I’m past the three-week mark and feel like I’ve really settled into a routine here. Teaching and lesson planning six days per week, coffee at the internet cafes, shopping at the market every other day (a pillow, a Lao dictionary, and fabric for upcoming Halloween costumes were recent purchases). This past weekend, I celebrated a friend’s 25th birthday, watched the end of a Lao women’s rugby team game against Thailand, and discovered that the rainy season is not entirely over, since the daily downpours have returned in full force.
The final element of my weekly routine is my Lao language classes, which I take three times per week. After only a few days here, I wanted to expand my repertoire beyond sabaii-dii (hello) and khawp jai (thank you), and I decided for this term to try out language classes at the French Cultural Center, because they work well with my teaching schedule and might offer a chance for me to not totally lose the French that I studied in college. The catch is that the Lao classes are actually taught in French, which can certainly pose some confusion at times, when I look back over my notes and see a jumble of English, French, and Lao. The students are all quite diverse in our ability levels, from a man who has lived here for six years and speaks quite well, to others who have just arrived, like me. Next term I might try working with a private tutor instead of taking a class, but it’s been an interesting experience and has definitely gotten me thinking in French again, three days a week. There is a fair amount of French on signs around town as well (every road is both a thanon and a rue), thanks to the lingering remnants of French colonial Indochina, but otherwise it seems like English has surpassed French in town as a second language.
At first glance, the Lao language seems impossible, but once you get past the idea of intimidating tones, and find out that most words are one-syllable, and you don’t have to conjugate verbs, it seems a little less daunting. But only a little less. Lately I’ve been realizing how arbitrary and frustrating English is to nonnatives as well, when I can’t explain why “head” and “bed” rhyme but are spelled differently, or why you don’t say “play the football” even though you can say “play the guitar.”
Progress is slow, but I feel like I’m finally starting to pick up some more day to day language. I’ve started to understand a few simple things my students say to each other in class, like “I don’t have one,” or “Is that okay?” Then I remind them that they should be speaking English, but am happy to understand. I learned all of the color words that I know from hearing my students argue over who gets playing pieces in sii faa (blue) or sii deng (red) during classroom games. I’ve begun teaching myself the alphabet, since reading and writing won’t be covered in my beginner’s course. I find the transliterations extremely frustrating because they are not standard and difficult to know exactly how they are supposed to be read (especially because the French transliterations are often different than the English ones). Between consonant classes, tone markers, and dipthongs, it will be awhile before I’m reading with any ease, but signs are starting to look a little less foreign, even if I’m not sure what they say yet. I’ve had a few interactions all in Lao, which is pretty rewarding, despite the fact that they’re at the very simplest level possible…and mostly involve food (a major theme in my life here). I can order vegetarian pad thai, or a mango fruit shake (two of my favorite things to eat), ask how much something costs, or ask for a lower price.
I’m impatient to learn more, because I feel as though it’s been very easy and comfortable to move here, but that there is still much more to understand about this place. I think being able to communicate better in the local language will be an essential step to discovering the Vientiane beyond my typical expat lifestyle. In any case, it will help me understand what my students are saying when they have side conversations in class.