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Examples of pronunciation

Benolaos — 2012-06-25T14:42:02Z

The first difficulty is due to the tonalities (to the 6 tonal accents which each evolve differently, according to the consonant on which the tonal accent is placed). The other difficulty is with specific Lao sounds for which there is no literal transcription in our language. It is often awkward to try and make a Lao word correspond to a word written in English, which will only be an approximation of the original pronunciation.

As an example, lets take the word pronounced "thao" (not to be confused with "tao" :-) which signifies sir, young man or boy. This term can be written 12 different ways, of which 10 give way to a literal sense and 2 have none.

We could go on indefinitely showing examples. "Kaï" is a perfect illustration : chicken, egg, far, near, sell, etc ... often mixing a term and its opposite. Difficult to recognise, without a musically trained ear.

On to of this, there are regional accents, of which there are three main ones :

the northern one (Louang Prabang & Sam Nua) the most 'royal'
the central one (Vientiane) which is the most often used (especially for books)
and the southern one (Savannakhet, Paksé).

The Lao language system is very simple, being as there is no complex grammar, nor conjugations like in Latin or Anglo-Saxon languages. But its not because its a simple language, that its easy to learn; use of the Lao language is very difficult due to the tonal accents.

Lao english dictionnary

Benolaos — 2012-06-25T14:36:42Z

Here are some links to help you learning, improving or only by curiosity to see what it is. Special "massive" to Karin who lived long time in Laos, and made this her dictionary. I hope she agree about sharing (otherwise please advise). Format : Excel (.xls)


Lao Dictonary - base

The Lao language is a reflection of the country, a language without fresh angle. We can realize from its musicality as well as its alphabet.

In English:

Online Lao-English dictionnary (Lao characters)
Interactive Lao Language Learning
Lao Language Courses

In French:

Dictionnaire Franco-Lao en ligne (caractères Lao)
Dictionnaire français-laotien par Guy Cheminaud (1906) (caractères latins) (PDF)

Downloading of Lao fonts

Benolaos — 2012-06-25T14:15:14Z

Here are 228 fonts that can be downloaded so as to start getting used to Laotian writing. To be able to use these characters without a special keyboard, you can download the picture that has been prepared to relate between the English keyboard (QWERTY) and Laotian letters. If you use a different keyboard, make sure you change o QWERTY, before starting to try and write in Lao, so as to change the language of the keyboard.

To install new fonts

Click on one of the fonts and 'save' on the computer
On the computer, click on the "Start" menu and then go to the "Control Panel"
Click on "Fonts"
In the "File" menu, click on the heading "Install new fonts"
Find the place where you registered the font that you downloaded, then install.

Finally, note that there exists software, which is only available for PC's, which enables you to write Lao : LaoScript, incorporating numerous characters.

Example of Lao words

Benolaos — 2012-06-25T13:59:56Z

The transcript given below is imperfect, and only to approach reality: certain consonants or vowels do not exist in the language of Sheakspeare ... it will be advisable to assist with his hands to be understood Laos;-)

H located after the consonants express an aspiration of the consonant. Kh, Th, Ph, etc.. fall into this same rule in this dictionary. Only Ch has a pronunciation "sh" or almost ;-)

Good morning, afternoon, evening : Sabaïdee
Bonjour ou Bonsoir : Sabaïdi

How are you ? How do you do ? Tjao sabaidee bo ?
Comment allez-vous ? Comment vas-tu ? Tchao sabaïdi bau ?

I'm fine, thanks : Khoj sabaidee, khop chai
Ca va, merci : Khoy sabaïdi, khop tchaï.

I'm very glad to meet you : Khoj deetjai lai thi dai phop chau
Enchanté de vous rencontrer : Khoy ditchaï laï thidaï phop tchao

you're welcome : Gnindi ton hab than
Vous êtes le(la) bienvenu(e) : Gninedi taune hap thane

Good bye : La kon
Au revoir : La conne

See you : laew phop kan mai
A bientôt : Lèo phop kane maille

Franco-Lao dictionnary clicking this link

The Lao alphabet

Benolaos — 2012-06-25T13:46:27Z

The Lao alphabet uses a calligraphy derived from that of India and very near to the Thai alphabet (we can find in these two languages, similar groups of consonants and vowels, having almost the same pronunciation.)

Consonants

There exists 34 consonants in the Lao language divided into 3 groups. Each of these groups corresponds to a vocal resonance when the letter is used, with or without tonal accent.

Consonants can, at the end of a word, signify a different pronunciation than that shown at the end of the word. In this way, the "d" at the end of a word, is pronounced "t", the "b" is pronounced "p"and the "v" is pronounced "oua".

At the last Lao literature committee, the letter "r", which is a typical symbol of French influence, was removed from the Lao alphabet.

Vowels

There exists about 40 vowels, of which there are 12 brief, 7 brief "shortened", 12 long, 3 long "shortened" and 5 special.

Of these 36 vowels, 4 are no longer used today as decreed at the last Lao Literary committee.

Tonal accents

There exists 4 tonal accents, of which 2 are used all the time and 2 others that only serve as interjections. These accents, give to the syllable that contains them, a different positioning of the voice daccording to whether the consonant is of the first, second or third group ...

The tonal system, according to the 3 groups of consonants, creates 5 tones :

average tonal tone
rising high tone
descending average tone
descending low tone (also called settled descending)
descending-rising tone (controlled tone)