Why I'm Going to Learn Lao

By Kent Roper on 20 June 2014

It's been a week and a half since the end of the the Learning Esperanto in Six Weeks Challenge, and I've been thinking what's next. I had a lot of choices to pick from. I could continue studying Esperanto, I could go back to studying German, or I could pick a new language to study.

So, how do you pick which language to learn? Here's why I picked Lao:

I need a reason to learn a language: From the six week Esperanto challenge, I learned from experience that if I have an external motivation to learn a language, I will do better at studying it. I had a reason to study Esperanto: the six week challenge. There are other reasons I would want to continue studying Esperanto, and I fully intend on studying Esperanto in the future. But there were no pressing reasons for me to study. The pressing I did have ended on June 11.

Same with German. I enjoy studying German, but I don't have any plans on going there soon. I'm going to study German for at least half an hour per week, so what I do know doesn't get rusty, but I don't see myself making huge progress for the rest of the summer, at least.

So here are a few reasons I want to study Lao.

Ma Boua. Boua is a Lao lady that attends my church. She speaks very little English. A few years ago I learned how to say some basic greetings in Lao, and I speak those basic greetings to her every week, but I'd like to communicate with her more. Also, some of the people who translate for Boua may be leaving soon, so there is a reason to learn Lao quickly.

My goal is to be able to have a conversation in Lao with Boua by then end of August. I want to be able to ask her questions about her life, growing up in Laos, and be able to understand her answers.

I'll have help. I don't have lots of opportunities to practice Esperanto. I know a few people who speak German, but they are not native speakers. With Lao, I know 6 people that I'll see at least once a week, 4 of whom are native speakers. 2 of those native speakers also speak great English. I'll be able to practice, ask questions, and get correction.

Lao is different than anything I've ever learned before. I speak four European languages, and you could probably argue that Esperanto is a European language as well. European languages have cognates with English. It's not hard to guess what telefono in Italian means.

Lao is going to be harder, because it's going to have few cognates.

Also, Lao has an alphabet that doesn't look at all like the one we use for English. I've taught myself to read the Greek alphabet before, which wasn't too hard. Greek has 24 letters in the alphabet, and most of those have a corresponding letter in English. Lao has 26 consonants, and 28 vowels. Fun.

It will be a challenge.