There seems to be some controversy on how to pronounce Lao, with or with out the 's'

I know that the French changed it in 1893 to Laos from Lao, but what is the current and proper way for visitors to pronounce it, from those who have been there ?

Spell it 'Laos'

pronounce it 'Lao' .. L'Owwww

Okay, thanks Dogster, that is what I thought but then read that you pronounce is Louse, so thanks for clarifying.

Laos is pronounced Laos. Lao is pronounced Lao. The Lao people live in Laos. Two different words, with different meanings in different contexts.

okay, two different answers, back to the drawing board.......

I actualy thought the same as Michael that it was Laos (pronounced Lowse) for the country and Lao (pronounced L'Owww) as per Dogster said for the people etc

Are you speaking English or Lao?

lol lol lol - I shoulda known better...

The Thai language is similar to Lao and the Thai and Laotian can understand each other when speaking the native languages of each country. We call both the country Lao and the people Lao as well.

I could not find, from google, a sound file with the correct pronunciation but I did find this Laotian music video. Listen carefully around the 27 - 28 second counter and you can hear the proper way to say Lao from a Laotian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QisiE...eature=related

Or listen to the opening speech of the recent SEA game in Vientiane and that note of the way they say Lao: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYHWD...eature=related

Now you see why I asked the question.

Prima Donna is picky over who is seething and who isn't,typical

I understand the Lao people call both their country and themselves "Lao", and that they don't , say "Laos" because a) they have no final "s" sound in their language, and b) they feel Laos is a colonial hangover.

I just checked Wikipedia, and they say that the country was originally three Laotian kingdoms, so the French called it Laos as a plural.

I am guessing from the website for the Lao Embassy in the US at http://www.laoembassy.com/ that even they don’t know which they prefer, as both terms are used on the website. There seems to be a slight preference for “Lao” on the website, as it appears more often; but “Laos” also appears, esp. to describe the country geographically (i.e. ”Map of Laos” the “people of Laos”).

I also believe that whatever term we use in an English approximation of the actual Laotian language term, and so is not exact anyway.

In my experience, the Laotian people would not be offended by whatever term you use, and even if they were, would not dream of embarrassing you by correcting you. That would be a greater offense than whatever term you might use incorrectly.

THanks everyone.

Not sure what the comment made by downunderjack is all about?
Can you expand on that thought Jack?

I asked the staff at the Ethnicity Museum in Luang Prabang about the correct pronunciation. I figured that if anyone knew, it would be them. They said that the country is Loas (with the 's') and the people are Lao.

@melissa62 - the Eth Museum staff is both right and wrong. In English, the country is spelled 'Laos' but the people in Laos call their own country 'Lao'

As Hanumans posted previously, the Lao people call their country Lao (mid tone).

If you want to hear how Lao is pronounced, go to http://laolanguage.vislao.com/basic_...l/personal.htm and play the sound snippets "How long have you been in Laos?" and "I have been in Lao for two months" and you can hear the word Lao, with no 's'.

It really depends on what language you are speaking
e.g - French call themselves "Francais" - so have they got it wrong?

Some things about English...there are various versions and accompanying pronunciations and stresses.

E.G. British English and American English to name but two.
The next thing you need to bear in mind is that there is no GOVERNMENT CONTROL of English.....it comes from the people.

add to this that Laos is a small country that relatively few English speakers have ever herd of let alone needed to speak of, which leaves the pronunciation relatively open to variation.

I use "low" - to describe country, people and Language. I would spell the country "LAOS" and the other two LAO....however that still leaves LAOTIAN - i would say "low-shun". I have lived and worked in Laos and these pronunciations seem to communicate without any difficulty. In most Lao people I worked with don't seem to recognise the word "Laotian" at all.

It is worth remembering that in English we seldom use the names of any country, language and people in the same way their inhabitants do.

We're just home from Laos (correct spelling) two days ago. The pronunciation is "Lao" for the country, the Lao people, Beer Lao and the local moonshine, lao lao.