… with an ‘s’ sound at the end.

As in,

/ˈlaʊs/,

like ‘louse’.

F.A.Q.

Why is the ‘s’ pronounced?

The word ‘Laos’ was first used by the French after uniting the three different kingdoms that make up modern-day Laos and giving them that name (Laos was part of French Indochina).

The French-appointed title for the country was also used in English, which is how we have the word.

In keeping with rules of English pronunciation, the name of the country – spelt with an ‘s’ – should be pronounced (in English at least) with one too.

NOTE – I am only talking about the English pronunciation of the word! I address the Lao and French pronunciations below…

So why do so many people pronounce the word without an ‘s’?

There are a number of possible reasons why so many people not only get this wrong, but also insist on correcting those who pronounce it with an ‘s’.

(And really, if they didn’t care so much, maybe I wouldn’t care so much).

I think there are four main reasons why people think the ‘s’ is not pronounced:

1. Because in the Lao language, the word for the country we call Laos is pronounced without an ‘s’. Many people visit Laos and come back pronouncing the country without the final ‘s’ sound, because they have mimicked the locals. While I do understand that as there is a lot of general confusion about the pronunciation of the name some people are just innocently and well-meaningly mimicking, many others also do so out of pretension. Really, I don’t have anything in particular against people who pronounce the names of countries in that country’s language (like sometimes one hears people refer to Italy as ‘Italia’ or Germany as ‘Deutschland’), as long as they know that that isn’t the correct English pronunciation, and they don’t correct people who do use the correct English pronunciation.

2. Because there is a word ‘Lao’ in English, pronounced without the ‘s’, which is used to refer to the people (The Lao live in Laos) or the language (Mildred speaks Lao), or sometimes as an adjective (Do you like Lao cheese?). I believe many people hear the pronunciation of this word without an ‘s’, and mistakenly believe that the word ‘Laos’ also has no ‘s’.

3. Because the official name of the country is Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), which is not pronounced with an ‘s’. As you have no doubt by now observed, the word ‘Lao’ in Lao PDR is pronounced without an ‘s’ because it is not the English noun ‘Laos’ referring to the country, but rather the English adjective ‘Lao’ – many people mistakenly believe that Lao PDR corresponds to (hypothetical examples, I know these are not real countries) ‘Germany People’s Democratic Republic’ or ‘Ireland People’s Democratic Republic’ when really it corresponds to ‘German People’s Democratic Republic’ and ‘Irish People’s Democratic Republic’ – the word used is the adjective, rather than the proper noun.

4. Because people think for some reason it should be pronounced like a French word, even though in French the ‘s’ is pronounced. This one I don’t really understand – I have seen many people on the internet and in real life defend the pronunciation of Laos without an ‘s’ sound by claiming that the word is French, and should therefore be pronounced the ‘French’ way. There are a number of reasons why this makes no sense. Firstly, English borrows liberally from French (in fact, roughly half of our modern day vocabulary comes from French – ever since the Norman invasion French has had a huge impact on English) and almost NEVER is something pronounced the same way in English as in the original French:

‘Illinois’ – English: /ˌɪlɨˈnɔɪ/ , French: /ilinwa/

‘Croissant’ – English: /kɹəˈsɑnt/ , French: /kʁwasɑ̃/

Etc. etc.

[Nb. IPA transcriptions from Wiktionary, not necessarily 100% correct but they give an idea]

Secondly, the word ‘Laos’ in French IS pronounced with a final ‘s’ sound!!!! So anyone who thinks that Laos pronounced without the ‘s’ sound is the ‘French way’ is wrong! As an aside, other French words where the ‘s’ is pronounced at the end include ‘tennis’, ‘autobus’, ‘fils’, etc.

Is it really that important to pronounce the name of a small South East Asian country correctly?

The long and the short of it is – no. People make far worse pronunciation errors all the time, not only of country names but of common English words! However, many people seem willing to argue to the death about why ‘Laos’ should be pronounced without an ‘s’, so I think it is important to outline the reasons why that is incorrect.

So why do you care so much?

I hope it doesn’t seem like this is my life’s work – I have just had a lot of arguments with people about the pronunciation, and have observed many online as well – and so feel the need to share why the word should be pronounced with an ‘s’.

I have seen many people who are confused by the pronunciation of the word ‘Laos’, and so I aim to provide a useful, quick and easy to read document that outlines how it should be pronounced and why – hopefully in an interesting manner!

While I have tried my utmost to make sure everything here is 100% correct, please realise that there may be errors – though I am obviously confident enough in my work to release it on the internet! If you still disagree with my reasoning, please leave a thoughtful and restrained comment and we will likely agree to disagree!

Also, I want to point out that while I do speak French, I am not a native speaker.

Are there any sources to back you up?

Both the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster give the pronunciation of ‘Laos’ with an ‘s’ on the end.

(You may have to be able to read IPA to understand that but they do).

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laos

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Laos

not to mention Wikipedia (which I admit is where I found the above two links) and plenty of other websites.

Of course there are also those who give the pronunciation as without ‘s’, but none of those are official, and they all seem to merely fall into the ‘traps’ I have outlined above re why people get this wrong.