The Best of Cambodia & Laos

HOTEL
English Khmer
Do you have any rooms? Nee’ak mien?
single room bontop sumrab moi neeak
double room bontop graiy pee
with . . . mien . . .
bathroom bontop tuek
hot water tuek g’daow
air-conditioning mahsin trocheyat
a phone toorasahp
NUMBERS
0 Sohn
1 Muy
2 Pee
3 Bei
4 Boo-un
5 Bruhm
6 Bruhm muy
7 Bruhm pee
8 Bruhm bei
9 Bruhm boo-un
10 Dawp
11 Dawp muy
12 Dawp pee
20 Muh pay
30 Sam suhp
40 Si suhp
50 Haa suhp
60 Hohk suhp
70 Jet suhp
80 Pet suhp
90 Cow suhp
100 Muy roy
200 Pee roy
1,000 Muy poan
2 THE LAO LANGUAGE
The Lao language resembles Thai, with familiar tones and sounds found in each. While
some vocabulary words might cross over, the two tongues—spoken and written—are
quite distinct. However, many Lao understand Thai (learned from school texts and TV),
so if you’ve picked up some words and phrases in Thailand, they’ll still be useful here;
people will understand and correct you with the appropriate Lao phrase.
Thankfully, many people in Vientiane and Luang Prabang speak English, and older
citizens will usually be able to speak French (often with a delightful accent). Russian is
not uncommon, and Chinese is growing in accord with the rising Chinese population
(mostly in the north).
Like Thai, Lao has no officially recognized method of Roman alphabet transliteration.
As a result, even town and street names have copious spelling irregularities, so for the
vocabulary below, only phonetic pronunciations are listed. Most Lao will understand
you, even without proper tones, and will appreciate your efforts to speak their language.
When trying to figure out the correct pronunciation of certain names, it’s helpful to
remember that the original transliteration of Lao was done by francophones, so consider
the French pronunciation when faced with a new word. For example, in Vientiane (pronounced
wee-en-chan), the wide central avenue spelled Lane Xang is pronounced Lahn
Sahng. Also in Vientiane, Mixay sounds like Mee-sigh. Phonexay is Pawn-sigh. It takes
awhile, but it’s easy to pick up.
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KHMER & LAO GLOSSARY 17
THE LAO LANGUAGE