I Know Someone Who Speaks Lao, Cambodian And Thai

[wasabi]

I am friends with a girl from ศรีสะเกษ who can speak Lao, Cambodian and Thai. This is purely from her upbringing and not from any formal language classes in school. I thought ภาษาอีสาน was primarily a variant of Lao with some regions speaking Cambodian, and another dialect in Korat unrelated to either. But why would someone from Sisaket be able to speak Lao and Cambodian rather than one or the other. Is this common? Does anyone know the general geographic breakdown of Isaan and the language which most closely reflects their dialect. I know two other girls from Roi-et and Khon Gaen and they both understand Lao but not Cambodian. However my main question is why does she know two dialects.

[In the Rai!]

I am friends with a girl from ศรีสะเกษ who can speak Lao, Cambodian and Thai. This is purely from her upbringing and not from any formal language classes in school. I thought ภาษาอีสาน was primarily a variant of Lao with some regions speaking Cambodian, and another dialect in Korat unrelated to either. But why would someone from Sisaket be able to speak Lao and Cambodian rather than one or the other. Is this common? Does anyone know the general geographic breakdown of Isaan and the language which most closely reflects their dialect. I know two other girls from Roi-et and Khon Gaen and they both understand Lao but not Cambodian. However my main question is why does she know two dialects.

Hey Wasabi,

How well do you know the girl? I presume you know enough to know the answers to the simple questions such as:

Does she have a mother with a Loas background and a father with a Cambodian background or vice versa?

Has she lived in ศรีสะเกษ her whole life or has she moved around อีสาน. Maybe she has spent alot of time near both borders at some point? I am guessing and I am no expert on อีสาน unfortunately but I would guess tha it has to do with either of the 2 things I stated above.

1. Her family background

or

2. She has spent time near both borders.

or

3. both of the above.

clever girl though

ITR

[meadish_sweetball]

I guess you only have her own assessment for this - some people exaggerate their own ability or just have a different understanding of what "to speak a language" means. Is it just to be able to make oneself understood in the most basic way, or would it also include being able to successfully pull off a speech in that language...

It is fully possible she is proficient in speaking all three though. Perhaps one of her childhood friends was from a Cambodian family and she spent so much time with them that she learned to speak Khmer - perhaps her mother or father is of Khmer heritage - or a grandparent.

She would get the local Isaan dialect from people around her, and this dialect as a variation of Lao would enable her to understand other varieties of Lao spoken on the other side of the border. Thai she would get from school (if any?), music and TV as well as contacts or work outside of Isaan.

[wasabi]

I am good friends with this girl so I could find out anything needed to solve this mystery I just haven't really known what to ask. Since I don't speak any Lao or Cambodian it's hard for me to measure her proficiency, I can recognize the Lao language by sound and I've seen her speaking conversationally with girls who I know are proficient in Lao. When together in Phuket she was able to understand the dialect of the speakers there, which I assume is a Cambodian variant? It definitely was not Lao.

*** I just called her, she said it's common in Sisaket and she's not unique. I wish I could speak Cambodian, Lao and Thai.

Edited January 17, 2007 by wasabi

[In the Rai!]

*** I just called her, she said it's common in Sisaket and she's not unique. I wish I could speak Cambodian, Lao and Thai.

That makes 2 of us

[grtaylor]

I am good friends with this girl so I could find out anything needed to solve this mystery I just haven't really known what to ask. Since I don't speak any Lao or Cambodian it's hard for me to measure her proficiency, I can recognize the Lao language by sound and I've seen her speaking conversationally with girls who I know are proficient in Lao. When together in Phuket she was able to understand the dialect of the speakers there, which I assume is a Cambodian variant? It definitely was not Lao.

*** I just called her, she said it's common in Sisaket and she's not unique. I wish I could speak Cambodian, Lao and Thai.

Why would you assume that they speak a dialect of Cambodian in Phuket?

G

[chuchok]

my wife knows a bird that comes from Sa Kaeo close to the Cambodian border.She speaks Khmer,Isaan and Thai.

What's the big deal?

[onebir]

my wife knows a bird that comes from Sa Kaeo close to the Cambodian border.She speaks Khmer,Isaan and Thai.

I don't speak Thai, but to quote someone who's apparently been speaking it for 30 something years: "Thai seems to be the best introductory language to Southeast Asia, for with a foundation in Thai, Lao and Khmer are very easily learned in "self-taught" mode."

(see review here: http://www.amazon.com/cassettes-Multilingu...F8&s=books)

Chinese people pick up other dialects of chinese relatively quickly if the environment's right (ie family or colleagues use them all the time). I suspect the SEAsian languages mentioned above are about as 'close' as different dialects of Chinese, and so good knowledge of one goes a long way helping someone learn another.

[Briggsy]

Almost all Thais will claim to be able to understand Laos. When tested under objective conditions, their understanding is almost always a lot lower than they claimed unless they are comfortable speaking the Isaan dialect. I've conducted testing!

Many Bangkokian's method of understanding spoken Laos is to listen and then politely ask แปลว่าอะไร and await the Thai translation. Of course many of the words are the same but many are not and one or two misunderstood words may cause the listener to completely miss the meaning.

So what is my point here? One needs to investigate further when people claim to speak a language. Also the dialects of Lao and Khmer that it is entirely possible your friend is fluent in may not be the "standard" dialects used by the governments and taught in schools of the two countries.

My girlfriend comes from Nakhon Phanom and obviously speaks the Isaan dialect of Nakhon Phanom. She was caught out many times when we travelled in Laos as the languages are not identical.

Still, it's pretty cool to have 3 dialects/languages up your sleeve.

Edited January 18, 2007 by Briggsy

[roamer]

Seems to be a few doubters here, thought I would ask my wife who I know through our travels converses easily and fluently in Lao & Khmer and of course her native language Thai. She also comes from Sisakat, from a village near Khukan. She explained it as follows, in her village they speak Khmer, in the next village (about 1Km) they speak Lao, you grow up learning both those languages and of course Thai as the language used in school. Interestingly enough, the Lao dialect in the neighbouring village turned out to be almost exactly as spoken in Laos. Whereas the Khmer from her own village had a"purity" that she put at 60/40, but within a space of a week or so this was very quickly converted to a more or less complete understanding of the language.

I think when someone from that region claims to speak all three languages you will often find even when their knowledge of the other dialects is more limited than my wifes, it will still be better than the French I claim to speak and gained an "A" level in !!

Clever little buggers....

[Macra12]

after 22 years with a cambodian wife , who was a refugee to united states in 1979, its very easy to explain in most cases, most of thai isan are farmers, the IsanLaos form of language is differant from tribe to tribe, small differances, the individual could be lao yaw, or lao isan, or lao veintiane, many backgrounds, from differant regions of isan. my wifes family is actually thai isan, they crossed into cambodia during the 1950s to farm land, approximately 20 to 30 klicks across the border at that time. my wife and siblings were born in cambodia, the household spoke laos, or thai isan, some relitives actually married cambodian men, or woman. if a woman married a cambodian man, that households family spoke prodominately cambodian, and likewise if married thai/isan man. most of my wifes family, cousins, aunts and uncles all speak laos/cambodian/ and of course thai since it is taught in schools. during the khmer rouge rigime took power in cambodia, many families fled to thailand to escape, my wife came into thailand speaking thai, and Laos fluently, they were placed in cambodian refugee camps, and learned to speak cambodian fluently being with khmer nationals. many thaiisan / cambodians are still in thailand, living mostly along, or near cambodian border. most of my wifes family that are still in thailand live outside of aranyaprathet near the large cambodian border market and continue to speak all 3 languages. there are large numbers of cambodians, that speak thai and laos also living near the borders. we can not measure the degree of fluency from a harvard collage level, but they are very proficient and communicate in all 3 languages quite well without a high degree of schooling ( they are uneducated farmers). of course, as younger generations merge, they are speaking mostly thai now, and moving into places like Bangkok looking for the money... needs to speaks thai, and english...

the Macra12

[Macra12]

same problem i have with my kids being ลูกครึ่ง, and growing up in the states....., they all speak english ....... which I guess concludes, that unfortunately, we are products of our environments.....

Edited January 20, 2007 by Macra12

[Rinnam]

In terms of geography, i didn't expect that there will be a Khmer village around Srisaket but Laotian is possible. I think perhaps only local ppl around there can explain how Khmer ppl moved to Srisaket. Otherwise you have to ask those provincial/city hall officials in Srisaket. Maybe they know their province's history.

Like in BKK, we have Mon มอญ area (a tribe from Myanmar) so ppl around there can speak Mon.

Environment does matter.

BTW, I agree with Briggsy about how well Thai ppl understands Laotian. I also think that Isan is pretty different from Central Laotian too. However, if you can speak Isan fluently, you are likely to understand formal Laotian better than ppl who can speak only Central-accent Thai. I had a Laotian exchange student friend in university and I found that Laotian differs from Thai much more than i thought.

[Tarragona]

It is not at all uncommon for people to be bilingual or multilingual. It generally just comes as a surprise to those of us who are native English speakers.

There are many Isaan people, especially in the lower Isaan border regions that have different dialects. It's not a question of Khmer people having moved there recently. The spread of people and languages goes way back historically. Movements were often forced as victors in war moved whole communities back with them. An Isaan native who says they speak Lao and Cambodian might use dialects that are different from any that can actually be found in Laos or Cambodia.

There used to be a young lad who delivered food from the local foodshop who was either from Ubon or Srisaket. His primary dialect was Suay (not sure if that is a Khmer dialect?) from home and village, but he was also comfortable with an Isaan Lao/Thai dialect (however you would like to describe it), from the village and surrounding areas, and was most awkward in mainstream Thai.

Edited January 27, 2007 by Tarragona

[old wanderer]

My wife comes from an ethnic Suay village near Sukoraphum (Near Surin and about 2 hours west of Sisaket).

As we drive to her village there are many villages in the areal that are full of Khmer signs, nothing in Thai. My Father-in-law spoke Suay, Thai, Lao, and Khmer. My wife never learned Khmer, but used to tell me that when she would speak Suay at schook, they would fine her 1 baht...She became fluent in Lao when she owned a sewing company in BKK. Most of the girls that worked for her were Lao. They nearest Khmer village is only 2Km away from her Suay village....

One of the favorite musics in Issan in Moolum...over 50% of the songs are in Lao..

When we go home, it is sort of nice to here how easy these people move from language to language...for sure when they want to tune me out they just speak Suay, and I've not gotten past th greetings in this language yet.

[samran]

I was on K.Samet once and one of the grandmothers who sat in one of the general stores there was speaking to her daughter in what to my ear sounded like Khmer. The daughter replied to her in thai though. Anyone know if it is actually spoken there?

[MiG16]

i know someone whos native is laotian, have heard her speak thai (self taught while studying an english language degree course in thailand), and Id say shes fluent......heard her have a pleasant chat to the locals in khmer, and they had a proper conversation so she must be quite fluent in that too (from living there 3 years), plus her english is good, and she speaks french. cant say how good her french is, but guessing from her other 4 language skills (3 learnt in short period of time) Id guess her french is pretty good too....

so yeh Im definitely impressed by her

[roamer]

i know someone whos native is laotian, have heard her speak thai (self taught while studying an english language degree course in thailand), and Id say shes fluent......heard her have a pleasant chat to the locals in khmer, and they had a proper conversation so she must be quite fluent in that too (from living there 3 years), plus her english is good, and she speaks french. cant say how good her french is, but guessing from her other 4 language skills (3 learnt in short period of time) Id guess her french is pretty good too....

so yeh Im definitely impressed by her

well as a Gooner surely your impressed by anyone who can string together words of more than 2 syllables in any language ? :D :D

[Johpa]

Pardon me, but why would anyone find a multilingual Thai-Lao-Khmer speaker from a Thai province in Isaan, Sisaket, that shares a border with Cambodia, to be unusual at all? I would expect that it would be the norm in many villages of that province with Khmer being a mother tongue, Isaan being the native tongue, and Central Thai being the official government language used in the media and in the schools.

I have found that bi-lingualism and mutil-lingualism to be the norm in many Thai border provinces if not the norm everywhere outside of North America and certain island states.

[meadish_sweetball]

The only thing I doubted, or was curious about, is the actual proficiency (the old chestnut 'fluent')... not the fact that a person can communicate to a reasonable level in 3 languages, which is definitely not unusual just like you say.

[MiG16]

well as a Gooner surely your impressed by anyone who can string together words of more than 2 syllables in any language ? :D :D

OI Roamer!!! grrrrrrrrrrrr

shall we take this outside or how about on the pitch

[wasabi]

Pardon me, but why would anyone find a multilingual Thai-Lao-Khmer speaker from a Thai province in Isaan, Sisaket, that shares a border with Cambodia, to be unusual at all? I would expect that it would be the norm in many villages of that province with Khmer being a mother tongue, Isaan being the native tongue, and Central Thai being the official government language used in the media and in the schools.

I have found that bi-lingualism and mutil-lingualism to be the norm in many Thai border provinces if not the norm everywhere outside of North America and certain island states.

What I had thought was uncommon was speaking Lao Cambodian and Thai proficiently. I realize countries bordering Laos or Cambodia are likely to have citizens who speak either dialect but I hadn't previously heard of someone speaking more than one.

[Johpa]

Pardon me, but why would anyone find a multilingual Thai-Lao-Khmer speaker from a Thai province in Isaan, Sisaket, that shares a border with Cambodia, to be unusual at all? I would expect that it would be the norm in many villages of that province with Khmer being a mother tongue, Isaan being the native tongue, and Central Thai being the official government language used in the media and in the schools.

I have found that bi-lingualism and mutil-lingualism to be the norm in many Thai border provinces if not the norm everywhere outside of North America and certain island states.

What I had thought was uncommon was speaking Lao Cambodian and Thai proficiently. I realize countries bordering Laos or Cambodia are likely to have citizens who speak either dialect but I hadn't previously heard of someone speaking more than one.

I can remember once sitting at a venerable outdoor drinking establishment in Bangkok with three younger lads who flew various small aircraft for the US government. The women serving the drinks were surprised to find three Farangs intercepting their conversations in Thai or Lao, and so they switched to Khmer. Alas, to their chagrin, one of the young pilots also spoke a bit of Khmer. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

I should note that I can't comment upon what level of proficiency had been achieved, only that everyone was certainly conversationally proficient in the languages they opted to speak. What wanted to point out was that in the border provinces around Sisaket, there are large groups of irredentist Khmer populations and so there are many fully functional bilinguals and trilinguals in that region.