In this episode of Open House Open Heart, Jimmy tours the home of Arjan Sopha Inthavongsa. The house looks simple on the outside but the inside is like an art gallery. Arjan Sopha Inthavongsa decorates his home using the theme of Sinlapa Lao.
Laos Elephants At Risk of Extinction Laos: Gov’t Starts Imposing 10% Value-added Tax On Consumer Products (Sin Chew Jit Poh) Laos eyes further cooperation with HCM City (Vietnam Net) ADB to grant $ 1.2B aid to Laos to boost economy (Philippine News Agency) Games-Laos asks for support after ‘community Games’ jibe (Reuters via Yahoo! Philippines News) Games-Laos asks for support after ‘community Games’ jibe (Reuters via Yahoo! Philippines News) Laos will host 26 sports in SEA Games (The Star) Vietnam to build hydro-power plants in Laos (Nhân Dân) Sports bodies against sending second-liners to Laos SPORTCHECK: Sports bodies against sending second-liners to Laos (The New Straits Times)
I wonder why Jimmy is showing and promoting this imported disarrange furnitures store instead of the local produce one. Does this store spondsor the program or paid to advertise, um.
BTW admiring ur great work Darly
My guess would be that they are sponsor of the program.
I notice Lao people in Laos use the phrase “jao” all the time. Does this phrase became popular after 1975? I don’t remember people saying this before. Maybe I was just too young to notice it then.
Oh the furniture guy speak English with American accent. He drop some English words few time during the tour of the furniture store. I wonder if regular people knows what he is saying.
Hi Malaykham,
I guess we have to check the credit to see if the store is the sponsor. I know the other show like Eim Zaap Khame Thang Pepsi is the sponsor so the host of the show always make a comment about drinking Pepsi with a meal.
Dallas: Saying “jao” is normal for me. Is there other word that can be use instead?
It’s common for people to use English words because there is no better words to substitute for many phrases in Lao language. My Grand-Mama will not understand him but my aunts would know what he is talking about because if their children know English, they will let their parents know the terms.
Darly,
So the word “jao/jow” can be translated as “yes”? People say this often in a conversation just like Thai people say the word “krup”?
I think it is popular in Viengtiane and up north. I check my Lao dictionary for the word “yes”. There are only 2 words for it, “er” and “doi”. I think the people in the South say “er”. I say that to people at my own age and I would say “doi” to the monks or older people.
Does your relative in the South say “jao/jow” when they talk to you?
Dallas, the Thai Lanna also say “jao or jow” that means yes. These are the people that live in the north of Thailand around the city of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai. The Lao people are called Puna and I guess the name was given by the many rice paddies that we had, the Thai had more Rice Paddies it would appear by the name, seems comical but I think that is how they got the names, but what I find fascinating is that they shared very similar language to our Lao Northerner.
The Lao Southerner would say “Er or Doi”, I also say this, and very common for Lao people in all regions to say “Man Lail” I believed.
Hi Dallas,
For as long as I know “jao or jow” is yes. Er is like uh ha or yeah yeah. You use “jao” in everyday conversation for your peers or even to adults. Doi is like yes sir and to be really proper is doi kanoy. We only use doi kanoy to older people to show respect. For our parents we either use doi or jao. When we were younger we use doi to our parents but now that we are older we use jao which is acceptable. But to relatives in Laos we always use doi for yes and to aunts and uncles and to grandparents it’s doi kanoy and to other elders.
I noticed how my aunts in Pakse would say “er” and my Grand-Mama too. But my relatives in Vientiane would say “jao” for yes.
I only use “Man Lail” which means that is right or that is correct to answer someone when is asked “man bor” or is that right, is that correct. Just like when someone is asking khao jai bor or do you understand? Then I would say jao or khao jai or both for emphasis.
Thanks, Ginger and Darly.
Basically it depend on which part of the country you are from. “jao/jow” is popular in the North and “er” is popular is the South.
Er Man Lail Dallas, we’re not very polite I guess. I would say ‘Doi’ but never ‘Doi Kanoy’, that is too polite for me.
Did you guys ever sing or heard of the song that started out with “phuak kanoy sao lao nuk hian, pa gun phark phien hum hien vi sa?” in Laos? At school we would say ka noy to the teachers and doi ka noy.
I guess I’m used to hearing it. My cousins in the US that were born in Thailand and came to the US in the 70’s still talk to their parents like that. They are Tai Pakse and Thai, mother Thai, father Tai Pakse. They would be like “mair, ka noy kid hod jao” which is mommy I miss you.
It depends on each family I think on how strict they are. Just like a family that would required their children to say yes sir.
If you go to Laos and don’t say doi to your older relatives, then they might think you are too Americanized. If you don’t use ka noy, then use the term “louk” to refer to yourself when talking to aunts and uncles that are older to be your parents or grandparents. If not then refer to yourself by name.
My relatives in Pakse tend to call me “louk” or “ee la” which is like a pet name thing for someone that is dear to them. Rather than saying ka noy all the time, I often use the word “louk” like “louk sabaidee”. If not then the acceptable term is my own name which is “pet” for duck. So, I would say “pet sabaidee” and pet this and pet that.
It might seem strange to keep referring to yourself as third person but that’s how they do it in Laos, well at least with my relatives in Vientiane anyway.
“Hao” or I is the term in Pakse that I noticed people using between one another and to parents or older people. For me I grew up with using the term “koy” and “ka noy” and for “hao” it is usually used between buddies. My buddies or seal would say “to” for “you” to me all the time. Like “to het yung, pai kin khao bor?” which means “what are you doing, do you want to go to eat”.
The street term that I have seen some of my younger relatives in Pakse used is “gou” for I and “mung” for you. It was a shock for me to see little kids talking to one another like that because growing up in Vientiane I have never known anyone using such a term. As a matter of fact I was taught the term is not polite and not a proper way of talking to one another. If I would have said gou to my siblings, my mother would have washed my mouth with soap. I was taught to refer to them as “euy” and call them “nong” or “jao”. To ask them to get something for me would either be “nong or jao ou aun nun hai euy dai bor” which is “can you get that thing for me”.
Lao language is the most fascinating language to learn from the scholarly point of view. It’s such a rich language. For example, we have so many terms to describe the word “rice”. If I was a linguist I would definitely study Lao.
Ginger,
I still say “doi” and “kanoy” to my parents.
I love us Southerner. We are so direct
but we can still be respectful. ;P
This is turning into Pasa Lao 101.
Using “Hao” for Lao Northerners with elders appears okay for the Northerners, but when I heard my Lao Northerner brother in law referred to himself as “Hao” with my dad, I thought he was being rude and disrespectful because from the Lao Southerner perspective (my family and I), it’s like he is talking, or referring to my dad as his buddy, we don’t do that.
I do say ‘Doi’ for yes, and do say ‘kanoy’ referring to myself when speaking to the elders and monks, but never say it together as ‘Doi Kanoy’, it seems too formal for me, I just couldn’t say it. I used more ‘Koy’ meaning ‘I’ and ‘Jow’ meaning ‘you’ in my daily Lao speaking.
I had never gone to school in Laos, so I have not heard or sang that song, I left Laos before I started school, and had to sing the Thai national anthem when I attended school in Thailand (that’s why I get so confused with the two languages sometimes). I’m a bit better in reading pasa Lao now, thanks to many Lao websites out there.
I think with Pasa Lao, when we referred to ourselves, we put ourselves in such as low place, for example ‘Kanoy or Koy’, that sort of referring to yourself as a servant, but when we referred to others, then it’s ‘Jow’ and it sounds to me as if we’re referring to that person as a king or something, more in a praising tone. The English language is simple, it’s just ‘you or I’ but what really gets to me is how some Lao people would translate ‘you or I’ to Pasa Lao, then sometimes it’s ‘mung or gou’ or ‘koy or jow’ and I’m not sure how the translation could be different when it’s simply ‘you or I’. It made me to think that’s how we hear it also, someone might be saying ‘you or I’ to us, but we’re hearing ‘mung or gou’, or in my case ‘koy or jow’. That is why I always say, it’s not important in how you say it, but it’s more important in how it’s perceived.