I was talking to my second sister the other day about Lao, as in the country of Lao, but yet it’s spelled Laos, and my second sister said that it has been like that as long as she could remember.
Since the country was once colonized by the French, I suspected that the French misspelled it and we got stuck with the spelling of Laos instead of Lao like its pronunciation, and in Laos, it’s known as Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao to the local, or Lao People’s Democratic Republic, but she insisted that if the French pronounced Lao as in La-ous, then that must be the proper way to pronounce the country’s name. I totally disagreed with her on this one, the correct way to pronounce something is according to how the native pronounce it, not by someone that just came in and pronounced it like how they feel.
My dad heard our discussion, he said “we are the one that gave ourselves the name La-ous, it’s from the Luang Prabang accent, they just spelled it like the way they heard us saying it, La-ous, so they spelled Laos.” We looked at each other and started to laugh, makes perfect sense now, the Luang Prabang do have a strong accent [Correction 6/26/09, confirmed by AnuShawn that the Luang Prabang also pronounce Lao, but with a slightly different accent, and not La-ous], but is it really pronounced La-ous with the Luang Prabang accent I wonder? So La-ous must be the French pronunciation then. This must be like a rose, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, what matters is what something is, not what it is called. Lao, Laos, or La-ous is still Muang Lao to us.
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June 23, 2009 at 4:14 pm
seeharhed
Perhaps, the French had little too much of wine when they trying to come up with the name. hahahha
June 23, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Nye
seeharhed, perhaps. I’ve not heard the Luang Prabang pronounce the word ‘Laos’ and would like to know if it sounds like ‘La-ous’ as my dad had mentioned.
June 24, 2009 at 12:55 am
lady0fdarkness
When I speak Lao, and is referring to Lao people, I just say “Khone Lao.” And when I speak Lao, referring to the country, I say “Muang Lao.”
I use the word “Laos” when I speak English, referring to the country.
For some reason, the word “Laotian” doesn’t sound right to me. I especially dislike it when some people pronounce it “Lay-o-tian” or “Lee-o-tian.”
My boyfriend who is raised in Wisconsin who is also Lao, likes to prounounce it Lee-o-tian—-it gets on my nerves!!! but I guess people have their way of saying things. As long as it’s not derogatory, then I’m okay with it.
June 24, 2009 at 10:48 am
seeharhed
this is how i say it….. “loud-ocean” hahhahahha
June 24, 2009 at 11:08 am
Nye
lady0fdarkness and seeharhed, I called it La-o-tian, but my dad calls it Lao-tian which sounds more correct hearing it, just like Mar-tian, he pronounced it like it’s spelled and not breaking it up more than necessary, and we are Lao as in country and people, and the tian only defines the people a bit more, so I think it should be pronounced as Lao-tian now after hearing my dad said it.
June 25, 2009 at 4:15 am
Lila
Hi Nye,
You have a nice blog here.
My family is from southern Laos. But I have an aunt is from Luang Prabang. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to understand her accent. But I don’t think she ever pronounce Laos with the “s”.
The version I’ve heard is that when the French saw that Laos was so disfranchised. This was due to it’s many different leaders. The people of Laos was also separated by 3 different regions. The North, South, and finally central capital area of Vientiane. So the French decided to call it “Laos” as a way to unite the country.
But I do like the theory that they got drunk with too much wine. Another thing, they did try growing grapes, but was unsuccessful due to the tropical climate.
June 25, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Nye
Hi Lila, thanks. It sounds to me like they should have asked us Lao Southerner, then we’d have told them that it’s Lao Der.
My dad thought that it was the Luang Prabang people that told them the name because the last king of the Kingdom of Laos (Pre 1975) was King Sisavang Vatthana, and he was from Luang Prabang and it might have been the Kingdom of La-ous back then also. I see the French spelled Laotian as Laotienne, must also pronounced as Lao-tienne then.
June 26, 2009 at 2:59 am
ArnuShawn
Hello Nye,
I have not heard the pronunciation like that for a long long time. I remember long ago some kid used to tell me how easy it is to speak French, all you have to do is just add ous to the end of each Laotian word, and I thought I could speak French back then. In anyhow, we don’t pronounce La-ous for Laos. We simply say Lao just the same way you do with slightly different tone of voice. Remember Lao Folktales – Nang Sangkaan video and how Mr. Akkasith said it? He is much more authentic Luang Prabang than me.
Shawn
June 26, 2009 at 6:52 am
Nye
Hi Shawn, I thought you’d confirm it for me.
I guess non of the Lao speak like that, I need to tell my dad, and he said he heard one Luang Prabang person pronounced it that way, but I bet the person was pronouncing it like the French. I know the Chinese called Lao people Leal Gork, I grew up in NYC and my sister used to work in Chinatown and that’s what they called her.
Thanks for commenting to clarify this for me.
September 17, 2009 at 2:55 am
Jack
Hi All,
Lao refers to the LANGUAGE
Lao refers to PEOPLE
Muang Lao refers to Laos (as a country)
Whereas:
LAOTIAN is an adjectival from of the above nouns. For example:
We do it the laotian way,
The laotian frontiers, etc….
Laos, is or was known as Lao PDR
So, is a LAO woman, Lao food, LAO drink, etc…..
Get back to me if you need more info.
September 17, 2009 at 3:02 am
Nye
Jack, thanks, point taken.
But you never did answer the question in the post, how the pronunciation came about?
September 17, 2009 at 11:47 am
seeharhed
LMAO!!! get back to me if you need more info.. hahahahha ok mr. professor hahah
if I may… I like to correct mr. professor..
muang = town or city… for example, muang vientaine, muang pakse, and etc..
pa thate lao = refers to Laos (as a country)
i might be wrong… what do i know, i only finish 8 grade worth of schooling in laos.
September 17, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Nye
seeharhed, I guess Jack thinks that Laos is so small and that’s why he called Laos as Muang Lao, which means Lao city or city of Lao.
It’s no biggie, I’m Lao and write a Lao blog, I should know all these terms by heart but I find the comment amusing also. Your 8th grade education in Laos is better than mine, Zero! Although I almost completed the 4th grade in Thailand.
September 17, 2009 at 1:27 pm
seeharhed
Nye, I need to write and read more of lao language, so I won’t forget it. Speaking of blog, I’m getting really close to launch my rants.. hahahah I actually singed up, if you can believe that:-). I have to work in setting up the page and think of how to introduce myself.. hahahah It is too much work!!
September 17, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Nye
seeharhed, that’s one thing about a language, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
Wow, congrats on signing up, let me know when you’re ready to launch See’s Rant.