(no subject)

[which_chick]

I am certain that everyone is as interested as I am in Laos, a landlocked country in southeastern asia whose principal export to the United States is the Hmong ethnic minority. I would like to go there someday and have enlisted cousin_sue as my partner in crime for at least a portion of that journey. (*ahem* Pencil that in for sometime in the late spring (Mid-April to Mid-June) of 2008, will you?)



BUT ANYWAY, everyone who isn't going to Laos with me can still get an idea of what the language sounds like from the fine folks at Northern Illinois University, an institution that has a delightful website with free fonts and lots of downloadable sound files including (and yes, there IS a point here) rhymes in Lao. Yes. Rhymes in Lao. (That'd be the language spoken in Laos, for those who aren't quick on connecting-the-dots, here.) They give you free fonts so that you can totally fail to read what is being said in a native font -- it might look like scribbles to you, but at least they're authentic scribbles. They also helpfully transliterate AND translate the rhymes. Isn't that nice?

Because, y'know, we were all talking about rhymes in foreign, particularly in non-English, tonal languages, the other day and I'm sure that lingered on everyone's mind just like it did on mine, right? So now here are rhymes in foreign. Way, way foreign. With cool, free fonts for your Lao-reading needs, as if any of you can read the language. Yes, indeedy. I'm sure that this is just the sort of everyday helpfulness that you've come to depend on from One a day, plus iron.

(Lao isn't even *close* to English. It's so not-like-English that I feel very, very daunted. Japanese makes more sense and is easier to read. Plus it's tonal, like I needed an additional challenge. Chalk this up to What was I thinking? Learn some of the language? Gah. Two years is not going to be enough time...)

Anyway, here's the page with the rhymes. Further information on the language and country can be found on their main page: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/. They've got folksongs! Have I mentioned how much I *heart* the internet? Because if I haven't mentioned that lately, I do. I really, really do.

Comments

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

Note to self...

start working on convincing the spouse that I am serious about going on this trip...

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I think I've been talking about it for at least two years... and the departure date is a hair more than two years away. You should have plenty of time to convince him. :)