Guest Posted June 26, 2002 Report Share Posted June 26, 2002 E-sahn (Issan) language doesn't have an official alphabet therefore it is hard to study or reinforce with language books or dictionaries. Also it is varies from province to province. It only takes few simple phrases to make a native of E-sahn laugh (not that it requires much to get a laugh out of these generally happy go lucky folks). Some of the phrases I know from the greater Udon region: ?(jow) suu wah e-yahng? (à ¨éÒ«ÖÃËÇÒêêêÃÕÂѧ) What is (your) name? ?(jow) maa jahk sai (à ¨éÒÃÒêê¨Ò¡ãÊ) Where do (you) come from? ?(jow) a-yuu jak bpee (à ¨éÒÃÒÂبѡ»ÕÚèèèè) How old are (you)? (For those that can read Thai, I could not get some of the tone marks to display) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted June 26, 2002 Report Share Posted June 26, 2002 I always thought Isaan language was close to Lao - is that true? Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 Yes that's true. There is probably more Lao speakers in Thailand than Laos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwaimaisabai Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 So, if anybody wants to learn Isaan language would it be an idea to learn Lao instead - which is a recognised written language, and then you are maybe 90% of the way there? Personally, that is a project yet to come while I concentrate on improving my Thai. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2002 Report Share Posted June 28, 2002 Unless you plan to go native and live in an Isahn village or Laos I wouldn't put too much effort into learning the Lao language. It really doesn't have that much usefulness outside of the rural areas. Instead focus on learning to speak and read Thai. Once you've learned the Thai alphabet the Lao alphabet is so similar that you could probably learn it (the differences) within a couple of days and spoken Lao-Isahn has many common words with Thai. There is one English-Lao dictionary that has been available for several years, I can't recall the title (has a green cover). I've looked at it a few times but never really liked the way it is setup although it appears to be very thorough. If you are serious about enough about Lao-Isahn it would be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2002 Report Share Posted June 28, 2002 heres a few more .... sabai dee bor? - how are you? (can also use "bpen yang") bor huu - don't know sepp - "aroi" - tasty illie - "jing jing" - really kouy (me, i) jao (you) (correct me if i'm wrong !) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted June 28, 2002 Report Share Posted June 28, 2002 everything correct...maen illie! you can add your board name, mister farang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 Although Issan is often considered to be Lao I think in fact it is only a regional dialect that has as much in common with Thai as Lao. Learning it in conjunction with Thai could be useful even if you live in Bkk. Most low class workers are Issan natives, and there's been a number of times where they've launched into Issan and I've completely lost them. Also alot of comedians are from Issan and a lot of jokes contain punchlines in Issan. Personally I find Issan a bit comical, like Northern English accents or hillbilly talk. The accent is much more nasal and even words common to Central Thai are pronounced differently. Also Lao and Issan have a couple more tones, but don't ask me what they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 29, 2002 Report Share Posted June 29, 2002 Depends on which province you?re talking about. I think Korat is considered the southern most province of Esahn. Being that close to Bangkok they will have many more words in common with central Thai compared to those provinces which are closer to Laos where people will have more of a common language with the folks right across the river. A native of say Nong Khai can talk circles around a Bangkok Thai but not vice versa since Esahn people hear Thai on the TV and radio, and study it in school. Except for some of the older folks most can understand central Thai OK but many can?t or don?t want to speak it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2002 Report Share Posted July 3, 2002 and some more.... tom bak hoong (¥ÓºÑ¡ËÙè§) som tom, pappaya salad pu bow (¼ÙéºèÒÇ) boyfreind pu saou (¼ÙéÊëÒÇ) girlfreind kawy hak jao (¤èÃÂËÑé¡à ¨éÒ) I love you baw pen yang (ºêÃà »ç¹ËÂÑëѧ) mai pen rai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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