(KPL) Some university teachers say Lao language will be acceptable to foreign countries, as many people say “Go Inter”, because it is easy to study and consists of only 26 consonants, as the English alphabet, and in addition because Lao language has beauty and charm.

Dozen universities in Thailand provide Lao language courses, which is in line with the policy of Thai government to incite Thai people to learn languages of neighbouring countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Among over ten universities in Thailand, Mahasarakham University provides Lao language courses at bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. This is the first one in Asia providing such doctoral degrees in Lao language, while Khon Kaen University, which has provided Lao language courses for many years, is planing to open its first bachelor and master degrees in a few years, despite it faces lack of financial support and human resource for its teaching.

Head of Department of Thai and Oriental Languages, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Rachan Nilawanapha, said “The number of students studying Lao language is increasing annually.”

For the 2008 academic year, the fourth year for providing Lao language courses, over 98 students applied for studying Lao, but the university will be able to receive only 40 of them.

Thai businesses’ investment projects covering many areas such as mining, electricity, garment, agriculture and forestry and tourism are among key factors attracting Thai students to learn Lao language as they think that they will get a better chance when they apply for working with Thai investors in Laos.
Some say studying Lao language helps them recall their local language Isane, which used to be widely spoken in their livelihood decades of years ago.
Some study Lao language because they want to discover some writers from both Mekong banks and their works.

Lao language study is also necessary to Thai government officials designed to work in Isane, northern-eastern Thailand, which once belonged to Lane Xang kingdom.

A Lao language teacher at Khon Kaen University, Rattana Chantao, declared that learning of Lao language interested many people, but that the receiving capacities of the university could not meet their demands.”

Khon Kaen University, whose size ranks the third largest in Asia, receives 400-500 students annually for its Lao language course.

It is glad to know that Thai people are interested in Lao language as they used to think it was similar to theirs, but now they realise all the differences.
While the number of Thai students studying Lao language is increasing, the development of human resources in Lao language at the National University of Laos is needed to ensure its socio-economic development in the future, especially development and promotion of Lao language.

In 2000, as there were no students enrolling for studying Lao language, the Lao Palm Leaf Manuscript Project with the financial support of German organisation DAD, provided scholarship to dozen students for studying Lao language annually for three years.

However, the number of students studying Lao language (300 currently) is slightly increasing annually, but it is less than those studying other fields. Besides, the majority of them are from Vietnam, China and Cambodia, while only 25-26 local students enrol annually. Most of them do not study Lao language because of their love for it, and some choose jobs which are not related to what they have learnt after graduating.

“Since Lao students don’t like studying their own language and prefer others like English or Japanese, it will result in many negative impacts: the first teachers will be unable to upgrade their knowledge with higher level, the number of teachers will be limited, there will be a few scientific studies, and the government will pay less attention or financial support to the promotion of Lao language study than to English, French and other subjects,” said Rattana.

Source: kpl