I believe that the Hmong language that we speak right now is not pure Hmong. It has change and is mix with the Laos and Thai language. And now its mix with English. We are loosing are Hmong language. I guess the only people that do speak pure Hmong, is the Hmongs in deep jungles in IndoChina and southern China.

too true....i barely can speak hmong cleary anymore without a
studdering accent

i feel you! i haven't lost mine yet! imma preserve it to the end yah!

I've always wondered that....What does TRUE Hmong sound like? Is it like the Hmong-Chinese? Or is it like Green/Stripe Hmong?....

Because I know my language (White Hmong) evolved when the Hmong came to SouthEast Asia.....and Green Hmong were the original from China.....that's why White Hmong sounds kinda like Lao or Thai sometimes when u hear a group of dudes chatting and joking and stuff.....

Listen to the Hmong Americans (The ones that can speak Hmong good that is)compared to the newly arrived refugees and all the ones still in Thailand.....the difference is very noticeable too.....

It has to do with dominance...the more the group is the better/more people will follow your suit. Language changes over time...just like green and white, if the green were to outnumber the whites, we would be speaking more green wouldn't we?

The originality of our pure language is lost. Because we don't have a recording system like the rest of other groups of people in the world. One example of that is English, is there such a thing as pure english? No, english evolve over time too by combining the surrounding groups' or countries'language. Borrowing words from others to enrich one's own. There will be no stop to language evolving. The best thing to do is to record them so future generations know what's like to communicate in the past.

hmm..the hmong true hmong dialect has have the chinese accent some sort u know.. don't worry, we'll find out soon when the time has come...

Actually a broader question would be "Are we losing our CULTURE?"

it's hard to expect to continue a certain culture as is living in a different country...especially one that is totally culturally different.

but if hmongs in ancestral lands are losing their culture, now that is something...

Chinese and hmong culture does go together but with globalization at full throutle. Who know's what ideas will replace their culture, I mean those that are living in their native land with the chinese expansion. Bringing modernization to those rural areas. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing. It's expected to happen for the better of the people. Because chinese and hmong tradition are alike and still are alive and well. And because there is no longer a true or pure hmong culture it's both chinese and hmong.

we havent been here long and we're already losing it. yes i agree with all of you!

we are all loosing it... but the thing is... we didnt live in thailand/laos/wherever long enough to learn and understand every single word... it's because we moved to the US... and the words that we want to say, we dont know the word in hmong... so we say it in english... but at least we still have our hmong... so dont ever forget it ppl!!!

We are losing our language, the hmong that was born in American, some can't even speak Hmong. So to all you parents that are having kids now, TEACH YOUR KIDS TO SPEAK HMONG. They can always learn english in school.

Yeah, we'll soon have to learn Spanish now too

That's gay.....

You must live in Cali....

No, I'm from Minnesota

Hm...I think that we are kind of loosing our language....

i think we are losing it....my two younger bros only speak english, and i have to mix language while i'm talking to the OGs' or when i feel like talking in hmoob....but i'm learning and i hope someday all hmoob kids learn how to speak hmong perfectly..not just a diff. language or mixing words.

I studder when I speak Hmong. I can't speak it when I'm put on the spotlight, I have to think up what I have to say. But anyway, I speak english at home to my parents. My mom speaks Hmong and fobby english(lol) at my siblings and me and my dad mostly speaks english to us, but at times he speaks Hmong.

yes i know what you mean

English is not the dominant language in the U.S it's Spanish but yeah i agree. it would totally suuck if our language slowly disappear. the generation younger than me might no will have an harder time learning hmong if their future parents can't teach them.

it totally suucks cause i'm green hmong and alot of my green hmong cousins either don't know how to speak hmong at all or speak white hmong

mann...i feel all of ya'll...living in the U.S. has changed the way how we younger generations speak...we be having hmoob slangs...and we be talkin in hmonglish...cause HMOOB has a very limited vocabulary...ya'll know that right? we just use hella words to decribe one thing...say...for example...incarcerate...mag kaw qhov taub los sis nkuaj...so basically when we translate some words...we're translating the definition...anyhow...yeah...i speak in HMOOB all the time to my new friends that i made in Sac...and they laugh at me sayin that i'm so HMOOB and all...but i didn't care...i got them to speak more HMOOB now...of course...i'm proud to be who i am! it's koolios though...but there's just one thing i hate...that's a habit...i keep on talkin in Hmonglish! I can't help it! and i keep on using slangs...like...sab lawg...ya lawg...everything ends with lawg...ahaha...anyhow...i want to learn more HMOOB vocabs...i should...imma go get myself a HMOOB dictionary and read the whole thing...seems like torture or a punishment...but i'm sure it'll be so AWESOME:D don't you think? mann...i'm all off topic...so i should quit!

I can use one of those dictionaries too.

I think we are losing our languge. My baby sister, the youngest one in the family, she's only 13 and she doesn't really speak Hmong. She understands but, sometimes she doesn't. It's fun to play monopoly with her and when it's her turn to pay up we tell her in Hmong that she has to pay up "Xya caum tsib" (75), she would ask, "How much is that?" And we'd tell her in English it's 300. F!@#ed up? yea i know. But the point of this story is that the younger generation is losing their own language, our Hmong language, and we gotta help them out before someone mess with them. That's not the only reason, we just gotta help them help us keep the Hmong language and culture alive.

Yep...I can see that happening in almost all hmong family. Sad thing is some family actually encourage that.

Hmong doesnt have a country. Thats why Hmong culture slowly fade away.

I was just speaking to my cousin in Hmong..

Well, I think Hmong culture are too weak so they got their @$$ kicked out from their own country. I felt sad too.

oh man... it makes me want to speak hmong clearly now... i mean i do speak it but i add in mixtures of english along with it as well... and it sounds werid... now i really want to speak pure hmong...

We just need to make hmong language an academic than hmong people will have nothing to loose.

it's not too late...hang around those who speak fluently in Hmoob...or the old folks...listen to them...and yah...i'm trying to speak pure Hmoob too...but it ain't workin much...i just tend to add some english words in there...and i keep on making english words into hmoob words...and so on...but yah...it's not too late...if you truly have the heart to want to speak pure hmoob...you can do it! I'll CHEER for you too

There's no such thing as pure hmong, pure english, pure chinese and whatever might the language be...it has change after every generation. You might be interested in body language or gestures...

even when i speak in hmong i usually crack american style jokes
not hmong style jokes...hard to explain...

we are lossing it!! by every generation!!

lol well now that i think about it
its not that we are losing it..its just that its changing..and some of us dont like it....

the english language is forever changing as well...there is always new terms that people use...and some words start to mean other things
ex: gay, fruit, cool, hot.

noone speaks pure hmong anymore
bu think about it noone speaks tradtional english anyways
so its not as bad

talk about it!! i suck in being polite to the elders!! but i could speak hmong nicely just not very good!!

yog tsis si thiab tsis sau ces txuas yam yeej ploj tau..

Koj hais yog lawm...Yuav yog yus siv thiaj paub...But, not every sentence that we say in hmong will be the exact hmong words..but yeah, we do add a few english words or other words to it...like.." Niam, kuv mus taj laj, ib pliag kuv mam los" taj laj...it's more of a Lao word...it should be "Niam kuv mus nraim kw, ib pliag kuv mam los". But, yeah...we are losing our hmong language.

We are losing our language, but, there are reasons why:

1. We live in a country where English is the dominant language.

2. Younger generations are turning away from Hmong because they dont believe in the values of the culture. (i.e. bride-napping, female submission, etc.)


But you have to realize, that the Hmong WRITTEN language was just recently developed, and it is romanized. Also, like someone mentioned, the Hmong language is so limited that now, its beginning to sound like Thai and Laos because we've had to add words to our language, and what best than the country they are living in?

Sooner or later the younger generation will realize that they are loosing their language and want to come back and learn how to speak and write it, and learn about their background. I mean, look at us on here debating this, now arent you motivated to go back and learn about our culture?

my hmonglish is flawless and i prefer rice with my junior bacon cheese burger. that's not so bad is it? seriously though, our language, culture and traditions are damn important. it's what makes us...hmong. it's what distinguishes us from the rest of society, which to me, is a good thing. i should be writing this in hmong, but kuv paub tias nej ib txhia tsis txawj sau thiab nyeem lus hmoob, which is cool but it's never too late to learn. thanks mom and dad for kicking my @$$ when i ditched hmong class to go smoke ganja with the boys.

ps. don't do drugs.

There's still few out there that can still speak+write+ and read hmong fluently. I'm one of them :P

ACTUALLY IT IS JUST A PART OF OUR WAY OF LIFE AND TRYING TO ADAPT TO OUR ENVIRONMENT...ITS NOT LOSING BUT WE KNOW KNEW THINGS FOR EXAMPLE AN APPLE...HMONG DON'T HAVE A WORD FOR THAT SO WE JUST USE APPLE...ITS NOT THAT WE ARE LOSING OR LANGUAGE BUT RATHER LEARNING NEW THINGS....TRUST NO LANGUAGE IS ORIGINAL...IT KEEPS CHANGING

" Are We Looseing Our Language?" Your losing the english language too! Haha.

LOOK I DON'T THINK YOU ARE THAT DUMB, BUT I WAS TRYING TO SLANG TALK...AND IF YOU UNDERSTAND IT THEN HEY FORGET ABOUT IT IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST ME OK...BUT BY THE WAY IT IS NOT "YOUR" IT IS "YOU'RE" INSTEAD...HAHA TALK ABOUT STUPIDITY!

I don't see how he was talking about you He was referring to SCARR.. OHHH TXAJMUAG! Just kidding Just kidding!

Funny $hit.

sorry cant read hmong translate please

TXAJMUAG = EMBARASS, EMBARASSED

Kuv lam tso dag xwb! Txog xav li cas os!!!!

ahahaahahhaha...favnim ua luaj li os! ahaha...and to add on...i think i already replied like a while back but new opinions...we are losing our language because yeah...we're transforming english vocabs into hmong vocabs...let's see...like mechanic...ahahaha...my god...how many of you gals and guys parents say mechanic this way...time out...imma spell it in hmong so those of you who can read in hmong you'll get what i'm sayin...mechanic = mis-khas-niv...ahaha...my goodness for like foreverness i thought that it was a laos word because it so sounded like it...then one day i finally realized it that it was an english term they were sayin...so it made me felt pretty slow...ahahaha...and my favorite : i don't "care" = kuv tsis "khes"...but anyhow...it's really sad that we're just adopting words from other languages to fit it into our own vocabulary...but i believe it's never too late to go ask your parents to learn "new" terms in hmong...i've just recently heard of a new term that's awesome and i want to share it with yall...

"ib sij huam" = this means something like "all of a sudden"...it's just like saying "niam qhuav ib pliag ntsis" but in a fancier way??? or yeah...don't it sound like haib haib like beautiful?

I truly agree. If you think about it the Hmong people are dying. If not our ethnicity then our culture surely is disappearing. Ask any modern day Hmong, and he or she wouldn't even be able to tell you about our entire culture.

I believe with photonicism that it is our way of adapting to our environment. American society does not call for men to hunt and women to be submissive to men as did the times when the hmong lived in southeastern asia. Men and women of these times have the free will of mind to be what they want to be – part of the American Dream -- which Hmongs have accepted freely. Which results in not only losing our language, but our culture and our old ways of life. These in turn are being replaced by the American way of life.

And Scarr even if those in the deep jungles of IndoChina can still speak pure Hmong, they are in threat of being exterminated by the Communistic Pathet Laotian government. In the end, it is and will be a grim finale for our people.