What do laos people speak

But encountering French speaking Laotians is becoming rare. Young Laotians tend to speak English and it's more widely spoken than its European counterpart. Throughout the country you'll find that anyone in contact with tourists will be able to speak English.

Your information is sent to EVANEOS, located at 27 rue de Mogador, Paris, France, in order provide you with its services, personalized information relevant to you, and practical advice regarding your travel plans.

Your information will be kept as long as necessary to achieve the purpose for which it is processed. This information may be subject to an automated decision-making process to assess your preferences or areas of personal interest.

You can also define the terms of use, storage, and communication of your personal data in case of death. For all requests relating to your personal data, you can contact the DPO Data Protection Officer of the data at the following address: dpo evaneos. Welcome aboard! Keep an eye out for trip inspiration and travel offers in your inbox Destinations Trip Types About Us. Top destinations of the moment in Asia.

Travel to Asia. Browse our tour ideas by category. See all tour ideas. Travel Style. Interests and Activities.

Tour Ideas by Month. Continents and Regions. An update from Evaneos. Laos Travel Guide. Now, the primary language of the Lao people is also spoken in the Northeast Thailand, referred to as Isan language. Although there is no official standard, Vientiane Lao has become the de facto standard language which is the most widely spoken language in the country and the Lao vocabulary is founded on it.

Most of the Lao dialects possess six tones including low, mid, high, rising, high falling and low falling. With similar sound, that word or syllable has a different meaning in different tone or pitch which is often hard to pick up for untrained ears. It primarily consists of native Lao words, but also includes a number of borrowed words from Pali the language of the Buddhist scriptures, related to Sanskrit and from Cambodian.

Like many languages, Lao has its own alphabet and there are 28 vowel sounds are presented in the writing system from the combination of 26 consonant symbols and 18 vowel symbols.

The Lao script was developed from the Khmer script which has its roots in the Indian Brahmic script, and its arrival was attributed to the Theravada Buddhists who were on a mission of popularizing Buddhism in the 14th century. The Lao language is read from left to right. Besides, the official language of country — Lao is used as an important 2 nd language for the ethnic groups in Laos and in Isan, who have their own dialects and languages, to communicate with outsiders.

In which, the most common are Khmu and Hmong language. Here we will learn about the two most common minority languages in Laos. Khmu is the largest ethnic community of Laos with the population of speakers at around , and live in the five northern provinces: Bokeo, Luang Prabang, Luangnam Tha, Oudomxay, and Phongsaly. Although mostly used among peer-to-peer people, most of these people are also eloquent in the dialect used by the dominant community in the area, can speak three or four diverse languages.

Lao is spoken by them when working with government representatives, dealing with people in the lowlands of Laos, or at schools. Although living next to each other, Hmong Daw plays as the dominant language and the Hmong writing system with eight or twelve sounds also reflects the pronunciation of Hmong Daw dialect.

Vocabulary and pronunciation as well as word structure and grammar are the main differences between these two languages. However, both dialects are having a few changes to fit each other better now. Their language is separate but most of them speak Lao. The Hmong people were farmers, most living in small villages high in the mountains of Laos. Besides the official national language, foreign languages are also in their very important roles in Laos, especially in development of tourism.

There are immigration languages spoken in Laos, such as Khmer Chinese who are refugees from Cambodia who fled the war-ravaged country and mostly live in the southwestern region of Laos near the border of Cambodia and Thailand. A little over half of the population of Laos can use Lao and an estimated 3. The Lao language helps people from the many ethnic communities interact with one another and in doing so serve as the lingua franca of Laos. The arrival of French explorers in Laos in the 19th century facilitated the spread of French.

Laos officially became a French protectorate in the s. French subsequently grew in importance in the territory and reached its climax between the s and the 2nd World War.

The position of French in the independent Laos was uncertain especially after periods of decline, but it has since regained a substantial minority position. Some Lao words have been incorporated into French giving it a local flavor unique to Laos. English has been threatening the dominance of French as the preferred foreign language. English features in the system of many schools in Laos, and it is increasingly being regarded as the language of global commerce.