Ever get confused...

[Liberty]

Anyone else get Thai and Lao confused when speaking it? I only speak Laotian to my parents and grandparents, everyone else I speak English to.
But occassionally I'll be talking and all of a sudden I end up speaking Thai and I'm like "Where the hell did that come from?"
Or I'll be talking to my dad and all of a sudden I'll say a word in a different Lao accent (my family's Lao accent is the general kind I guess, there really isn't an accent).

 

[CTR]

Liberty, there are different Lao accents. There's a Vientiane one, the northern one, South one and many other that I am not sure of. Some people from the Isaan area especially the southern area has a southern accent. Some people have a north accent too. My accent is the Vientiane one because my dad is from Vientiane but I can speak in Southern accent as well. Remember Pleng Ruk Rim Fung Khong, Weir and the other people spoke with a Southern tone while Sandra was speaking from the Vientiane tone.

In the area where I live there are a lot of Laotian peeps and I go to a Laotian church too so my Laotian does get a work out too. Furthermore, I speak Laotian to my parents because my dad is Lao and I try my best to listen to Lao music to learn more vocabulary.

Not until recently, I haven't used my Thai that often so I have been rusty but I am learning from my mom and adding more vocabulary to my list. For the past two years or so, I have been listening to Thai music and watching Thai programming to get my Thai up to par. I am beginning to distinguish which words are truly Lao and which are totally Thai. I haven't had the dedication to learn to read and write in Thai yet. My mom told me she was willing to teach me but I've been to busy with school and work to have any time for it.

 

[Liberty]

Liberty, there are different Lao accents. There's a Vientiane one, the northern one, South one and many other that I am not sure of. Some people from the Isaan area especially the southern area has a southern accent. Some people have a north accent too. My accent is the Vientiane one because my dad is from Vientiane but I can speak in Southern accent as well. Remember Pleng Ruk Rim Fung Khong, Weir and the other people spoke with a Southern tone while Sandra was speaking from the Vientiane tone.

In the area where I live there are a lot of Laotian peeps and I go to a Laotian church too so my Laotian does get a work out too. Furthermore, I speak Laotian to my parents because my dad is Lao and I try my best to listen to Lao music to learn more vocabulary.

Not until recently, I haven't used my Thai that often so I have been rusty but I am learning from my mom and adding more vocabulary to my list. For the past two years or so, I have been listening to Thai music and watching Thai programming to get my Thai up to par. I am beginning to distinguish which words are truly Lao and which are totally Thai. I haven't had the dedication to learn to read and write in Thai yet. My mom told me she was willing to teach me but I've been to busy with school and work to have any time for it.

That's cool. I know there are different Lao accents but pretty much my entire family as the same one, I think it's the Vientiane one. So, it's just weird for me to all of sudden be speaking Laotian and then my accent changes. I understand Lao and Thai very well but speaking it is harder, the words don't wanna come out, it wants to come out in English (technically my first language). I only speak Laotian with my parents and grandparents because it's more of a personal thing for me, anyone outside of family I speak English to. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a Laotian community, my family purposely try to avoid Laotian communities because they thing my cousins, siblings and I might be more easily steered down the wrong path. I think because there's so many of the young ones that don't finish school and get into trouble.

 

[dfemc]

That's cool. I know there are different Lao accents but pretty much my entire family as the same one, I think it's the Vientiane one. So, it's just weird for me to all of sudden be speaking Laotian and then my accent changes. I understand Lao and Thai very well but speaking it is harder, the words don't wanna come out, it wants to come out in English (technically my first language). I only speak Laotian with my parents and grandparents because it's more of a personal thing for me, anyone outside of family I speak English to. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a Laotian community, my family purposely try to avoid Laotian communities because they thing my cousins, siblings and I might be more easily steered down the wrong path. I think because there's so many of the young ones that don't finish school and get into trouble.

ur probably one of those ppl who absorbs things and have it sitting in ur subconscience, so it randomly comes out ^_^ i get my languages mixed up all the time, and then u'd be even more surprised when ur drunk, to find out what language u end up speaking, which u never knew u spoke and i do mean a formal language. it's funny how much sits reserved in our unused portions of our brain

 

[KEdoubleNY]

Sometimes I do get the two language mix up but not that often becus I hardly speak it .. mostly be speaking English ebonics/slang. But when it come to speaking Lao or Thai .. I can understand both and speak both very well ... unless you use the big words on me .. than I'll be like WTF LoL

 

[Liberty]

ur probably one of those ppl who absorbs things and have it sitting in ur subconscience, so it randomly comes out ^_^ i get my languages mixed up all the time, and then u'd be even more surprised when ur drunk, to find out what language u end up speaking, which u never knew u spoke and i do mean a formal language. it's funny how much sits reserved in our unused portions of our brain

That's probably true. I had the same issue when I was studying French.
I'd be writing an English paper and then go back to read it only to realize that half of it was written in French.

 

[CTR]

Sometimes I do get the two language mix up but not that often becus I hardly speak it .. mostly be speaking English ebonics/slang. But when it come to speaking Lao or Thai .. I can understand both and speak both very well ... unless you use the big words on me .. than I'll be like WTF LoL

Same here. I'm trying to add more vocabulary in my everyday usage. My Lao is pretty good and I told my mom that I would only speak to her in Thai for a while so I can improve my Thai vocabulary usages. Recently, there has been more Thai speaking people in my area so I'm getting a workout on my pronunciation and word usages.

 

[dek_noy]

i speak both languages.
to my dad and the elders, i speak lao the most!!!
but then there are times, when im with my best friend, we talk both lao and thai,just mix them together.
sometimes we'll end up mixing three languages together, lao,thai and english!
im fluent in both lao and thai and i can speak in any kinda accents,whether its lao or thai.
[i watch alot of lakorns thats why.hehehe]

 

[noungning]

i'm quite fluent in laotian, too bad i can't read nor write.

i'm quite fluent in thai also, i also read and write/type.

last year, i went to thailand for 2 months, first month was ok, i lived in Esarn area so i just spoke lao, but when i moved to bkk i had to speak thai, i mixed lao into thai so much i was cracked on ALL the time! like i'd say..."kor jork noi" and they're like what??? hahaha instead of "kor keaw noi" hahah it was pretty bad. then when i got back, i got to practice my thai when i was on the phone with ppl back in thailand. so it improved a lot!

then this past summer, when i went to thailand for 2 1/2 months. i was speaking it like a native. no one notices i'm from the US, they just think i'm one of those lighter skinned thai people. never got ripped off... haah even when i went to phuket, they gave me more discounts because they were like "oh, kon thai duay kun, diew loat hai" got like 70% off tours, but 50% was already because it was down season... haha but i loved it... i bargained soooooo much and got it because they think i'm thai and just being cheap lmfao.

i came back home, i noticed i'd mix in a whole lot of thai into my lao, it was just strange, but it's been a few months now that i've been back, and it's gotten better and i haven't mixed in much thai ne more.