Language quiz

Here’s a recording of part of a news report in a mystery language.

Do you know or can you guess which language it is and where it’s spoken?

September 6th, 2009 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (8)

penniferSeptember 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

Well, the speaker sure says “Lao” a lot, so I’m going with Lao in Laos. :) I’m sure others will be able to finetune my guess.

praseSeptember 6th, 2009 at 4:39 pm

I would say Lao also, but think that this language was in the quiz not so long ago.

peter j. frankeSeptember 6th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

My first impression is Lao too.

michael farrisSeptember 6th, 2009 at 10:51 pm

Strange … it simultaneously sounds SEAsian and Native American (central of south american) to me.

But I’m going to go with SEAsian and guess some kind of Hmong (Hmoob) on phonetic grounds (what sounds like a lot of open syllables with level tones of different heights, possible unvoiced laterals and nsalized vowels).

TalibSeptember 7th, 2009 at 1:58 am

Lao.

SimonSeptember 7th, 2009 at 6:13 pm

Michael got it – it is Hmong (Hmoob), which is spoken in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, China and the USA.

The recording comes from Lao National Radio (ວິທະຍຸກະຈາຍສຽງແຫ່ງຊາດລາວ), which is probably why there are so many mentions of Laos.

TJSeptember 8th, 2009 at 8:25 am

Aaa…… question please…
do Lao people speak about themselves all the time? :)

michael farrisSeptember 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am

Probably not more than other groups. I think the national news of any country will have lots of references to the country. And news in a minority language will have lots of references to the majority.