Lao Basics: An Introduction to the Lao Language (Audio CD Included) (Tuttle Basics)
Lao Basics comes after living in Laos for nearly two years, working for the Vientiane International School, the US embassy, the Lao-American College and the Mekong Fisheries. I loved living in Laos, but I found at the time that there were no good Lao learning books. While visiting Thailand one time, though, I came upon Easy Thai, by Gordon Allision. It really helped me pick up Thai in an efficient manner and used practical vocabulary. After that, I started working on Lao Basics, which was always in my mind: Easy Lao. My co-author, Tee, was a tremendous help. It took much longer than it should have for me to finish this book, because sometimes, to be honest, it's very easy to pass the days in Laos by doing not a whole lot. Tee pushed me to finish it though, and I am very happy with the result. Lao Basics is a very thin book with a lot of punch. There is a CD that has all of the Lao spoken by a native speaker to help you with pronunciation; and the format, like Easy Thai is super easy, dare I say, fun, to use. The first chapter for example, teaches the first 4 consonants. You have to practice writing them, and memorizing the sounds, but after you do it, you'll know them backwards and forwards with our practice pages. Then you move on to the next set. Before you know it, you have learned all of the 26 consonants and are moving on the the vowels, the most unique part of the language. With each vowel set, you learn new and useful words that you can use right away. And you'll be translating sentences from Lao to English and vice-versa starting with this first vowel set.I hope you enjoy learning Lao as much as I have. Once you start, you'll be able to use a Lao dictionary, and a Thai one for that matter. So much of the languages are similar, that you'll find you can get by in both countries with one language, and then you'll learn the other that much easier. Lao is by far much easier than Thai, and a great place to start.Check out my other language books: Chinese & Japanese Phrase-Day, and out in 2011, Instant Vietnamese.