How would one say

Me?
Star?
Close the door?
Get me drink please?
Her?-----\
She?
---------------> Like she or he did it?
Him?
He?-------/
I would be glad if some one can tell me how to say those words?

I suppose you meant in Lao:

Me? it depends on the person you address yourself to and can be: khoi (to general people), hao (to both friends or older people), koo (to close friends in an impolite but friendly way), etc. Furthermore, in a Lao discussion, you can avoid using "me" in a sentence when you talk to someone.

Star? Dao

Close the door? Utt Patoo

Get me drink please? are you asking your friend to order a drink for you, or are you requesting a drink from a waiter? and what kind of drink? there are different ways of requesting for a drink (water, pepsi, beer, etc). To a waiter you may say: khor naam deum (drinking water) dair der! khor pepsi jork neung (a glass of pepsi) dair der? etc..

Her?-----\
She?
---------------> Like she or he did it?
Him?
He?-------/

In Lao, when you refer to a third person (he, him, she, her), you can use the same word for both genders, but the difference occurs depending on who you refer to, i.e. for friends and relatives you can use: loau, pern; or for your close friends or younger brother/sister in a familiar manner, you can use: mun; or literally (although impolitely) you can use: ee (for a girl), or buck (for a bay) before the name of the person you refer to. In a more polite way, you can place the expression like: aie (brother), euay (sister), naang (for a girl), thao (for a boy), páh (aunt), loong (uncle), por-tuh (grandpa), mair-tuh (grandma), etc before the name of the third person you refer to.

Oh wow thanks a lot. That really helped me. One more thing how would you say

"I am a star"

"Khoi am a Dao"-----> am I close,lol?

khoi pein dao yai= i'm a big super star lolz!!!

If you talk about a movie star or something famous, that would be "dara" (or dah laa) rather than dao. Khoi pen dara or dah laa.

in Lao you would say koy pen da la (am a movie star or entertainer) or da la dung(famous).

NOT dara.

Some older generation Lao folks still say "dara", but modern Laotians say "dala".

Don't forget about "Khanoi".

Yep, I forgot Khanoi when one addresses to older or superior people.

"dara" slowly disappears since the new regime arrived, i.e. among the younger Lao generation, at the expense of "da la". However, in the north like Muang Luang, "dara" never really disappears, and Lao people begin to re-use "dara" again along with "da la".

If one looks at the list of Lao names, there are so many of them with "dara" in it:

Chanthadara
Darasinh
Daravong
Keodara
Sonedara
Soundara
Vongdara
Thepdara
Etc.

Making easier for everyone is a trench, just like the word "blogs" for short for Web Logs.

how old we talkin 'bout? im in my mid 30 and have never heard "dara" but "dala" and of course im from the south, however, the wife is from vte(new generation) and never use "dara".
late grandmother who lived to be 94 never utter "dara" or anything with an "r" rather "l".

maybe the older generation being under siamese for so long says "dara"? anyways not trying to start another history debate.

123

When Pathet Laos took over in 1975, they get rid R sounds, and replace with L instead.

123:

The "r' is still used by a proportion of Lao people. The fact that you haven't heard its use among your friends and relatives doesn't mean it is not used. The names and words with "r" are very ancient and can be found in the names of old Lao kings and queens before the name Siamese even existed. They were frequent in pre-1975 era. Look at all those Lao names with "r in them. It's ridiculous to call someone Keodala, Dalasinh, or Chounlamonty when in fact their written names are Keodara, Darasinh, or Chounlamontry.

The names and words with R and L are part of the richness of Lao languages. Many of them are found in both Khmer and Thai. But it's absolutely inaccurate to assume they must have been originated under Siamese influence. It's the current regime that discourages the use of "r", which I find to be absolutely silly.

not debating on how it is written(i cannot read Lao) im talkin about spoken language. i think the pdr have nothing to do with and i'd would also like to think that i've been to many part of Laos more than you have, it is what my ears are hearing.

I agree. People need to stop assuming that anything related to Sanskrit or Pali was the result of our interactions with the Siamese. The Siamese DID NOT invent the Indian language nor did Khmer people. Indian language is Indian language. The new Lao regime decided to take out the R sound from our Indian loan words and replaced it with the L sound, which had nothing to do with the Siamese.

Some Northern Laotians still pronounce the R sound especially in "Dara", but MOST modern Laotians pronounce it as "Dala". It's really up to us to decide how we want to pronounce any loan word. For example, the English word "concert" is pronounced by Laotians and Thais as "khon-seuht"...<-- what happened to the R sound in conceRt??? and the Thais pronounce TV Show ("TeeVee Show") as "TeeWee Chow", changing the V and the Sh to W and CH, respectively. Whether an older person likes or dislikes the R or L sound is irrelevant because it's really up to the new generation to decide how they want to pronounce words in the Lao language. If the younger generation would like to bring back the R sound, then fine. However, it seems that we still prefer the L sound over the R sound.



Yes, some older Lao people still pronounce the R sound in spoken language. The R sound in words like Dara sounds weird and archaic to most of us because modern Laotians are so used to hearing the L sound. Even the English language has changed over time. Some consonant sounds had been removed or merged into a single consonant sound which resulted in our current modern English.

Yes, the writings are important because they are the reflection of how our people not only wrote/write but also spoke/speak at each specific time period from past to present. While people passed away, their writings can remain intact enough for us to study about our written and spoken Lao at that time.

Yes, the current regime has something to do with the current written/spoken Lao. And yes, the "r" disappears from the present written Lao and, as a consequence, slowly disappears from spoken Lao as well, to the point that some people now end-up thinking it looks rather Siamese to use "r". Nevertheless, some people still call someone Dara rather than Dala because her name is written Dara, or someone Voradeth rather than Voladeth because his name is written Voradeth.

Look at the links below that were posted by HariNakornY and other members previously, that show a gradual change of written Lao from 1924 until pre-1975 to currently. The "r" was used frequently before 1975:

In 1924:
http://www.harryafranck.com/graphics/Easto...n_elephants.jpg

After-1975 (the first 16 posts of the thread) and post-1975 (post# 17 by Andre and post#18 my comment):
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?...160795&st=0

im not assuming who made the script or where it came from and it is the least of my interest. i dont care.

Lao-american dont say dara -unless you guys do but i dont.
Lao in Laos don't say dara -then again you wouldn't know cuz you've never been there.

i've been around tai pakse, tai vieng, tai luangprabang here in the US! and they dont say dara.

who cares if pdr made changes i don't live there it does not influence how i speak my native language.

123:

It's OK, if you don't care. Don't take it too personally.
By the way, I have been back to Laos several times since the mid-1990s, most of my family relatives still live there mostly in Vientiane. I traveled as well from the northern part (Muang Luang and surrounding northern regions) down to southern Laos from Thakhaek to Savannakhet where my sister-in-law families still live, down to Pakse and the waterfalls.

The reason I cared to reply to your message is just to let you know that "r" is still used by Lao people, because I know people who still use it, although less frequently so, and to express my opinion regarding your comment that the use of "r" might be due merely to Siamese influence.

Some Lao people still do, while most no longer, use the "r", as shown in the link below during presentations at the first conference on Lao studies a few years back.

In the link, in the second video, Vannasone Keodara pronounced her name as "Keodara" (at 0:24 min), while the lady invited from Laos named Dara Kanlaya introduced herself as Dala Kanlaya (at 2:27 min). It's a matter of choice.

Take it easy!

http://saolao.net/tag/vannasone-keodara/

not a bit man.