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| How do you say Laos? |
| Lao |
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| Laos |
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| Total Votes : 36 |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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 Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| curiousaboutkorea wrote: |
I speak English.
I call it Laos, not Lao.
I call it Korea, not Han-gook.
I call it Italy, not Italia.
I call it Germany, not Deutschland.
I call it QUebec, not Kay-bek.
I call it China, not Zhong guo. |
Isn't there some difference here. Italy is an anglicization of the word Italia. Surely Laos is not an anglicization, it is the original word, thus it should be pronounced properly. |
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The Gipkik
Joined: 30 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well, even Laos is anglicized from the Khmer script for the Laos language, so this discussion only leads to one point: Why did the transcription of Laos into English include the "s"? And here's the answer, by way of wiki:
In the Lao language, the country's name is "Meuang Lao" which literally means "Lao Country." The French, who united the three separate Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in 1893, spelled it with a final silent "s," to signify the unity of multiple Lao kingdoms, hence "Laos". The Lao language itself has no final "s" sound, so Lao people pronounce it as in their native tongue though some, especially those living abroad, use the pronunciation ending in "s". |
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nukeday
Joined: 13 May 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| The Gipkik wrote: |
Well, even Laos is anglicized from the Khmer script for the Laos language, so this discussion only leads to one point: Why did the transcription of Laos into English include the "s"? And here's the answer, by way of wiki:
In the Lao language, the country's name is "Meuang Lao" which literally means "Lao Country." The French, who united the three separate Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in 1893, spelled it with a final silent "s," to signify the unity of multiple Lao kingdoms, hence "Laos". The Lao language itself has no final "s" sound, so Lao people pronounce it as in their native tongue though some, especially those living abroad, use the pronunciation ending in "s". |
I'm kinda curious how this is even a discussion. Do as the overseas Laotians do - say it with the 's' when speaking to Anglophones, drop it otherwise. The end. |
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Welsh Canadian
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 10:40 am Post subject: |
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| nukeday wrote: |
| The Gipkik wrote: |
Well, even Laos is anglicized from the Khmer script for the Laos language, so this discussion only leads to one point: Why did the transcription of Laos into English include the "s"? And here's the answer, by way of wiki:
In the Lao language, the country's name is "Meuang Lao" which literally means "Lao Country." The French, who united the three separate Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in 1893, spelled it with a final silent "s," to signify the unity of multiple Lao kingdoms, hence "Laos". The Lao language itself has no final "s" sound, so Lao people pronounce it as in their native tongue though some, especially those living abroad, use the pronunciation ending in "s". |
I'm kinda curious how this is even a discussion. Do as the overseas Laotians do - say it with the 's' when speaking to Anglophones, drop it otherwise. The end. |
A friend of mine made a good point about it. In Canada Jacques is said Jack. Spelt with an S but you don't sound it out. |
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lichtarbeiter
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 11:53 am Post subject: |
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In English, both pronunciations are fine. I pronounce the "s", but leaving it off is acceptable; we all know in English there are times where orthography and phonetics don't correspond. It just bothers me when people use John F. Kennedy's pronunciation: "lay-awss." 
I found most Lao and Thai people pronounce it sans [s] even when speaking English (although most of the Lao/Thai people I met spoke broken English). As someone mentioned, both Thai and Lao languages do not permit a syllable-final [s] sound, so this is an unnatural sound for them to make. It seems to be especially difficult for them when the syllable nucleus is bimoraic, meaning it has a long vowel or a dipthough. So the [au] dipthough makes it hard for them to pronounce the [s] in "Laos", just like it will be difficult for them to pronounce the final consonant in words like house, mice, base, etc. On the other hand, they are more likely to be able to pronounce the final [s] in words like "miss" and "mess."
As for going to Laos, I've been there once to a town on the Thai border where I went for a visa run. Even the border town was vastly different from Thailand (although the language the speak is mutually intelligible with Thai and is almost identical to northeastern Thai outside of some vocab differences). The town was pretty old and boring, but I kept busy for a day. And if you think Thai ladies have it for whitey, just wait until you come across Lao ladies. They don't even try to be discreet about it.  |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| lichtarbeiter wrote: |
| And if you think Thai ladies have it for whitey, just wait until you come across Lao ladies. They don't even try to be discreet about it. |
Wow, this is just completely false. Lao girls are way more conservative (most of them wear dresses/skirts that go below their knees), and until relatively recently it was illegal for locals to sleep with foreigners (still is actually, but is more relaxed now). There's hardly any prostitutes either compared to Thailand. It's possible to pick up girls in Vientiane at a few of the night clubs, but it's pretty slim pickings... There's really not many Lao girls that are interested in sleeping around with foreigners.
Btw, "Laotian" should not even be a word... everyone just says "Lao". (ex. he/she is Lao, speaks Lao, eats Lao food etc.). The only reason there's an 'S' is because the French (who held it as a colony) decided to randomly attach one onto their spelling. But they never pronounce it. |
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curiousaboutkorea
Joined: 21 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:05 am Post subject: |
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| visitorq wrote: |
| Btw, "Laotian" should not even be a word... everyone just says "Lao". (ex. he/she is Lao, speaks Lao, eats Lao food etc.). |
Lao refers to ethnicity. Laotian refers to country. Not everyone from Laos is Lao. There's minority groups, H'mong for example. They're not Lao, but they are Laotian. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| curiousaboutkorea wrote: |
| visitorq wrote: |
| Btw, "Laotian" should not even be a word... everyone just says "Lao". (ex. he/she is Lao, speaks Lao, eats Lao food etc.). |
Lao refers to ethnicity. Laotian refers to country. Not everyone from Laos is Lao. There's minority groups, H'mong for example. They're not Lao, but they are Laotian. |
Hm, I guess you make a fair point (never really considered it that way). However, the only time I've really heard Lao as an ethnicity is in Thailand (usually in a derogatory sense). I would still call Lao citizen (regardless of ethnicity) simply "Lao" though. But that's just me... |
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lichtarbeiter
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| visitorq wrote: |
| lichtarbeiter wrote: |
| And if you think Thai ladies have it for whitey, just wait until you come across Lao ladies. They don't even try to be discreet about it. |
Wow, this is just completely false. Lao girls are way more conservative (most of them wear dresses/skirts that go below their knees), and until relatively recently it was illegal for locals to sleep with foreigners (still is actually, but is more relaxed now). There's hardly any prostitutes either compared to Thailand. It's possible to pick up girls in Vientiane at a few of the night clubs, but it's pretty slim pickings... There's really not many Lao girls that are interested in sleeping around with foreigners. |
I wasn't talking about how horny they acted, nor was I making any reference to bargirls (I never went to a bar there). I was talking about walking down the street in the middle of the day and having more than half of the young Lao girls driving by on their motorbike look at me and smile and either giggle or shout hello (especially when there was more than one of them). Even the female immigration officer at the border smiled and made a comment on me being handsome. I found Thai girls to be sort of on that track, but usually more shy (excluding the girls in Pattaya who want your money). I can't talk about your experience in Laos, but mine apparently was nothing like yours. I saw a lot of girls wearing short clothing as well, although others were clearly dressed in a way that prevented themselves from getting tanned (which lots of Thai girls do also). |
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