The Languages spoken in Lao People's Democratic Republic

The official language of the country of Laos is Lao, a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the language of the largest ethnic group in Laos and is also widely spoken in the northeast of Thailand. Since the Lao language is quite similar to Thai, most Lao and Thai can understand each other relatively easily.

The Lao language may be divided into five main dialects; the Vientiane Lao, Northern Lao (Prabang), North Eastern Lao (Xieng Khouang), Central Lao (Khammouane), and Southern Lao (Champassak). The Vientiane Lao is the widely understood dialect throughout the country and the Lao script is based on it. The total population of Lao speakers is believed to be just 52% while 15 % of the population is made up of Tai-Kai speakers, while the remaining 33% consists of over 90 culturally distinct ethnic groups, on which they have their own language.

French and Vietnamese are spoken widely in the country. Most of the people who speak French are older ones while the younger generations are studying French in schools. Though the young ones are studying the language they are much more interested on speaking and practicing English. It is becoming more and more common to find people of all ages who can speak English quite well. Many tourists believe that Lao people speak English better than the Thai people.