word "Lao" for food, language, music, etc of the Issan area to separate and erase all Lao identities by the Central government.

[@sacson345]

Thank you

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@takforalt]

I just love this stuff. Thanks so much. I am learning Thai now (rather slowly) and am happy to hear that once I know Thai, Lao will be a snap.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Chivopuro]

So. Awesome. I love your videos.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@MrBmanirath]

@Mrwinner0001 iv hear of khmer what is? some kind combodia language?

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@RobertHeslop]

I'm going to work in Chaiyaphum town, will I be able to 'survive' speaking Thai, especially since i'll be working in a school?

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@shonietojve]

@Mrwinner0001 Where you got that from ?

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Disagree. Having been exposed to other Tai language families (Tai Dam, Tai Lu, Tai Nua, etc.), the Lao language is actually more similar to the ancestral languages in what is now Southern China than standard Central Thai is. Lao would be like the "British English" (especially in areas up North closer to Tai language family ancestral homeland before mass migration into South East Asia) vs. Thai would be like a "hybrid" newer language 70% Tai-Kadai roots & 30% Khmai & Mon.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@zxzxzx3859]

I think 20% is pali and khmer word is 10%

[@Louieinoz]

@Nowl8 a few grammar points of italian and french are interrelated however... we're talking about intelligibility. i'm saying that as a portuguese speaker and i know spanish and italian as well however i can't understand french at all... i mean just catch a few words

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@SiNgHayStyle]

@llHyRaXll what does that have to do with this video?

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@KBT_Productions]

Theres many different ways of saying K in thai and lao In english its jsut one letter In thai Theres alot of difference between K without air = ก And K with air ( transliterated as Kh)= ค /ข among others

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@newalbion]

@vixen020202 It seems we are talking at cross-purposes. In "my" sentence "dog" is in the singular, i.e. there is no "s". In order to type every letter of the alphabet one could also write a book, and even then a few letters could be missing. The purpose of the test sentence is to have a short comprehensible text that includes all the letters. "My" sentence isn't mine at all, but the way I learned it. So maybe there are two versions, neither of which is right or wrong, but one is shorter.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Rodier1128]

Is Lao and Thai similar to the relationship between Spanish from Spain and Mexico? French from France and Canada?

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@psychogenesis6755]

Very informative. Imo I think Thai and Laos are like Spanish and Portuguese. You can understand everything if they speak slowly, but you'll rely heavily on context clues to figure out unknown words. You can communicate feelings and actions and just about anything but not so much convey complex thoughts and ideas. That's what makes their respective languages different. Now what makes a dialect a dialect and a lamguage alamguage? I have no idea

[@ProfASAr]

The old joke: an army and a navy.

[@lbb2rfarangkiinok]

@NV417 i just do not think american and british english are as different as thai and lao....there are way too many differences in word choice that are far more vast than those differences between british and american english

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@urplereen]

If this mutual intelligibility interests you, then you should do a video on Scandinavia (Norway-Sweden-Denmark) Here there are 3 languages that are mutually intelligible, and Norwegian is even classified as a different language family, by linguists.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@roninstar]

@laoboitube i'll simplify what your saying. the people in northern laos (luang prabang area) and northern thailand (chiang mai area) have similar accents & manners like to the ones of the south of laos and northeastern thailand (isaan). central laos & thai accent are usually dominate recognized in both of their countries.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Louieinoz]

@Nowl8 yes I totally agree. but we are talking about INTELLIGIBILITY. Grammar wise italian and french are similar. As you said yourself Written French. However Speaking and Listening are different which are directly connected to the topic intelligibility

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Khenphet]

@lbb2r What is maa pa? Is it a wolf?

[@dumas-6485]

Right, maa pa it is a wolf. Actually maa mean dog. Pa mean forest

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@MsMishaSmith]

nice video

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@lnwkopy]

@beshnola Lao and Thai are not the same language. Even the alphabet are just similar, but still difference. You are right. Issan is still a Lao dialect. That's why I use British English and American English to compare. Perhaps Lao is like Spanish from Spain, and Issan is like Spanish from South America. Also, let's compare Thai is like Italian or protegees which is similar language to Spanish.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@lbb2rfarangkiinok]

@Khenphet indeed it is

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Nwk843]

Very Nice your video mate Arguelles, i was searching and studyng about lao and thai, tai thai its a branch of Tai Lue a dialect and Tai laosian its a branch a dialect of Tai lao, both branch came from linuistical's Tree Tai Kradai or Tai Kadai from Yunnan and Zhuang from southern China. Thai is Very stressed in phonetics , Lao is more relaxing in pronunciation, and between theses sister langs we have many true friends and for sure many falsa friends. Both are in the same family in only Chanés the subfamily. Hugs mate. Nice work🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for the appreciation.

[@newalbion]

@vixen020202 Economy of letters. Sure, "s" is in dogs. But plural dogs is not required if the "s" is already contained in "jumps".

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@LaoInformation]

Thailandians in the northern/northeastern regions have more in common with the country Laos than the country Thailand because many Thailandians in the north have Lao ancestry.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@nimuroji]

@Sonicmountain09 to throw this in the mix. Dialect also comes in to this. Swedish speakers of the southern dialect skånska have no problems at all speaking with danes

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@sayajinmamuang]

you should do a thai and khmer episode of this. i think that would be very interesting to talk about and a very long convo at that.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@wuerges]

@teddythefrency Portuguese and Spanish are very close, but Italian and French are in the same level of intelligibility.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Nowl8]

@Louieinoz well i´m a Spanish native speaker and by speaking Italian i can understand a lot of written French, but before i studied Italian i couldnt get a thing.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Olonnais]

@77AdHominem Spanish and Portuguese are NOT that close to each other than Serbian-Croatian or Swedish and Norwegian. Totally different situations.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@bapyou]

Notice when Sam (the native speaker) is talking about the fox jumping over the lazy dog, in the first utterance he uses the word "sunak" for dog, whereas in the second utterance he uses the word "maa." These are both words which mean dog. One is more formal than the other.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@MaximilianoHerrera72]

It mostly depends on the dialects of Laos and Thai. Of course Northeastern Thai (Essan), a dialect of Lao indeed, is very intelligible with Lao. Laotians from Vientiane all understand and speak Central Thai very well (with an accent and sometimes scrambling few words) because the influence of Thai television. But for example if we try to set up a conversation between a Laotian from Luang Prabang and a Thai from Narathiwat, I assure you they wouldn't understand each others. If The Northern Laotian from LP would just speak Central Lao with his Northern Accent and the Southern Thai would speak Central Thai with his Southern accent,they would understand each others so so ..... If we compare Standard Thai and Standard Lao with perfect accents in both cases, yes, I think Thai and Lao are quite intelligible, specially due to the fact that some different words (baan/heung, phean/siao, arroi/saep, jing/eelee, phuut/wao, yee sip/sao , mai/bow, chai/men, khrap/dawk, tham/het, chawp/mak, maak/laai, etc etc) are known by both anyway. We can compare Thai/Lao differences with Spanish/Catalan or Swedish/Norvegian differences or even less, maybe between Slovenian and Serbian.

[@bountpathammavong9275]

+Maximiliano Herrera it proves that language of Thai Essan , Lao, Thai Central are Taikadai language even if watch Television both can pick each other dialect and adapt to learn quickly and if You try to watch television with other languages than Thai and Lao language , both Thai and Lao will not be able to scramble or understand other languages

[@peakarach7051]

Maximiliano Herrera Thai Bangkok language are 85% lao language the rest are mixture of Mon-khmer, Malaysian languages, they speak more like Khmer Surin especially Siamese peoples aka ethnic Mon-khmer, Malaysian, Hill tribes peoples than the rest of Tai-kadai speaking peoples aka lao ( Ai Lao ) tribes peoples.

[@nptsmirabilis]

peakarach Can you just stop making things up? I saw you on almost every video that compares Thailand and Laos, and you tried to claim that most Thai cultures are Laos' without any evidence.

[@asdsdadsdsa7495]

I speak central Thai and can understand almost everything in Laos TV

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@WorldOfKnowledgeTH]

It is not. They are closely related and share a lot of similar vocabulary but as a dual national from thai who lives in laos, i at first struggled to understand but after constant exposure to Lao it becomes more clear. Even lao and isan is still very different despite many saying they are the same. From a polyglot who understands all 3 i can tell you.

[@sacson345]

U may be correct when comparing the languages but from an ethnicity standpoint Esan are definitely Lao. Just like how Albanians that live in Serbia Montenegro and Kosovo are still ethnic Albanian even tho they don’t live in Albania. The Thai govt even acknowledged to the U.N. that esan people are ethnic Lao in 2011. When a language is so similar to begin with and people’s native land are absorbed into a country it’s easy for things to get muddled. But imagine if you can a world without borders or governments, what do you think the esan people would describe themselves as? Central Thai’s claim no affiliation to Lao people but they affiliate with esan people as a “different” kind of Thai. If Esan people were not native to this region in the world that has turned into modern day Thailand the central Thai’s would definitely not claim any affiliation to them as well. If that region were its own country like Laos is. But since they took over and they don’t want any secession issues they came up with the term esan instead of just calling them Lao. Divide and conquer it’s as simple as that. Modern borders are just that, new and modern. These people have been living in this region for centuries upon centuries and they never called themselves kon esan. They are kon Lao period. My sister in law is Esan from Thailand. She speaks Lao with a Thai accent but she identifies as Lao. What more can I say. I love Thai people. I was born there. A lot, not all but a lot of Thai people look down on Lao people and Esan people. But if an esan person achieves success and fame Thai people claim them as Thai. The world will never know that said person is ethnic Lao. All I want is for Thai people to acknowledge what all Lao people know. Acknowledge our existence in this region that France handed to you. We know the history you can’t erase it. The Lao language is older. The Lao alphabet came first and the Thai alphabet was patterned after it. Of course the languages are similar how could it not be given these facts. But the Thai kingdoms and government have succeeded in dividing the Lao people. We let another people come in and rename a huge portion of us. And for this, I am genuinely sad.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@raydredX]

@NV417 That may be because Thai is "more important" in media and lao people sometimes hear thai and get used to it's sound. So probably: Thai people are not as used to listen to Lao, as Lao people are used to listen to Thai.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@SiuLuhng1]

I would love to hear your comments concerning Cantonese and Mandarin. They are both very interesting and to a certain degree mutually intelligible.

[@andrepoiy1199]

Tim Cunningham They are not at all mutually intelligible

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@LaoInformation]

Tai groups of Southeast Asia descended from Ai Lao people. Before they were the Ai Lao, the Lao were originally called "Liao" who lived in the regions that are now northern China. The ancient Lao (or "Liao") migrated to southern China and became the Ai Lao. Their original "Liao" name eventually changed into "Lao" during the migration. They continued to migrate southward into Southeast Asia and split up into smaller Tai groups. The descendants of the ancient Lao ("Liao") created the country Laos.

[@hathairatjongsermtrakoon5226]

thank you so much for the information. I will do research more to know why Thai speak Tai, not Khmer, Mon, Burmese.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@SoundAsleepSpace]

I think they just took whoever off the street who could speak a little bit of English and just conducted this interview. The reason why these languages have a high degree of mutual intelligibility is because of how Tai Languages are formed. They use very short, clear, precise words and strictly follow the consontants, vowels (short and long) and tones which are mostly the same for each language. If you compare European languages together, they all have very different pronunciations, but that is unlike Tai Languages. So when thai and lao differ it's usually a different form of the word like in formal thai beautiful is suayngam. In thai it's suay and in lao it's ngam. Also, thai and lao for one word may just use a different tone or a different vowel length or be one or two consonants different. Also, just say that 50% (which most people say it is) of the vocabulary is the same and clearly understood, then whichever words were not the same maybe nearby words as I explained above or the listener can guess the actual word. So perhaps listen to (real) Scottish English. Thai/Lao people come from a province in China called Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Thai/Lao people come from these Zhuang who have their own province in China. They started dispersing from there from about 200 AD to about 1300 AD. Zhuang people keep their traditional culture as well being influenced by Chinese culture. However Thai culture comes from the pre-existing culture in the region we now know as Thailand from Mon/Khmer Culture and Buddhism. Thai language stayed as a Tai language, but became heavily influenced from Khmer/Mon/Pali/Buddhism and a lot of Thai genetics mixed with these people too.. Thai and Lao, because of geography stayed fairly the same and had similar developments until European colonization. So Isaan is almost identical to Lao because the people of Lao actually come from Lao. A Thai king in history moved those Lao people there between 1700-1800. So Lao developed on it's own from then and also had French influence for the past 150 years. Isaan and Thai then developed together after modernization and share the same Thai Educational/Schooling language, not Lao/Isaan. But Laos need to explain academic things differently to Thais. That comes to the next part where a Thai and Lao person could understand each other by 90%. That's nonsense. You have to put the Isaan/Lao person into context. If that Isaan/Lao person didn't go to school and didn't watch Tv or read books then yeah, the vocabulary understood with a Thai person would be 50% each way. But that's not the case in reality. In reality, every Isaan person goes to school and learns Thai and watches TV and learns Thai; except for really slow people that means they can all listen and speak Thai too. As for Lao people, they usually all can get Thai TV on their TVs and would much prefer to watch Thai TV and pick up Thai easily on their own without actually learning it. Then for Thai people they probably have nil to limited amount of Lao (Lao that actually differs to Thai) and it would be so much more difficult to understand. Lao is not 'handwriting'; Lao letters are just very curved and Thai letters are straight. Along with a few other differences the letters of Lao and Thai are similar but you'll need to learn it a little bit to read it perfectly.

[@peakarach7051]

Theydrewfirstblood Thai Bangkok language contained at least 85% lao language the rest are mixture of Mon-khmer, Malaysian languages they speak more like Khmer Surin than the rest of Tai-kadai speakers peoples aka Lao ( Ai lao ) tribes peoples anyone can clearly tell by how they tends to rolls their tongues alots just like Khmer Surin and Siamese peoples aka ethnic Mon-khmer, Malaysian, hill tribes peoples unlike the rest of lao peoples.

[@ramdrivesys1869]

I am sorry but what you wrote is nonsense. "European languages" are NOT a homogenous language family. I speak Slovak and it is mutually intelligible with Czech and I can easily understand what a Czech is saying and he can easily understand me. Yet our words are far from short and precise and there are many pronounciation differences between Czech and Slovak.

[@ramdrivesys1869]

But Thai and Lao ARE in the same group.

[@harrychowdhry5851]

Now that's an essay

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@ParinandVarnasavang]

I was born and grew up in Southern Thailand and currently live in Bangkok. I can understand 80-90% of spoken Lao but only 20-30% of written Lao. In opposite to Thai people, Lao people generally understand nearly 100% of spoken Thai and most of written Thai.

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you for keeping this video alive with your interesting comment about mutual intelligibility.

[@lileycat]

This mutual intelligibility is a very special topic. I'm form Hungary, and Hungarian language is not interesting from this point of view, but here in Europe, Slovakian, Polish and Czech are mutually inteligible (maybe Russian too).

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Nowl8]

@Louieinoz actually Italian is closer to French, and Spanish is closer to Portuguese. You have to study Italian to actually understand it, but the French learn it a lot faster.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@walkertongdee]

Laughing my you know what off I understand but this is probably the one thing that both languages would NEVER say.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@tobysrimani1047]

Thai people are are so polite and use words for “you and I” like “ter” and “chun”. But when they get angry, out of the blue they can speak Lao and for “you and I”, they’ll say “Mueng” and “Goo”. Lol

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@newalbion]

The test-sentence is: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Notice jumps and not jumped. Otherwise there would be an "s" missing in the sentence.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola I suppose he got his education the "Thai" way? Taken from Thai point of view but leaving out critical analysis from world communities outside Thai national boundaries? Common sense also tells you (especially due to Tai/AiLao migration pattern) that in order for the "Modern Thai" language to develop they had to have come from the North PLUS mixed w/ Khmai/Mon groups. The darker natives didn't go anywhere, they got absorbed into the population AND accents mixed into the language too.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Also wanted to add, I disagree w/the immigration example to America. How are most Isan-Lao "immigrants" when they were forced to relocate to the region or were already there when the Central Thais seized control to begin with? It's like America taking control of California & Arizona from Mexico. For the people forced to assume a new identity, did most of them "immigrate" or do it by choice to forget their roots? Absolutely not.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@ParinandVarnasavang]

Actually, the word "fox" should be translated as "หมาจิ้งจอก" (maa jing jok) rather than "หมาป่า" (maa paa), which is equivalent to "wolf" in English. Alternatively, you can use the word "สุนัข" (sunakh) instead of the word "หมา" (maa) for a more polite or formal expression as both words mean "dog" or other members of the dog family. Therefore, a fox is a หมาจิ้งจอก (maa jing jok) or สุนัขจิ้งจอก (sunakh jing jok) in Thai.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for this. Others have also indicated that there is something off about the word for "fox" here.

[@joephon3359]

Northeast Thailand use to be part of Laos so the way of life, food and language are almost identical. Facts

[@jaydaiitm159]

You mean Laos used to be part of Northeast Thailand. But yes, very similar culture

[@sodasoda768]

North Thailand and Northeast were part of Lao. My grandfather told me long ago.

[@sutthikhun]

@@jaydaiitm159 Both Laos and Northeastern Thailand "were" just parts of Old Laos or Lanxang or Old Khmer and other older kingdoms, it does not mean modern Laos and modern Northeastern Thailand are the parts of each other. 😑

[@sacson345]

@@jaydaiitm159 you must be 12 years old

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@portagee032]

@Olonnais Agreed. i think they are close enough that with basic knowledge of the other and how they differ they can be. i speak Portuguese and i understand spanish pretty well. but that is because i have a few years of Spanish and i came to learn the basic difference. but if i speak to a Spanish speaker with out them having any idea of Portuguese it is a fail. I think if you take PROPER Portuguese and PROPER Spanish, then they become better understood. but know a days no one speaks properly.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@MrBmanirath]

you are right but ESSAN is a mixture of lao and thai

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@arivas713]

i knew it! the same! just like 'montenegrin' spoken bosnian, spoken croatian.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@Louieinoz]

@Olonnais I am a portuguese speaker and I speak fluently spanish and I'd say that it is way more than 90% of intelligibility. I'd say it's only 5% of differences. Accents make it harder though...If one speaks a non-colloquial spanish and a non-colloquial portuguese (formal as you wish). it is mutually intelligible.. with no problems of communication whatsoever. The problem comes on dialects and slangs, especially in the americas.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@bigbowl5044]

I know this is a weird thing to say but these two gentlemen are so handsome 😂❤

[@ProfASAr]

Thank you!

[@MrBmanirath]

most lao can speak thai and most thai can speak lao! its a different accent from what i understand

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@bapyou]

@vixen020202 Actually, in Thai, there aren't plurals. So dog or dogs ... it's the same word.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@roninstar]

okay lets simplify the comparison. if a thai person who visited laos for six months(maybe more depending on which province their from) can and will understand most (if not all) of the lao language and vice versa. some laotians can pick up thai faster because of the thai media and such. the thai's have slight different dialects and word play. all in all these two will not have a problem understanding each other due to similar culture and ethnic group of the tai-origination.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Okay....just to clarify and not confuse anyone else, this is what I meant: Ethnic Lao/Tai= Lanna, Isan, Lao Nai (in Muang Lao), Lao Nork (Overseas Lao) Laotian (Nationality)=anyone who was born in phatet Lao (Hmong, Kui, Khamu, Lao, etc.) FYI, many younger Lao Overseas don't speak Lao anymore, but does that not mean they are no longer "ethnic Lao" by ancestral affiliation? No. Same with Lanna & Isan, deny & embrace Thai nationalism all they want, but their ancestors are still Lao.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@lbb2rfarangkiinok]

หมาจิ้งจอก ไม่ใช่หมาป่า a fox in thai is maa jing jawk, not maa pa

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@abdeenn3]

It slightly changed and later became Farang.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Lol so many responses to keep track of, perhaps you didn't read some of my other posts relating to nationality? Of course their nationality is now Thai, but it's not like their ancestors did it by choice. It was forced onto them. They didn't go to the Thais. The Thais went to them but now you have some Isan denying a Lao connection AND THAT I think we can both agree is due to Thai education/brainwash & self-hate amplified by racism.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola I feel sad when I hear ethnic Lao people separating ourselves/putting each other down (gave Siam Thais easier chance to take advantage). I don't care if both North & Northeastern Thais deny "Lao ancestral" roots. Yes they are no longer "Laotian" by nationality but Thais now. They are still ethnic Lao by heritage and luk Khao Niao. The fact that they BOTH are "Luk Khao Niao" just like other Tais/AiLao and Central Thais ARE NOT...really tells you something about the real connection.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@bomloi6951]

I am from southern Thailand where were no ethnic Laotian people. I understood about 80%Vientiane dialect, but only 60% for Sakhon nakhon, Sri saket diaclect. Vientiane dialect seems easier than some Esan language.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@abdeenn3]

It is totally misunderstanding about the word Farang. It is not a bad word or offended word to call all

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@abdeenn3]

Europeans or American at all. The word originally came from the word France. In the old day, the Thai people had very little contact with the West, until the French came to Indochina. The word France was a little hard to say, so

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@st3231]

Malay / Indonesian Hindi / Urdu Turkish / Azeri Russian / Byelorussian / Ukrainian Bengali / Assamese Danish / Norwegian Estonian / Finnish Serbian / Croatian Malayalam / Tamil Uzbek / Kazakh Punjabi / Sindhi

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for that list of mutually intelligible tongues.

[@RolandDulwich]

**** south eastern asia not southern Thailand.**

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@lbb2rfarangkiinok]

@sayfonh1 you contradict yourself...there's no past sentence (I'm assuming you mean sentence) in (the) Lao language..... if there was no past tense, then you wouldn't be able to form it by adding a new word Thai and Lao are both considered "analytic" languages, which means very often words that in English might carry one, two, or more morphemes will in an analytic language only have one. This does not mean Lao doesn't have past tense, it's just built differently than in English.

[@ProfASAr]

Thanks for commenting.

[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Agreed. It should be recognized as a language and NOT a dialect of Thai, especially since more than 1/2 of the Thai population actually speak a form of Lao. Also, yes Isan is made up of LOTS of different groups, not just ethnic Lao, but let's not kid ourselves and assume the ones who are ethnic Lao by heritage are no longer Lao.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Oh one more thing...no matter what Central Thais try and manipulate, all educated Tai Lao knows the truth, especially when spoken so I'm not too concerned. The truth ALWAYS comes out eventually. No matter what region of the world or separated nation, when I hear a speaker say "Tai baan hao" etc....I know they are our real pinong, so that's all that matters. Funny though....Central Thais are the only ones who DO NOT use "Tai+place/identity" when describing themselves....hmm...why?

[@ProfASAr]

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[@nneuhaus84]

@ZouOR ethnocentric and xenophobic ideas make there way into every society, some more so than others

[@ProfASAr]

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[@Louieinoz]

@wuerges no Italian speaker can intelligibly talk to each other... Portuguese and Spanish can. Italian is closer to spanish and portuguese than to french.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@NangDeeSan]

@beshnola Everyone with a brain knows Wikipedia is NEVER a reliable source. Almost anyone can create an account & manipulate facts. Heck in the past two years, most facts referencing to Laos/ethnic/history/food/music/cultural heritage "mysteriously" vanished or is now left "blank" on pages. Why? Because some people didn't like what they were reading and manipulated facts/accounts, etc....so yeah, Wikipedia does not count.

[@petekaster9185]

Lan Xang forever....................

[@ProfASAr]

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[@tobysrimani1047]

Lao guy paddles his boat across the Mekong and sneaks into Thailand to find work. He sneaks onto a bus heading for Krueng Thep. The bus driver yells out "Jup rao jup rao". Lao guy thinks the bus driver caught him without paying for a ticket, jumps out of the bus. In both Thai and Lao, "Jup rao" can both mean either to hold on to the railings or to arrest a Lao person. Lol

[@ProfASAr]

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[@khonsavanhnavongsa3079]

He didn’t translate all of the words right

[@ProfASAr]

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[@ashconnor]

Farang is a generic Thai word for somebody who has European ancestry.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@bountpathammavong9275]

Can We all get along with one big happy family

[@ProfASAr]

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[@MrBmanirath]

lao and thai is like english and a cowboy accent if that make sence

[@tobysrimani1047]

Yeppers! Thai would be the gay English accent, and Lao would be the Country Cowboy accent. Yee Haw!!!

[@ProfASAr]

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[@shonietojve]

@takforalt Think twice before you say so.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@prame3746]

If Thai language is German Germany Laos is German Austria

[@bounna1557]

No, that would be the reverse. Lao is an older language I think which is also the language of millions of thai issan people who used to be Lao.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@rathyxayboutda902]

thai and laos are very common in many ways tradition,food, clothing in some way, the way the speak the only different is the accent

[@ProfASAr]

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[@lnwkopy]

Lao is like British English, which is the original English. Esan/Isan is like American English or other accent English, which is taken from the original source.

[@ProfASAr]

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[@LaotianforLaotian]

Let me add my 2 cents. There's no such thing as an "Esarn" language. That word Esarn was coined by Central Thai government as a way of wiping out the Lao identity and culture in that region.

[@tristanvang2337]

he said isaan

[@ProfASAr]

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[@9angelbabe9]

same language just different accents with some words slightly different, like british english and american english speaking.

[@azndood]

The differences are more like between Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish. I'm Lao-American.

[@thenameizzaaron]

David Bui my thoughts exactly

[@michaelsonortega2387]

@@azndood no it isn't, the situation between thai and lao is like Spanish and portuguese

[@ProfASAr]

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[@tobysrimani1047]

A Thai and Lao guy are standing on the bank of the Mekong. The Thai guy wants to jump into the river but wants to be sure there are no tree stumps so tells the Lao guy to go down and check. Thai guy yells out "Mi might mai?" Lao guy replies "Might mi". Thai guy jumps and hits his head on the tree stump. Lol. In Thai 'Might mi" means there aren't any. In Lao, "might mi" means "there are sticks/woods!" Lol

[@vangsihaket6931]

Dude. That's freakin' hilarious 😂

[@phetindra8216]

What if a Phou Thay guy stays there? He should reply "Mi Mi". The Thai would run away, because for him it sounds "yes, a lot". For the Phou Thay it means "there is none".

[@ProfASAr]

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[@phongkanphay]

Duhhhn. He is khone Thai-Esan.. so duhhh.. he is most likely to speak Thai and Lao!

[@ProfASAr]

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[@peterszeug308]

never ever use the term farang anymore. it's offending, you know? i'm not french, and never wanna be.

[@peterszeug308]

@Motamad Thoreso Well Europeans are as green as Asians are yelllow LMFAO

[@ProfASAr]

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[@Khenphet]

@lbb2r What is maa pa? Is it a wolf?

[@ProfASAr]

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