Do you speak Lao?

It is essential to learn at least a little conversational Lao so that you can get by when shopping etc.
In Vientiane there are many teaching establishments where expats can learn Lao.

The Lao people in general will not criticize your mangled attempts to speak the language.

Often a phrase book will get you by for a while.

It is a difficult language to read or write.
As it is a tonal language it is not easy to speak either but, practice makes perfect.

I learnt to speak some Lao from my ex-wives(!), who came from Isaan, in north-eastern Thailand.  Their family language was Issan (basically spoken Lao), and they would use this language to converse together, and switch to Thai when speaking with anyone who did not come from Isaan (whether they were Thai or a foreigner).

I studied Thai language at Chula university, and so could speak, read and write Thai quite well.  Since Thai and Lao are closely related, I was able to learn spoken Lao quite easily. As for reading and writing Lao, this was also quite easy, because of my knowledge of Thai language.

Since Isaan is only a spoken language, I was then in the situation that I could speak, read and rite Lao language to an intermediate level, whereas my Isaan family could only speak it - no reading and writing!

The Isaan language spoken by one of my Thai families was quite similar to Lao, because their family were originally from Laos, but had fled across the Mekong river during fighting in that region, and had settled in north Thailand, on the banks of the Mekong.  However, the Isaan that is spoken by my other Thai family was rather different from Lao, because they settled in south Isaan, close to the Cambodian border.

As to whether or not you need to learn Lao to integrate well in Laos, I don't think that it is as important as might be suggested, (apart from learning some simple Lao greetings etc).  If you can speak some Thai language, then this should do fine, because the languages are closely-related and most Lao people can understand Thai language because they watch a lot of Thai TV (Lao TV programmes being rather boring....).

But Thai people tell me that they cannot understand when a Lao person speaks Lao to them.....

My understanding of Lao language helped me to get the job of interim Headmaster at the international school in Luang Prabang.  I've moved on since then and I'm now working at a school in Naypyidaw, Myanmar - and learning Myanmar language

hello everyone,, I want to meet friends in laos to relax on my day off,  ,i cant speak lao,, and also  i need to familiarized all of the province and transportation in laos as part of my job.. I'm a Filipino people,. 

Hi everyone,

@ Rhoden Gomez, you are a bit off topic here. However, maybe you could share your experience on the few questions asked in post #1 ?

Thanks in advance,
Bhavna

There are some incorrect comments here. The Lao and the Thai written language are totally different. Learning Thai script will not help you speak Lao. The spoken language of Isaan is similar to Lao. In fact even Bangkok Thai can understand Lao but choose not to do so because of snobbish reasons - they look down on Lao as country bumpkins.
There are a couple of language schools that teach Lao to westerners; one is Twenty First Language school.