Southeast Asia not only offers cultural diversity. The many languages of the subcontinent also exert a fascination. The reactions are varied, from amazed fascination to the incredulous "Who came up with such a font?" the range is enough. Some of the languages and scripts will probably remain a secret to Central European travelers forever. Sometimes the unusual characters are accompanied by a tricky emphasis. But the interested traveler should not be afraid to try a few local words - even if you run the risk of saying something completely different from what you intended. The attempt alone often opens the first door to friendship and unforgettable experiences.
In Cambodia (written here on the left in the local language), 95% of the people speak Khmer. The script is quite unique and will likely force many to give up in a moment. But it's not that hard to get a local to teach you a few simple sentences. The mastery of numbers and small groups of words such as: Thlay na! (Too expensive!) make every trade in a local market fun. Cambodians who come into contact with tourists as well as the younger generation also speak English. Among the older generation there are certainly still some who speak French. By the way, older railway employees can still speak a little German due to their training in the former GDR.
In the People's Democratic Republic of Laos (Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao) Lao is the official language. There are around 5.2 million speakers of this language in total, some of them also in northern Thailand. Lao is closely related to Thai - both belong to the family of the Tai-Kadai languages. The Isaan dialect spoken in northeast Thailand is a kind of link between the languages. The Lao language is not uniform within the country. There are different dialects in the north-south direction of the country. Anyone who travels in the country as a traveler can use English to make themselves understood.
Malaysia (here on the left in Malay in the rarely used traditional script Jawi) is home to an interesting mixture of peoples. Only a little over 50% of Malaysians are Malay. Next to them live 24% Chinese and 7% Indians as well as numerous indigenous ethnic groups. The language mix is correspondingly colorful. Bahasa Melayu (Malay) is the country's official language alongside English. The Chinese who live here mainly speak Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka. In addition, there are the languages introduced from the Indian region such as Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. In the border areas to the northern neighbor, Thai is of course also understood. Many languages of the ethnic groups living there can be found in East Malaysia in particular. Examples are Iban and Kadazan.
There are 171 languages in the Philippines - but don't worry. As a traveler, you don't run the risk of drowning in an impenetrable tangle of languages. The main language is Filipino, which practically corresponds to the local idiom Tagalog. The second official language is English - it is also the language of instruction and business and is therefore spoken almost fluently by many Filipinos. Spanish was the official language on the islands until 1973. Those who want to delve a little deeper into the Filipino language world will find Cebuano, Ilonggo and Ilokano as the most widely used local languages. The Chinese minority speaks the dialect of Fukienese (Min Nan).
The title suggests it. Singapore is multicultural. In addition to English, which is understood everywhere, there are mainly 3 official languages: Chinese, Malay and Tamil. 4.8 million people live in Singapore. The Chinese (with the largest proportion), Malay and Indians are joined by 1.2 million foreigners and guest workers, who make up a quarter of the population. As in many corners of the world, English is interspersed with other local languages. The result is the so-called "Singlish". The appendage word is particularly distinctive and well-known lah, which was imported from Chinese and keeps popping up. No, I am lazy at Sinaporean.
In the Kingdom of Thailand, Thai is mainly spoken, which also has its own alphabet (the country name in Thai on the left). Like the Lao spoken in its north-eastern neighbor, it belongs to the Tai-Kadai languages that occur in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and China. Deeply rooted in the culture, it has a specific vocabulary for the various social hierarchy levels. Thai provides 44 consonants and 32 vowels to the speaker. In addition to the official language, there are 73 other languages. Globalization and a large tourism industry have allowed English to find its way into Thailand. This allows you to make yourself understood as a traveler in large parts of the country.
Anyone who comes to Vietnam for the first time will be happy about the Latin letters. But disillusionment quickly spreads. The many diacritical marks suggest nothing good. As it soon turns out, the fears are not unfounded. Some words have up to 6 different intonations ready for the speaker - combined with 6 completely different meanings. In the past, Chinese letters were still used for the Vietnamese script - that Chữ Nôm. In the tourist areas of the country you can now get by with English. Quite a number of Vietnamese also speak French.
- Foreign fonts on Wikivoyage - If you want to display the foreign fonts used here on Wikivoyage correctly, you may have to set up your computer for this. Here is shown how to do it.
- The ketchup: Who invented it? Well, Mr. Heinz! No he did `nt. Industrial marketing in glass bottles goes back to him. The well-known sauce has its origins in Southeast Asia. The predecessors of the sauce were already known in Asia at the end of the 17th century. Interestingly, despite all the visual and acoustic differences between the languages, a similar word keeps cropping up. The Chinese had a sauce they made ke tsiap called. Back then it was still a sweetened soy sauce. There were sauces with a similar sound in Thailand (kachiap), Indonesia (ketjap) and Malaysia (ki-chop).
The inconspicuous little word ma is probably the best-known example of the six different accents in the Vietnamese language, without which there would be many homonyms. Six accents - six meanings. Here is the translation:
- ma - Ghost, ghost
- má - Mother
- mà - but
- mạ - Rice seedling
- mả - Dig
- mã - Horse
The consistent use of classifiers in Malay is somewhat unusual for us. In German one says “three pieces of cake” but only “five trees” or “three women”. Malay has several such words in store for us. Here are the most important:
- Orang (human) - This is used to count people.
- tiga orang polis - three police officers
- Ecor (tail) - This word is used to count animals.
- tiga ekor ikan - three fish
- Batang (pole) - This word is used to count elongated objects.
- dua batang pen - two pens
- Buah (fruit) - This word is used to count large spacious objects such as countries, islands, rivers, furniture, books, and computers.
- enam buah kapal loud - six steamers
- Biji (Seeds) - This word is used to count small round objects like cups, eggs and fruits.
- lima biji kelapa - Five coconuts
- Keping (disc) - This word is used to count flat objects such as paper and slices of cheese.
- sekeping kertas - 1 sheet of paper
- Helai (piece, leaf) - This word is used to count larger flat objects. So for fabric, grass, leaves and paper, but also hair.
- sembilan helai rambut - 9 hairs
