Khmer And Issan Vs. Thai

[wanttoescape]

Can anyone tell me how much different are the khmer and issan languages/dialects from thai that is spoken in BKK? I am attempting (with very slow progress) to learn thai from a CD and books, but don't want to waste time if there are large differences as we plan to live in isaan (surin).

[BambinA]

Can anyone tell me how much different are the khmer and issan languages/dialects from thai that is spoken in BKK?

in my opinion , issaan is too difference from khmer (But Surin is closed to Cambodia, so some people there can speak khmer.

issaan language sounds not much difference from Lao

and people in BKK (if u mean people from central paret ofTH) they dont speak issaan ..except sombody who migrates here from north east of thailand

[jdinasia]

That being said ..... All Thais living around Isaan will be able to understand YOU if you speak Central Thai ...

<TV news etc etc etc are all in central Thai>

And Thai and Lao are both "Tai" languages so much of what you learn will be very useful! <sentence structure etc won't be very different ... some word variations etc will be there ... IF you understand Thai you won't have a hard time picking up Pasa pak isaan/lao as spoken around you!

Edited September 6, 2006 by jdinasia

[fxm88]

Can anyone tell me how much different are the khmer and issan languages/dialects from thai that is spoken in BKK? I am attempting (with very slow progress) to learn thai from a CD and books, but don't want to waste time if there are large differences as we plan to live in isaan (surin).

The Khmer (pronounced "Khmen" in Thai) language as spoken in Surin is very different from Thai but is also different from the laguange spoken in Cambodia. Older country folks might only be able to speak this language, but everyone else should be able to speak Thai. They may not be able to speak the language of Cambodia, but if you're only going to be staying in that area you may have an easier time learning some Khmer from a CD (e.g. no tones) and then adjusting it to the local dialect when you arrive.

[wanttoescape]

Thanks all, very helpful. I will continue with my Thai lessons and then adjust to the local dialect when we get there.

[bergen]

Hi

I live near the Cambodian border in Ubon Province. Most people in our village speak thai/Isaan.

Many of the villages in this area have a Khmen population, and Khmen temples.

Now I'm building a swimmingpool, the workers come from such a village, they all speak khmen to each other, and it sounds like they are from another planet.

[cnxpat]

Hi

I live near the Cambodian border in Ubon Province. Most people in our village speak thai/Isaan.

Many of the villages in this area have a Khmen population, and Khmen temples.

Now I'm building a swimmingpool, the workers come from such a village, they all speak khmen to each other, and it sounds like they are from another planet.

I agree, kmer/khmen is NOT a dialect, it is a totally different language. Focus on Thai as they will understand you!

[phibunmike]

That being said ..... All Thais living around Isaan will be able to understand YOU if you speak Central Thai ...

I must be doing something wrong then

I find kids understand me, but not the older folk... but they smile anyway

[macb]

Spoken Thai has five tone levels.

Khmer does not but is a more gutteral languge

macb

[raslin]

A lot depends on where you home will be.

There are about 200,000 people in southern Surin and Buriram provinces whose first language is Thai/Khmer which, as had been said is a bit different from proper Cambodian and quite different from Thai. Many old people are not too good at Thai but children have been growing up bi-lingual once the schools had to teach using Thai.

Other parts of Isaan use a Thai dialect of Lao so it's best to stick with real Thai so most people and government officials will understand you.

A really positive thought is that English only has 26 letters.

Good luck!

[old wanderer]

My wife comes from a small village 30Km outside of Surin, everybody speaks Thai and Lao, 70% speak Khmer, but 100% also speak Kui.....(or Suay as the Thais call it). I can do Ok in Thai and Lao, but when they want to tune me out off they go in Kui....They also have some people in Cambodia that speak this language.

My wife told me that when ever they spoke Kui in school the teacher would fine them 1 baht.

Edited December 24, 2006 by old wanderer

[meadish_sweetball]

Thai and Lao are from the same language family, and the polite Vientiane dialect of Lao is mutually intelligible with Thai after some adjustments and realizations.

Isaan mainly consists of provinces where the population spoke a language more closely related to Lao than to Thai. Some of the people living in Isaan call themselves and the language they speak "Lao" as well.

Surin borders on Cambodia and so has a Khmer speaking minority.

Khmer is structurally and verbally quite different from Thai and Lao. There are Khmer loan words in Thai, but with a few common exceptions like "truat" and "tamruat" (inspect/police) they mainly concern functions of state and royalty. (When the Tai peoples migrated down into the South East Asian river valleys from the North, The Khmer Empire controlled much of present-day Thailand and Laos, and also parts of present-day Myanmar.)

As somebody said above, Khmer is not a tonal language like Thai and Lao. It has a special feature called "register" though, which means that in some cases, the same word can be pronounced with a different "quality" of voice (not pitch or pitch curve as in tonal languages) to mean different things. These voice qualities are sometimes referred to as "airy" and "compressed".

You'll be able to make yourself understood to a reasonable degree with Central Thai, but you will not understand much of the locals at first - learning Thai does not help you learn any Khmer. It does prepare you for learning the 'lao' spoken in Isaan though - only the tones are different, and they use some unique vocabulary, plus some words that mean one thing in Central Thai, will have a slightly different meaning in Isaan/Lao.