My interview in the blog “Women learning Thai … and some men too:)”

luke — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:18:45 +0000

Catherine Wentworth who runs the fabulously informative blog “Women learning Thai … and some men too:)” just posted this interview with me about studying languages and photography. I’m interested to hear what everyone has to say about it, please pass along via email and fb.

Students of the Thai language should spend some time on her blog, she has assembled a lot of great content.

Comparing the Thai and Lao languages

luke — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:10:36 +0000

So I just got back from an amazing trip in Laos. I ﬂew from Bangkok to Luang Prabang with my mom and step-dad, spent three days there, then two days heading up the MekongRiver and two more days in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Probably the most exciting part of the trip was getting to explore the Lao language, which I have heard described as being aboutas close to Thai as Portuguese is to Spanish, except that there is a slightly different writingsystem used. I had made some linguistic preparations before going, mostly just learningthe new consonants and vowels and studying up on some vocabulary. The bulk of the work I did was up there, mostly just sitting and talking to people and reading a Lao /English dictionary. Most people have a good knowledge of Thai (likely from exposure to Thai TV) but few can read and write Thai. The Thai writing system is somewhat more complicated; if you are interested in the language at all, I would highly recommend taking aday to familiarize yourself with their alphabet before going.

One big reason that the writing system is easier is that in 1975 the government drasticallysimpliﬁed the alphabet, removing redundant letters and changing the way that foreignwords (modern ones and those of Pali and Sanskrit origin) are spelled.

Just as with the Thai language, Lao divides its consonants into three groups: low, middle and high. These groupings along with a few other factors helps to determine the tone of a word, but there is not a one-to-one relationship. For example, just because ຄ is a low

consonant, does not mean that words which start with it will have a low tone. I guess thisshould be pretty obvious since there are only three groupings and Thai has ﬁve tones and Lao has ﬁve or six depending on the region. The following chart shows the Lao consonants, their IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) equivalent and the corresponding Thai alphabet and its IPA equivalent. You will notice that in many cases that a single Lao letter maps to more than one Thai letter. In two cases, there is a change in pronunciation between the Lao and Thai letter, I colored these rows gray.

The spelling simpliﬁcations generally make pronunciation easier, but for students with knowledge of Pali or Sanskrit we lose the ability to ﬁgure out the meanings of unknown words based on their root. For example, the Thai word ศาสตร์ (science, knowledge) is pronounced สาด and comes from the Sanskrit word शास्त्रम् (scripture), in the modernized

version of Lao that same word is written ສາດ which phonetically is the same as the Thai

word, but we lose the hints which help us ﬁgure out the meaning if we donʼt already know it.

(Note that the IPA words pretty well to romanize Thai and Lao, but there really is no perfect way. Learning how to pronounce the letters really isn’t as hard as it seems and should be a ﬁrst step in learning either of the languages. If the Lao or IPA words are not showing up properly, you may need to install additional fonts which are linked below. You can also download this as pdf)

Consonants

Lao Consonant	IPA	Thai Consonant	IPA
Low Consonants
ຄ	kʰ	ค	kʰ
ຂ	kʰ	ฅ, ฆ,	kʰ
ທ	tʰ	ฑ, ท, ธ	tʰ
ພ	pʰ	พ, ภ	ph
ຟ	f	ฟ	f
ຮ	h	ฮ	h
ງ	ŋ	ง	ŋ
ນ	n	น, ณ	n
ມ	m	ม	m
ຍ	ɲ (to my ear, this letter actually sounded like amix of ย and ง)	ญ, ย	j
ວ	w	ว
ຣ	r (there is currently no rsound in spoken Lao, itgenerally ends up as a lor h)	ร	r
ລ	l	ล, ฬ	l
		ซ	s
Middle Consonants
ກ	k	ก	k
ຈ	ʧ	จ	tɕ
ດ	d	ด, ฎ	d
ຕ	t	ต, ฏ	t
ບ	b	บ	b
ປ	p	ป	p
ຢ	j
ອ*	— (A zero consonant, but also used for vowels)	อ	— (A zero consonant, but also used for vowels)
High Consonants
ຊ	s	ข, ฃ, ฉ, ช	kʰ tɕʰ
ສ	s	ศ, ษ, ส
ຖ	tʰ	ถ, ฐ	tʰ
ຜ	pʰ	ผ	p
ຝ	f	ฝ	f
ຫ	h	ห	h

Vowels

The vowels in both sets of languages are very similar, with the exception being that the short /o/ vowel in Lao is always written and the /iə/ vowel is a single character after theconsonant in Lao and not three characters surrounding the consonant as in Thai.

IPA		Lao				Thai
	Short	Medial Variation	Long	Medial Variation	Short	Medial Variation	Long	Medial Variation
/a/	ອະ	ກັດ	ອາ		อะ	กัด	อา
/i/	ອິ		ອີ		อิ		อี
/ɯ/	ອຶ		ອື		อึ		อื	ตืน
/u/	ອຸ		ອູ		อุ		อู
/e/	ເອະ	ເປັນ	ເອ		เอะ		เอ	เป็น
/ɛ/	ແອະ	ແດັກ	ແອ		แอะ		แอ
/o/	ໂອະ	ຈົບ	ໂອ		โอะ		โอ	จบ
/ɔ/	ເອາະ	ກອັບ	ອໍ	ສອບ	เอาะ		ออ
/ɤ/	ເອິ		ເອີ		อัวะ		อัว	อวน
/iə/	ເອັຍ	ຈັຽກ	ເອຍ	ສຽນ	เอียะ		เอีย
/ɯə/	ເອຶອ		ເອືອ		เอือะ		เอือ
/uə/	ອົວະ	ຕັວນ	ອົວ	ມວນ	เออะ		เออ	เบิก
/ai/			ໄອ				ไอ
/ai/			ໃອ				ใอ
/au/			ເອົາ				เอา
/am/			ອຳ				อํา

Tones

The differences between the tones in Central Thai and Lao are more subtle and also vary somewhat based on the region you are in. The Lao government identiﬁes their language as having ﬁve tones, but there are parts of the country where the words are spoken with asixth tone. For the purposes of this post, I have chosen to to use the standard ﬁve tonsversion of Lao.

The ﬁrst chart shows the rules used to correctly pronounce Thai words based on the central dialect. Basically the class of the initial consonant, combined with a few other factors dictates how a word is spoken.

Standard Tone Rules For Central Thai
	No Tone Marker			Tone Marker
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Dead Syllable /คำตาย		อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Followed by a short vowel	Followed by a long vowel	อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Low พยัญชนะต่ํา	M	H	F	F	H
Middle พยัญชนะกลาง	M	L	L	L	F	H	R
Highพยัญชนะสูง	R	L	L	L	F

M	Middle Tone	เสียงสามัญ	ສຽງສາມັນ	H	High Tone	เสียงตรี	ສຽງຕີ
L	Low Tone	เสียงเอก	ສຽງເອກ	R	Rising Tone	เสียงจัตวา	ສຽງຈັດຕວາ
F	Falling Tone	เสียงโท	ສຽງໂທ

This second chart shows how the same words are pronounced according to Lao rules. As I said earlier, this is what the governments says is standard pronunciation but it does vary based on region. When I was in Luang Prabang, I noticed many words pronounced differently from what this chart dictates. TV is Lao is still somewhat new and Lao-language programming is limited, I wonder if an eventual increase in Lao-language programming willbring about more standardized pronunciation of words.

Standard Tone Rules For Standard Lao (5 Tone Version)
	No Tone Marker			Tone Marker
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Dead Syllable /คำตาย		อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Followed by a short vowel	Followed by a long vowel	อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Low พยัญชนะต่ํา	H	M	F	M	F
Middle พยัญชนะกลาง	L	R	L	M	F	H	R
Highพยัญชนะสูง	R	R	L	M	L

M	Middle Tone	เสียงสามัญ	ສຽງສາມັນ	H	High Tone	เสียงตรี	ສຽງຕີ
L	Low Tone	เสียงเอก	ສຽງເອກ	R	Rising Tone	เสียงจัตวา	ສຽງຈັດຕວາ
F	Falling Tone	เสียงโท	ສຽງໂທ

In the third chart, I show both the Central Thai and Lao tone rules on top of each other. In cases where the tone rule is the same, I have just shown one outcome, in cases where therules are different I show the Thai version ﬁrst and then the Lao version.

Comparison of Tone Rules For Central Thai and Lao
	No Tone Marker			Tone Marker
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Dead Syllable /คำตาย		อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Initial Consonant Class	Live Syllable /คำเป็น	Followed by a short vowel	Followed by a long vowel	อ่	อ้	อ๊	อ๋
Low พยัญชนะต่ํา	M / H	H / M	F	F / M	H / F
Middle พยัญชนะกลาง	M / L	L / R	L	L / M	F	H	R
Highพยัญชนะสูง	R	L / R	L	L / M	L

M	Middle Tone	เสียงสามัญ	ສຽງສາມັນ	H	High Tone	เสียงตรี	ສຽງຕີ
L	Low Tone	เสียงเอก	ສຽງເອກ	R	Rising Tone	เสียงจัตวา	ສຽງຈັດຕວາ
F	Falling Tone	เสียงโท	ສຽງໂທ

Vocabulary

Once you get over minor differences in the writing and pronunciation system, you can dig into the vocabulary. At ﬁrst, I had a lot of trouble understanding what people were saying tome, but once I ﬁgured out a few things, I realized how similar the vocabulary is to Thai.

The ﬁrst thing you will notice is that there is no r sound at all. Words in Thai written with an r sound (ร) will generally become a h (ຮ) or l (ລ or ຫຼ (ຫ+ລ)) sound in Lao.

English	Thai	Thai IPA	Lao	Lao IPA
Hotel	โรงแรม	rooŋ-rɛm	ໂຮງແຮມ	hooŋ-hɛm
To hurry	รีบ	riiu	ຮີບ	hiiu
Mineral	แร่	rɛ	ແຮ່	hɛ
To wait	รอ	rɔ	ລໍ	lɔ
Company	บริษัท	uɔ-ri-sad	ບໍລິສັດ	uɔ-li-sad
Service	บริการ	uɔ-ri-gan	ບໍລິການ	uɔ-li-gan

There are no consonant clusters in Lao (เสียงควบกล้ำ), Thai words generally lose their second consonant when changing to Lao.

English	Thai	Thai IPA	Lao	Lao IPA
Country	ประเทศ	pra-ted	ປະເທດ	pa-ted
Regular	ประจำวัน	pra-jam-wan	ປະຈຳວັນ	pa-jam-wan
Mineral	เกลือ	glɯə	ເກືອ	gɯə

There is also a case where the commonly used word in Lao has the same meaning inThai, but is used at a different level. The Thai words for husband and wife phua and mia (ผัว เมีย) are considered rather impolite for general speech, but in Lao the same words are

common speech (ຜົວ ເມີຍ). Conversely the word for a period of time, yaam (ยาม) is rather

formal in Thai. We are much more likely to use tɔn (ตอน), but in Lao ŋaam (ຍາມ) is common speech.

One ﬁnal pronunciation change has to do with the ch sound in Thai (ช) becoming a sh (ซ or ຊ) sound in Lao.

English		Thai IPA	Lao	Lao IPA
To believe	เชือ	tɕɯə	ເຊືອ	sɯə
To win	ชนะ	tɕa-na	ຊະນະ	sa-na
Elephant	ช้าง	tɕaaŋ	ຊ້າງ	saaŋ

The two languages are very similar, but there are also tons of words which are different between the two languages.

English	Thai	Thai IPA	Lao	Lao IPA
Where	ที่ไหน	ti-nai	ໃສ	sai
Who	ใคร	krai	ໃຜ	pai
To Walk	เดิน	deern	ຍາງ	ŋaaŋ
How Much	เท่าไร	tao-rai	ເທົ່າໃດ	tao-dai
Helping word used to form the gerund	กำลัง	gam-laŋ	ພວງ	puaŋ

Resources:

The books listed below were my constant companion throughout Laos. I would read the dictionary before bed at night and spend as much time as possible with the other booksduring the day. The internet resources were mostly consulted during the writing of this to make sure that that everything was correct. You will likely need to download the fonts listedbelow for the Lao text to show up. My biggest resource across the country was people thatI met, I got the feeling the the number of foreigners interested in the Lao language is prettylow and people generally seemed very happy to help me learn.

Books

Lao-English English-Lao Dictionary for Non-Lao Speakers

Thai-Isan-Lao Phrasebook หนังสือวลีภาษา ไทย อีสาน ลาว

ภาษาลาวพื้นฐาน 1

Internet

Lao and IPA fonts (IMPORTANT)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_alphabet

http://www.laoconnection.com/language1.htm

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/lang2.htm